Toddler Toy: Upcycle a Wipes Tub

This Huggies wipes tub was just too cute to throw away! I decided to recycle it into a fun little activity for my 2-year-old. (Incidentally, I recommend the Huggies tubs over other brands because of the rubbery opening that is softer on little hands.) Ever left your toddler alone with a tissue box or wipes tub...to come back later and find it had been emptied one-by-one? Yeah. The fascination of one little white corner appearing after another...

To fill my tub, I pulled out a bunch of fabric scraps and cut rectangles about the size of a small paperback book. I tried to find different colors and textures--velvet, satin, flannel, and corduroy.



Then I cut some different shapes--oval, triangle, circle, heart, and square. I even pulled out a couple of my son's favorite old t-shirts that were in the rag bag because of holes or stains and cut out the front picture. This is a great option for anyone who doesn't have fabric around. The nice thing about t-shirt fabric is that it won't fray around the edges either.



If you knew your child would play with this over and over, you may want to go to the trouble of hemming the edges of your cloths. I didn't bother.

When I gave it to my son this morning, he had a lot of fun with it and got some good practice naming his colors and shapes. To keep it interesting, we made up games, such as "Find me the green cloth!" and "Sort the shapes."

It's a quick "toy" to make, and something that can be pulled out for Quiet play when Mom needs to make a phone call or fix a meal!

Beanbags, Games, and January Blahs.

I believe the mid-January funk has hit our house. New toys are not-so-new anymore, bad weather is keeping the kids cooped up, and Mommy just can't handle one more round of Candyland...!

So the other night after dinner dishes were done and while the kids changed into pj's, I invented a little beanbag toss game for an hour of family fun before bed. It was super easy and not all that creative, but it was NEW and my kids loved it!

I took 4 metal cake pans, the 4 mini-beanbags from our Hopscotch game, and had my son make 4 papers with point values of 10, 25, 50, and 100. We arranged the pans on the floor with the different point papers inside, and then set a couple of lines to stand and throw the beanbags. (Try rolled up socks if you don't have beanbags).

Our new art easel made a perfect scoreboard--and my 4-year-old loved the number printing practice. It was great that our 2-year-old could play too (he chose to stand directly beside the cake pans and drop the beanbags in), and the game was excellent practice for him in taking turns.

After a couple of rounds, the kids changed up the cake pan arrangement.

And the next day they came up with the twist of Mystery points by placing the papers UNDER the pans, only to be revealed after the 4 beanbags were thrown. You can imagine this new level of excitement!

They kept changing things up and played repeatedly for 3 days. It's always amazing how old things can become new again--we would love to hear what little game or competition you come up with using what you already have around!

Memory Maker: Video Interviews with Your Kids!

Aren't we fortunate to live in the age of Flip cams and iPhones and the ability to instantly capture the cuteness of our kids on video for forever memories?! All the sweet little stages and firsts and special events.

One thing I have done with my children from time to time is get one alone where he/she is not distracted, and ask some questions...just to capture their thoughts on video. The other day I took my oldest two outside and asked them each about 10 questions on the topic of Money. From some recent dialog, I knew my daughter did not have much financial understanding yet, and some of her answers proved to be pretty entertaining. They will both get a kick out of this a few years down the road!

You can have a lot of fun with this simple format...and provide some wonderful videos for long-distance family! I plan to interview my kids about growing up, goals, Daddy (Father's Day!), grandparents, siblings, work/jobs, family, and vacations. 

For kids who are a little camera-shy, try sitting a few feet to the side of the camera as you talk to them. If they are looking at you, that may help them forget the video and more freely answer your questions. A few other quick tips:
1) Use a tripod! You can get one at Walmart for as little as $20, and it's well worth the investment for nice, steady video.
2) Set the camera at their eye level. Don't "shoot down" at them.
3) Sit or kneel as you interview them so that you are on their eye level as well.
4) Frame your shot fairly tight--usually waist or chest-up is good.
5) Try shooting outdoors for better lighting and more scenic setting (the trade-off is background noise if you live on a busy street).
6) Ask open-ended questions--have 10-12 ready since they may pass on a few of them.


It's not hard to edit their answers together and make them fun to watch--if you don't already have an editing program, you may find Windows MovieMaker is easy to learn. It is a blast editing--and later watching--these priceless videos starring your favorite little actors!

I plan to do these videos on a more regular basis this year, so my goal is to interview my kids each month on one topic. Look for our February edition..."Kids on...Love!!"

Free Printables: Pen & Paper Games!

So many exciting events, programs, and parties during the Christmas season. Not to mention shopping and appointments and road trips to visit family. Some of these can get a little long or tedious for children to sit through. Once the candy cane is crunched away, the doodling page is full, and the Christmas lights have lost their dazzle, these pen & paper games may help ward off the wiggles for a little longer!


The first game is a Scattergories type word game...scan the room for objects that begin with each of the letters, MERRY CHRISTMAS. Can be a competition with points scored for the number of letters in each word, and extra points for double words! Print it here.





Gingerbread Squares is a game you may remember from childhood. Requires 2 or 3 players, and they take turns drawing lines to connect the gingerbread men. Whoever forms a box with their line gets to put their initial inside. This is a great game to teach strategy to preschoolers--my 4-year-old loves it. It can be printed here.





Print a couple off and stash them in your car for some quick entertainment when an event or appointment drags out longer than expected!

Make a Family Memory Match Game

A unique and meaningful gift for your young child or a niece/nephew is a Family Memory Match Game using pictures of relatives. This is especially great for kids who don't get to see extended family all the time. It's easy, but will take a couple of hours to put together.



If you are with family this Thanksgiving weekend, try to get some good individual or couple shots of each relative. This will save much time in sorting through old family-gathering pictures to find usable head-shots of grandparents, cousins, and uncles/aunts (uh yes, I do speak from experience!)

I made an easy little drawstring fabric bag to hold the game, but you could pick up a paper mache box at Hobby Lobby to paint if you don't sew. This is for a set of 24, but just add more cards if you have a larger family.

For a game with 24 cards, you need:
12 photos, 2 copies of each
2-3 sheets of scrapbook paper
photo adhesive
paper cutter (or very large circle/square punch)
laminator (or run them to an office supply store to be laminated)
fabric (14" x 11")
30" cord or ribbon
Note: If you are fortunate enough to have a 2.5" or 3" large circle or square punch, this project will go much faster! I cut mine with a paper cutter--this was the most time-consuming part of project.

Cut your photos into 2.5 x 2.5" squares
Now, cut your paper into 3x3" squares--same number as your photos.
Use the adhesive to attach the photos to the white side of the paper.
Laminate the squares and cut around each. I snipped the corners so they were not eye-hazards.

For the bag, fold the fabric and cut so the long side is 11" and the short folded side is 6.5". Snip a little of the corner off of each top outside edge--this will allow the drawstring to work. To finish the cut edges, fold and fold under again. Stitch down each angle.



Open the fabric and fold the top under, then fold under again 3/4-inch. Press. Sew. This will be the casing for the drawstring.
Fold the bag with right sides together and stitch the side seam and bottom. Clip the bottom corner. Turn right side out.


Use a safety pin to guide the cord through the casing. Once it's in there evenly, stitch across the center of it a couple of times to keep it from coming out.

You could have fun posing some creative personality shots!  This will be a thoughtful and well-used child's gift.  

 

T-Minus 6 days until Thanksgiving.

If you are like me, you are marking down the days until Thanksgiving is here.  I am so excited to sit around the table with loved ones and eat delicious food and relish in an entire day devoted to Thankfulness.  We are truly blessed.
Kylee and I are working on several Thanksgiving day activities, but I wanted to go ahead and post a few today. The first is a printable that allows your child (with help from you!) to create an acronym of THANKS. Take each letter from thanks and choose something that you are truly thankful for this year.  Then sign and date it and place it in your child's "All About Me" book!  Find this printout here.

Another quick thought is to print out these place mats for the kid table on Thanksgiving day.  Your child will enjoy writing and coloring on his or her special page.  Provide a few crayons and pens and let them decorate while you are fixing plates and setting the table.  If you want to laminate it and use marker instead, that would also be great.  If you decide to let your child decorate this printable as is, then when the day is over, this would also be a great addition to his or her "All About Me" book!

Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action.  ~W.J. Cameron

Imagination Booster: Leaf Art

If you're outside enjoying enjoying Autumn today, you may want to bring a few leaves back inside for a fun and easy art project.

We found some favorites, laid them out on a white paper, and then gazed at them for a bit. You have to tap your cloud-watching skills to see what animal or object each leaf resembles.

Glue them down when you know what they are, then use pens and thin markers to turn them into those imaginary friends.

Little sister's imagination is remarkably similar to big brother's!
Nature art is the best!

All About Me: Touch!

Next in our study of the 5 senses is Touch. The sense of touch is different from the other senses in that it is located all over the body, not just in one specific part. Along with the face, neck, lips, tongue, hands and feet, fingertips are one of the most sensitive areas of the body. In fact, each fingertip has about 100 touch receptors! We put our fingers to the test in a few different ways today.

The awareness of one sense is increased when we can't use other senses. For our first activity, we sat down at a table, and I blindfolded each child. Then I handed them an object and gave them a minute to feel it. As they ran their fingers over it, I asked them to note the shape, the texture, whether the same texture was on all of it or part of it, the size, etc.



I tried to find things they were not very familiar with. After a minute, I took back the objects and removed their blindfolds. Then I gave each a piece of paper and pencil and asked them to draw their best interpretation of what the object was like.



Afterwards, we had fun comparing the drawing to the actual object and talked about what they felt and imagined in their mind's eye. Turns out they both knew what their objects were--so they did a pretty good job with their drawings!



Next, I gathered some objects with different textures and hid them under the couch cushions: a piece of sandpaper, a soft piece of cloth, a hard marble, a cold ice cube (in a baggie!), cotton balls, a pokey leaf, a smooth book.



The kids took turns reaching in without looking, and I asked them to describe what they felt. It was fun to see how many describing words or adjectives they could come up with.


Finally, we worked on this Touch page for our All About Me book.

You can print it here. I cut some pieces of fabric, sandpaper, shiny posterboard, and bubblewrap, and they glued them above the right describing word.



A couple of books you might want to find on your next library trip are: Find Out By Touching by Paul Showers and My Bunny Feels Soft by Charlotte Steiner.


And of course, touch is very important through hugs and cuddles, so be sure to give out lots of those today!

All About Me: Smell

It is 5 Senses Week here on The Mud Pie Makers, and today we are thinking about our sense of Smell.

To get our Sniffers engaged, we first walked from room to room in our house, looking for interesting things to smell. In the bedrooms, we sniffed the clean bed-sheets, crayons, and stinky shoes. In the bathroom, we smelled the soap, the toothpaste, and the shampoo. In the living room, we stopped to sniff the fireplace, and in the laundry room we compared the smell of dirty and clean laundry.

  The kitchen had lots of good things to smell...we pulled out fresh fruit, spice jars, chocolate, a cut onion, coffee, and garlic.

  Later we went outside to enjoy some outdoor smells. Someone was burning leaves...definitely a favorite smell of fall! We also got down to smell the dirt and some flowers.

After all the smelling, we talked about memories of smells. Were there any smells that made them remember a trip or special day? Did smells ever make them hungry, or make their mouth water? Were there any odors that made them want to get away quick?

Finally, we settled down on the couch and read the story of The Gingerbread Man. Mmmm...does anything smell more delicious than baking gingerbread??

  Afterwards, each of them got to decorate their own Gingerbread Man on this printable page here. After coloring and filling in other favorite smells, we placed glue on the tummies of the gingerbread men and they sprinkled some ginger and cinnamon spices onto it.

 

We let it dry awhile, and then it was a yummy scratch 'n' sniff page to put in their All About Me book. You can get more printables here and some ideas for starting an All About Me book for your child here.

  Have fun enjoying what the nose knows today!

Imagination Booster: Lunch on a Pirate Ship

One day while running errands, we found a wide, sturdy cardboard box just begging for an adventure. So we brought it home, and after studying it on all sides this morning, decided it would be a PERFECT pirate ship.

I cut off most of the top flaps, leaving one short one for the front deck, then bent one long flap to make the hull, taping it all together with clear packaging tape. After much deliberation, we settled on a not-too-scary name for our vessel...The Sea Wolf. 

We added a dowel for the mast and my son created a Pirate flag from cardstock. And LOTS of glue.

I taped one side for durability, then hole punched it twice for the dowel to run through.

Everyone promptly ran to find their best pirate dress-up clothes...stripes, bandanas, eyepatch, jeweled swords...typical pirate duds.

I wasn't sure what pirates ate for lunch...but decided tuna "fish" sandwiches cut with cookie cutters, and cucumber Sea slices with cream cheese to hold fish crackers and seaweed (cilantro) were just the thing for Captain Mario, Pirate Pinkey, and our Little Messy Matey. 

So me 'n' these here scurvy scallywags drug our sorry keesters out t'th'ship'n'had us a grand great adventuaaarrr! 

MORE Printable Shopping Games!

My kids really loved the shopping games we tried last week, so I put together a couple more that had to do with rhyming.




The child must identify the picture and then watch for something at the store that rhymes with that object. For instance, SHIP would rhyme with DIP or CHIP. For HEAD, they may find BREAD in the bakery. I have two versions of this printable that can be cut apart into two games each. One is geared for a Grocery store and one is for shopping at a department store or mall. It has items like FIRE (tire) and NURSE (purse).






Hopefully these will keep the children happy while Mom shops some great Labor Day sales!

Make Shopping Fun for Kids...Printable Games!

Oh, nothing brings on fatigue and despair in my children like the announcement, “Time to run some errands!” The skipping feet immediately begin to drag and the little shoulders slump out the door. I believe horrid and boring are the descriptive adjectives for shopping that I've heard mumbled from the backseat.

I really think they would gladly bathe twice every day and color with broken crayon stubs the rest of their childhood in exchange for never going shopping again.

In an attempt to make errands less of a drudgery for them, I made up a couple of little printable games that could be carried along to the stores. We tested it out this morning and I believe my little focus group enjoyed themselves--there was not one whine the whole trip! 

We used the colorful clipboards made here earlier this week (sidenote: after three days, they are still excited to check off their chores each morning! Musta got my list lovin' genes!)

Since my 4-year-old really loves I Spy, I made a little pictorial version for her to find several objects at a store—tried to think of things that were not too obvious--a hat on someone's head, a bee (honey label), etc. 

It's available if you'd like to print it here...you just need to set up a free Scribd.com account. (This is the only way I know how to make a printable available—I wish I knew how print it from our site). If you're artistic, you could easily draw your own objects, or cut pictures out.

Color Hunt would also be great for a preschooler. Use a crayon or colored circle stickers to mark 5-6 colors on a paper. Then give your child the clipboard and a pencil at the store so they can draw or write in an object they see beside each color. Yellow - draw a banana, red - can of tomato soup. The printable for this one has a more challenging version too, incorporating a sensory descriptive word: White + cold, Red + smooth.

My first grader is loving math these days. A Price Hunt math game with a calculator kept him very happily occupied. He had to find the grocery items on his list, note the price, and then calculate the cost for the 2 of them, or 3, or whatever # was indicated.

 I made a printable version of this...but for variation, cut pictures out of a grocery flier and glue them on a paper. The best part, of course, is using a calculator! I used rubber bands to hold it to the back of the clipboard. A dollar store calculator could be superglued to the back of the clipboard, or attached with velcro so it's removable.

For kids who can spell, try an Alphabet Hunt. Write the alphabet out in a couple of columns with a space beside each letter. Your child must find something at the store that starts with each letter. Stick to alphabetical order for more of a challenge if you have several shopping stops!

If you have no time to make a game, one quick thing I've done before when we've had to hit several stores is to give each child a few coupons and tell them their Mission is to be the first to find the product pictured. 

Grocery shopping accomplished and a good time had by all.

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