Ok, this is just so cool and fun I had to share it. I found this through a facebook post from www.theimaginationtree.com
Add a little food coloring to your bath (it won't stain your tub or you child's skin! yay!) The gal on Imagination Tree also added scents, head on over to her site and see this in action (she has pictures).
We did this at home over the weekend and Autumn had a blast. We did green (and I did add the eucalyptus that she did due to colds in our house) and she decided it made a great swamp for her dinosaurs and alligators.
Now she wants to try a blue bath for her sharks and fish and rays. Unfortunately she only gets a bath once a week so she'll have to wait till Saturday. :)
We did discover that the coloring also tints the bubbles if you do a bubble bath.
http://www.theimaginationtree.com/2011/05/multi-sensory-bath-times.html
Monday, October 10, 2011
Monday, October 3, 2011
Pool Noodle Fun on Dry Land
Wish you hadn't bought quite so many pool noodles (to replace the ones you put away last fall and couldn't find until you bought new ones)? Here are some fun ways to use those noodles all winter long (now I wish I'd bought a few this summer!)
1. Tunnel Fun: Line up a few chairs facing each other, a few feet apart. Lay pool noodles across the chairs to make a tunnel. Children can crawl underneath the noodles or through the tunnel. Children develop upper body strength and spatial concepts while having fun!
2. Tug of War: A great partner activity for parent and child. Each person holds onto an end of the noodle and tries to pull it from the other. Vary positions to increase the fun and benefit. Try sitting, kneeling, and then standing. Try kneeling while your child stands. Challenge him/her to pull you over—you will both have fun when you fall over! This activity increases muscular strength and endurance.
3. Rocket Ships: Cut a pool noodles in half or into thirds. Count 1,2,3 Blast Off! And then throw the pool noodle high in the air. Try to catch it. Or, throw the noodle high in the air and call out an action to do before it lands (i.e. jump, touch the ground, turn around).
4. Ride’em Cowboy! Put on your imaginary cowboy hat and spurs. Pretend the noodle is a horse and gallop. Add some fun by giving signals to go fast/slow or start/stop. Get creative. What other animals might you like to ride and how do they move—walk, crawl, run, waddle, etc. Children can experience a variety of locomotor patterns such as sliding from side to side; twisting back and forth; and walking in straight, curved or zig-zag paths.
5. Let’s Go Bowling: Tape 2 pool noodles parallel to each other approximately 1 to 2 feet apart from each other as bumpers in a bowling alley. Line empty water bottles at the end of the two noodles. At the opposite end, encourage children to roll a ball down the “bowling alley” to knock down the pins. To vary the activity, provide different size balls and bottles weighted with water to encourage children to use a variety of speeds and force when rolling the ball.
6. Threading and Patterning: Cut your noodle into 1-2" width rings, provide a string with a taped end (tie the other end around one of the rings to provide a stopper) and let your child go to town. You can show them how to make patterns or just let them play and have fun.
7. Counting Caterpillar:
You could also write numbers 1-10 on the noodles and help your child string them in order, make a cute face on one and it will be a fun counting caterpillar.
8. Pool Noodle Printing: This one I've done with my daughter and she loves it. I took some noodles that were cut into 1" rings and we printed with them using tempera paint and paper. We also did it with mud and the side of our house (and then hosed it off later).
9. Marble Run: This is an easy take on a classic game. Cut a pool noodle in half and race your marbles! One of my cousins sent me this picture thinking I'd get a kick out of it. How fun is this?!
So, don’t put those pool noodles away until next summer. It’s time to play! I'd love to know your ideas, so please share them in the comments section.
1. Tunnel Fun: Line up a few chairs facing each other, a few feet apart. Lay pool noodles across the chairs to make a tunnel. Children can crawl underneath the noodles or through the tunnel. Children develop upper body strength and spatial concepts while having fun!
2. Tug of War: A great partner activity for parent and child. Each person holds onto an end of the noodle and tries to pull it from the other. Vary positions to increase the fun and benefit. Try sitting, kneeling, and then standing. Try kneeling while your child stands. Challenge him/her to pull you over—you will both have fun when you fall over! This activity increases muscular strength and endurance.
3. Rocket Ships: Cut a pool noodles in half or into thirds. Count 1,2,3 Blast Off! And then throw the pool noodle high in the air. Try to catch it. Or, throw the noodle high in the air and call out an action to do before it lands (i.e. jump, touch the ground, turn around).
4. Ride’em Cowboy! Put on your imaginary cowboy hat and spurs. Pretend the noodle is a horse and gallop. Add some fun by giving signals to go fast/slow or start/stop. Get creative. What other animals might you like to ride and how do they move—walk, crawl, run, waddle, etc. Children can experience a variety of locomotor patterns such as sliding from side to side; twisting back and forth; and walking in straight, curved or zig-zag paths.
5. Let’s Go Bowling: Tape 2 pool noodles parallel to each other approximately 1 to 2 feet apart from each other as bumpers in a bowling alley. Line empty water bottles at the end of the two noodles. At the opposite end, encourage children to roll a ball down the “bowling alley” to knock down the pins. To vary the activity, provide different size balls and bottles weighted with water to encourage children to use a variety of speeds and force when rolling the ball.
6. Threading and Patterning: Cut your noodle into 1-2" width rings, provide a string with a taped end (tie the other end around one of the rings to provide a stopper) and let your child go to town. You can show them how to make patterns or just let them play and have fun.
7. Counting Caterpillar:
You could also write numbers 1-10 on the noodles and help your child string them in order, make a cute face on one and it will be a fun counting caterpillar.
8. Pool Noodle Printing: This one I've done with my daughter and she loves it. I took some noodles that were cut into 1" rings and we printed with them using tempera paint and paper. We also did it with mud and the side of our house (and then hosed it off later).
9. Marble Run: This is an easy take on a classic game. Cut a pool noodle in half and race your marbles! One of my cousins sent me this picture thinking I'd get a kick out of it. How fun is this?!
So, don’t put those pool noodles away until next summer. It’s time to play! I'd love to know your ideas, so please share them in the comments section.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Free Online Story Time
Ok, this is cool! I just found this while doing a little link hopping (bad habit of mine, but sometimes I find some real gems) This is a free read-a-loud story time on the Barnes and Noble website. Each month an author or celebrity reads a book that your child can watch and listen to on-line.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/storytime/
This month is Llama, Llama, Home with Mama by Anna
Dewdney
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/storytime/
This month is Llama, Llama, Home with Mama by Anna
Dewdney
Monday, September 19, 2011
Parenting Special Needs Magazine
Here is the Sept/Oct issue of the Parenting Special Needs Magazine
http://parentingspecialneeds.org/currentissue
http://parentingspecialneeds.org/currentissue
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Target Children's Book Festival
I stopped to get coffee this morning so I could make it through church and there was an advertisement on the cup insulator for Target's Children's Book Festival. This is at the Hyland Lake Park Reserve. Ok, I'm curious, what is a book festival. How handy that there was also a website for me to go find out more about it. First thing I noticed: FREE! Well, it can't get much better than that.http://sites.target.com/site/en/company/page.jsp?contentId=WCMP04-054912
Free: musical performances
Free: story readings
Activities for kids age 2-10, did I mention it's free?
This is the schedule of events
http://sites.target.com/images/company/our_company/community_outreach/book-festivals/resources/bookfest_lineup_Minneapolis.pdf
Here is the link to the map for parking
http://sites.target.com/images/company/our_company/community_outreach/book-festivals/resources/bookfest_Parking_Map_Minneapolis.pdf
I have to plug one of the musical groups. My daughter is SOOOOO excited to see Choo-Choo Soul. This is seen on Disney channel or on their website. Autumn LOVES Geneveive and is always be-bopping around the house singing bits of these songs.
Want a sneek peek?
http://disney.go.com/disneyjunior/choo-choo-soul/choo-choo-soul-videos-episodes/abc-1167470
Monday, August 29, 2011
Oobleck (under construction, working on the picture issue)
Yep, it's as messy and as fun as the name sounds. Ooblek is a non-newtonian liquid. That is, it acts like a liquid when being poured but like a solid when a force is acting on it. You can grab it and then it will ooze out of your hands. Make enough and you can even walk on it (Mythbusters did this on one episode). Scientists haven't decided yet what makes oobleck behave like this. Of course none of this will make sense to your kids. But for the science geeks out there.....(my husband is one so of course we had to look up the properties).
Oobleck is a classic science experiment that's perfect for entertaining little kids and big kids (that includes adults). If you haven't seen it in action it's fascinating stuff and before long you'll have your hands covered with it, happily making a mess that can be washed away with water.
Oobleck gets it's name form the Dr. Seuss book Bartholomew and the Oobleck where a gooey green substance, Oobleck, fell from the sky and wreaked havoc in the kingdom.
I pre-measured all the ingredients and then let my daughter pour them together and mix them up. We decided to play with mixing colors at the same time so she picked two colors and we played till we got a new color. My daughter is at an age where body functions are funny so when our blue and yellow turned green.....yep, boogers! Think ahead on this one :)
2 parts corn starch
1 part water
food coloring of your choice (will stain, may want to use newspapers and an apron)
(we ended up adding a little more water as we went along because it got too hard to play with)
Monday, August 22, 2011
Homemade Microwave Popcorn
Yep ~ it can be done!
Fold end of bag over, and tape shut.
- Place in microwave, and lay bag flat. Stop once there is approximately 5 seconds between pops. {you’ll just have to experiment with this part, and see what works best with your microwave}.
- Transfer to a bowl and eat as is or sprinkle with salt. Now, if you’re really living it up, go ahead and top this with some drizzled butter… mmm…
- Enjoy!!
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