100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 94: Water Hand Prints and Footprints

Oliver helped me come up with today's toddler activity for Jo. We've been getting some afternoon thunderstorms recently (yay, rain!). A few days ago, he tracked wet footprints all over the back patio. We ended up having a lot of fun making hand prints and footprints on the cement. He loved it when my in-laws' dogs tracked paw prints to look at, too!

I decided to recreate that fun with Jo. I got a bucket of water, but I bet this would work even better with a baking pan full of water. I showed Jo how to make hand prints with the water.

Jo had a lot of fun in the water! She wasn't able to quite "get it" yet, though. She would put hand prints on places that were already wet. She had fun and mimicked what Oliver and I were doing, but I don't think she was fully grasping that the point was to leave prints behind. I mean, that's totally OK. She had fun! I just wanted to point out that she was still a little too young to fully understand the cause-and-effect of using water to make hand prints. So, this activity was fun but might be best for kids who are a little older.

I give this activity a B grade. It was so easy to do! It's nice playing with water when it's hot outside, and the kids had fun. Jo didn't really understand the point of the whole thing, though, so I might as well have just plopped her into a toddler pool with a bucket. Actually, that probably would have even been more fun...

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 85: Water Shakers

I got today's activity idea from parenting.com. They suggested partially filling water bottles with water, tightening the caps on as tightly as you can, and then letting your little one play with them. I had bottles leftover from the kids' birthday party, so I decided to give this activity a whirl. I added a few drops of coloring to the bottles for a visual effect.

Both kids enjoyed this activity! At first, Oliver was upset that I wouldn't take the caps off. He wanted to play with the water part and pour it out. Jo sat nearby shaking the bottles and having a blast. Soon, Oliver decided that the bottles were fun, too.

This activity kept Oliver entertained for about 10 minutes. Jo continued playing with the bottles because she enjoyed the crinkle sounds of the plastic in her hands. She liked watching the colored water swish, and she liked watching them when I rolled them for her. As she continues to play with the bottles as I write this, Oliver is laughing at her shaking them. It's pretty cute.

Water Shakers is a solid activity for toddlers, especially very young toddlers and older babies. Just make sure you put on the lids really tightly or even glue them to help prevent them coming off, which would be a choking hazard. Jo's still playing with these bottles! I give this activity an A for keeping such a young kid happily entertained.

These would also be fun to let the kids play with in the tub or out in the kiddie pool in the summer.

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 82: Water Bombs

Our last water balloon activity completely bombed. Oliver still wanted to play with water balloons, so I filled another dozen or so and took him out front. I told him to throw the balloons. As soon as he threw the first one and watched it explode all over the sidewalk, he was hooked.

Some of the fun in action:
         

The activity only lasted a couple minutes. Oliver was a little water balloon machine gun. After he threw the last one, he cleaned up the busted balloons, and we went inside to do some rock painting.

Oliver loved this activity. It was so simple, too! Ultimately, my only big problem with this activity was that it took me about 10 minutes to get it ready, and it was over within a minute. I hate when cleanup takes longer than the fun. I know we'll definitely do this again, but I think I'll do it on a weekend when Andrew can watch the kids so I can fill a ton of balloons all at once. I give "Water Bombs" a B+ as a toddler activity.

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 81: Water Piñata

Yes, I'm addicted to Pinterest. When the kids are asleep, I find myself sitting at the computer, flipping through crafts and children's projects.  Months ago, I found this pin for a water balloon piñata:
http://pinterest.com/pin/216383957066018804/

All you need to do is fill up some water balloons, tie them to a string (I used yarn), and hang it up outside. Hand your child a bat or cardboard tube, and stand back!

Tip: I found a large package of water balloons in the toy aisle at Walgreen's this week that were on clearance for under a dollar.

It was OK.  Oliver couldn't bust the balloons on his own. He swung at them as hard as he could over and over. He was having fun, but I could also tell he was frustrated. I hit one for him and let him try for a while again. 

Here he is, swinging the broom handle like crazy. Doesn't he look adorable in his new monster jammies from Costco?

After breaking two balloons for him, I decided to shoot a video of the activity. You can tell it just wasn't working out as I'd envisioned. I felt really bad for Oliver because he was so excited to test out the water balloons I'd made.
                                                          

It was a pain getting the balloons filled and tied up. Oliver was practically jumping out of his skin to get at the balloons. I felt excited for him, but the activity didn't live up to our expectations. It gets a D grade.

Don't feel too bad for the little guy. We went in, made more water balloons, and I created another activity for him (to be debuted soon!).

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 75: Jack Jump Over the Sprinkler

Temperatures are back up in the 90s.  With no air conditioning, I'm constantly trying to come up with ways to beat the heat.  The pool isn't an option for me during the week because I can't juggle two little ones in water by myself.  So, I decided to hook our new Geyser Blast Sprinkler up to the hose.  

I wasn't sure what to expect.  The little plastic tubes didn't whip around as I'd thought, which was a good thing because they couldn't whack the kids in the face.  The top part spun, which delighted Oliver.  He insisted it was a fan.  

Oliver is a very cautious toddler.  At first, he didn't want to go too close to the sprinkler.  I actually carried him over it a couple times to show him it was safe.

He slowly warmed up.  He examined the whole thing and got comfortable enough to take a drink from the spraying parts.  After testing the water a few times, he finally started to step into the water and the sprinkler itself.

As you can tell from the multiple outfits, we went out again and again throughout the day.  Oliver loved it that much!

It reminded me of when I was a kid.  My sister and I would play in the sprinkler.  We'd each take turns yelling the nursery rhyme, "Jack be nimble/ Jack be quick/ Jack jump over the candlestick!"  Then we'd run and leap over the water.

As I once mentioned, Oliver's music teacher taught us that nursery rhymes really help promote literacy.  She always tells us that using nursery rhymes is the best thing we can do for our toddlers to get them ripe for reading.  I decided to incorporate that into our play.  Before long, Oliver was saying the nursery rhyme himself, and then he ran through the sprinkler.  It was better than I could have hoped!  I took a video of him in action:



This activity is perfect for little ones.  Joanna liked getting her feet splashed in the water.  Oliver loved reciting his nursery rhyme and then trotting through to get sprayed.  He also really liked examining the spinning center of the sprinkler, declaring it was "a fan" and "it's raining."



I nicknamed this activity, "Jack Jump Over the Sprinkler," and it gets an A+.  Try this out with your little ones when you need to stay cool this record-setting summer!

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 71: Car Wash

Like most of the country, we've been enjoying a few days of warm weather. I decided to make the most of it and took Oliver outside to do a little car wash. I filled one bowl with soapy water and another with fresh water. I grabbed a spray bottle with a vinegar-water mixture for the windows, and we headed outside.

Oliver looked really excited when he saw me rinsing towels. It was everything a toddler could hope for:

I showed him how to wash the car. He looked so interested!

But, when push came to shove, Oliver didn't want to wash the cars. He wanted to spray the vinegar-water into the bowls:

And soak the rags in the water and fling them about:

It wasn't what I'd planned for, but Oliver had a great time. After we (I) finished washing the outside of the cars, he climbed into the passenger side to push buttons and play with the air vents while I cleaned the interiors.

Of course, I had to keep an extra close eye on him, since our cars are parked in a lot. It was a good time, productive time, and a good way to spend a warm afternoon. If you don't have a toddler, I highly recommend getting one to help with your car cleaning. Your toddler probably won't be able to help much, but he'll make it a fun time.

Our "car wash" gets an A-.

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 50: Pouring Practice

Sometimes, as a parent, you just make stuff up. It might not be true, but it sounds true. I think a child will have just as much difficulty learning to pour at age 2 as he will at age 3 and maybe even 4. So, why not start early? At some point, Oliver will need to learn to pour. I figure it will be just as messy next year as it will be this year. Of course, maybe I'm wrong, but I decided to let Oliver learn.

This has resulted in quite a few messes. Oliver likes to pour the milk into his cereal on cereal mornings, and he does a surprisingly good job. However, the initial dump into the bowl always ends up with some (or a lot) outside of the bowl.

I decided to come up with a way for Oliver to have some pouring *practice.* Of course, the best thing to practice with is water! We don't have a kettle, which might be too heavy anyway, and we don't have a tea pot, but we do have a netty pot. It's plastic and lightweight, so I chose that for Oliver's pouring escapades. I made sure it was clean, filled it with water, and then handed it to Oliver, along with a second cup for him to pour into.

Oliver caught right on! He enjoyed pouring and sipping and dumping the water for about 15 minutes, which is a good length of time for him. After a while, he started pouring the cup of water into the bathroom sink and asking me for, "More." Well, whatever works!

Here are some shots of Oliver as he plays, "Pouring Practice:"

It's off subject, but please don't mind the nasty carpet. It is pretty bad, but we're waiting to replace it until after our daughter is born and potty trained. I decided there's no reason to replace them now if she's going to poop on them later. So, two years from now, these gross carpets will be a thing of the past.

Back to "Pouring Practice!" I really liked this activity, and, because of my old, dingy carpet, I definitely didn't mind them getting spilled on. I dabbed it up a bit when he was done, but other than that, I didn't worry about it. So, "Pouring Practice" was good for Oliver's development, fun for him, free to play, and easy (for me) to clean up. As an added bonus, my heart melted a little bit when Oliver grabbed a towel to clean up a spill. "Pouring Practice" gets an A grade!

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 48: Wash the Dishes

There are blogs and articles and books that all recommend today's activity for toddlers: Wash the Dishes. It makes sense. Kids love water, and kids love mimicking their parents. I expected today's activity to easily earn an A grade.

I put a few drops of soap into a large bowl (just enough to create some bubbles) and added water. Then, I placed that bowl onto a couple towels to (hopefully) catch most of the splashes. I pulled out a new sponge and gathered up a few pieces of tupperware. I tossed in Oliver's Lego dog, too.

Oliver watched me as I demonstrated how to use the bowl of water to wash the dishes. I used the sponge, and then I grabbed an extra towel to dry the dishes. Oliver was definitely interested, and he quickly began washing the dishes, just as I'd done:

Oliver seemed to enjoy it...
...for about three minutes. He left to go play with the pasta. I was able to convince him to come back, but he only dunked his toy dog a couple more times before running off again.


I asked Oliver if he was all done. He answered yes, so I got everything cleaned up. It wasn't too much work, but for less than five minutes of fun, I felt like it wasn't worth it. Fast forward a few more minutes, and Oliver is whining and pulling the bowl and tupperware back out of the cabinets. So, I set everything up again. Oliver played for maybe another minute before running off again. I'm currently updating this blog, and the bowl of water is just sitting there, unused.

It might be worth it for other parents to try out this activity because it sounds like something a lot of kids would love. However, based on my experience, I'm giving "Wash the Dishes" a C- because my toddler didn't enjoy it very much, and it required time to set up and clean up afterwards.

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 25: Water Painting

Today's entertaining idea comes from a website I found by Robin Kay. I chose water painting. It's easy & inexpensive to play, which is all the motivation I need to give it a try!

All you need for water painting is nice weather, a bowl of water, and a paint brush (or something similar). I had a foam one that I got for free as an advertisement from an interior decorator. So, for me, the activity was completely free!

I brought out a few bowls and some measuring cups. I figured Oliver could play with those if the painting idea went bust. I showed Oliver how to use the brush to paint. I dipped it in the water and ran it along the concrete. At first, Oliver was more interested in the measuring cups. He's always enjoyed transferring water from one container to another:


After a moment, he decided to give my water painting a try.

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 12: Rock Waves

My floor is still in recovery from the rice yesterday, but I decided to pull another activity from 365 Games Smart Toddlers Play anyway. Oliver is 20 months old, but an activity listed for 15-18 month olds caught my eye. It's called "Rock Waves."

It's super easy to do. It involves water, so toddlers obviously need constant supervision. You just fill up a bucket or bath (or, in our case, a splash pool) with water and collect some rocks of various sizes. Let your kid have fun dropping them into the water, creating waves and splashes. Easy!

We pulled out our splash pool for the first time this year. Andrew filled it up with water while I collected some rocks. As luck would have it, I found a hunk of cement the size of a large rock. I washed the rocks because pesticides are occasionally sprayed on them, and then I asked Oliver to watch me as a plopped one into the water.


Oliver needed no extra encouragement. He started dropping rocks in, throwing rocks in, and setting rocks in. He loved having me count, "One... two... THREE!" Then, he'd hurl his rock in. He was amazed at the huge splash that got us both wet from the large rock. Pretty soon, he got a little more creative and wanted to drop two rocks in at once. Then, he graduated to three. Pretty soon, he wanted me to drop the big one in as he dropped all of the small ones.This was a great activity! It kept him occupied for over 20 minutes, and he would have kept playing if we'd let him. Andrew was worried about me bending over so much. It's true that I probably can't do this activity with Oliver on my own because of my pregnancy restrictions, but I wish I was able to. I'm definitely going to carry this activity over to bath time. I'll get some of his plastic toys and blocks and let him drop them into the water while in the tub.

I give this activity an A+. Most people have a bucket or tub, so it's basically a free activity. It was great for outside on a summer day, and it was so much fun! I honestly felt like he was learning, too. He certainly was waiting for me to count to three before he threw the rocks in the pool. If I asked him which rock he wanted, he pointed to the large rock. He must have noticed that the large rock made the biggest splash!