Oliver's Treasure Chest

After my dad did laundry, Oliver spotted a few dollar coins that had fallen out of a pocket. He wanted to know what they were. My dad told him he could have them, and they could be like treasure. Oliver was so excited to have this coins. So, I decided he needed a treasure chest to put them in!

I used an empty dryer sheet box and wrapped it in brown paper.

I wrapped the box like a present, except I cut around the lid opening before wrapping so the lid would open & close.

Ta da! There's Oliver's treasure. He also added a quarter to it later, so he has "silver" and "gold!"

Here's a little clip of him enjoying the treasure chest:
                      

He also likes it when I hide the treasure chest. He counts to 15 and then goes and finds it!

Trick or Treat 2013!

Weeks ago, Oliver told me he wanted to be a washing machine for Halloween. I love a challenge! Joanna was nominated to be the dryer.

I knew I'd make the costumes out of boxes, but I went online for more ideas. There were a few photos of people dressed as washers & dryers, but no info on how to make them. From the photos, I took away the idea of covering the kids in clothes. In the end, I needed two boxes, a roll of wrapping paper (any kind, as long as the back is plain white), tape, modelling clay, a Sharpie, some plastic pie or round cake covers, glue, blue food coloring, miscellaneous small boxes/bottles, dryer sheets, ribbon, and clothes.

Andrew brought home two boxes from work. They were Starbucks boxes from the coffee they provide in the break room. They were the perfect size for our kids. The smaller the person, the smaller the box! I pulled open one flap on top to serve as the panel for the appliances. I completely cut off the bottom of the box, and then I cut a hole out of the top of each. I took random leftover wrapping paper and wrapped the appliances inside-out. Double-sided tape helped keep things looking nice.

I couldn't find any extra knobs at hardware stores and craft stores, so I finally made my own out of modelling clay. It took about 5 minutes to make the knobs at 15 minutes to bake them, so it really wasn't that hard nor time consuming. I used a Sharpie to write in details for the dials, like "hot, warm, cold." Other than the modelling clay and ribbon, the only thing I had to go out and buy were the plastic pie covers. The kind I got had a plastic bottom and top that locked together. I stuck clothes in one and hot-glued it to the front of the "dryer." For the washer, I mixed Elmer's glue and a drop of blue food coloring. I poured it into one of the pie covers about halfway up. I poured some glue on top of that to look like foam, but it dried mostly clear.

I purchased ribbon from the discount section of Michael's. I got some for $1! I poked 4 holes in the top of each costume around the opening, kind of like the corners of a square. I took the end of a ribbon and poked it through the top of one hole and knotted it a couple of times on the bottom. I strung the ribbon across diagonally to another corner hole, cut the ribbon to size (Oliver had to stand in his so I could measure it to fit), and then I stuck it in the hole and knotted it. I repeated it again the other way, so each costume had two pieces of ribbon that formed an X. Their body went into the front of the X, and each arm went through a side of the X.

If the costumes had been for adults, I could have gotten away with using a regular dryer-sheet box. Our costumes were small, so one wouldn't fit. I dug around for a random box that I could use (I ended up using a Tobasco box cut down to size). I printed out a Bounce logo on printer paper and wrapped it around the box. I stuck a dryer sheet coming out of it. Oliver had a random bottle for some toy, and I put a Tide logo on it. I hot-glued the items to the washer & dryer and called it good!

The weather forecast was cold, so the kids needed hats. I decided to loosely sew on some undies and socks to their hats. I also sewed a dryer sheet onto Jo's hat. It looked so funny and cute! I decided that Oliver needed something extra on his hat, too, so I sewed on some cotton balls to look like soap bubbles. My mom tinted some blue (using just a little blue food dye in a ziploc bag).

Here are the kids in their finished costumes, ready to trick-or-treat!

I thought Jo would hate wearing her costume, but she loved it! She toddled off from house to house, gathering candy. She probably walked a full quarter mile by herself!

They are so funny.

Oliver had the time of his life. He loved his costume, and he also loved everything about trick-or-treating. He enjoyed ringing the doorbells and saying trick-or-treat and, of course, getting candy. He couldn't stop smiling!

The best part is that Oliver could use them as toys when we got home! I cut the ribbon off and let him go to town.

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 93: Cardboard Boxes

Today's activity is a classic! Colleen, my mother-in-law whom we're staying with for a few months, took a couple of cardboard boxes and taped them together to create a tunnel for the kids. At first, they were a little skeptical, but it didn't take long for them to get really into it. I loved that they were playing together!

I took a video of all the fun they had playing with this box tunnel. Warning: it's about two minutes of the kids squealing! They really enjoyed themselves.
                                           

We were fortunate enough to have these boxes around (thanks to Colleen!), but you can usually buy large boxes from a place like U-Haul or a storage center for about $2 a piece. I think this is a great activity to keep in mind for a rainy day or for when winter rolls around. It was a hit with both of my kids, which means it's not just a toddler activity! I give this activity an A.

Make a Balance Bike

Have you heard about balance bikes? I first heard about them last year. They're short, two-wheel bikes with no pedals. Kids push off on them and learn to balance on the bikes. By learning to balance first, kids learn how to ride bikes at a young age.

I really wanted to get one for Oliver. I checked them out at Timbuk Toys in Highlands Ranch. They were beautiful and perfect... and $100. Even on Craig's List, I only found them in the $50-$75 range. So, I wrote them off as just a good idea.

Until a few weeks ago, that is! One of the moms in MOMS Club, Erica, sent us a tip: make your own balance bike by removing the pedals, chain, and gears from a regular bike. It was such a simple idea. I couldn't help but think, "Duh, why didn't I think of that?"

Yesterday, I went to a church/preschool down in Littleton that was having a big consignment sale (actually, another mom in MOMS Club told us about it!). It's going on through Saturday, so if you're in the area, be sure to check it out. I went with one goal: to find a bike! I got there right at 9:30am when they opened and, after paying the $1 entrance fee, I bee-lined it for the bikes. Oliver was at work with Andrew for Take Your Child to Work Day, so it was just Jo and me. I spotted a short, green bike with no training wheels. It was priced at $5!

I bought the bike, and, as soon as Jo went down for her nap, I started scraping away at all the stickers and decals.

I wasn't strong enough to get the pedals off the bike. Actually, I wasn't even strong enough to loosen the bolt to lower the seat! Andrew got a little "honey do" list when he came home. He got to work on the bike, and I ran back to the sale to look for a bike helmet for Oliver. I had my ticket to get back into the sale for no extra charge, and I got the helmet for $2. Here's Oliver looking out the window at Andrew, who was working on severing the bike chain.

Here's our finished product! Not bad for $5, ey?

The verdict? It looks great. Oliver loves his new bike. He wants to keep trying to ride it. Unfortunately, he hasn't quite figured out the concept yet. He wants to lift up his feet and have us push him around. It's OK; he'll figure it out eventually. In the meantime, I'm just happy he's excited to do something active!

Disassembling the bike was a one-way street. After busting up the chain, we just didn't see the point in keeping the pedals. I figure, it'll work as a balance bike for Oliver this summer and next, and then it can be a balance bike for Joanna for a couple years. If I'm feel crafty, I can even spray paint it for her when the time comes.

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 91: Pushing Pom-Poms

Today's activity comes from the Fun & Engaging Activities for Toddlers blog. She found it from another blog, so it's been passed down a few times. I decided I would try it and see what the kids thought.

What you need to make this toy:

* An empty & clean plastic container. She used a margarine container, and I used a yogurt container.
* A knife
* Scissors
* Permanent marker (various colors are optional)
* pompoms (available at your local craft store)

After cleaning and drying my yogurt container, I used a sharp knife to carefully poke holes into the lid. I worried the edges were sharp, so I used scissors to round out the holes as best I could. The holes were almost impossible to see on the clear lid I used, so I used a Sharpie to outline the holes. If your kid is older, you might outline holes with different colors. Your child can then put the yellow pompoms into the yellow hole, the green pompoms into the green hole, etc.

Once your toy is made, just give your kid pompoms and let them poke them into the lid!

Joanna loved this activity! She picked it up right away and enjoyed poking pompoms into the lid over and over. I think her excitement was contagious because Oliver wanted to play, too. We only had four pompoms (I can't find where I put the rest of them), so Oliver would take the lid off the container, dump it out, and separate the pompoms so they each got two. He put the lid back on, and then they'd push their pompoms through again.

I wasn't expecting this toy and game to be as fun as it was. They loved it and played for about 20 minutes.

We've played a different version of this game in the past. I keep an empty travel wipes container, and Jo enjoys dropping letters into it (like a mailbox). Pushing pompoms into the holes was a bigger hit.

Pros: Easy to make, simple, cheap, fun, keeps kids busy
Cons: Need supplies, possibly sharp

This took all of 5 minutes for me to make. The container is its own storage, so it's easy to tuck away for a rainy day. It kept both my kids (3 years, 4 months old and 16 months old) happily occupied. I'm thrilled! This is something I plan on keeping and pulling out whenever we can't leave the house for illness or weather. It gets an A.

Making Confetti Eggs (Cascarónes)

Last year, Oliver was introduced to confetti eggs in Texas. Andrew's extended family in Texas were surprised to learn that I'd never seen confetti eggs before. Apparently, they're a tradition from Mexico's Carnival that's been adapted for Easter celebrations in Texas. All the grocery stores there sell egg cartons full of these confetti eggs that you bust open. Here's Oliver checking them out:

Well, in spite of our high Mexican-Hispanic population here in the Denver area, I've never seen confetti eggs sold in supermarkets or anywhere else. So, I decided to set the bar high and make some of my own. But wait, you're thinking. It's still February! You're right, of course. And to that, I answer: If I'm going to hollow out a couple dozen eggs before Easter next month, then I think I'd better start now. OK, yeah, maybe I'm just crazy...

Well, read on to see how I made confetti eggs. I got the step-by-step instructions from Martha Stewart's website. I took photos of each step as I did them.

From Pinterest: Cave of Lights

I stumbled upon this idea on Pinterest about an hour ago. It comes from a blog called Play at Home Mom, and you can find the original idea and post here.

We had a big box leftover from a car seat, and I've been letting the kids play with it. It hasn't been a huge hit, but Oliver sometimes likes to pretend it's a garage door. In fact, I drew a number panel on the side for him to pretend to enter codes to open and close the doors.

Well, when I found the "Cave of Lights" idea, I was so excited that I went straight to the living room and started poking holes in the box for Christmas lights. We have two strands of LED lights, and I used one of those since they don't get hot. I didn't want to have to worry about burns or fires.

Here's my work in progress. The whole thing took about 15 minutes to put together:

Here's the finished product from above: 

And here's how the cave looks from inside:

Oliver was so stoked!

He shut himself inside his cave. You can see the little key pad I quickly scribbled onto his "garage door" with a Sharpie:

After a few minutes, Oliver ran upstairs to grab a pillow. He laid like this and talked about the colors for a while. He also kept telling me it's "just like Grandma's!" I have no idea what he's talking about. As far as I know, there are no cave of lights at either of his grandparents' house! Maybe he was talking about the garage lights.

I emailed my husband with these photos and told him I felt like the mom of the year. Oliver loves this! Jo isn't so sure. She likes watching her brother from the outside, but she screamed in panic when I tried to put her in the box. Apparently, that's not OK.

For those of you with older toddlers and pre-schoolers, I think this idea is so clever and cute. Keep this in mind over the holiday season if you get any toys or packages in large boxes. For those of you who celebrate Christmas, t also might be cute to set this up on Christmas Eve night for your kids to discover in the morning! Thanks, Play at Home Mom!

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 69: Shadow Puppets

I few weeks ago, I'd made some shadow puppets for my Pinterest Challenge. The other night, we finally got around to putting them to use! I apologize for the photos. When I kept the flash off, the images were very blurry. When I put the flash on, it lit up the wall so you can't see the shadows on the wall!

Oliver was interested in the shadow puppets, but he couldn't quite grasp how to make them work himself. He saw the shadows on the wall (we just turned the lamp on in our bedroom at night. We didn't need to move it or anything). He wanted to do it himself, so he took the puppets and put them on the wall, like this:

So, the shadow puppets didn't really worked out like I hoped, but he still had fun. Here's one of the images that actually turned out OK:

Oliver then wanted to grab the puppets, so Andrew tried to hide them behind the pillows. There really was a shadow on the wall (lol!), you just can't tell because I used the flash:

It was fun for Oliver, but the fun didn't last long. Plus, all he wanted to do was grab all the puppets out of our hands and put them on the wall. I decided to save these and take them out again in a few months when maybe the whole thing will work out a little better. I'm pretty neutral on this activity. It took a decent amount of time to make those puppets because of all the cutting, but it was cheap to do. I guess I'll give this a C+, but I think this activity will be worthy of a higher grade when Oliver is older.