Flour + Water

Stuck home on a rainy day, Kz and I were getting stir crazy. He clearly wanted to go outside. And I wanted to stay, well, dry. I quickly searched my "goodies" closet for something fun to play with but I was feeling uninspired. Kz had been whining and whining and whining...and I just needed a moment to think so I could get him engaged. So, I cracked...and took him outside in the rain.

I got wet. He squinted and blinked while looking up at the drops falling from the sky. We hopped in puddles and ran in and out of the awning of our entryway. After a few short moments, we were both laughing and feeling a million times better. When we'd had enough (Ok, it was me who'd had enough...) we came back inside and I decided to let Kz get a bit messier.

Still uninspired by my tired materials, I grabbed some flour and plopped it on his high chair tray. He was curious and asked to sit in the chair. His hands hadn't been dried so well, and the flour began to stick. I got more water and poured it onto the tray, helping some of the newly formed dough into balls. When the dough got too sticky, I simply added more flour and helped Kz pull the bulk of it off his hands.

After a while, I gave him a spoon to use as a tool. He scooped, pushed, mashed and made marks on the flour tray. 

Inevitably, some fell on the floor. But it was easy to clean with a moist paper towel. 

Kz enjoyed the messy play and more importantly, he was whine-free for hours. Don't have the energy to make an elaborate sensory bin for your child? Just work with what you have. Your kids will love it!

Baby's First Marks

Welcome! Don't miss a playful moment...Follow us on Facebook for regular updates and check out our Pinterest boards for hundreds of activities and adventures for you and your children! 

  

On a recent trip to our local favorite playground, I noticed that Kz was making marks in the sand. At first, I thought it was incidental, but after a closer look, I realized his marks were quite intentional. I typically engage in sensory play with Kz and while some of the activities we do are filled with fine motor benefits, I haven't prepared many activities that encourage deliberate mark making. What was I waiting for?

Once I caught on, we started exploring different mark making tools. Kz began writing with sticks so we compared the marks that different sized sticks could make.

This was the biggest stick we could find. 

When sticks became scarce, we got creative and made thick marks with a toy truck...

When Kz found these leaves, he immediately brushed the ground with them. I pointed out the unique marks they made.

He also practiced writing over some doodles of my own.

"Mom, what do you mean we can't draw with that one..."

Kz worked hard with several tools to create this drawing. He didn't seem too impressed with it, but I was one proud mama. We will definitely do some more intentional mark making and pre-writing at home. I'm sorry it wasn't on my radar, Kz!

Golf Ball Drop Activity {100 Days of Play}

We are thrilled to be taking part in the 100 Days of Play 
hosted by Sun Scholars and Life at the Zoo! 

Today, we are sharing an activity that is super simple to set up at home. All you need is 2 or 3 separate containers and about a dozen small objects for filling and emptying. 

Lately, Kz loves to tote around golf balls (...that I deviously "borrowed" from daddy's golf bag) and I've been finding them everywhere ever since.  In toy bins, on shelves, in the seat cushions, under the couch... everywhere. One day, after spending WAY too much time retrieving them from every corner of the house, I decided to set up a little station that would allow Kz to use them more productively. 

I found these two containers from a recent trip to the grocery store (they previously held cherry tomatoes). The hole in the top was just the right size for a golf ball. Any box or container will do. Try using an old wipes box or a shoe box with the hole cutout.

I took another container and filled it with the golf balls I had spent the last hour collecting (No, no, I'm not bitter). I placed the reserve in the center and put one golf ball in one of the quirky containers as an invitation to play. 

 

First he explored the new containers.

And then he started filling them! 

He filled the red one first. When no golf balls remained, he tried to reach in and take them out with his fingers but the opening was too small. Stumped, he started to shake the container and when one fell out, he excitedly continued to shake. I showed him how to turn the container upside down to help the balls fall out more easily.  

Onto the yellow one! For an older child, this can become a great activity for counting, addition, subtraction or number balancing. 

Kz loved dropping the golf balls from way high up into the center bin. He continued to practice putting them into the smaller containers and watching them fall as he shook them out.

The best part of this activity was not having to crawl around the house to find all the golf balls when he was finished! Success! 

100 Days of Play Blog Hop
Sharing simple ideas on how to connect with your children through play!
New ideas shared each day from 4/1 - 7/9.  

Help us spread the word!

Grab a Button to Share on your Blog!

<a <span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;" class="goog-spellcheck-word">href</span>="http://www.<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;" class="goog-spellcheck-word">sunscholars</span>.com/p/100-days-of-play.html" target="_blank"><<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;" class="goog-spellcheck-word">img</span> alt="100 Days of Play" <span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;" class="goog-spellcheck-word">src</span>=" http://3.<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;" class="goog-spellcheck-word">bp</span>.<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;" class="goog-spellcheck-word">blogspot</span>.com/-bBILfp9lVqA/UUmeMVmZ0uI/<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;" class="goog-spellcheck-word">AAAAAAAAEjs</span>/9G7A92bj_<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;" class="goog-spellcheck-word">yE</span>/s1600/mommy+<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;" class="goog-spellcheck-word">playdate</span>+button200.<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;" class="goog-spellcheck-word">jpg</span>"/></a>

100 Days of Play is brought to you by these wonderful bloggers

SunScholars . Frogs, Snails & Puppy Dog Tails . Playful Learners . Train Up a Child . Fantastic Fun & Learning . Scribble, Doodle & Draw . Learn. Create. Love. . Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas . Nothing if Not Intentional . My Little 3 & Me . Buggy & Buddy . Sun Hats & Wellie Boots . Twodaloo . True Aim . The Educators' Spin On It . Blog Me Mom . Life At The Zoo . Putti's World . Kitchen Counter Chronicles . Triple T Mum . Busy Kids Happy Mom . Crystal's Tiny Treasures . Rainy Day Mum . Momma's Fun World . My Little Bookcase . Craftulate . One Perfect Day . MumCentral . Artchoo! . Little Artists . Simple. Home. Blessings. . JDaniel4's Mom . NurtureStore . Me & Marie Learning . Child Central Station . Mamas Like Me . Making Boys Men . Powerful Mothering . Craft to Art . 3 Dinosaurs . Domestic Goddesque . Lessons Learnt Journal . Royal Baloo . Smiling Like Sunshine . Adventures at Home with Mum . B-Inspired Mama . PragmaticMom . Eazy Peazy Mealz . Gluesticks . TheBoy&Me . Learning is Messy . My Nearest & Dearest . Growing Book by Book . How to Run a Home Daycare . Here Come the Girls . Think Magnet . Dandelions Picked . 123 Homeschool 4 Me . Our Ordinary Life . Parenting with Professor Poppins . 2 Little Hooligans . Fun-a-Day! . The Non-Martha Mamma . Angelique Felix . My Very Educated Mother . Creative Playhouse . Go Explore Nature . Zing Zing Tree . Sense of Wonder . Childhood 101 . Crayon Freckles . KZ & Me . Serenity You . This Mumma's Life . Leapfrog & Ladybugs . Blue Bear Wood . Growing Together . KC EDventures . Mommy Lessons 101 . Nature & Play . Like Mama Like Daughter . Mums Make Lists . From Wine to Whine . Messy Kids . Babble Dabble Do . Sugar Aunts . Teaching @ Home . Preschool Powol Packets . Clothed in Love . Curiosity Creates . The Magnolia Barn . Strong Start .

If you enjoyed reading this post, please consider leaving a comment. We'd love to hear from you! 

If you are new here, sign up to receive free updates by email or subscribe to our social media sites by clicking the buttons in the sidebar of our blog. 
We are most active on Facebook and love pinning on Pinterest. Follow us! 

Thanks again for stopping by. We hope to see you back here soon!

Baby/Toddler features from the WKC {Weekly Kid's Co-op #9}

I decided to try out a new focus of features from the Kid's Co-op each week. There are so many amazing crafts, experiments, and recipes submitted each week and for a brief while, I was featuring activities for older kids that Kz is not developmentally ready for. I am having a bit of a blog identity crisis and have decided that I'd like to take it back in the direction of babies and toddlers (while Kz is still in that category). So, for the next few weeks I will be looking to feature baby and toddler play ideas exclusively. If you have older children, please feel free to check out the list of submissions in the link! There are endless ideas and the content gets better each week. If you have a baby or toddler (or both!) at home, you'll be able to see my favorite age-appropriate submissions in my weekly featured roundup. Now onto this week's BABY AND TODDLER features!

• Mystery Sensory Bags for Baby - House of Burke
• Peekaboo Grass - Craftulate
• Lego Activity for Tots - Laughing Kids Learn
• Exploring Color Ice - Powerful Mothering
• Rainbow Color Drop - Plain Vanilla Mom 

If you enjoyed reading this post, please consider leaving a comment. 
We'd love to hear from you! 

If you are new here, sign up to receive free updates by email or subscribe to our social media sites by clicking the buttons in the sidebar of our blog.  We are most active on Facebook and love pinning on Pinterest. Follow us! 

Thanks again for stopping by. We hope to see you back here soon!

Here's the link up for this week! 

<a href="http://kzandme.blogspot.com/search/label/Weekly%20Kid%27s%20Co-op"><img title="The Weekly Kids Co-Op" src="http://b-inspiredmama.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/The-Weekly-Kids-Co-Op-150px-Button.jpg" alt="The Weekly Kids Co-Op" target="_blank" /></a> <br> <br>

Our Favorite Playground

We moved about 6 months ago and we're still getting acquainted with our new area. So, after reading a great post from Little Moments about finding the best playground ever, we accepted the challenge to go on a playground hunt! 

On our search, we found so many great playgrounds. Some were new, some were old, some fancy, some simple. But, after much exploring, we finally found it. 

 Our playground.

10 Awesome things about OUR playground: 

1) It's in walking distance to our home. This is a huge plus. I don't have to worry about packing up the car, parking, travel time... We just hop in the stroller and go. 

2) It's one large sandbox. This makes it fun even without the equipment. Yes, there's a little more cleanup required when the day is through, but I don't really mind. I also think the sand is softer than the rubber flooring in most playgrounds and provides a good cushion for Kz's frequent spills. 

 3) It's a tot park. I didn't even know they had public tot parks. Everything is small enough for Kz to practice crawling, climbing, pulling, and sliding ALL ON HIS OWN. There are only a few things I had to help him with and after some practice, he was able to move through the entire park with no help at all. 

4) There are permanent little toy trucks to play with. How cute is that? Kz LOVES these and knowing they are here means I don't have to buy them! If you're like me, you dread those awkward mommy moments when your child wants to play with a toy that another child has brought to the park. These trucks are park property so everyone shares them graciously.

5) There are developmentally appropriate manipulatives attached to small wall panels throughout the park. They are all just the right height so Kz can cruise around, stopping along the way to spin the wheel, listen to the chimes or peek in the mirror.

6) Chain link fences may not be chic but they are PERFECT for a cruising baby. They have tons of places to grab onto and the holes make for a nice scenic route. Kz does laps around the perimeter of the park. This is excellent exercise (and the ultimate prelude to a great afternoon nap).

7) There are lots of natural treasures to dig up and explore. On this day, we found another (not so natural) treasure that had been left behind and gave it some love, too.

8) There are lots of small crawl spaces for curious kids to explore. One of Kz's favorite pastimes is finding the smallest space in our home and trying to squeeze himself under, over or through it. You think I can install these tubes in my house?

9) There are still some challenges. While Kz can do most of the things at this playground, there are still some things he cannot do just yet. There is room to grow into this park and that means we can continue to visit for years to come.

10) It's never crowded. Before we moved, we lived in NYC and there was never a time when a park wasn't crowded. While I became used to that type of living, there is something so serene about the fact that this park is never full. There are usually one or two other children there and sometimes we even have it to ourselves.

Have you found YOUR playground yet?

If you enjoyed reading this post, please consider leaving a comment. We'd love to hear from you! 

If you are new here, sign up to receive free updates by email or subscribe to our RSS feed and social media sites by clicking the buttons in the sidebar of our blog. 
We are most active on Facebook and love pinning on Pinterest. Follow us! 

Thanks again for stopping by. We hope to see you back here soon!

Corn Silk Color and Shape Sensory Bin

You're going to think I've really lost it now, but you know my theory about using perfectly good food as a sensory material (If you don't, you can read it HERE, where I directly contradict myself by using spaghetti as a sensory tool), so I am constantly on the lookout for ways to use food extras. Anyway, when I was shucking corn for an impromptu BBQ, I started eyeing the silk. My husband could see the wheels turning from a mile away and said, "Can you at least finish shucking it before doing whatever your about to do with it." (Sorry hunny). So I did my duty, all the while making sure to save every strand of that corn silk.

It was so cool! Long, shiny, rubbery, sticky, stringy...perfect for sensory play! The best part is, it would have gone right in the garbage anyway, so why not explore it a bit first, right?

When I finished extracting the silky strands from the corn husk (which was super easy by the way), I decided they needed some color. I separated them into four different bowls and mixed in a few drops of food coloring. I used rubber dishwashing gloves to do this because food coloring really gets in the skin and is terrible to clean. It rinsed right off the gloves with water. Let the color dry a bit or you will be stamped with food coloring as soon as you touch it due to the non-absorbent nature of the silk. I let it stand for about an hour and it was good to go. To spice things up even more, I added shapes that corresponded with each color in the bin. Now it was time to play!

Note: The strands break fairly easily and you DO NOT want to be cleaning this stuff up off your floor or your carpet, so take this activity outside.

Kz pulled the strands and mushed them around, looking at the web of silk that stuck between his fingers. He flung large piles of silk and giggled when they landed on the grass (relieved to have his hands free again). He searched for his shapes...

And worked hard to free them from the corn silk, too.

What crazy things have you been using for sensory play?

If you enjoyed reading this post, please consider leaving a comment. We'd love to hear from you! 

If you are new here, sign up to receive free updates by email or subscribe to our RSS feed and social media sites by clicking the buttons in the sidebar of our blog. We are most active on Facebook and love pinning on Pinterest. Follow us! 

Thanks again for stopping by. We hope to see you back here soon! 

Demolition Derby {for Creative Playhouse}

This is a guest post written for Creative Playhouse! Find out how to play by clicking HERE. While you're there, take a look at Creative Playhouse's Brilliant Baby Play Series! Tons of great ideas suited perfectly for young tots!

Shredded Paper Mural

A few posts back, we wrote about our adventures with shredded paper play. If you recall, Kz wasn't too fond of the paper at first. (If you missed it, click HERE). He warmed up to it, but since then I've been weary of taking it out. This morning, I decided it was time to revisit the shredded paper in a new (and less intimidating) way.

I prepared the wall with a sheet of contact paper, sticky side out. I would have loved to do this activity in a window, but we don't have one close enough to the ground for Kz to reach while working. (If you do, go for it!) Then I placed a small pile of shreds in front of him and demonstrated how to bring a shred up to the contact paper and press to stick.

It took some getting used to, but Kz got the hang of it, even getting on his knees to place the shreds higher up. We found some old shoelaces that I helped Kz stick, but most of them were too heavy for the contact paper to hold. Boo. Anyway, when we needed more shreds, I dumped them into a basket so Kz wouldn't be surrounded by shreds on the floor (we all know how he feels about that...).

We worked on the mural for a long while. Sometimes Kz would stop to examine the shreds in the basket. Other times he would pull down some of the ones we'd already hung. When he finished pulling them down, we worked together to stick them back up.

And once we were on a roll, we nearly filled the sticky paper. It was fun to try and find empty spaces to stick the shreds (for me, that is... Kz didn't care much if it stuck or not). I pointed to them so Kz could find them, too.

While we worked, I found myself wishing the shreds had been colorful but in the end, I liked the way it was monochromatic. It made the texture of the mural all the more appealing. 

When Kz had had enough, I removed the mural from the wall and rehung it in the window so the light could shine through. We admired it while we ate (it was next to our dining table) and Kz pulled strands off every once in a while as he cruised on by. 

Don't miss a moment of fun! Follow us by liking our page on Facebook and you can find us on Pinterest, too! If you would like updates directly to your inbox, subscribe by email on the right hand side of our blog!