Fall Sticky Tree

I found the original idea for this from Teaching Mama and thought it looked like an easy to assemble "art project" I could throw together at the last minute when I needed something to occupy the kids.  To my surprise Bea loved it and played for around 45 minutes with it and then went back to it the next morning and continued to add some of the fall stickers I had set out for them.  Charlie liked it for a few minutes but I think became frustrated when he couldn't reach the top of the tree (my fault) and I think for the next one I'll make them each a tree (or whatever, this has a ton of potential variations).

I drew the tree on contact paper and also set out the fall images and a packet of fall felt leaf stickers that I actually had from last year.

We'll definitely do another fall one, plus maybe a turkey for Thanksgiving, a Christmas tree, etc.  the options are endless!

Heather

Fall Salt Dough

It's finally, almost, fall!!!!  I absolutely love fall, the weather, the smells, everything.  So when I saw that Fun at Home with Kids has a full week of fall posts I knew we had to try some.

Up first, Fall Salt Dough.  I didn't have any pumpkin pie spice on hand (bad mom!) so instead we went with cinnamon.  Bea helped me mix and knead the dough and then started rolling it out and making her fall shapes:  leaves and pumpkins.

 We play with play dough quite a bit and the texture of this was similar so she had no problems rolling it out and making shapes.  I was actually surprised how good they were by the end of the activity!

Here she is making a snowman.  Not sure why, since she does know that snowmen are for winter, but she insisted on making a snowman.

The dough smelled delicious and we both kept taking breaks from rolling and cutting to take a sniff of the cinnamon!

Here is our cookie tray full of fall shapes.  We baked them for around 2 hours at 200 degrees, flipping once half way through.

I'm not sure what we'll do with them yet, probably just put them in a fall inspired bowl around the house, although Bea did say she wanted to put some in her room to look at while falling asleep.  And even though Charlie was napping during this she asked to save some of the dough so he could play with it later.  Someone loves their little brother!!!!

Heather

Bath Time Goop

Today was a rainy and humid day.  I had promised Bea that the next time we had a rainy day we would do, what she calls, "bath painting" again.  I only realized that the last time we had done this was in March and she's still talking about it!

Bath painting is just shaving cream mixed with food coloring and the kids use this to paint our tub.  So far we haven't had a problem with stains in the tub, although we did have some blue stains on our hands today so I think I'll try liquid watercolors next time.

In addition to the bath paints I found a recipe from Growing A Jeweled Rose called Goop and thought it would be fun to try.  It's basically just a mixture of corn starch and water (and color, if you want) but the substance it makes is insane.  It's liquid but also solid, when you try it you'll understand what I mean.  Here's our Goop after I first mixed it.

At first Bea didn't want to play with it.  She kept saying it was really sticky.

 After a few minutes they were both well into it.  We added the bath paints and they painted the walls, mixed colors, painted a few bath toys, and ended it with putting their feet into what was left of the Goop.

Once we were finished I simply turned on the water and we turned clean up into another game.  I'm definitely making Goop again soon!  I think this held their attention for almost an hour, which I think is pretty good for a 3.5 year old and a 21 month old!

Heather

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