Sand Art!

This was something fun we did at Megan's birthday party! All the kids loved it and it was so easy to put together (and cheap!). First I cleaned out some baby food jars for each kid that was coming. These were the perfect size for them. Then I took salt and rubbed chalk on it until I got the color I wanted! I first tried rubbing the salt on wax paper which worked will but got a few holes...wasn't bad. Just make sure you do a little at a time, that way you get the maximum color.

Then with a little adult help the kids filled their jars with the different colors! I did pull out the funals but we ended up not using them. The kids just used spoons to scoop each color in.

Thanks Flax & Twine for the great idea! We had a blast!

Water Painting!

This was a fun thing to do on a hot day! Just take a glass of water and a paint brush and start painting!! I seriously loved this idea cause it means a mess free clean up for me and my daughter really enjoyed playing in the water, they are so creative it just inspires me!

Library Story Time!

If you're not aware of story time at the public libraries it's definitely something to check out this summer!! We've been able to attend a few and it's really a fun time!! Click on the picture above if you're in the Davis county area to find out what time they hold them in your area. If you're not in the same area, just search for your library online and see what they offer. You can always ask was well when you go in!!

Liquid Chalk!

This was a fun activity! It's liquid chalk made from 1 cup water and 1 cup cornstarch and food coloring!! We called it paint cause my daughter loves to paint but this way I can wash it off when we're done and don't have to worry about a huge mess!!!!!! (thank goodness) And don't you worry I checked it to make sure it would wash off and I believe it washes off better then chalk itself.


Thanks to Domestic Charm for this wonderful idea!! Check out her blog for some other wonderful ideas!

Feelings

So yesterday I did Family Home Evening with my little girl (2 years old) and we learned about feelings. I copied this wheel from my mom and just had her color in each face (happy, frightened, tired, angry, surprised, sad) as we talked about the different feelings you can have. We also sang "If You're Happy And You Know It...", we did:

if you're happy and you know it make a smile
if you're sad and you know it make a frown
if you're sleepy and you know it make a yawn
if you're angry and you know it make a scowl

Our Family Home Evenings are usually short but we're putting forth the effort! You could also make sugar cookies and decorate them with faces as your treat for the evening!!

There was this other idea I found online that including reading this book...

I think that would go great along with the feelings theme! So many ideas, so little time:)

File Folder Games

At church it's very hard for us to be quiet!!! And last week I was all alone because my husband had drill. But I did it! I toughed it out and went with my girls and let me tell you, it was rough, but I absolutely wouldn't have made it without our file folder games!! I love them even though it was a lot of coloring and cutting...so worth it!

The ones I have pictured above are out of this amazing file folder book! Love it! It was worth the money to me cause they are so dang cute! But there are a ton you can print out online (for free) ....here, here and here! They have some cute ideas and they aren't all LDS, so they'd be perfect for the long doctors visit when you need the kids quite for a moment!!

Tips:

I colored, cute and laminated all pieces! The lamination when help them last longer!

I taped a plastic zip lock on the back (after laminating) to keep all the pieces together...seems to be working great!

I tried both velcro and magnetic strips. I prefer the velcro even though it's a little louder then the magnet. For one, my little girl doesn't push them down hard enough to make it loud when you pull them off and with the magnet, they seem not to stay on very well, they're sliding off a lot!

Rainny Day Activites for Kids

(thanks photogmommie.com for the pic)

It's raining here today so I needed to come up with something fun for my little girl to do inside besides watching penguins (Backyardagins) or Gabba (Yo Gabba Gabba) all day long! I've been wanting to do an ABC book with they're pictures in it so I thought today we might just get started. It might take awhile but it looks to me like it might be raining all day.

So here's my list to get started on what to photograph, I'm just trying to think of things we can do/ have on hand...if you have more ideas please help me out and comment below so we can make our full alphabet book together!! I can't wait to share the finished book with you!!

A- hold an Apple
B- playing with a ball
C- coloring
D- Dice
E- Eating
F- Flower
G- Grapes
H- Hugs
I- Ice Cream
J- Jacket
K- Kicking
L- Lemon
M- Megan and Maisy
N- Nose
O- Orange? (either eating or color)
P- Present
Q- Quiet (finger on lips)
R- Reading
S- Sun
T- Toes
U- Umbrella
V-
W- Water?
X-
Y- Yellow or Yogurt
Z- Zipper

I can do this!

I've been thinking lately that I'd like to find things to do with my girls that we enjoy and that would make them feel special. I want to spend that one on one time with them especially as they get older! I saw this great list of ideas off of pinterest (my addiction) and just LOVED what she listed!!

A few of my favorites were...

- Movie Night: Friday nights are movie night with popcorn and chocolate cookies!

- Late Night: Each child gets a night were they can stay up 10 - 15 minutes later then when everyone else goes down making it they're special time!

- Lunch Date: taking your child out of school to lunch once a month during they're regular lunch time at school (that way they're not missed out on school work!)

You can check out her whole list here!

Magnetic Dress Up

This was a fun thing to put together! I just took a metal box Megan has received for Christmas. It had snowman on it so I wanted to cover it up so it was an everyday box. I found some fabric I had just laying around and wrapped it around the box gluing it with Mod Podge. When I got to the inside I switched to a hot glue gun so it would stay better. After I had it finished I tried closing it and....it was too bulky even with how tight I wrapped it. So I glued a ribbon to go around it so we could tie it to keep it closed. It works just fine to hold all the pieces inside! Then I found this doll online but I needed it smaller then it was printing so I messed with it to make it the right size here. Then I just traced around her legs and arms to create a stencil for the outfits that I cut out from extra scraps of paper. I laminated all of them to help them last longer. I then hot glued down the doll to the inside of the box and that's it! It was pretty easy and quick to put together and my daughter loves to play with all the pieces.

Busy Bingo

I saw this on Pinterst and just loved it! Perfect for the 4 year old I watch and my 2 year old just loves to follow along. You'll need two dice for it, one with numbers the other with colors. You can print out the bingo board here, or make your own to go with what your child knows how to do! I found the perfect little prizes at the Target dollar section and I know there are tons of fun stuff at the dollar store as well that you can use as prizes if you'd like too.

Here's a link to a dice print out if you're in need of one. You can find dice at the dollar store as well and just paint or place stickers (or paper) over the numbers to get your colored dice! The extra side you could either put, you choose, roll again, or lose a turn.

Hope you have as much fun as we do!!

I Spy Bottle

We are getting ready for a very long road trip and I'm trying to put together things to keep my 2 year old entertained so I made this I spy bottle. It was quick and easy and didn't cost us anything cause everything was on hand. Here's what I put inside of it...

• Alphabet (The letters on both sides of that paper to make it easier for her, you could also cut out the letters on a cricut to make them cutier...I went with quick since we'll be leaving next week)
• Dime
• Pinny
• Safty Pin
• Button
• Nickle
• Orange Paper Clip
• Rubber Band
• Ruler
• Flower
• Star
• Screw
• Nut (Metal)
• Match
• Battery
• Bobby Pin
• Straw (I cut the straw down to about 1/2)
• Magnent
• Tack
• Nail
• Orange Bow (just made out of ribbon I had on hand)
• Black Bean
• Pink Candle
• Pen

After everything I wanted was inside (and I had everything written down) I filled it with rice. I choose rice cause I had it on hand, I've seen others also use beads instead from the dollar store, either works great! Then I hot glued the lid on so she wouldn't try opening. I added a square piece of fabric on top just for looks!! She's off enjoying it now!!

Masking Tape Fun

Today was fun, I started watching a boy that is a little older then my oldest which can be a little hard because I haven't gotten to that stage yet so I don't know what they're into and what they can and can't do...you know what I mean? So I got a little creative and decided to come up with fun things to do with the kids each day. A lot of work I know but I needed something to keep them happy especially with the cold weather that came back to us!!! (BLAAAA)
So for today (and I totally forgot to take a picture...we'll have to do it again so I can) we ran masking tape all over our down stairs room (the toy room) for them to run their cars on...they loved it!!! It was perfect and easy to do. Just grab a roll of tape and start making your own little town. Next time I'm going to get some of that bigger paper so we can draw our own town (we'll have to do two cause they aren't to good with sharing and I'm sure he wouldn't like Meg's coloring job:) ). I'm looking forward to next time!!

B is for...

This weeks letter is B! We'll be enjoying a PB&J sandwhich for lunch in honor of our letter of the day! And then we'll be headed out to blow some Bubbles! You could also cut out the letter B in blue paper and let them color all over it! You could even play ball!! There is so many opitions for the letter B

Rub and Dub Tub

Megan loves her baths and we needed to find something new and fun to do for her. So we took the same recipe that we used for the finger paint and took it to the tub!

Learning Our ABC's

Megan is very good at singing her ABC's but now it's time for her to recognize them so we're going to be having a letter of the week with different things to do with and different letter each week! I'm really excited for this and to see how much she learns!

Let's start with A today!

A is for...
Apple
Alligator
Ant

With the picture above I'll have her color in (or stamp) all the lower case and then the upper case with a different color!

Daring...

Update: WE DID IT! I survived the mess and she had a blast! Apparently she's just like her mother and only wanted to dip one finger in:) she stayed pretty clean but I still had the tub ready to go just in case!
So I have a confession, I've denied my daughter of doing anything messy cause I don't like messes...but today we're going for it! I've decided I can't deny her anymore!! So I'm pulling out the cover and letting her have fun with... FINGER PAINT!!!

Here is a simple recipe I found online that we'll be whipping up! All you need is to grab two cups of flour, add water until it makes a smooth paste free of clumps. Then slowly add HOT water until it makes the consistence you'd like. Remember if you're making it for finger paint you're going to want it a little thicker so don't add to much of the hot water. Split up the mixture into separate containers of however many colors you're going to be making. Add the food coloring and you're done! Easy easy easy...and it's toddler safe, so those little hands can go into their mouth as many times as they'd like (which I'm thinking isn't going to happen more then once:) ) It only last about 24 hrs before going hard so only make as much as you're going to be using right then and there!

Valentine's Crafts for Kids

              

There are tons of ideas online for some great crafts for your kids. Right now favecrafts has a free download for their 21 idea book for kids! Looks like a lot of cute ideas with stuff you probably have on hand.

Bird Feeder

As we were leaving the house the other day, Megan was enthralled with all the birds. So I thought lets bring them to our house so she can watch from the window, so we made bird feeders today! She loved just planning in the seeds while mommy did all the work:) but that's how two year olds are which was just fine with me.

So first gather all your supplies (I'm sure you have most of it on hand, the best part!). You'll need a toilet paper roll (I used the card board from an empty wrapping paper that I had left over from Christmas), peanut better, bird seed and string.

First and most important, make two holes opposite of each other to thread the string through to hang it (forgot to do this the first time...makes for a bigger mess:0 )

Then spreed peanut better all over the outside of the card board.

Roll in the seeds...

 And you'll have you're bird feeder to hang outside! I'm sure all the birds are going to love this!



Color Time

My two year old just loves loves loves to color...she's always asking to color. I found this way cute link for letters to print and color. I just printed out her name and let her color away!! Simple and easy for days like this!

Colored Bubbles

I just loved this idea that I found and it now has me wishing for warmer weather even though just last week I was wanting snow:)

It's simple to pull together. Just grab some of your bubbles (the dollar store kind will work but you might need to make them more soapy. We just add dish soap to ours.) and put a few drops of coloring in them. Then just just blow as normal!! Can't wait to try when the weather warms up!!




Thanks "Art is Basic" for the great idea!