Surprise on a String, Take 2

 This oldy but goodie is one I did with Erik when he was little. He tended to think that if he was in his high chair I owed him some food, so we had to do a little improvisation, but Maren had no problem hanging out in there.

 Set up is simple. Grab a few item from around the house, tie them to some string, and tape the string to your child's high chair tray. If they don't figure out what to do after a few minutes you can show them that there is something on the end of the string.

 Once Maren realized there were interesting things at the end of the strings she was hooked. This kept her busy long enough for me to get a few boxes packed for our move. That means it's a win in my book!

Baking Soda Eruptions

 It's been a while since we last messed around with baking soda and vinegar at our house. Sharli loves all things bubbles, so I decided to introduce her to some new fun. As I often do, I prepped the materials and placed them in front of her without any instruction from me. All you need is a shallow dish filled with baking soda, a small cup of vinegar (add a few drops of food coloring for some extra kid points), and an eye dropper/pipette/syringe.

 Sharli had never used an eye dropper before, so at first she wasn't entirely sure what to do. With a little help getting that part figured out, she was ready to rock and roll.

 This activity was a huge hit! She played with this until there was not a single bit of baking soda left untouched by the vinegar.

 In fact, this was so successful that we did it several times over the next week. I was able to set it up for her and then leave her to do her thing while I packed for our big move to Arizona.

Science, fine motor development, and babysitter all in one? Count me in!!

Soap Sud Sensory Jar

I found this awesome idea from Hands on as We Grow via pinterest. It was quick and easy to make, generates zero mess, and keeps my kiddo busy, so what's not to love? I'll let you go to the original post for instructions, but you might not even need them.

 Sharli had so much fun shaking and rolling her sensory jar. She loves anything that has bubbles, and this was no exception. I love that she got to play with bubbles and I didn't have to worry about cleaning up a mess, or consoling her when she (inevitably) accidentally spills her bubble liquid.

Exploring Density (Sink or Float)

For our letter D science activity I followed the lead of this post and we did an exploration of Density. This was super easy to set up, and kept both kids entertained for a long time. 

Let's gather our supplies:

A selection of toys and other objects, some that will sink and some that will float

A large container to fill with water

A piece of paper that says "sink" and on that says "float"

 We took this activity outside because I wanted to be able to turn the kids loose to have fun without any worries about messes. We could have also done this in the bathtub and it would have worked great. 

The first thing we did was talk about what it means to sink or float. Then we took all the toys out of our bin while hypothesizing on how each one would behave in the water.

 Erik was thrilled to turn on the hose and fill up our tub. Sharli wasn't too sure what was going on yet, but we were outside so it must mean something good!

 Then we tested each item and placed it on the paper that described what it had done. Sharli just splashed around and had fun.

 After we'd tested all our objects, I just turned the kids loose with the water and sat back and watched. Water free-play is one of our favorite activities. Almost no prep, and SO much fun!

 There is so much to be learned from just exploring with water. Fine motor skills such as scooping and pouring, spatial awareness when deciding if water from one container will fit in another, hand-eye coordination, sensory awareness, social skills like cooperation (when you've got more than one child involved), language development as you discuss things like cold or wet.

 Since this day, Erik asks often if we can play with density again (he actually uses the word density, it really stuck with him). He also loves to test all his bath toys to see if they'll sink or float. This was a hit in a major way!

The Carrot Conundrum

For one of our letter C science activities we used the idea for Carrot on a String, found here. The instructions are clear enough, but what they don't tell you is what exactly is the end result of this experiment. I did a brief google search and still didn't come up with any clear description of what to expect, but I decided to go for it anyways. I am typing this post the same day that we started this experiment, so as I write this I still have no idea what's going to happen with our carrot. Don't worry though, I'll post again in a few days with the results.

So, what exactly is involved in the Carrot on a String experiment? Well, let me show you. First, let's gather our supplies:

-a carrot
-a vegetable peeler or small paring knife
-a string
-a large needle
-some water

First, using your paring knife or peeler, core out the top of a carrot.

 Next, attach the carrot to a string. We used a large needle, but it seems like you could also poke a hole with a small nail or anything else you have handy then push the string through.

 Pour some water in the top of the carrot.

 Hang the carrot in a sunny window for a few days and watch the magic unfold. Or at least that's the idea, we've yet to see for ourselves exactly what will happen, but we're hoping for something magical.

This was a simple experiment to put together, and it was really fun to talk with Erik about what might happen. After discussing many possibilities (some silly, some serious), we decided to write down our hypotheses. We made a little chart with everyone's predictions and hung it on the wall next to the window. Dad came home for his lunch break right about then, so he got to put forth a theory as well. 

 Then, as long as we had the carrots and the peeler out anyways, Erik practiced his fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination and peeled some carrots to go with our lunch. What a good little slave helper!

So what is your hypothesis? Feel free to share in the comments and we'll see who gets it right!


***3/12/15: Okay, the results are in. If you want to know how this worked out, check out this post.

Baking Soda Bubbles

I found the idea for the great letter B science activity here, and while it's not anything ground breaking or new, it's still a fun one. Especially when you have a goofball like this to work with:

For your supplies, you'll need:

vinegar

baking soda

dish soap

water

an empty bottle

a small bowl

a wash cloth

a funnel

a cake pan or cookie sheet to contain any spills

*Check the original website  for amounts and more detailed instructions

Erik loved helping me do the prep work. He is very interested in measuring, pouring, mixing, and just about anything that goes on in the kitchen. 

 This is just your classic baking soda/vinegar eruption, but when you add a cloth soaked in soapy water over the top of your container you get a surprise.

 BUBBLES!!!

We played around with the soapy cloth for a while, then we just took it off and just played around with the baking soda and vinegar (and maybe a bit of food coloring...) 

Even Sharli (who does get to wear cute girly clothes more often then not, despite the fact that for some reason they never seem to make it into the pictures on our blog) really enjoyed watching what was going on. She was right there in her highchair the whole time observing our every move. And pigging out on crackers, but what's a good show without some munchies?

Letter A Sensory Bin

Somehow I have let a LOT of time go by since we last did a sensory bin. I'm not sure why exactly, because they are easy, cheap, and VERY engaging. Sensory bins are one of the few things that will hold Erik's attention for long periods of time, so why on earth have I not been doing them?! I saw this idea for learning about the letter A through sensory play and knew we had to give it a try. It also was a perfect fit for this month's Pinstrosity challenge. 

I wanted to have an activity that would be fun for both kids, so we used oatmeal in our bin this time. It's cheap, edible, and not much of a choking hazard, so what's not great about that?

First, let's assemble our supplies:

   A large container (a 9x13 cake pan would do fine for only one or two kids)

   Oatmeal (ours was a combination of rolled and quick oats, I just threw in whatever I had in my         cupboard)

   Miscellaneous tools/toys for scooping pouring sifting, etc.

   As many letter a's as you can find (you'll see what I mean in a minute) 

   A sheet or something to catch any mess (this is up to you, if you'd rather just sweep/vacuum it up and throw it away when you're done there's nothing wrong with that)

 I always use a sheet spread out over the floor when we do something like this for a couple of reasons. First, it makes clean up SO much easier. Second, it creates a defined space in which making messes is okay. If I just plunked this down in the middle of my living room floor it would be a lot more difficult to set boundaries and I know I'd end up with oatmeal under couch cushions, on the TV, and who knows where else! There was still a bit of oatmeal that went off the edge of the sheet but it was not very much and vacuumed up easily.

 Sharli LOVED this. It was her first sensory bin and she dove right in. Of course one of the first things she did was shove a huge handful of oatmeal in her mouth, but it didn't hurt her and wasn't too tasty so she gave up on eating it pretty quickly.

 You can see all our "A's" in the picture above, which were placed in the container before pouring the oats in over the top of them. I took all the A cards out of some sets of flash cards we were given. I used foam sheets to cut out both upper and lower case a's. I made an upper and lower case A out of pipe cleaners. I threw in any toys we had with an A on them, such as ABC refrigerator magnets and ABC blocks.

 I didn't really push the letters thing on Erik. All the letter A items were in the bin, but other than having them there for him to discover I didn't do anything with them. I just wanted to give him a chance to see the letter in several different sizes and materials.

 He brought a lot of his kitchen toys in to the room for this activity, and was pretty excited when he came up with the idea to make A soup.

There was lots of scooping and pouring (fine motor, hand-eye coordination), lots of filling up containers (spatial relations; a pre-operational math skill) lots of imaginative play, and nearly two hours filled in a fun and meaningful way. I'm thinking I need to see what other cheap baby safe sensory ideas there are out there because I don't know about you, but I could use more afternoons where both kids are actively engaged in something that requires NO input from me!


*Diedre Mower is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. This post contains affiliate links.

Make it Rain!

So I have a confession. Or two. This activity actually happened on accident, it wasn't really something I had planned. Also, these pictures are from the first time we did this, almost a year ago now. Somehow I never got a post up about this, so you finally get to see it. 

One day it was really cold in our apartment and Erik was bored and driving me nuts. So I stuck him in a nice warm bubble bath and gave him some of my kitchen stuff to play with. It turned out that the colander plus the bubbles were the perfect way to teach about what happens when it rains. Every time Erik scooped up the bubbly water in his colander it made a rainstorm, which he was thrilled about! He had been interested in the rain we'd had recently and I'd tried to explain where it came from, but I just don't think he was getting it. 

 As he sat in the bath that day we talked about how the clouds in the sky fill up with water until they are so dark and heavy they can't hold it anymore. When he would submerge his colander the bubbles would float up on the water and look puffier. Also something about the lighting made the bubbles look grayish when there was water underneath them, so they even looked like dark(ish) rain clouds. Then, when his colander full of bubbles had all the water it could hold, he would lift it up and watch his "clouds" deflate and whiten as the "rain" poured out the bottom. It was SO perfect!

This was such a simple and fun way to learn about the science of rain!

Make Your Own Windsock

As part of our Weather Theme, I thought it would be fun to make a windsock to aid Erik in his observations of the weather at our home. I found lots of fun ideas online, but this is the one we decided to go with. Why? Because I already had everything I needed right here at home, so what could be more perfect? I had hoped Erik would be more involved in making the windsock, but he just wasn't all that interested. He did really enjoy it once it was hanging outside though, so I count it as a success. 

First, we assembled all the materials we would need:

Plastic bags, scissors, tape, string, an empty plastic container

Second, you cut off a section of your empty container so that you have a plastic ring, I think ours was probably about 1 1/2 - 2 inches tall. You can dispose of the rest of the container as you see fit, we only need the top ring.

 Third, lay out your plastic bags so they are nice and flat, then cut them up into strips. I think mine were about an inch wide. I think we used three bags, but it all depends on the size of the container you used in step 2. I had hoped to have Erik help with this part of this since he LOVES to cut, but the bags were a bit difficult to cut and he got frustrated.

 Fourth, fold each strip of plastic bag in half and thread the fold through your ring, then pull the ends through the fold. If that doesn't make sense (and since I didn't think to take pictures of that part) you can go back to the original site and they have better pictures. Add strips of plastic on until you have covered all of the plastic ring.

 Fifth, attach three pieces of sting to the ring, spaced somewhat evenly around. Tie these into a knot about a foot away from the ring to create a yoke for the windsock to hang on.

 Sixth, tie your windsock to a tree or fence post or something outside where it's easily visible, and enjoy watching your child observe the world around them.

Of course, we didn't have any wind for about two days after we made this, but Erik was SO excited when he finally got to see his windsock flying in the breeze. We've got this right outside our front window, so we can watch it all day to see when the wind picks up.

Colorful Bubble Eruptions

Here is the part 2 of Wyler Week, Hope you enjoy!!

Carolyn says:
I've seen different versions of this on Pinterest and Facebook.  I just threw it together from memory.

I took a 9x9 inch baking dish and covered the bottom of the pan with baking soda.  I then filled a glass with vinegar and food coloring (first time I did this I did two different colors)

 I used 2 syringes (that came with our baby Tylenol) I wish I had eye droppers, then this would be something Wyler could do on his own, but he doesn't quite have the finger strength to fill a syringe easily yet.  I filled a syringe with the yellow vinegar, passed it to him, and we watch the foaming bubbles as he shot it into the vinegar. 

 While he emptied one syringe I would fill the other, as he was too excited to wait for me to fill only one, he didn't want to pause the bubble action at all. 

  After we had emptied the vinegar into the pan he stirred it up with the syringes to get the last of the vinegar and baking soda to react.  He would have kept at this activity longer, but he ran out of the baking soda. 

  Next time I'll use a larger pan, and hopefully have the eye droppers for him to use.  And the syringes are going to make an appearance in the bath so he can practice filling them, and strengthening his fingers.

Water Bead Sensory Bin

So I know you've all seen these all over pinterest and the internet in general. These water beads are super popular right now as a sensory material, and I can totally understand why. They're fascinating little buggers, even for adults! I had never given them a try, but I've seen them around for a long time now and have wanted to play around with them.
A while back I decided that it would be fun to hit the dollar store every once in a while and just wander through to see what I can find. I think last time I spent about $10 and got enough fun stuff to keep us busy for a while. One of the things I found was a box of water beads, and for a dollar I was willing to give them a try. They are such bright pretty colors and look like candy, so Erik and I had a nice little talk about how we CANNOT eat these, and for the most part he did really well with that. I think the only time he moved to put them in his mouth was to get a reaction out of me, not because he actually wanted to eat them. We talked about how small they were, and tried to squeeze them to see if they were hard or soft. Then we added in the water and waited for them to grow. And waited. And waited.

 We went and played for a while, but kept coming back to check the progress of our water beads and to talk about how they were changing and growing. Erik has been interested in colors lately, so we talked a lot about the different colors we were seeing. After several hours they'd finished growing and we spent a long time just playing in the tub of beads. Erik loved it!

 When he seemed to be losing interest, I added in a few cups and scoops and we got to practice scooping and pouring. He was really enjoying discovering this new material, even his toes had to get involved...

This was  a great, inexpensive way to keep my busy boy out of trouble and engaged in something. If you want cheap, easy, low-mess fun than water beads are for you. I loved all the opportunities they gave us to develop language as we had a natural conversation about what we were seeing and feeling. They were beautiful and interesting and a whole lot of fun!