Singing our ABC's

 

A few years ago, having the privilege to teach kindergarten for a year, I created felt letters cards. I used a bulletin board stencil to draw on scraps of felt and then glued the felt on to foam boards.

We pull the cards out frequently. We lay them out to find different letters, colors, sounds. We sing the ABC song over and over. It's an awesome activity to share with those who want to play with the kids but don't want to get messy.

Lacing

Fine motor skills are crucial as kiddos grow into writers and crafters. 

Here is an easy (and SUPER cheap) homemade lacing activity!

Cut out any shape you want from construction paper, we have an apply. Use a hole punch to put a few holes around the edge of the shape. Use yarn to lace through the holes. (Extra shoe laces work well, although, I not sure who have a ton of those around:) )

** one trick to help with lacing: wrap the end of the yarn with tape to make it more similar to a shoe lace***

Color Collages

CP is one smart little man but needs so practice with his colors. We have a ton of books, coloring books, crayons, markers, and toys that we use to teach color. (Basically, everything we see) 

Today, we had a wonderful day where mom and son could send a few quiet hours just playing and being crafty together.

 

We chose a few pieces of construction paper together and decided which colors we would focus on today. I used an old house decor magazine that we could rip apart, or destroy without hesitation :) We turned the pages together to find yellow, blue, or green. 

*** Be sure to stick with one color at a time in the beginning to secure each color.***

We would rip then glue and repeat. 

 

Ripping pictures and letters out to match was a blast. We used a nontoxic glue stick that I use for scrap booking so really who cares how messy we got! So much FUN! 

-For me this craft was TOTALLY free!!!-

Stacking

We have a ton of cars and trucks. Some of our favorites are the wooden ones from Melissa and Doug. Instead of running them around his race tracks, he realized that they can be stacked on top of each other. Very clever. He was so proud of himself!

We also have a set of Melissa and Doug road signs. He quickly realized that he could stack his signs. We talked about the shape of each sign and if it could be stacked. We also talked about which is the best for the base and which could go on top. We saved the triangles, circles and rhombus shaped ones for on top.

Window Markers

I loved the moment I found these! Rainy day activities....here we come........ 

Crayola window markers that wipe off with a baby wipe, windex, whatever works for you!!!!

This was an activity that kept daddy and CP busy for several minutes while I made dinner.

Open and Close

Jars and Lids

Let your child practice motor skills by opening and closing lids that snap or screw on. Tuberware, plastic containers, or old baby food jars are easy to hold. 

Your child's fine motor development will help with writing skills later. This activity lets your child practice screwing lids on and off while developing hand muscles and eye/hand coordination. Place several empty baby food (or other) jars and lids in front of your child. Have your child practice opening and closing the jars.

For the older kids or advanced children try a few variations:
Collect small unbreakable bottles and caps from empty bottles of shampoo and lotion you have used when staying in a hotel. Put the jars in a basket for your child to match.

Pops of Color

Moving into a new house has been WONDERFUL, however, new spaces sometimes call for new colors. The family that lived in our home prior us, left an entire cabinet of vases. I decided to take left over paint from various projects and give them new life.

 

I pour a bit of paint into the inside and swirled it around. I allowed the paint to drip out for a bit. It is OK to have a bit extra in the bottom. I did find an issue that if I didn't allow excess to drain out the paint didn't really dry out. Even after two weeks on the shelf. I now have them scattered around the fire place mantle and bookshelves. 

The cost to me......absolutely NOTHING!

Cheap Furniture!

We are blessed living near on of the midwest's largest flea market. Here I found a little night stand for $5. Yes, you saw right, $5. I used chemical stripper to quiclkly take off the many, many layers of lacquer.With 2 cans of spray paint (for about 3 full coats), I ended up with a fabulous piece for our quest room. 

 Don't be afraid of doing something crazy, go wild with color. What's $5? It can be changed.

 I have started to pair some great bright pinks and blues to enhance the space.

Yummy Carmel Bread

This is something that I threw together at the last second for my family at the end of dinner. 

I used premade refrigerator breadstick, a tablespoon of butter and a few tablespoons of brown sugar. 

 

I melted butter and brown sugar together in the microwave. I baked the bread according to the package for 17 minutes. After five minutes in the oven, I brushed on the butter/sugar mixture on the bread and let it continue to bake.

 The bread sticks rose in the heat and the sugar mix seeped into the bread making it sweet, crunchy, and delicious!

 

Be sure to give the time to cool because of the sugar they are super hot!

Animal Parade

Little man loves his animals and his race car mat. We found this rug for about $13 at Ikea!

 It has become our home for many activities. We are currently having and animal parade. Lil' Man practiced moving the animals one by one to advance them around the track. It was a great way for me to model how to use his animals and race car track in a different way.

 

We are playing king of the hill with an old plastic bowl. I started to show the size difference in animals and then he busted out the cars and clearly cars win in size when in comes to elephants and bears.

Stacking

CP is one creative kid. We found that he does not get into trouble very often as we let him explore (safely) around the house (Inquiry learning). We only say no if it is breakable or can hurt him severely. We guide him to areas of the home that are fairly harmless. 

Yes, the cans can hurt him but we were working together and if they fell over we said "no big deal" and if you notice the cans leaned away from him (I may of had something to do with that, just in case)

On this day he was in the cabinet that holds tea, hot chocolate, and soup cans. He thought it was a great idea to try and stack all the cans. Well since there was about 8-10 I removed all but five from the situation so there was no fight and modeled how to stack the rest. 

Awesome motor skill and hand/eye coordination practice. 

We stack all sorts of things around our house. The usual of course, building blocks, Legos, cups. 

Now try a few unusual items to spice up your kiddo's day. It will help keep attention longer if you are able to change the items used. 
Examples: soda cans (full or empty - if you use empty, tape over the sharp opening), cups, plastic bowls, books (try various sizes and see if they can figure out the strongest "tower"), tissue boxes, empty toliet paper/ paper towel tubes. You get the idea :)

Rainy Days

 CP is an uber sports fan! She can do various errands on a rainy day as long as we tell him what our schedule is going to be. One of his favorite things to do is visit the golf store. They always carry kids sized clubs and putting greens. We have a practice sessions and get some wiggles out between stores.

 We have a few boxes that are low lying. It great balance practice to set them up near a wall and all kids to walk up and down the box or 2x4. Hold their hands the first time or two and allow them to get use to it and soon it will become a great independent activity.

Not only is our son a sports fan, he loves animals. We visit pet supply stores between errands to allow him to get out of the car seat and cart. We are investigating the hermit crabs and it is hilarious! You'd be surprised how many conversations can occur in a pet shop. Between the puppies, kittens, fish tanks, hamsters, birds, spiders, snakes, lizards, and anything else you can find there provides so many topics to practice conversations skills, language, types of habitats, appetites, etc. Be creative with what you decide to tell you kids! They learn a ton from adding a visual to vocabulary.

Cool Off on a Hot Day

 This summer has been so hot and we have needed to introduce a few new indoor activities that also allow for some stimulation and feel us cooled off. 

CP loves eating ice from our water cups. This gave me the idea of letting him play with ice! I used and extra shower curtain liner as a play mat on our floor and gave him a plastic tray of full of ice.

He used spoons and little Tupperware containers to transfer ice around and dump it on himself. 

He found that a lap full of ice was what he thought it was going to be as you can tell from his expression. 

This is a great sensory activity to help your kiddo practice hot/ cold, wet/dry, large/small, frozen/melted. 

It's never too early to start conversing with you child about things they experience. It will only build their vocabulary. 

Painting Made Easy

 My son LOVES painting. One of the first ways we were successful painting independently with minimal mess (for paint) is to use bingo markers.

Hand held paint makes it really nice so that even daddy is willing to get messy and Grandma doesn't get covered in various colors.

Some of the best places to get bingo paint markers are craft stores like JoAnn Fabrics and Hobby Lobby. They can also be purchased at any Target, Walmart, etc.

Indoor Pool

Stole this idea for a girl friend of mine! She found a pool that was small enough to be inflated in the house and used as a ball pit, sand box, toy box, or pool! It came with a small set of balls. I know you can buy a extra pack of balls fairly cheep on amazon or find it at your local store (target, mejier, etc.)