Ocean Fizzy Sensory Bin

Here's another sensory bin that I found over at Fun At Home with Kids.  It's called a Fizzy Ocean Sensory Bin.

I really wanted to do this before we went to the beach while in California, but I didn't get around to it.  I used the baking soda mixed with water method that they describe in Fun At Home but didn't have any shells handy at the time so I just made round forms with some sea creatures hidden in them.  Then I added vinegar (with blue food coloring) to our spray bottles to spray on them and make them "fizzy".

Next time I'll use squirt bottles instead, our spray bottles really didn't release enough of the vinegar at once, although Bea still enjoyed seeing the animals emerge and the baking soda fizz!  And Charlie took a turn at using the squirt bottle as well!

After we ran out of vinegar I added a little water and the kids had fun splashing around and making the sea creatures swim.

At one point Bea even dipped her toes into the water!

Great sensory bin for a hot summer day!

Heather

Moldable Sand Dough

Another hot and humid day here and with the threat of thunderstorms we decided to do our Moldable Sand project in the screened in porch.

I also found this one at Growing a Jeweled Rose, she really has some great ideas!

It actually looks like scrambled eggs here, I followed the recipe she listed which was baking soda, food coloring, and then add enough water to make it moldable.  I also added the suggested salt to give it more of a grainy texture.  She did warn against adding too much water, which I didn't think I had done while mixing it but as the kids played with it the water started to come out and it ended up a little soupy.  Which actually didn't seem to bother either of them, Bea even said she liked it.

Since ours was a little wet it ended up making a huge mess.  The good news though is that it wiped off the kids very easily and I left it outside to dry out some before cleaning up, which made it very easy and simple.

Oh, and Bea insisted on wearing her sun hat when we started playing with the "sand".

Heather

Bea & Charlie

Just a couple of pictures from the pool party we went to on the 4th.  We swam, had a yummy dinner, and a great time with friends.  Oh, and I somehow lost my only maternity swimsuit.  Bea asked if it "fell off of me".  Pretty sure it didn't, but I can't find it anywhere!

As you can see, the main attraction for them was the mini bouncy house.

Heather

Icy Kool Aid Finger Paint

Since it's been so hot and Bea's been asking to paint I decided to do a twist on our usual painting.  I recently came across this Chilled Out Kool Aid paint post by Growing a Jeweled Rose.

Ours was a little more liquid than theirs, but I think that might be because my portions were larger.  Next time I'll split them up into more containers.  However, Bea and Charlie still loved the fact that they were "cold finger paints".  They both began painting immediately and a few minutes later Bea, who hates getting her hands dirty usually, had both hands in the paint and was soon mixing and painting.  And of course Charlie soon followed.  

By the time they had finished both were covered head to toe in paint, but the good news is that everything wiped off of them easily and the clothes came out of the dryer looking like nothing had ever been on them! 

We'll definitely do this one again soon!

Heather