Sunday July 26th / Cork Bath

We got a bag of wine corks from a friend this week. I asked for them!

The first thing we did with them was add them to our bath. There were A LOT of corks. They thought this was awesome! They caught the corks in the nets, read the side of each one, looked at the pictures on them, and built cork towers on the side of the tub. It was hilarious! I also gave them straws and we had a "cork race" in the tub. This was not fair because the preschooler can blow through the straw much easier than the toddler, but it was fun. We actually have done this three days last week because they always want the corks at bath time now! :-)

Sunday July 19th / Raid the Kitchen / Lazy Susan


You need a lazy susan.

Clear your Lazy Susan of all spices, cans etc.

I do not suggest just handing this object to your child.
Sit down with them and have a few toys with you such as; little people, cars, small toys.

Show them it can be used like a merry go round.

Show them if you spin it slow everything stays on, but if you spin it fast everything flies off! :-)

After you demonstrate what is can do and how you you want them to play with it, let them explore this new toy.

I did not think this one would be as GREAT as it was for the kids. I couldn't get over how long they were entertained by it and they did not want me to put it away!

Friday June 26th / Odinary Item / Paper

Toddler and Preschooler
Ok, Have you seen the famous YOUTUBE video of baby Ethan ripping paper and falling over laughing? Well, after we played with paper this week I let the kids watch this video. They have asked to see laughing baby Ethan everyday this week.We have 10 ideas for playing with paper...

Challenge:
How many sounds can you make with a piece of paper?
Remember to listen to the sound with each new action.

*roll it up and use it as a megaphone
*rip and tear it
*crumple it
*flick it
*blow under or over it, to get it to flap
*smash it under your feet
*rub it on your head
*fold it
*throw it at something :-)
*smooth it out again

Keep going! How long can you and your child be entertained by a single (or a few) pieces of paper?

Extension: Paper airplanes? Fancy Origami?

Thursday June 25th / Ordinary Item / Kleenex Box

Toddler or Preschooler

You need:
Empty Kleenex Box
Small Toys

Toddler:
Give your toddler the box and put toys in. They will take the objects out and put them back in. Show them two objects such as; rubber duck and small car. Tell your toddler which object you want them to get out. See if they can do it without looking!

Preschooler:
Gather a few items that your preschooler plays with and don't show them. Put in one object and have them try to guess just by feeling it (no looking). What it is. Tell your preschooler to put something in the box for you. Close your eyes. When they give you the box back put your hand in and describe the object as you feel it to your child. Use all your descriptive words: smooth, rough, small, has wheels, bumpy, feels like hair, has tiny shoes, etc. Take turns putting objects in the kleenex box and see how long it takes your preschooler to start to describe the objects to you!

Yep, socks again!

Toddler or Preschooler:
Take those socks and make them into puppets. Kids love puppets. They will talk to the puppet and do what ever the puppet wants. You really can just use the sock as is. If you really want to sew on eyes, go for it.

What can a puppet DO?
Help your child learn their letters. Do you have refrigerator magnets or the alphabet on cards? Put them out and have the puppet ask for a certain letter. When your child brings the letter to the puppet have the puppet "eat it" in a crazy fashion. Have the puppet thank your child but tell them it is still hungry and now needs another specific letter.

Have the puppet ask your child crazy questions. "Does a dog say mooo?" "Does an elephant fly?" "Does a bird say meow?" etc. Why do toddlers and preschoolers find this funny? I don't know!

Your child will be more than happy to get things for a puppet, even if they wouldn't get the same thing for you! :-)
Have the puppet ask for different objects around the room and watch as your child runs to find then for the puppet.

Puppet extension: You can buy beautiful and expensive puppets, brown bags with faces drawn on, a banana with bubble eyes glued on, sock puppets, stick puppets, and finger puppets and they all are great for learning vocabulary, and helping with your childs imagination!

Toddler and Preschooler:

You need a ziplock and large tape.
What can you do with a Ziplock? The possibilities are endless...

We are going to fill the bag and give it to your child to squish. You will need to reinforce the seal with large packing tape to avoid a large mess.
* Fill with one, some, all
hair gel                ketchup and mustard        shaving cream        toothpaste
hand lotion          thick fingerpaint                pudding                  yogurt

You can put the bag in the freezer and make it cold or heat it up for an added sensory experience. Or make two bags and make one warm and one cold.

Toddler and Preschooler:

Funnels. That is it really. Just add funnels to your bath toys and the result is amazing! I bought three funnels in a set and they have had hours, and hours of fun with them. They have small, medium, and large.  They get a kick out of pouring cups of water into them and watching them go through. They also jus scoop water and watch it run out. They can put the funnels in a baby bottle and fill the bottle wth out spilling. -Try it!

You need one large plastic bowl and a muffin tin.

Toddler:
Put things to sort in a bowl on the floor and the muffin tin next to it. Shw your toddler how to place objects in the compartments and take them out. Toddlers will do this over and over. They may dump the bowl and be even more excited by the noise and action, just pick the things up and start over. You can also start this game by filling the compartments and putting out an empty bowl. (or switch it next time)

Things to sort in a muffin tin for toddlers: ping pong balls, cheerios, any cereal, any colorful objetcs that they can not swallow...

Preschooler:
This can be more advanced and use smaller objects. Most preschoolers no longer put objectsin their mouth. We have used buttons and small beads. I found a small bag of assorted beads at Michaels craft store. It is very fun to sort because it has many different things like; animals, shapes, colors, different textures etc. I will sit and sort too. Then I explain how I am sorting my and introduce new vocabulary and ways to sort objects. "I am putting all the blue ones in here and all the red ones in this compartment." or "I am putting all the hearts in here and all the squares in here" and/or "How are you sorting yours?" I did have to say that the beads were NOT CANDY because they looked like it.

Things for preschoolers to sort in a muffin tin: buttons, colored pasta, different shaped pasta, beads, anything that will fit into the tin compartments.

You will need a blanket.
This is good for toddlers and preschoolers.

Have your child lay on the floor and lay the blanket on top of them. Quickly lift the blanket up and let it fall back down on them. This is a small version of the parachute game. If they don't like it -stop...if they love it keep going! (one of my children loves this and the other one does not care for it.)

Lay the blanket on the floor. Have your child sit on it and you take one corner. Drag them around the house. Be prepared to do this over and over and over again. Keep in mind your child age and there balancing ability. For small toddlers you must go slow...