Playing with Rhythm Sticks (or straws!)

My son takes classes at The Little Gym every week and one of the activites that he's always enjoyed is using rhythm sticks to practice motor skills and hand-eye coordination. It also helps reinforce body part names (and even some letters). And of course, you can also practice music and rhythm. It's also a great opportunity for toddlers to listen and mimic.

The activity can be done with both babies and toddlers. Babies who are unable to hold the sticks and sit in your lap while you tap this sticks, or you can help them hold the sticks while you tap them. I remember Ethan enjoying this activity even when he was only a few months old.

Daddy helping

We actually have a pair of rhythm sticks at home...they are relatively inexpensive. But what if you don't have a pair?

Enter Daddy's great idea to use straws! The straws are great because I can leave them accessible in the toy box. They also don't hurt as much if the tapping gets a little crazy! Of course, they don't make the same great sound that the rhythm stick do!

Sorry for the photo quality here- I had a camera attacker on my hands!

Here are some of the activities we do:

• Drum them on the floor
• Tap on your...toes, knees, belly, hand
• Put them on your head like bunny ears
• Make letters...T, X, L, V
• Roll them between your hands...under your hands...under your feet
• Tap them together
• Tap your stick on my stick. Now I tap yours.
• Tap one like you're hammering a nail
  

Rolling on his leg

Of course, I'm sure you can come up with more--maybe even your little one will add to the list!

Masking Tape Sculpture

Toddlers (and babies too) really enjoy the sensory activity of playing with masking tape. In looking for a crafty activity that we could do with minimal prep time and mess, I pulled out a piece of cardboard, some crayons, and some making tape. Initially I thought we'd place the tape on the cardboard and color on it, next to it, etc. (more like these masking tape paintings)

The project morphed a bit. Ethan wasn't really all that interested in coloring (he was more in the mood for paint), but he was very happy to pull off pieces of tape and stick them to the cardboard. Sometimes the tape would be flush against the cardboard. Sometimes the tape would arc off of the cardboard. Sometime the tape was a knotted mess. Other times the tape was only sticking to other pieces of tape. 

"Rip it Mom!"

The end result was a curly tape sculpture that the little guy really enjoyed making (and had negligible amount of clean up). Total cost was approx 50 cents worth of tape.

Win-win!

What fun have you had with masking tape?

Yummy Guacamole

I can't begin to count how many people have been turned into
"guacamole-lovers" after trying this guacamole recipe. (I think the secret is to be generous on the amount of lemon and lime juice.)

Now that summer grilling season is upon us, we've been making a ton of guacamole. It's so refreshing in the summer heat and awesome on hamburgers. Of course, avocado is full of heath benefits for the whole family-babies and toddlers included! 

Special Kitchen Helper

If you have a "Special Kitchen Helper," this is the time to recruit them. Smashing avocado with a potato masher is a great job for a toddler!

Yummy Guacamole

3 ripe avocados

1/4 c. red onion

2 T cilantro, finely chopped

Approx 1 T lime juice

Approx 1 T lemon juice

½ teaspoon coarse salt

Grated black pepper

½ ripe tomato, remove seeds and pulp

Mash avocado in bowl.  Add onion, cilantro, lime, lemon, salt, and pepper.  Mix.  Add lime and lemon juice to taste.  If not serving immediately, cover with plastic wrap placed directly on the surface of the guacamole to keep air from reaching it.  Refrigerate.  Add tomatoes just before serving.

The guacamole is pretty forgiving. We often omit the cilantro when we don't have any on hand. Sometimes we leave out the pepper or reduce the amount of salt.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

More Rock Painting

Our rock painting project last month has quickly my most popular blog post. I was also so excited to have the craft featured at The Imagination Tree!

But the best tell of a good project? When you're little person specifically asks to do it again.

Can't wait to move these to our new house later this summer!
Thanks for reading! :)

Painting Garden Rocks

One of Ethan's favorite things to do outside is to help with the garden and I wanted a way for him to put a piece of his personality in the garden too. I decided that a good sunny afternoon project would be to paint rocks. (Ethan is 22 months old, but I think this would work out well for any age. Also a good sensory activity for an infant using finger paints.)

First, we took a bucket to collect rocks. If I had to make a guess, this was probably his favorite part. He loves rocks--I am always finding piles of them in the house or in the car--so why wouldn't collecting them be fun?!

We painted the rocks outside with acrylic paints and q-tips. We did a lot of the painting together. Ethan would paint his own rock, and he'd add paint to my rocks. It was really relaxing to sit together in the shade and create together, even if it only lasted as long as a toddler attention span! 

After the rocks dried, I sprayed them with a coat of glossy acrylic clear coat to help preserve them and add a bit more shine. I'm not sure how they will hold up long term against the elements--I suppose we'll have to wait and see!

I love the way they turned out. My favorite part was the clear acrylic sparkle paint. I love seeing the rocks sparkle and shimmer in the sun! 

Aren't they a cool addition to the garden?!?  Even their placement (all lined up along the left side of the path) reflects a bit of Ethan's personality!

Have you and your little person painted rocks or created other garden decorations?

Dancing with Jack Vettriano

Inspiration from art

Source: Wikipedia

I always enjoy "The Singing Butler" by Jack Vettriano. I welcome it's romantic spirit coupled with a sense of curiosity. I have a print hanging in our powder room. This weekend we were washing hands and my toddler pointed to the painting and asked to look at the people dancing. 

I asked if he wanted to dance with me, and of course he approved of the idea. He thought it was really funny when I held his hand and lifted his arm in the air. He wanted to see us dancing in the mirror and I decided that was a decent time to snap a photo (from the hip of course). Sorry the photo is a bit lack luster...we were dancing, not taking photos!

Fun activity for a special Mommy and Baby day. Hope today grants you with the luxury of time to dance!

Coupon Clipping

Part of our Sunday morning routine is pulling the paper off the front porch (unless of course it landed in the flower bed) and clipping coupons. Ethan was about 8 months old when he started to "help" me with the weekly chore.

Playing with the Ads

Don't underestimate how fun it is for a little one (baby or toddler) to play with the glossy ad inserts--it's a blast! He'd look at them, throw them, tear them, and overall just have a good time. The best part is that it kept Ethan busy while I was clipping. :)

Playing "coupon"

Now a toddler, Ethan prefers to play with the clipped coupons. Every week I clip out some extra coupons for him and he throws them around. He likes to throw them from up high (usually climbing up two or three stairs) and with a bit of awe and excitement, watches the effect of gravity and air resistance on the little scraps of paper. After a few weeks, I got smart and stashed away his old coupons in a ziploc bad so I didn't have to cut him quite so many every week. I've since given him a small plastic accordion folder to keep them in like Mommy does. The folder has been a big win! A lot of times he asks me to cut out pictures from the advertisements--a dog from the pet store ad or a photo of a favorite toy. To him, they are ALL coupons, and they all contain a little secret piece of joy.

As always--it's the simple things...

(PS- I got a new comment plug-in to make commenting easier and better for you--let's try it out!)

Cookie Time Magnets

I've seen cookie sheets used as magnet playboards in a number of different ways. It's really easy to print clip art or photos, cut them out, laminate them (clear contact paper on both sides works great too), and stick a magnet to the back. In the past I've made them with letters, number, animals (shapes would be good too!)

Then I got to thinking- it is a cookie sheet after all. Maybe I should make cookies.

So I found what I thought was the perfect chocolate chip cookie clip art and printed out 10 cookies. As a toddler who loves cookies, he thought it was pretty cool to have cookies for on his cookie sheet. It also makes a great addition to his play food. He plays. We can count the cookies as he places them on the tray. Can you tell he likes them?!

Toddlers love magnets, they're inexpensive, and can be a great learning tool. What creative ways have you found to use cookie sheet magnets?

Paint like Pollock

The idea of painting with water on cement outside seemed to me to be a
no-brainer great activity for my little guy. 

Outside play+ water+ painting= awesomeness. 

I got out a basin of water and a foam paint brush (get them at the hardware store for less that a quarter) and showed him to dip the brush and "paint" the sidewalk. He started by painting the sidewalk, and even painting the daffodils. 

I love presenting creative activities to kids--I think the most interesting part of the activity is seeing them bring their own creativity to the table.

Ethan decided to use the brush to paint Jackson Pollock style. They key here is having a foam brush because it holds more water than a regular paint brush. He'd dip the brush and fling the water all over the sidewalk. It made a great sound as it splattered, and he was overjoyed to watch the water fly though the air and splat on the ground.

Sometimes, it's the little things!

Seriously, THIS is happiness.

Have you had a good experience "painting" with water??

Top 5 Favorite Young Children's Books

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you'll go!" ~Dr. Seuss, "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!"

Today (March 2nd) is Read Across America Day and March is National Reading Month.

Ethan's been enjoying reading since he was just a wee little thing!

Reading is a very important at our house, and Ethan constantly has board books spread out all over the floor. Now that he's a little older, it's fun that Ethan likes to read to us too!

These are 18 month old Ethan's top 5 favorites:

1. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? - Bill Martin Jr./ Eric Carle

2. Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? - Dr. Seuss

3. Go Dogs Go - P.D. Eastman

4. Goodnight Moon - Margaret Wise Brown

5. The Water Hole - Graeme Base

What are your children's favorite books?? 

Heart Inspired Crafts

Hmmm, so I scheduled this post to go out last week, but just realized it never did. BUMMER!! Valentines day may be over, but these projects are still fun- and Mother's Day is just around the corner!!


Heart Collage
This years Valentines collage craft was quick, easy, and clean. It's great for a toddler, but it's possible to create a collage with an infant too by using larger hearts (the Contact paper makes a great sensory experience- just have the infant play with the shapes and let them fall where they may!)

What you need:

Clear Contact paper

Construction paper

Scissors

To prep the project, cut out a bunch of small paper hearts (Out of pure necessity, I actually cut mine out at work while I was on my lunch break- so whatever works!) and cut two pieces of Contact paper to the same size. Mine was approximately 8x6 inches. I created red and pink hearts, but I think it would also be real cool to cut some hearts out of newspaper as well. The white with black text would be a nice addition to the mix.

Tape the Contact paper to the table (or we use our highchair try insert as a craft/art surface), sticky side up and let your kiddo start sticking the hearts to the surface. Ethan did a lot of moving the hearts around. When he got bored, we put the remaining heart in a box, dumped them all over the paper, and smacked them down. 

Finish by placing the other sheet of Contact paper on top to seal in the hearts. 

Looks pretty and festive hanging on our white cabinet, but it would look really cool hanging in a window too!

Fingerpaint Heart
Last year we painted a heart for Valentines Day. (It was a great project for a 6 month old!)

Hope you enjoyed you special day!

Oh (handprint) Christmas Tree

I found this idea on The Other White House via Pinterest and had to adapt it for Ethan this year! 

We used a paint on a pallet, putting a glob of green paint on a paper plate and smearing it around with Ethan's little hand before we "smack smack smacked" it down on the paper. (Saying "smack smack smack" makes it quite fun for your little person!) Since making the snowman handprint ornament, I've found the paper plate is really effective if you need to make a number of handprints!

After we got the tree shape done, we used different colored paint on his fingertips to create the lights and then I helped him smear paint into a tree trunk.

When we were all done, Ethan asked for more paper and to my surprise, he made a second tree by himself (it's one of those modern upside down types)! When he was done, he pulled the page off of his tray and pointed for me to hang it up to dry next to the tree we had done together. "Is that a Christmas Tree?" "Christmas Tree- uh huh!" Great look through the eyes of a toddler! Well done little dude. :)

Snowman Handprint Ornament

These really cute snowman ornaments aren't an original idea. I got the idea from Full of Great Ideas last year, and I've been waiting to try it ever since.

I'll admit, I was a bit unsure how well this would go with a young toddler (Ethan is 16 months old), but I thought I could give it a go. I got the ornaments at the dollar store. 7 for $1!!

Tips:

• I really liked the idea to dip Ethan's hand on the pallet of paint instead of painting it with a brush. It was much quicker to reapply paint when making multiple ornaments. 
• He's too young to want to grip his fingers around the ball, so I pressed down one finger at a time. We counted as I pressed, which he found very amusing!
• With little hands, you can do a double print with fingers on each side.
• Resign yourself to the fact that they aren't going to be perfect! One of my favorite "mistakes" turned into a snowman peeking out from behind another snowman. It's delightful :)

Ethan could have painted another whole box he was having so much fun! 

Fun fact: I had a hard time finding the "free time" to paint on the finishing details of the ornaments for Ethan. I ended up bringing my black Sharpie, my fine tipped paint brush, and my paints to work and painting them in my cube on my lunch break! The photos were taken during another lunch break using my work's Christmas tree. Ah, to be a working mom during the holidays!!

Fall Leaves Tree Fingerpainting

Our latest seasonal painting project was a fall tree. I painted the tree trunk on the paper and instructed 15 month old Ethan to paint the leaves.

I gave him a pallet made out of aluminum foil with red, yellow, and orange fingerpaint on it so that he could have complete control over the paint he placed on the paper. I love seeing all the tiny finger streaks in the paint!

The fall painting was great fall fun! I would like to say that we went out and played in the leaves afterwards, but really we went straight to the bath tub! (this was a messy painting session!) Playing in the leaves was for another day!

In the spring, we created a similar tree painting using fingerprints when he was only 7 months old.

Ice Painting

I was very excited to try out "ice paint" with Ethan. I'd seen a similar project online for preschoolers, but I wanted to adapt it for a baby or young toddler.
As you remember, making ice paints was on of the items on my Summer Bucket List!

Here's all you need:
An ice cube tray (one you won't use for consuming ice later!)
Finger paints
Coffee Filters (or paper is fine too)

Now what you do:
1. Squirt some paint into the cube tray. A lot goes a long way. I was happy to find a tray that offered long narrow cubes, that once frozen, looked a lot like crayons. Of course, you can use any tray in any sort of shape!


2. Fill the rest of the tray with water, high enough to just cover the paint (be careful to use just enough water to create a solid shape, but not so much that your paints are significantly enveloped in water!).

3. Freeze.

4. Once the paints are frozen, get ready and paint away on the coffee filters! Of course, you can paint on any paper, but the water helps create a great effect on the coffee filters.
Note: The paints are a little slow to get started until the ice starts to melt. Use a little patience...the warmth of your hands will be enough to start the ice melting quickly!


Not only is this project a lot of fun for kids of all ages (it would be especially fun outside on a hot summer day), but it's a good opportunity talk about "cold," and maybe even practice signing it!!

Enjoy!

What happens to all this artwork? Do you save it??

A co-worker of mine sent me a link to an article on TODAYMoms entitled Kids' Artwork: Do you save it, or throw it out? It's an interesting read, and brings up a pretty good topic for discussion.

What to do with all that artwork??

I think we can agree that we can't keep it all, if for no other reason than to recognize that not all projects can withstand the test of time. Some projects just may not "make the cut" and make it into that special "Save me" folder. These are the top three ways (besides a special folder) that I archive my son's baby masterpieces...

1. Wall Gallery 

I start by creating an art gallery on my son's bedroom wall. A few photo frames where we rotate and display some of his most recent and inspiring projects. I rotate the artwork ...sometimes artwork stacks behind others in the frames. It's only temporary storage, but it's so nice for Ethan to be able to enjoy and take pride in his work. Also, it keeps my fridge clean!! (And don't forget that some pieces just might look wonderful framed in other living spaces around the house!)

2. Digital Storage

I scan and/or photograph the majority of Ethan's projects. If they fit on the flatbed scanner, they get scanned. If they are something larger or more organic like our handprint tulips I am sure to take a photograph. Of course, there are some projects and paintings that just don't make the cut, but since digital space is relatively "unlimited," I don't edit down the stack too much. Once projects are scanned I can determine if they are truly "save folder" worthy.

3. Online Backup

Having recently had a fire in my home...and in the wake of an east coast earthquake followed by a hurricane, I cannot stress enough the importance of some sort of online storage for these precious works of art. There is so much peace of mind in knowing that all your photos and images are always safe and sound in another remote location.

So I'm interested to know: do you keep them, or pitch them? How do you keep your closet from becoming a Rolodex of baby art?

Happy Handprint Crab

We've been a bit light on crafting around these parts lately. Living in a hotel for the last six weeks (displaced by a house fire), hasn't lent it self well to crafting! This weekend hurricane Irene brought us some crummy weekend weather, and helped me decide that it was indeed time to get out the paints and brushes!

Having limited crating supplies on hand, I decided we'd do a simple handpainting project. Amanda at the Handprint and Footprint Art blog recently posted a collection of Cute Handprint Crabs that I used to inspire our own crab project.

Of course, we painted our crab to have it's own flair!

We used fingerprints to create the eyes. I helped Ethan smear his fingers on the paper to create the water (I think this was his favorite part!) Mommy painted on the crab claws. And of course, when our crab was complete, I let Ethan go to town and create his own abstract creation!

My favorite part of this project is asking Ethan where his crab painting is, and seeing him proudly walk over and point it out on the wall! How fun!!

How will you add your own spin to the handprint crab?

First Friday baby fun!

One of the things I wanted to do with Ethan this summer was #16 on my Summer Bucket List, to go to an art exhibit or an art walk. Our trip to the art exhibit at the State Museum in Harrisburg was such a success that we caught up with my friend Liz and went to First Friday in downtown Lancaster.

So excited to get his own "painting" to hold!! Wish I could share the artist name, but the card was pretty "goopy" by the time he was done with it!

We had a great time, but I am pretty sure that Ethan enjoyed it the most! He loved looking at the sculptures and the paintings. He loved the live music (someone even played him a special song on the piano all about Ethan). And of course, he loved walking around and smiling at everyone who would look his way!

The moral of the story is that I was once again amazed by how much a baby can enjoy an art exhibit. It is known that babies enjoy looking at pictures and images, especially those that are high contrast. Must be even more exciting when those images are "larger than life!!"

First Friday=Baby approved! So get out there and inspire your little one's inner Picasso!

Free Family Concert Fun!

Babies naturally find music more engaging than speech. Additionally, music stimulates metal awareness and development.

I've always enjoyed concerts and live music, so I wanted to see how my 11 month old would react to a "concert." (Listening to live music was #9 on my Summer "Quality Time" Bucket List.)

It's easy enough to find "family" concerts over the summer. So many community parks hold concert events, and so many of them are FREE. Kick it up a notch? It's doubly fun if you can pack a lunch and picnic at the same time!

Since music is so enjoyable to even the youngest children, summer concerts can be great fun for all ages!

We were extra lucky enough to find a kid's concert, and Ethan had a great time! He especially enjoyed watching some of the bigger kids dance and "making friends" with other concert-goers! I'd definitely recommend it!

Make a Free Fill and Spill Sorting Game

Beginning at around 6 months of age, babies begin to enjoy playing "fill and spill" as they are learning to place objects inside containers and dump them out.

Fill and spill containers are easy enough to come by around the house. An empty baby snack container or other food storage container with a lid, or even a plastic bowl or cup works just great. Experiment with different containers.

You an fill the containers with just about anything. We've found that all those lots-of-links we have laying around the house, or clean baby food jar lids seem to work best. They are "small" objects, but not so small that they are a choking hazard. The baby jar lids are great, not only because they're free, but also they make a nice clanking noise. The lids sound even better when used in an old baby snack container with a metal bottom!!

Try not only filling and spilling, but moving the items from one container to another!