100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 95: Toddler Spray Paint

Don't forget that the monster hat giveaway ends later today (9/7/13)!

I decided to take the kids outside to try to recreate an activity I found from kiwicrate.com. She had her little boy spray large sheets of paper with a spray bottle that she filled with water and Koolaid. We don't have Koolaid, but we have food dye. My husband cleaned out a spray bottle for us to use, and we filled it with water and red food coloring. It reminded me a lot of the time I took Oliver out to spray the snow in the winter. That activity didn't go very well because he wasn't interested in spraying the snow. I wondered how painting paper would be.

We didn't have large butcher paper on hand, so we used computer paper, which I weighed down with some pine cones. Joanna wanted to play with the pine cones.

Oliver did a really great job spraying and enjoyed the activity. Jo was interested but couldn't spray by herself. She tried really hard, though. Oh, and that is a name tag on Oliver because we tried to attend a nature class up at Lookout Mountain today. It didn't go very well, but he liked the name tag!

Oliver kept spraying and spraying! I turned over the sheets so he could spray them again. We switched colors from red to orange because he wanted more colors.

He was interested in trying to spray the pine cones.

Joanna wanted to spray the pine cones, too, but she couldn't get the spray bottle to work.

From my experience with the kids, this is a really fun activity for kids who aren't toddlers. I could see Oliver having a really good time if I gave him lots of bottles filled with different colors. Joanna thought the whole thing looked fun, but she couldn't really do it herself. Although the website recommended this activity for kids 2+, I think it's better for 3+ or 4+. As a toddler activity, I give it a D+. The "plus" is because Jo was interested and was kept busy with trying to work the spray bottle.

Pros: Easy to set up, good for hot days, outdoors.

Cons: Can stain, difficult for toddlers, doesn't last long (unless you have a lot of paper to use, I suppose!)

Rainy Day Painting!

I discovered this fun idea from Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/pin/216383957068769139/. 
It comes from the Little Page Turners blog.

I've been waiting for a rainy day to give the project a chance because it looks promising. Today, once the hail stopped, I jumped on the chance to get outside to "paint." It was going to be a toddler activity until the last minute when I realized Jo is too little to do drops of food coloring.

Oliver was very excited to do the drops. I have all of our craft supplies packed up, so I improvised and used sandpaper instead of card stock. Oliver made a few drops of yellow and blue on the sandpaper.

He was a little reluctant to go outside, so he held his out to catch the rain drops. It wasn't really getting wet, so I coaxed him outside to lay it down on the porch (It's cluttered out there because we're cleaning out the storage shed! The worst of the mess isn't even in the photo...).

A few drops hit the paper, and then the rain stopped.

It was too slow of a transformation to keep Oliver interested. He definitely wanted to do more drops, though. He went outside and added a little red. We didn't get any more rain, but the colors slowly leaked from the paper getting a little damp.

I guess we had the opposite problem from Little Page Turners. She said their paintings only took 1-2 seconds to run together. She wished it had been longer! Here in the dry West, I guess it takes more like 20 minutes. Ha!

It didn't end up being the fun activity I'd hoped for, but I want to try it again one day. We usually get a week of good rain at the end of July, so we'll attempt this activity again then!

Pre-School Science: Color Eruption

For Easter, Grandpa Paul & Grandma Colleen gave Oliver an egg beater. We spent part of Easter with Paul's family, and Oliver had fun sitting on the counter, beating a mixture of water and soap in the sink. I wanted to give him something to beat at home, and so I decided to let him beat together baking soda and vinegar.

Here's what you need for this activity:

*Vinegar
*Baking soda
*food coloring (optional)
*a large bowl
*a small pitcher or measuring cup with a spout
*a whisk

First, I took a pitcher of vinegar and dyed it blue. Warning: this can stain!

Then, in a large mixing bowl, I added about a quarter cup of baking soda. I dyed it yellow and added just enough water so I could stir it.

                                                                            

Here's Oliver's activity, all set up:

Oliver poured the blue vinegar into the yellow baking soda, and it foamed up to the top of the bowl! Of course, it also turned green.

                      

Oliver kept asking for more vinegar. I gave him a few pitchers full of plain vinegar to pour in again and again. It continued to foam, but the "eruption" got less and less each time.

The mixture continued to fizzle and foam a bit as Oliver mixed away. He loved it! It kept him busy until quiet time, actually!

We used blue and yellow to make green. You can use blue and red to make purple, or you can use red and yellow to make orange. Remember that this stuff can stain your kitchen towels, table, floor, skin, and clothes!

Enjoyed this activity? Check out a similar one that is better suited for younger kids here:
http://becky-shattuck.blogspot.com/2012/08/100-attempted-ways-to-entertain-young_13.html

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.

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 89: Toddler Ball Pit

I found this pin from Rookie Moms on Pinterest months ago and then forgot about it. Then, today, I took the kids to Target to shop for presents for two birthday parties we're attending this weekend. Large bags of play balls were on clearance for $7.50! They were on an end-cap in the toy section at my local Target. I picked up a bag for us and a bag for our friend turning 1.

As soon as we made it in the door, the kids started begging to play.

I set up the play yard and dumped all 150 balls in there. As an FYI, this ended up being enough for the kids, but I'd imagine you could easily add a second bag unless your kid is really little.

At first, Jo hated the toddler ball pit. I set her inside, and she started crying and stood up for me to pull her out.

Oliver had a great time throwing balls and rolling on them and kicking them!

After nap time, we tried again. First, Jo watched Oliver play. When she seemed comfortable, I stuck her back into the ball pit. Success!

Jo banged balls together, kicked at them, and squealed with joy!

I grabbed a mixing bowl and pitcher and handed them to the kids. They filled them up and poured the balls back out. Oliver even filled the bowl according to color.

This activity was a major success! I have a feeling our ball pit is going to stay set up all weekend.

Pros: Easy to set up, no mess, and tons of fun!

Cons: Possible injury (especially if you have two kids in the pit) and it costs money to do

I give this activity an A-

Here's a video of their toddler ball pit 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 84: Pumpkin Finger Painting

A few weeks ago, while browsing Pinterest for ideas for the kids' birthday/Halloween party, I found a pin with a unique pumpkin decorating idea (here's the original pin). The woman used a spray adhesive to stick leaves onto her pumpkin, and then she spray painted the whole thing black. She peeled away the leaves, leaving behind an orange space in the leaf shape. It was neat!

I decided to make a toddler version of the pin. First thing was first. We needed leaves! Good thing Oliver and Jo were up for the task. Note that dry leaves won't bend around your pumpkin, so you'll want green leaves for this project.

Then, I used Mod Podge (which is non-toxic) to stick the leaves to the pumpkin like so:

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 83: Chalk Shapes

I've tried playing with chalk with Oliver many times. He's always interested in it for about one minute and then moves on to bigger and better things (like rocks, sticks, and leaves).

Today, I decided to use chalk to make a game. I call it "Chalk Shapes." I went outside and drew a purple triangle, a red (OK, pink) square, and a blue circle.

I gave Oliver simple directions to follow. I asked him if he could sit in the purple triangle, and he did:

I asked him to put his hands in the red square, and he put his hands on it (not bad!):

And I asked him to jump into the blue circle. Yes, Oliver (kind of) jumps now. He jumped in it and back out a couple of times before deciding my game was not very much fun.

He decided to ditch my "Chalk Shapes" game in favor of crunching some leaves. Then, a neighbor girl who is two years older than Oliver came by and played with the chalk. She told Oliver the name of all the shapes and drew some herself. Oliver gave her some sticks. So, apparently, my "Chalk Shapes" game is fun for some kids!

Because we already have chalk, I didn't lose anything by trying this game. It just didn't excite Oliver nor keep him busy. I give it a C grade.