Water Creatures- Sensory Bin

 I was so excited about this sensory bin because 1) I had all the materials on hand (!!) and 2) I knew that E would love it!  So, I made it a few days before getting it out for E.  The fillers in this bin include:  blue colored rice, sea shells, sea shell shaped pasta, and rocks.  Utensils include: a magnifying glass, tongs, a shovel, and a funnel.  Other items include some sand paper, blue felt, big leaves, and plastic sea creatures.  And, my favorite part of the sensory bin, the water bag.  I was so excited about this part!!!  I put water in a big freezer baggie, then put on another baggie just to be safe.  Sadly, if you look closely at picture above, you can see that there was a little problem with leaking....

 This picture shows the bin without the water :(.  Not sure what I would need to do differently to make it work.

 E never knew that the water part was in the bin, so she enjoyed the bin just the same.  Her favorite part was digging in the rice using the shells, and she loved hiding the sea creatures.  As always, this sensory bin was a hit that filled a lot of time!  

Water Creatures- Free the Fish Activity

I love the ideas on the web about freezing objects for kids to try to "free" from the ice.  So, I took a plastic bowl, some plastic fish and water creatures, and added water to freeze the creatures in.  I did the freezing in two layers because the creatures sunk to the bottom of the bowl.  After freezing overnight, I loosened the ice, and took it outside with a bowl of water and a pipette.

 Although the dog is disinterested in the whole process, E was very into it.  She started out using the pipette to try to melt the ice.

 Then, she began sliding the ice around to use the heat of the patio to help her.

 Couldn't resist this shot...

And finally, she figured out that the busting the ice method was the quickest and most fun way to free the fish.  We have done this activity many times since this.  I like that it helps with her problem solving skills.  And, it was meant to help with those fine motor skills, even though in actuality it probably ended up being more of a gross motor skill activity.

Bugs- Ladybug Day

We declared today Ladybug day at our house.  I brought E's ladybug wings and doll to the living room, and took out all of our fun ladybug books from our bug theme book basket. I also added our nonfiction Ladybugs book by Martha E.H. Rustad.  We read the factual book about ladybugs, as well as The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle before doing our first activity...hatching our ladybugs from the ice eggs.

I took some of the wooden embellishment ladybugs I had sitting around, filled up ice cube trays half way, then let them freeze before adding water to fill them up the entire way to freeze again.  I wanted at least some of the ladybugs to be well encased into the "eggs."

I popped the ladybug ice out into a big bowl and equipped E with a watering can of warm water to help her hatch the ladybugs to get all 10 out.

To get the ladybugs out, we melted, threw, stepped on, picked at and simply waited for the ladybugs to free them from the ice.

This activity also involved a whole lot of counting.  E had a hard time remembering just how many ladybugs she had freed.  Here you can see her using her fingers to count...a great skill she is finally getting the hang of doing, even when mommy isn't helping.

After about an hour outside playing with subsequent bowls of ice cubes and refills of watering cans, we finally came inside to read Ten Little Ladybugs by Melanie Gerth Summary, which is one of E's favorite books of all time. We started with a pile of 10 ladybugs...

...and as we worked our way through the story, E moved the "lost" ladybugs into another pile at the top of the book.

Finally, E match up each of her ladybugs with the ladybugs on the final pages of the book.  We plan to have another "theme" bug day soon!

Bugs- Books and Journal

We started this activity by reading Ugh! A Bug! by Ned Crowley and Bug Parts by Charlotte Guillain.  Both  nonfiction books have a lot of close up photos of real bugs and describe the bug and insect parts.   

Before reading the books, I had created a journal entry fill-in-the-blank page to fill in with numbers. I had planned on using a sticker page to have E pick out the correct number to fill in the blanks, but then we found these number stamps which she chose to use instead.  She actually remembered a lot of the facts from the books to fill in on her own.

Here is the final entry.  Unfortunately I did not leave enough room for the stamp numbers, but it still worked out okay!  We definitely need to continue with the journaling....such a great activity.

Bugs- Collecting

 I love giving E little gifts by putting them on her table after nap time.  This bug collection set, another dollar store find, has been a big hit.  It came with the collection container with a built-in magnifying glass, tongs, and  a small net.  We first created a bug habitat by finding a couple of plants, including one with flowers to put down into the collection container.  We then went to an area where we have some bricks that can be flipped over, revealing lots of interesting bugs.

 We collected a millipede, roly-poly bugs, a June bug, and a couple of bugs I don't know the name of.  Collecting the bugs was dependent a lot on me...the tongs can be tricky to use and not squish the bugs.  I read to try using a paint brush to pick up the bugs, so we will do that next time.

This is E studying the bugs from the bottom.  The clear container allows a great look at the bugs from all angles, allowing us to talk about all the bug parts, and make connections between what we read and what we see!

Bugs- Sensory Bin

 To get excited about studying bugs, I created a new sensory bin representing a word we have been spending a lot of time talking about-- habitat.  The fillers in this bin include two one foot squares of fake grass (I found it on clearance at Hobby Lobby with the Easter items), pebbles, and green poly fill.

 I included two plastic posts which I filled with a coffee bean/split pea/colored spaghetti mix left over from another sensory bin.  I then cut apart a silk flower bush and a silk leaf bush and "planted" them into the pots. Utensils include tongs, magnifying glasses, and a cardboard tube.  Finally, I added a couple of bags of bugs from the dollar store, along with some self-stick ladybugs and spider confetti.  

 As soon as we opened the bin, E wanted her bug viewing container to collect the bugs from the bin. Her favorite was finding the little lady bugs, which I had placed "crawling" in different spots throughout the bin.

 Here she is counting some of the bugs before placing them into her viewing container.

And here she is making the ladybugs crawl on her feet!  Looks like she needed a pedicure!


I just can't emphasize how great these bins are.  They are fun to put together, a great way to learn, and very entertaining!

Springtime- The (Basic) Science of Rain

With the days of rain we have been experiencing, I thought it was the perfect time to do the cloud activity I have seen posted on Pinterest from a few different places. For this experiment, you will need at least shaving cream, blue colored water, a clear container filled 2/3 with water, and one pipette. We have some extra materials because I planned on transitioning this activity into an art activity, using the pipettes and colored water to color coffee filters and paper towels to make butterflies, but E wasn't into the art portion, so we scrapped that.

We started by talking about how the sky looked, sunny or cloudy, on this rainy day. Once we observed it was cloudy, we made our own cloud of shaving cream on the water already in the clear container. E then used those small motor skills to transfer the blue water (rain) into the cloud. We talked about how clouds are made of water, and how when the clouds get too heavy, it starts to rain.

Eventually, as E continued adding the heavy water to the cloud, it started to rain in the jar. What a simple and fun lesson in weather.

E then added some other colors, just for fun, but became more interested in the shaving cream than anything else, so I gave a her a couple of squirts in the sink, set the rule that shaving cream was not allowed anywhere but in the sink and on her hands, and set her free to play. I eventually added ice cubes to the sink (I cleaned out the ice cube trays to make colored ice cubes with the left over colored water for bath time play) and some water. I guess the butterfly art project will have to happen another day when the shaving cream is out of sight and mind!

Springtime- Scavenger Hunt

Pinterest pages have been filled with the great idea of using an egg carton as a place to collect items on a spring scavenger hunt. So, I drew up a sheet of items that I thought we would be able to find on our walk through the park. I went over the items on the sheet (my drawings aren't the best) with E, and off we went to look for: a brown leaf, a rock, a stick, a yellow flower, a feather, a brown weed, green grass, a green leaf, a piece of bark or mulch, berries, a purple flower, and a pine needle.

Going on this walk was a great way to talk about the big ideas of the unit such as the grass growing green, the trees budding, bugs reappearing, etc. I would occasionally review the items on the list when they would come into view. E did a great job of collecting and exploring.We went through an old "barn" at the park, and E paused for a pic by the fence. Spring is definitely in the air in this pic!
Here E is getting a brown leaf to put into her egg carton from a tree that didn't drop its leaves the fall before. By the end of the walk, we found 10 of 12 items, and we had a great time in the process!

Filler Activity- Loaded Desk

Over the weekend, we were planning on taking a road trip (about four hours in the car), so I loaded up this desk with items for E to play with in the car. Unfortunately, the stomach bug got the best of this mom, and we ended up not going :(. Instead, this loaded up desk became a great filler activity for me when I was more interested in doing nothing than planning and executing activities for E. I know it would have been great in the car, too, because it held her attention for about 30 to 40 minutes.

So, what's in the desk? Here is a list: ColorWonder markers and drawing pad, dress up doll stickers and paper to put them on, a Velcro shape activity book (with a CD that would have been great for the car), a couple of books, a Colorform type habitat and cling page, pony beads and pipe cleaners, and a snack.

Obviously, this is nothing super unique or special, but it is very useful for a car trip or to fill a little time when Mommy is feeling under the weather.

The Five Senses- Listening Activity

Like most toddlers, E loves music and instruments. I thought incorporating these instruments into a listening activity would be both fun and challenging for E. I pulled out about seven of her instruments with varying sounds. I took a picture on the iPad to act as a reference for later in the activity, then I let E play around with the instruments to make sure she was familiar with the unique sounds that each one makes.

Then, I took the instruments over behind the puppet theater, leaving E with the picture of the instruments on the iPad.

From behind the puppet theater, I played each instrument, one at a time, and had E identify what I was playing. Being able to look at the iPad pictures was a very helpful step that I would suggest to not leave out. One thing I would do differently if I did this activity again would be to make sure to review the names of each of the instruments we were using. There was a lot of "the shakey thing" and "the whistle." I missed an opportunity to expand on vocabulary on the front end of the activity. In the end, though, E enjoyed this simple activity!

The Five Senses- Touch Activity and Journal Activity

On Pinterest, I saw (possibly pinned?) filling balloons with play dough as an alternative (and less messy) sensory activity. They reminded me of those original stress balls that were filled with a similar type substance. I loved them when I was a kid! So, I thought it would be cool to try to make balloons filled with various substances to continue working on the sense of touch and discussion of texture.

I really should have taken pictures of me trying to fill these balloons because it didn't go so smoothly. I used a funnel, a turkey baster, and my brute strength to get the balloons filled. There are balloons filled with play dough, sand, candy hearts, air with a few pieces of rice, and water.

When I brought out the balloons, E was immediately intrigued. Balloons, I had prewritten the journal fill ins to guide our play and discussions. The sentences say, "The _____ balloon feels _____ like there might be _____ inside." We spent a lot of time (probably like 15 minutes) feeling the weight, texture, bounciness, and even smell of these! I did get E to give answers to fill in each blank.
We were then getting ready to go to bath time, so I thought it would be fun to add on another element by asking about what ones she thought would sink or float. We made predictions in the journal, as well. She loved playing with them in the bath as much or more as she loved playing with them on the table! So, I guess the struggles I had with filling the balloons was well worth the outcome of having fun and learning with this activity!

Exploring Valentine's Day and Emotions- Crystal Growing

All over Pinterest, there have been crystal growing recipes and methods. We did ours as part of exploring what the heart symbolizes. We also did it in conjunction with exploring the states of matter (liquid, solid, and gas) since boiling the water is one of the parts of getting this project to work.

We used the recipe from http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/ht/boraxsnowflake.htm. We began by shaping pipe cleaners into hearts. I asked E to get two red pipe cleaners from the box, and she grabbed a metallic one and a regular one. I'm not sure that affected the outcome of the experiment or not (using the metallic one), but I didn't have the heart to tell her to put it back. She also helped me get the yarn to tie the hearts onto the popsicle stick we used to hang the hearts across the jar.

As the water was boiling, we measured out the Borax into a cup to dump into the Mason jar. I made sure I was very careful with this project. After all, we were using boiling water and Borax. I did take E close to the pan on the stove to discuss once again the recent activities we had performed to see water as a solid, liquid, and now a gas. We talked about how we could tell the water was boiling, and how it is important to never go near the stove unless she asks Mommy and Mommy helps her.

We finally got the mixture all ready to go, and set it up to see the crystals form throughout the day. Unfortunately, about five hours in, we still didn't see any crystals. So, I added a little more Borax. The crystals started forming almost immediately.

This is the final outcome of the project. Although I enjoyed the process, especially talking about the states of matter, I can't say I would do this again. It was relatively boring and lacked a lot of hands-on interest for an almost three-year-old child.

Fun with Colored Ice Cubes in the Bath!

Every child loves colors. I'm not really sure how E learned her colors, but it seemed like one day, she was just able to identify them. Now, I want her to understand how to manipulate colors, learn about primary colors and mixing those colors, and, of course, having fun with those colors.

We started this activity by putting water in clear cups, and adding the primary food colors to each cup. We then worked together to mix the primary colors to make the secondary colors. Our green color didn't turn out great, but E loved seeing the transformation of the two colors into something new.

We then put the colored water into ice cube trays to freeze for the next activity. I tried to use the words "liquid," "solid," and "freeze" in this step.

The next day, we pulled one of each color of ice cube out of the tray to put back into the clear cups. We then took them to the bathtub to let the real fun begin!

In the bathtub, we focused on the ideas of "melting" and "liquid" once again as E played with the ice cubes. She loved chasing them around the bath until they disappeared completely. She also loved the sensory aspect of putting the ice cubes on her toes and feeling the hot and cold simultaneously.

Those curious eyes say it all! What a fun exploration of color, matter transformation, and the senses! And, the best news is that we still have more cubes in the freezer for the next bath!

Tips for Bubbles and Bath Time Fun!

Kids love bubbles. Carefree moms love bubbles. I love bubbles once they are in the air, but I HATE the stickiness and mess that blowing bubbles can create. So, I have two solutions. One is a battery operated bubble blower. I think this should be on every mom's essential toy list. Ours (as you can see in the background of the picture) is Manely the Lion.

Bringing Manely indoors when the winter weather began to arrive was a great decision. During bath time, E and I love listening to the bubbles and enjoying the smiles bubbles inevitably bring. Recently, I added a regular container of bubbles to the bath, as well. Typically, these little bottles of stickiness and spills would make me cringe, but in the bath, who cares? It is truly the best of both worlds. Plus, I'm helping the no-mess risk practice of blowing bubbles in the bath will translate into bubble blowing being a mastered skill once spring comes!
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