Balloon Free Play

 We LOVE balloons at our house. They are so cheap and provide so much entertainment! I almost always have a package of balloons tucked away somewhere so that when we're desperate for something to do I can pull them out.

 This day both kids were bored and cranky and just kept getting into trouble. I've learned that if I can provide them with something to keep themselves busy and cheer them up it can change a BAD day into a good one. And this pack of balloons only cost me a dollar, so it's a winner all around.

 We built muscles while we threw and caught and batted and kicked the balloons.

 We built vocabulary as we talked about colors and sizes.

 We built a foundation for learning math by comparing and classifying.

 We built memories as we goofed around and enjoyed being together.

 I pulled out a marker and drew a face on one of the balloons. This idea took off like wildfire, and soon every balloon had a different face on it. The kids would bring me a balloon and I'd let them pick whether that one would be happy, sad, surprised, etc.

 To see more of the fun things we've done with balloons, click here.

Sensory Grab Bag

The idea for this activity came from a neat little book of activities one of our neighbors gave us, called The Preschoolers Busy Book. It's full of all kinds of great ideas that are mostly quick and easy to put together.
Set up for this activity is really easy. You fill a small bag (think leftover gift bag, brown paper lunch bag, pillow case, anything you have handy) with miscellaneous items from around the house. Aim for a variety of shapes and textures, and try to include things from multiple rooms of the house.

Have your child reach into the bag without looking and choose an item. They have to feel the item and try to guess what it is before pulling it out to see if they're right. My kids loved this, and it was a great way to keep them busy while nursing a baby. You can change out the items as many times as you want and keep this game interesting for days and days!

*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.

Balloon painting

 I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it looked fun! I'm always on the lookout to turn an ordinary activity (like painting) into something more interesting. 

 Holding onto the balloon with slippery paint covered fingers took some skill and concentration. It was fun to watch the kids try to figure out how to make things work out how they wanted. (We also had the occasional dropped balloon, so using some kind of easily washable paint is a good idea.)

 The kids experimented with different ways to incorporate the balloons into the painting fun. We used them as stamps...

 

...and also as a canvas. 

 

 The kids ended up switching to finger painting when the balloons just got too slippery. I was glad I'd covered the table under each kid with some wrapping paper from the dollar store!

 The kids still wanted to paint, but were tired of finger painting, so we tried making some prints by pressing blank paper into the little plastic trays their paints were in. They were fascinated by that idea!

I love activities like this that keep the kiddos happy for a good long time!

Rice Krispie Sensory Bin

 I don't remember where I first saw the idea of using Rice Krispies as filler for a sensory bin, but it's a great idea! I spread a sheet out on the living room floor to catch the mess, and gave the kids each a plastic tub of cereal and lots of fun toys for playing with. They loved it!

 With a sensory bin like this I love to give the kids toys/utensils that are great for scooping and pouring. It gives them a chance to explore spatial relations (will the amount in this scoop fit in this cup?) as well as hand-eye coordination.

 This citrus juicer is one of the kids' favorite toys. It's fun with play dough or sensory bins, or playing in the dirt. It's also a great way to strengthen those fingers!

 This one kept the kids busy for a long time, I didn't even have to feed them a snack that day! ;)

 This did get pretty messy, but most of the mess was on the sheet and what had gotten on the floor vacuumed up easily.

I love sensory bins! They can be so low-prep and are one of the more engaging things I've found for the kids to play with.

TBT: Shaving Cream Free Play

Shaving cream is one of our favorite play materials. It's cheap, is versatile, and it's so much fun!

This spring Sharli had her first experience playing with shaving cream, and she had a blast. We started out with a big pile of plain shaving cream and I just left it there for her to explore with no further direction from me. 

 She wasn't too sure about this new weird goop at first...

 I added some drops of food coloring and that's all it took for her squeamishness to disappear. This girl lives for all things pretty!

 It didn't take very long before she was all in, and I mean ALL in. Too bad I didn't think to strip her to her diaper before starting this. Good thing it's pretty easy to clean up!

Super Suds Water Play

We spend a lot of time outside playing in the water, so I'm always looking for something new to keep it interesting. This activity was a great way to mix things up.

All I had to do to prep was put some water and a large squirt of dish soap in my blender and turn it on to make as many suds as I could get. I poured the water and bubbles into a couple of containers and carried them outside for the kids, along with some of our toy kitchen utensils.

This kept the kids busy for a long time, and whenever the bubbles started to run out I just had to flip the blender back on for a few seconds and whip up a few more. Pretty soon one of the kids ran inside and came back with the basket of animal toys, and they spent a long time washing all the animals.

Maren though was not real impressed with it all. She spent the entire time napping in the sun while they played.

By the way, this all happened in January. Thus the mostly dead grass and the swaddled baby. But, we do live in NM, so it's not too cold to enjoy water play outside even this time of year. 

Because this is Erik we're talking about, it was just a matter of time before he was all the way in the water, with Sharli following right behind.

 Good thing it's just soap and water, right?

Summer Reading Fun: If You Give A Mouse A Cookie

I was so excited for this week's Summer Reading Program! There are lots of fun ideas out there to go with this classic kid's book, it was fun to sift through them all and find ones that would work for our little group. 

I found this amazing play dough recipe that I knew I had to try. It worked out pretty well. It's more dense and stiff than my usual recipe, but it looked JUST like cookie dough, and smelled great! We had to watch the younger kids pretty close to make sure they didn't eat it (although without the "chocolate chips" it would be taste safe).

For our gross motor game I found this cute Little Mouse game that sounded fun. I originally envisioned playing outside and placing the houses far enough apart that they would have to run from one to the other, but summer in New Mexico can get pretty darn hot. We scaled things down and brought the fun inside, which took away from the gross motor aspect but not from the fun. To make it a group game I chose one child to pick a house to hide the mouse in, than he/she got to pick which child guessed first. If the one guessing got it right they got to be the next "hider", if not they chose another child to take a guess. I tried to help guide the selection process so that everyone got a turn. 

 Our craft this week was also our sensory activity. We made puffy paint cookies. They were messy and gooey, but so much fun!

 And of course for our snack I made sure to bring real chocolate chip cookies to share with all the kids!

*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 link.