Showing posts with label Toddlers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Toddlers. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Kool-aid ice bowling

We love to play with ice and so we made Kool-Aid ice balls. Fun for summer play and a great way to stay cool.

All you need is balloons, kool-aid packets, water and a freezer. Then can use pins or plastic cups for the bowling pins. What we used was plastic pins from our Little Tikes bowling set.

Hours of fun and if you place paper down to make an alley then you can have some cool painting as well.




This activity is great for fine motor skills, eye hand coordination and fun way to get moving. Below are a couple other fun games we have done be sure to check them out.





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Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Bubble goop letter learning

Goop and bubbles are fun to play with so we mixed them together to make a fun sensory letter learning.

I took our letter ice trays and made colored ice with them and then added it to our play. You can also use the dollar letter magnets that are plastic they work great as well.

Simple, fun and learning at the same time.

You can buy the ice trays here. Letter Ice Trays There is a lot you can do with these trays from sensory play to bath play.




 Cate made alphabet soup


Making the ARRR sound for the letter "R"

As Cate would pick out the letters we would say the sound along with the letter.

She loved it.

Below are some other fun sensory ways we worked on letters in the past.



Be sure to check our Alphabet learning section for over 50 different fun ways to learn the alphabet.

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Saturday, June 15, 2013

Ice goop fun

With summer in the air and July 4th coming soon, we took out the goop today and played with our kool-aid ice and goop.

Fun and super inexpensive sensory play for kids of all ages, plus it will keep you cool playing with ice.

How to make GOOP. Then just add kool-aid ice.


Sorry my camera battery needed to be charged will post pictures when we play again. Cause this was a fun activity the kids loved it.

Be sure to check out the  Scented Goop play as well. Also, all the fun things you can do with Kool-Aid.



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Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Magic Jello ice

Kids love science and we are always exploring to fine new things to do with things around the house. Back in March we made Fizzing Shamrocks and since then we have been messing around to make a better mold.

Well we came up with it and had a lot of fun playing with our Magic Jello Ice Stars. They are simple to make and super fun.

All you need to do is mix about 3 tsp of jello with 1/2 cup of hot water, once the jello is dissolved then mix with about 1-2 cups of baking soda. Don't make it too thick you want it a little runny to pour into the ice trays. (We got our start ice trays from Dollar Tree)

Then let it freeze and you have your magic jello ice.

Place on a tray and make them erupt and bubble with vinegar. Once the vinegar dissolve them you will have a goop like sensory play.

NOTE: You can make them with Kool-Aid as well.


This is a fun experiment for all ages.

We love ice play be sure to check out some other fun ice things we have done.


Alphabet ice learning

Dinosaur ice excavation


Ice Volcano

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Monday, June 3, 2013

Weather in a jar

We love doing fun and simple science experiments that tie into learning. We have been talking about weather, so I put together 3 fun weather science experiments you can do using a jar.

Make your own rain in a jar. All you need is a jar, coffee filter, rubber band, and dropper.

I placed the coffee filter over the top of the jar and put rubber band around it. Then I placed colored water in a container and let the kids use a dropper to place water on the coffee filter. Once the coffee filter absorbed the water it dripped like rain.


Here are some facts about rain that we looked up.

  • Rain is an important part of the water cycle. Learn how it works with our page explaining the water cycle for kids.
  • Rain falls from clouds in the sky in the form of water droplets, this is called precipitation.
  • Heavy rain can cause flooding and landslides.
  • Rain allows us to create electricity through hydropower.
  • Plants need water in order to survive, they receive much of this water from rain.
Make your own rain cloud in a jar. This experiment the kids loved. All you need is a jar, water, shaving cream and food coloring.

Fill jar 1/2 way, place shaving cream on top as the cloud, then have the kids drop colored water on the cloud and watch it.

After we did this experiment we talked about how a cloud holds water and then that is how rain is formed.




Here are some facts about clouds that we looked up.
  • There are a range of different types of clouds, the main types include stratus, cumulus and cirrus.
  • Stratus clouds are flat and featureless, appearing as layered sheets.
  • Cumulus clouds are puffy, like cotton floating in the sky.
  • Cirrus clouds are thin and wispy, appearing high in the sky.
  • A cloud is a large group of tiny water droplets that we can see in the air.
  • Rain, snow, sleet and hail falling from clouds is called precipitation.
Our last experiment was making a tornado in a jar. 



I remember doing this in elementary school, so I wanted to show the kids. It's very simple we just filled the jar with colored water and then swirled it around and you get a tornado in a jar.

Once we made the tornado in a jar we talked a little about tornado's. Below I added some facts we looked up about tornado's that we thought were pretty instructing to know.


  • Extreme tornadoes can travel much further, sometimes over 100 miles (161kilometres).
  • A tornado is a rapidly spinning tube of air that touches both the ground and a cloud above.

  • Not all tornadoes are visible but their high wind speeds and rapid rotation often form a visible funnel of condensed water.
  • Most tornadoes travel a few miles before exhausting themselves.
  • US States most often hit by tornadoes include Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Florida.



    We have also made a rainbow with sunlight  be sure to check out that fun experiment.

    Also if you have never made fake snow, you have to try this. We love playing with our fake snow.



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Friday, May 31, 2013

Kool-Aid Ice boats

Fun way to stay cool this summer and have fun playing. Make some fun kool-aid ice boats and play for hours, in the pool or make your own stream.

All you need is some kool-aid packets, ice trays or even small bowls to make bigger boats. Then place sticks or straws in them to freeze and add the sails once the water is frozen.

The to make your stream just get some aluminum foil and add water. We added some rocks to ours. (You can build it however you want)



The kids had fun using their water squirt toys, filling the stream and melting the ice. Fun way to play and stay cool in the hot summer weather.





Ice is fun to play with and there is so many different fun ways to play with it. Be sure to check out some of the other fun ways we have played.




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Monday, May 13, 2013

Jell-O bubble fun

Bubbles are fun!!! My kids love playing with bubbles. We have made firework bubbles, colored bubbles in the bath, and even made scented bubbles.

This is super easy to make, all  you need is a bowl, dawn dish soap, water and jell-o. Mix them together to make your jell-o bubbles. Then get a straw and blow bubbles.



Today we had fun with Jell-O bubbles. We blew in the the bubbles to see who could make the biggest bubble mountain. Jake and Cate had a blast and laughed so much.


I just love all the face expressions when making the bubble mountains.

Be sure to stop by our Outside Fun board on Pinterest for more fun things to do this summer.

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Friday, May 10, 2013

Erupting Kool-Aid ice science and art

The kids love to explore and create. I froze 2 blocks of ice for them to play and experiment with since we have had some night days outside.

This is a simple and fun experiment project for kids of multiple ages. I filled 2 square containers up with water and placed int he freeze overnight.

Then just collected different materials for Jake and Cate to explore with. You can use whatever you want. Listed below are what we used.

Materials:
Ice block
Salt
Baking soda
Kool-aid packets
Spray bottles with vinegar
Baby oil
(all the materials can be bought at the Dollar Tree and are very inexpensive)




First the kids poured kool-aid and baking soda on the ice to see if it would bubble and fizz. It did. Then they mixed colors and explored. Poured salt in the block and Jake thought that was neat cause it held the color more on the ice.



After they explored a little I gave them paint brushes and they painted their ice and explored some more. I love how simple this project is and the kids sat still for over a hour doing this.


Great way to have fun on a hot day, along with enjoying science and art play.



We love to do all kinds of fun hands on play with Kool-Aid.

Below are some of our favorite hands on science play, be sure to check them out.






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Sunday, May 5, 2013

Cupcake play dough counting and number recognition

Play dough is one of our favorite things to do and the kids have been asking to play with it for the last couple of day so we took it out. I added a little fun twist to it for some learning time.

Jake and Cate love to pretend play like they are cooking, so I took out the cupcake liners and cupcake pans they made pretend cupcakes.

 We added candles to the cupcakes to sing Happy Birthday. After they put the candles in their cupcakes I had them count them and match the correct number to the candles.


Since Jake knows his numbers I did a little math with him.


After we did number recognition and some simple math, the kids wanted me to light the candles to sing and they blew them out.
Was too cute!!


Playing and counting fun


This was a fun and simple way to bring learning to play. The kids loved this.

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Friday, May 3, 2013

Handmade picture flowers in a pot

Every holiday we are always making fun keepsakes for meme, grandma and other special family members. Two years ago we made these special flower pots and placed baby pictures of the kids in them .

The are very easy to make. For the flower part we used cupcake holders and for the stem we used popsicle sticks. Then to hold the special picture flowers in the flower pot we used styrofoam. This craft is fun and easy for all ages. You can get all the supplies from the Dollar Store and have enough supplies to make several.



If you like to make handmade gifts for that special someone in your family or life be sure to check out the links below.





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Thursday, May 2, 2013

Ocean and lighthouse sensory play

The kids love imaginary play. We have had some hot days and are so ready for the beach. So I set up a fun sensory bin for them. They had a blast playing with it.

I used sand and jello for the ocean water. I love how real the water looks and Jake loved the feel of it.



To put this together was very simple. All you need is some ocean creatures, sand, and jello. I made the jello the night before and had Jake help and then it was ready the next day for them to play with.



This sensory play is great for the imagination, learning about different sea animals, and great hands on play as well.


Jake even dug in the sand and made little sand castles. After he was done playing we talked about the different animals that lived in the ocean.

Below are some other fun sensory bins we have done.





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