Milk Cap Stamps

Here is what you need to make them...

Milk, Juice, Salsa lids (whatever you can get your hands on. Puff Paint, Stamp Pad and of course paper and wipes...to clean between colors.

I found this Multi Colored Kids Stamp Pad at Michaels for 4.99. I went crazy and bought 3, because well...I thought they were cool. They also have single colored ones, but this one is way better. :)

You can pre draw the shapes on the milk caps, or be adventurous and do it free hand like I did.

I really went to town on some of them.

Let them dry over night and then let your kids loose. Well not really, but it is a cool thought.

Here is the finished product.

My kid was so proud he called his Dad at work to tell him all about it.

This is great for any age because it isn't messy and you can reuse it over and over again. Plus as you go through milk (2 gallons a week for us) you can add to your stamp collection!

Pipe Cleaner Fun

All you need is Pipe Cleaners and an imagination. Here is what we came up with today...

A pair of glasses...

A flower...

Action Figure Boy (we added yellow hair)

Action Figure Girl
Bracelet and rings (see above)
We also made a dinosaur and a boat for our action people. The kids are now putting them on top of their Thomas Trains by bending the legs over them since they can bend around them,

30 minutes of twisting and maneuvering these pipe cleaners and an endless list of things to do with them. Maybe we will make magnets out of them when the kids are finished playing with them.

Plexiglas Smooshing

After setting up a play date with D, I decided I would bring our art project to her house. So this day we did Plexiglas Smush Painting. Don't you like the technical terms?

You need Plexiglas
Drawing Paper
Paint
Paint Brushes
Willingness to paint

There are two ways to do this, thanks to E and my boy we figured out which way was better.

You can apply the paint with a brush, and then lift it off with the paper, or put the paint directly on the plexiglas and smush it with the paper. Peel it off and there you go.

I took the finished products home so I could cut and laminate them and make magnets out of them. See this is how I get to go back to D's, to bring her the magnets! :)

After the paint fun we let the kids go wild in the back. D and I sat on some chairs and watched all of the fun. On the way home my boy told me how happy he was to see E again, and how he likes her house better than ours. Haha.

Original Post 6/23/09

PS NEXT FRIDAY is GIVEAWAY #2!!!!

Magic Scarves

I feel like I am lucky to be in the position where I have a kid at every age. A 5 month old, a 20 month old and a 3 year old. Because of this I am going to try hard to make activities for the babies too!

Here is the first one. What you need: A scarf, and an empty cardboard paper towel tube.
Stick the scarf into the tube and pull it out and in again. This is a versatile toy that uses stuff you already have on hand! Show your baby how to stuff it in and pull it out. I usually say "Where did it go?" or "Peek-A-Boo" "There it is" and my baby LOVES it. My older two love to entertain her with it as well.
This toy develops Object Permanence, Tactile Stimulation, and Eye-Hand Coordination. Try it with your baby, I bet they will squeal with delight like mine did! :)

PS NEXT FRIDAY is GIVEAWAY #2!!!!

Hats Off!

Well, the crowns were fun until we started noticing all of the hats we had around the house, so we collected them and made a hat box. Then it was time to play Hat dress up. The kids LOVED this. After we were finished I decorated the box so we can pull it out another day. Wa-hoo!

The end.

Crowns

My kids love to dress up. Who doesn't? Today we made crowns, not our best effort because they saw where were going with it and wanted to play instead - but still an idea.

What you need: papers, markers, scissors, glue, clothes pins.

I let them color them and then I drew a pattern for them to cut along.

Then we glued them together and let them set with the clothes pins pinching them tight.
Now time to try them on and play castle. They ended up playing chase, but still had fun.

Next time I am going to get a burger king hat and turn it inside out and let them paint them with glitter paint and perhaps add jewels!

Sensory Box

I found this under the bed tub at Walmart for 6 dollars. I love it because it has wheels and two separate openings. You will see why it is important later. So I took this awesome box and filled it with wheat, because I had it on hand (surprise, surprise) and put some old cups and spoons, and slotted spoons and a plate in the box.

When I taught, this was the most popular thing in the classroom. When I visited centers across Denver Metro the Sensory Box was still the most popular thing in the class. I will show you all through out the year what you can put inside, but I think my favorite thing about the Sensory Box is the fact that it can be played with all year round.
My kids played with it for about an hour, then we sweeped up the little mess they had made and poured it back into the box. I am keeping this wheat for the month and then going to share it with a friend (who ever comments first) When they are done with it we can pass it to someone else, that is what is so great about the sensory box. Oh and of course the two openings...
She loved to wiggle her toes in it. This is a fun and cheap way for kids to have fun indoors. Let me know who wants it next!