Make your own mud pie science not using mud

If you have been following along you know we have been having a blast doing fun bubbling and fizzing science play. "J" was asking to play with the mud again from our dinosaur erupting sensory play, so I took out our stuff to make fun mud pies.

This is a very easy to set up science play and you can get everything you need at the Dollar Tree making this very inexpensive.

Materials:
Baking soda($.50 for 12oz box at Dollar Tree)
Instant coffee($1.00 for 7oz bag at Dollar Tree)
Vinegar(we buy it by the gallon and it is $2.38 at Wal-Mart)
Squeeze bottle (We got our at Wal-Mart in the baking section 2 for $2.00)
Sprinkles($1.00 at Dollar Tree)

To make the powder base all you need to do is mix a box of baking soda(12oz) and instant coffee(3oz) together making sure it is all blended.

The kids had a blast and spent at least 45 minutes playing if not more. The great thing about this play is the main base is baking soda so it will keep bubbling when you squirt the vinegar on it. Just mix and doing it again.

This play is also a great fine motor skill for little ones squeezing the vinegar onto the Erupting mud. 

NOTE: When I put vinegar in the bottle I mix half vinegar and half water so you don't go through alot of vinegar.

Be sure to check out some of the other fun sensory plays we have done below.

Glowing sand

Homemade moon sand

Kool-Aid ice cream dough







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Sharks and minnows alphabet fishing game

We love playing fun learning games. What better way then to have fun playing and learning at the same time. So I found this free printable over at Projects for preschoolers and printed it and traced the shark and minnows onto craft foam.

Then I placed paper clips on them and wrote upper and lower case letters so we could play a matching fishing and spelling game.

This is a great game for learning as well as fine motor and eye/hand coordination for kids.

How we played is I would hold up a letter and Jake would fish for them with the magnetic fishing poles. Then I would spell words and he put them in order.

This game can be played in a sensory bin, kiddie pool, bath tub or a sand box like we did. Great for a center area in a preschool or daycare as well.

If you don't have a magnetic fishing pole stop by Bonbon Break and check out the cool homemade fishing pole she made for her kids.

If you like learning games below are some of our favorites.

Shamrock learning

Color and shape learning

Fall number learning tree


You can also do learning in the kiddie pool when it is warm outside like we did over the summer. We are so ready for it to be warm outside.

Alphabet scooping fun

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10 themed Easter Egg Hunt ideas for kids

Easter is one of my favorite holidays, I love all the pastel colors. One of my favorite memories besides always getting a new dress was the Easter Egg Hunt. 

We did several different themed egg hunts, so below I put together a list some are from when I was a kid and some are new ones I can't wait to do with my kids.

1. Alphabet Egg Hunt:

Write the upper and lower case letter on the eggs and then hide mix matched eggs and see who has the most matches after the eggs are found.

Example: place A and g together and see if they find the lower case a and upper case G.

2. Inside Egg Hunt:

Hide eggs in the house and the kids find them.

This was one of the best memories I had at Easter when I was a kid my brother and I finding Easter eggs hidden in the house Easter morning.

3. Night time Egg Hunt:

Kids need to have adults with them and do it in a safe place. Grab a flash light and go on a hunt to find the eggs under the moon and stars. Place glow sticks in the eggs

4. Treasure Egg Hunt:

Decorate the area like you are on an island and make a treasure map then let the kids go and find treasure. You can hide coins and dollars in the eggs. Dollar Tree has fun tropical decorations for this event.

5. Hide the Easter basket Egg Hunt:

Hide the kids Easter basket and set clues in the eggs for them to find the basket.

6. Secret Egg Hunt:

Place messages in the eggs for big prizes. Examples like trip to ice cream shop, play putt putt golf, go bowling and favorite place to eat.

7. Name Egg Hunt:

Write the kids names on the eggs and who ever finds their name first wins a special prize.

8. Math Egg Hunt:

Place numbers in each egg and the person with the highest number after adding them all up wins an extra little prize.

9. Easter Egg Bath Hunt:

Place plastics grass in the bath tub and eggs under it with toys and have them find all the eggs in the bath or this year we hide the eggs under bubbles and that was a BIG hit cause my kids really didn't like the feel of  the plastic grass last year.

Easter hunt bath

10. Golden and Sliver Egg Hunt:

Place a golden and a silver egg in a hard to find spot with money in it.

We did this as kids at my Nana's house and it was so much fun.

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Fizzing scented sidewalk paint for kids

We love to paint and mix science in with the fun things we do.  We had a nice day to play a little outside so I whipped up some fun scented sidewalk paint.

I mixed baking soda, dish soap, kool-aid and very little water together to make our paint. You can make it with corn starch instead of dish soap, but I found it to harden up if it sat for a period of time.

I didn't measure the amounts just placed baking soda, dish soap and water in a bowl. Then when I placed the mixture in the muffin pan I added the kool-aid.

Then place vinegar in a spray bottle and after the kids paint the sidewalk a little give them the spray bottle to make the paint fizz.

This is a super fun and inexpensive outside activity to do with the kids on a nice day. 

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Make your own Alphabet bath soap or crayons

We love bath time and adding fun learning in as well so I thought it would be fun to make our own alphabet bath soaps. 

I was at Micheal's the other day going up and down the aisle when I saw a make your own soap section. Have to say never thought about doing that since I am funny with smells for the bath and the kids with sensitive skin. But they had clear glycerin soap blocks and with my 50% coupon was only $4.99, so I thought it would be worth a try for the kid.

Then I saw an alphabet soap mold for $2.00. So I came home and tried it and well it worked great and the kids thought it was the coolest thing for the tub.

Very simple to make.

Directions:

Follow what is on the soap block and I added food coloring to different batches. Place in the molds and you have soap after about 15 minutes. This was super easy to do and didn't make a mess at all.

Be sure to check out some of our other fun homemade recipes. 

Fake snow

Bath paints

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Shamrock science for kids

Three great ways to add a little St.Patrick's Day fun to kids science play. Twist things up a little to make it look and seem different to them using some house hold items.

Materials:

Vinegar

Baking soda

Glitter

Shamrock table toppers(Dollar Store)
Tray
Bowl
Shamrock molds (A.C. Moore use coupon get it for $4.99)


How to make Shimmery Shamrock Science

Mixed baking soda, green kool-aid, and glitter all in a bowl, then placed water in a squeeze bottle and made it erupt.

How to make Erupting Green Shamrocks

I mixed our fake snow mixture together and added green kool-aid to it for the green color, then placed it in a silicone shamrock mold and let them freeze over night.  That made them hard like rocks. Then I placed them on a tray/pan and the kids used pipettes to squirt the vinegar on them for them to fizz. We had Fizzing Shamrocks.

This is a great fine motor skill for toddlers and preschoolers using the pipettes.


We have made fizzing rocks before but never thought about putting them in molds til I saw it at Science Sparks from Pinterest.

Make your own Glittery Shamrock Play Dough

You can make this 3 different ways use regular store bought play dough, kool-aid play dough, or gluten free play dough. Then just add some fun glitter to it and play away. We also added mint extract to this batch for a yummy smell.

Shamrock Slushy

Slushy Science


If you haven't see our new recipe for Kool-Aid Ice cream dough be sure to check it out.

Kool-Aid ice cream dough

Ice Volcano

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Make your own "Moon sand" sensory play

Kids love to make sand castles and build in the sand, so what better way to do this then in your own home. Using 3 simple ingredients and costing next to nothing you can make it yourself.

Materials:

10lb bag of sand from Home Depot ($5.00)

1 box of corn starch

Water

Tempera paint (if you want it colored)

Large container(We got ours from Home Depot for $5.00 cement bin)

How to make:

Mix the dry ingredients together first then add the water. 

When we made it we only did a little at a time so I mixed about 10 cups of sand to 5 cups of corn starch and  and 1 cup of water. You don't want to use too much water. You just want it to have a damp feel, so you are able to mold it.

The kids will play for hours with this stuff. Once you are done playing with it place in a sealed container and will be ready for the next play time.

Below are some of the fun sensory play bins we have done. Post will be coming soon as to what we used for each one.

We have had a blast playing with this Moon Sand

You can even use cookie cutters to make different shapes.

Here are some other homemade recipes we have done if you like to make things yourself.

Play dough

Kool-aid

Homemade snow play

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Shamrock rainbow alphabet learning bath

I love to watch the kids learn through play and so I put together a fun Alphabet matching and spelling learning game for bath.

This is a fun and simple bath and can also be used outside the bath as well. 

All you need is foam shamrocks and letters from the Dollar Tree. If you didn't know when craft foam is wet it works like a sticker on the tub or wall. We also used a spin chart I got in the Target dollar section for a little extra fun...spin the wheel and find the letter.

This game can also be used outside the bath, all you need is a dry erase board. If you take a squirt bottle and damp the foam it will stick to the dry erase board or even a chalk board.

I would spell a word and "J" had to find the letters and put them in order.

With toddlers you can have them find the letters and tell them what it is and then have them repeat after you. That is what we did with "C".

They really enjoyed this bath and is a great way to tie in learning.

If you like to get learning time in during bath time be sure to check out some of our other learning baths we have done.

Shape and colors learning bath

Alphabet puzzle learning

Fall number learning tree

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Kool-Aid Ice cream dough new sensory play

When I was experimenting with our fake snow play, I made this fun and yummy smelling ice cream dough by adding kool-aid to the mixture. Our favorite was the watermelon, it made the room smell so YUMMY!!

I was so excited to come up with a new sensory play for the kids. It looks and smells just like real ice cream, plus it was cool to the touch.

The kids love to do imaginary play, over the summer we did an ice cream shop play with salt and water and added some kool-aid as well.

Materials:

Baking soda

Hair conditioner

Kool-Aid

Storage containers

(You can get all of these ingredients from Dollar Tree)

The mixture I used to make our dough was 3 cups of baking soda, 3 teaspoons of hair conditioner(you don't need much) and kool-aid packet. Place all together and mix.

We used silicone ice cream cones we bought at Marshall's but you can get them on amazon as well. We paid only $5.99 for ours. You can also use real ice cream cones from the Dollar Store.

This sensory dough holds up great and stores well. We made ours over a month ago and we still take it out to play with it. When done playing store in a sealed container or ziplock baggie. 

If it doesn't feel like it is molding well for play just add a little hair conditioner and you are good to go.

Be sure to check out the other fun things you can do with sensory play and kool-aid as well.

Kool-Aid

Fake snow play

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Shamrock/Rainbow necklace craft for kids

Fun and simple crafts for kids to do for St. Patrick's Day.

Materials:

Noodles

Pipe cleaner

Pony beads

Cut out shamrock (used card stock paper)

Stickers

Green markers

The pony beads and pipe cleaners can be ordered on line from Craft project ideas or you can by them in a local Wal-Mart store.

We colored the noodles with green markers, you can also die the noodles with kool-aid like we have done in the past or you can paint them with paint.

Then we decorated the shamrocks with stickers. 

There is many different ways you can make these necklaces. We used pipe cleaner instead of string cause it is easier for younger kids to work with.

This craft is a great way to work fine motor skills, along with eye/hand coordination.

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Make your own bath water wall

Over the summer we made a fun outdoor water wall and the kids had a blast. The kids have been asking to play with it but it is WAY too cold to play with water outside. So we went to the hardware store and got the stuff to make one for the bath.

Materials:
Clear tubing from hardware store
PVC connectors 1/2 in and the tubing fit right in them.
Duct tape to tape to the wall

We got both the tubing and pvc connectors at Lowe's. Tubing was $.31 a foot and the connectors were $.21 to .34. I bought 10 feet of tubing and we had extra left over.

The kids had a blast and kept feeling the tubing with colored water to watch it go threw the tubes. This is a great eye/hand coordination and fine motor skill for the kids. As well as fun.

They had a blast and then took some of the tubing down and blew bubbles like it was a big straw.

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