My 13-month-old is in THAT STAGE. You know the "Everything-In-The-Mouth" one.
It's meant that I haven't been able to do many Art Projects with the 3-year-old for the last few months (unless the baby is sleeping).
I finally decide to try out a simple, edible paint that BOTH girls can use.
Enter Instant Potato Flakes.
All you do is add water to some instant potatoes and some food dye.
The first batch turned out to be more of a play-dough material than paint. Honestly, the 13-month-old only played with it for about 5 minutes. But, she was very engaged for those few minutes.
It was a MUCH big hit with the 3-year-old. She spent at least 3 hours enraptured with this new material.
I would definitely call that a hit! It's nice finding an activity that they can both to together. (The peace may only last 5 minutes....but....boy is it golden.)
Helping out in the Kitchen is big around these parts these days. Nye-Nye just learned how to grate carrots. She probably ate more than she grated. But, she was so proud of herself!
Whenever she is interested, I try and find a way for her to help with cooking.
My Sissy helped me created several Fruit Peels using card stock, Sharpies and watercolors. I drew out the shapes in pencil and then went over them with a Sharpie.
Aunt Mimi cut out the shapes and then I painted them with the watercolors. It took about an hour to make them.
I liked how they looked, so I didn't want to throw them in the Recycling Bin, after Halloween was over.
Recently, I figured out a new use for them.
"A Lacing Activity."
All I had to do was use a hole-punch around the edge and then tie a ribbon around one hole.
I say "all I had to do is" but honestly, those little suckers are hard to punch. As you can see, I haven't finished the Banana Peel or the Apple Core. The paper was closer to cardboard weight and hurt my hands to punch through...so spending 5 minutes here and 5 minutes there may be the way to go.
I can't wait until Nye-Nye expresses more interest in lacing. Then, I'll create some more with a different theme.
I think this is such an easy, cheap Activity for Preschoolers.
Okay, so the first page and the last page both have a few sentences - making this book, technically, not wordless. But, all the other pages are just illustrations. Very sweet, charming illustrations.
The story is about a Toddler (Madeline) and her dog, Carl, who are sent to their neighbor's house for a nap, while their Mama gets ready for a Birthday Party.
Madeline and Carl sneak back home and discover lots of yummy and exciting surprises at their house.
It's been a hit at our house for the last 6 weeks. We keep renewing this library book.
Now, that Nye-Nye is turning THREE on Friday, it's been handled even more. I've been observing her sitting on the couch or her chair, telling the story in her own words.
This is BIG because she is NOT a kid, who wants to sit still and read books all day.
I think we'll going to have to get our own copy.
This book is great, especially, if your family includes a special canine member.
Okay. Maybe this might not be true for all kids. But, most of them LOVE post-its, right?
Pens, note-pads, return address labels, business cards. All cool stuff.
Recently, I created a Mail Center for my soon-to-be three year old. She's really been into envelopes and making cards. So I created a whole box just for her.
It has everything she would need to mail off a card. I had some return address labels made that she puts on EVERYTHING.
She spends probably two hours each day working on her cards. It's definitely worth the headache of organizing all the cards, stickers and pieces of paper strewn around the house every night.
Today, her business cards arrived.
Yes, I ordered business cards for a three year old.
She has spent hours playing with my Mother's business cards. So, I figured a card with her photo on it, would be tons of fun.
I was right.
She refused to let go of them today, when we went to the playground. She ran around, climbing things and sliding down the slides, all the while clutching a stack of business cards.
It's gratifying to see something that cost so little money (and took such little effort) could bring such Joy to my daughter.
There have definitely been several projects that took A LOT of effort and time on my part, which she played with it for a grand total of five minutes.
I am going to bed one Happy Mama.
I wonder how long it would take her to start handing out her cards.
If you are stuck inside and looking for something to do, this is a very easy and incredibly fun activity.
You probably have all the ingredients necessary.
"Marbled Valentines out of Shaving Cream and Food Dye."
Shaving Cream.
Food Dye.
Paper.
Tooth-picks or a butter knife.
Cardboard.
Paper plate or pie plate.
Be prepared for a big mess!
Directions
Cut some Hearts out of paper (make sure they fit in the envelopes you are planning on using...giant envelopes cost more to send, which I forgot about last year).
Lay out either newspaper or an old table cloth or better yet do it in the tub.
Fill plate with shaving cream (about an inch thick).
Squeeze a few drops of food dye into the shaving cream (fun for little ones to do).
Swirl around with tooth picks or a butter knife (my 3-year-old particularly liked this part).
Squish Heart onto shaving cream.
Scrape off with a piece of cardboard (I ended up doing this part, you may go through several pieces of cardboard depending how thick your pieces are).
Let the Heart dry (it only takes a few minutes).
It's like Magic, how the marbled effect appears!
Yup, I enjoyed the process as much as my 3-year-old.
I would say this activity would work from age 18 months and up (as long as they are no longer putting things in their mouth).
What a terrific Sensory Activity!
Very small ones will love to just squish and squish their hands, particularly if they have never played with shaving cream before.
Nye-Nye loved to pretend she was making peanut butter sandwiches with the butter knife.
I have a feeling this will be a MUCH requested activity over the next few months!
I am happy with how my daughter's Valentines turned out this year. The home-made paint I made dried quickly and ended up having a little bit of shimmer to it. This paint didn't flake off and crumble like last year's straight cornstarch and water recipe.
Nye-Nye had a blast gluing the hearts to the folded cards and then adding with magic markers some illustrations of cats, flowers, fish and tractors to the cards.
2 tablespoons of clear vinegar (we were out, so I just used wine vinegar and it was fine)
2 tablespoons of baking soda
1 tablespoon of cornstarch
1 teaspoon of corn syrup (luckily, we were at my Mama's house and she had some in her pantry)
food coloring
I put all of the ingredients (except the food dye) in separate yogurt containers. Nye-Nye dumped the vinegar and then the baking soda directly into the blender. We had fun watching it fizz.
Then, she added the cornstarch and the corn syrup and turned on the blender when I gave the okay. She did an excellent job making sure it was thoroughly blended together. I poured the paint into some yogurt containers and then added the food coloring. We ended up with two shades of red.
I dumped the red paint onto paper plates and let her go to town with the potato stamps.
Before, preparing the ingredients, I had spent less than 10 minutes carving out heart stamps from some sprouting potatoes my Mama had on hand.
The next day, I spent 30 minutes cutting out the hearts from the paper my daughter had stamped (she's still learning the concept of how to stamp and not just smear the paint). My Mama cut down some Scrap-booking paper to size and folded them into cards, while I cut.
I put some Tacky Glue into a pie plate and called over my kiddo. I showed her how to put glue on the back of the heart and then I let her put the heart wherever she wanted to on the card. She had loads of fun with this part (especially peeling off the glue from her fingers). I only moved the hearts, if they were hanging off the page and were not going to fit in the envelope.
After the cards dried, I gave her a marker to add some "details" to each card. I also showed her where to "sign her name" in the inside of the card. My Mother said I was working her too hard. I think she was fine.
I'll post a video of the final products on Valentine's Day. Here is a video of my Mother showing Nye-Nye how to stamp the paper...
This Weekend, we are attempting to Potty Train Nye-Nye. She is going to spend the next few days at home being naked.
Well, at least without any diapers, pull-ups or underwear on.
She had shown interest at 15 months but completely lost it after a month or so. I didn't push. Especially when I got pregnant and knew a new baby would probably cause a regression.
Now at 34 months, she has declared she wants to use The Potty.
She read several Potty Books at Ra-Ra's house last week and that seemed to spark her interest. We also explained that if she wanted to go to school, she would have to use the toilet.
Last night, she went to the store and picked out some Chi-Chi Presents (chi-chi is what an Indian nickname for poop). We know peeing in the Potty won't be the issue, so Daddy bought some small presents (a journal, head-bands, those expanding sponges, etc...) to help encourage her.
We removed the large rug in our Living Room. Put out the Potties. And, have our wet Swiffer primed and ready to go.
