Milk Carton

I finally remembered to wash out and save a 1/2 gallon milk carton. So here is were I need my readers help...

Anyone have any fun ideas on a craft or activity I should try out with my milk carton?

Funderland

Due to late naps, our play date to the Zoo with our good friends Melissa and Mikey turned into showing up to the Zoo 20 minutes before they closed and needing to find something else to do. Cool thing is one of my favorite websites, Sacramento Sidetracks, was holding a special event at Funderland which is just a short walk down the road. Neither of us had ever been to Funderland so we decided to check it out.
Between the rides, face paint, arts and crafts we had a nice little play date. And by the end the boys were worn out!

The boys both got to ride solo for the first time.

Riding the train around the park.

Digging for dinosaur eggs.

 

Water & Color

It is starting to warm back up outside, and my little man loves trying to play in the dog water. So I thought it was necessary today to get wet. I wanted to try something other than just sitting in his waiting pool. As my mind was wondering, he walks up to me carrying his bucket of chalk and that was it. I wanted to find a way to combine his love for sidewalk chalk and water.

I bought J this bucket of chalk a while back. One day he decided he was done drawing and needed to throw and brake a bunch of pieces so I stole those.

Cue the cheese grader. I wanted to make a powder that would dissolve well in water...

This left some bigger chunks but I wasn't too worried about it.

I placed all the different colors in different plastic cups and bowls of all different shapes and sizes.

I added a little water and let the magic happen. The kid was taking a nap so I had plenty of time for the chalk to dissolve in the water, but I was swooshing it around a little every once in a while.

Here's the set up! I added some more water, buckets, cups, water tools, and ice. (I thought about making colored ice but I knew I wouldn't have enough time before he woke up so I left it at that.... Next time for sure!)

Once he woke up and had a nice little snack we came outside.... and of course he had to have his shovel.

Testing the waters.

And then we were all in! He loved dumping the colored water into the clear and seeing the "cloud" puff up.

He spent a good couple hours just goofing around. But just like any other day.... that shovel didn't leave his hand. ;)

Edible Play Dough

Jameson and I had a play date set today with one of my friends and her 21 month old daughter. I thought as a nice little treat for the kids I would whip up something fun and new for them to play with. I have been meaning to buy some play dough for Jameson for some time now, but the thought of what it is made out of and the fact that everything he touches makes it's way into his mouth wasn't sitting well with me. Then again, I remembered the fact that I had stumbled across a recipe for Edible Play Dough on Pinterest.

I ran to the market down the street from my house to grab the most important part the the recipe.... the COLOR. Unfortunately they only had a few to choose from so I got enough to make four batches of Dough. Cherry for Red, Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade for Blue, Lemonade for Yellow, and Grape for Purple. (Make sure all Kool-Aid is unsweetened)

Per packet of Kool-Aid you'll need one cup flour, one cup water, a half cup salt, one tablespoon cream of tartar, and one tablespoon of oil (I used Vegetable).

Place all dry ingredients in a sauce pan and mix.

Slowly mix in oil and water, combine thoroughly.

Stir constantly over medium heat until mixture thickens into dough. I highly recommend using a flat utensil, otherwise the dough will get caught up in the bowl of the spoon and will make it hard to mix.

Remove dough and knead until cool enough for children to handle. Wash up all your "tools" and you are ready to play!

Here are my four batches. I was rather disappointed in how light in color the yellow and blue were, I will not be using those "flavors" again (but like I said before I was very limited at my small market). I was in love with the fact that the dough smelt like the Kool-Aid flavors! They say the dough will say good for about 6 months if kept in an air tight container. I cannot confirm that at this time. I do plan on testing this though, so I will keep you updated. ;)

Just like I expected first thing that happens.... straight into the mouth. Jameson didn't like it (I am very pleased to say) and it stayed out of his mouth for the rest of the day!

B was a little more into making shapes and smooshing it inbetween her toes. (I must add: I am pretty darn proud I go to practice my motherly skills with a girl and french braid her hair.... isn't she a doll!)

Jameson really enjoyed ripping pieces off and practice his throwing....

although he did spend a good amount of time squeezing it with his little hands.

I am very pleased with how the dough turned out! It was well worth my time making it, and I am so glad we can play with it time and time again. I even made so much I was able to leave some for B to keep for herself. I am a little saddened that all the colors ended up getting all mixed together, but what else should I have expected from two kids under two playing with that wonderfully smelling mushy goo for a few hours. Makes me even more happy that is supper easy to make!

Baked Cotton Balls

The more I read about the benefits of sensory play for toddlers the more I look for fun ideas for the little man and I to explore with. I stumbled across this really nice list and found something that would be easy enough to whip up and that I had all the ingredients on hand, Baked Cotton Balls! Sounded interesting and most definitely not something J and I had done before. So here we go!

All the ingrediance: 1 cup flour, 1 cup water, cotton balls, and (if you want some fun colors) food coloring!

Mix flour and water together. I did this in my measuring cup so I had less dirty dishes in the end. ;)

Now back to if you want fun colors, split mix up into separate bowls and add food coloring. I added 6 drops of each color, you could add more if you wanted more vibrant color. (You can skip this step all together)

Then you dip your cotton ball completely covering it in the colored mixture and place on a greased cookie sheet. I used PAM to grease my cookie sheet. (Please excuse the disgusting state of this cookie sheet, it is used for craft purposes only)

While I was putting all this together I let the J-man play with plan cotton balls. If he wasn't so crabby from teething and putting everything in his mouth I may have let him help with the messy part. But he was happy as a clam playing with the original cotton balls.

Once all your cotton balls are on your cookie sheet place in your oven for 45-60 mins at 300 degrees.

When they come out of the oven let them sit and cool.

Mine had a bunch of extra "stuff" hanging out on the cookie sheet, so I later broke all that off.

Once he woke up from his nap it was play time! Unfortunately they didn't break open as easy as I had hoped they would. So I snapped open a few for him to play with.

He really enjoyed stomping on them and roaring at me like a dinosaur.

But just as promised, hard colored shell with soft and fluffy center. Maybe if I cooked them longer or added more flour to my mixture to make it thicker would it crack easier. I may just try this again.