Water Beads

I see activities using water beads every time I'm looking for ideas for the kids.  So this is by far NOT my own original idea.  Chances are if I've seen them you have too.  But just in case you haven't, water beads are really fun to play with.  They were designed with florists in mind, you hydrate these teeny tiny things and they turn into some squishy fun (or if you are a florist you put them in a vase with your flowers).  I bought mine at Walmart in the florist section.

I empty two packages into a huge bowl of water and watched them grow.

This picture was taken after about 15 minutes.  

The little beads suck in the water and turn into these strange little orbs, the little one is how it started.  Andrew and I had fun playing with these as they grew on the counter.  The package said 1-4 hours, but I took mine out after just the first hour.

When they are all finished growing, they feel round and smooth like a marble but squishy like a tapioca pearl.

The fact that Ethan stuck his hands in the bowl SHOCKED me.  But they are pretty hard to resist.

We put ours in the fridge so they are cold too (I really put them in the fridge because I have this thing about mold, and I figured that would help).

Next time I'll put some bowls and spoons out to play with too.  I wanted to make sure that both Hannah and Ethan understood that they were NOT food.

Notes:  They do break if squeezed hard or stepped on and it is hard to clean up. Dumping them all over the garage is also not recommended. :D

Winter Play Activities

The kids have both had fun with some of our winter/Christmas activities.  What I have really enjoyed was how easy it is to pull these out when they both start asking to do an activity. 

 There is a tree matching game (I found this here).

I think Hannah enjoyed cleaning up the little trees into the pocket the most.

Ethan loves sticking the little gingerbread men and snowmen into the peg spots.

I briefly took the rice box and put some Christmas erasers in it for them to find.  However,  Ethan thought it would be fun to make it rain rice.

We switched from rice to cotton balls and it began to snow.

For the record it is my sister Teresa talking in the background not me.

I is for ice

I made ice balls for Hannah and Ethan to start off the letter I.  Actually, I have had them ready for awhile just waiting for a warm sunny day.  So on Tuesday when the weather looked nice, I took the opportunity knowing I had better act quick.  At that point, I had not even presented the letter I box.  Good thing too since it has rained everyday since.  I put an animal who lives in cold icy climates in each balloon and then filled water and off to the freezer they went. 

Frozen ice ball ready to "unwrap".

They looked really neat, this is the polar bear ball.

Orca whale.

Hannah insisted that they needed their gloves.

Yes Ethan it is cold.

Be careful ice balls dropped on toes hurt.

Way to go Destructo,  Ethan enjoyed hammering.

Eventually, we put the ice balls in warm water.

She kept the gloves on the entire time.

A walrus.

Hammers and Hearts

Hannah woke up early today from her nap so we had a lot of fun (quietly) while Ethan slept on.  First, I brought out the bin of colored rice and hid some little letter H`s.  Hannah loves to bury and hide things and we did this over and over, as I tried to pretend that rice was not clattering all over the floor.  

 I made the colored rice a awhile back and it still holds up well.  The rule: If its lands on the floor it ends up in the garbage.

Where are they mamaÉ

After a little while, the H`s became cookies and the rice sprinkles.

Of course we had to sweep up afterwards.

Next, Hannah hammered golf tees into a Styrofoam H.

Yes, that is a real hammer.  My mom always says a women should have her own tools.  This is MY hammer.

Placing the Tees

Pulling them out again.

This was my find of the day.  Ethan and I went to a thrift shop and I found this Leap Frog fridge alphabet toy for nothing compared to the full price at Toys R Us.

I separated out the letters we have done, so Hannah can play with them.

When you push the magnetic letter into the holder it says its name and sound.

The is the ``heart`` balloon I tied to the ceiling fan (after seeing something similar on Peaceful Parenting).  I actually had a heart shaped balloon but I managed to pop it before I could hang it.  So I found my sharpie and added some hearts to a red balloon.

Hannah was hitting the balloon and twirling.

I love that Ethan is collapsed on the floor off to the side.

Up again. Nice jab.

This is Hannah`s third narration picture.  I wish the colors photographed better.  

G- is for Green Salad and Goats

Today (as is most Mondays) was spent doing errands.  We were home in time for lunch and then nap time.  We managed to squeeze in two fun activities this afternoon.  First, we matched colored pom poms to the corresponding goat.  I didn't have a gray pom pom so I colored a white one gray with a marker.

This printable is from Tot School Printables.

She was into the activity at first.

But she quickly lost interest.

Ethan played with his gears and cogs toy.

The second activity was a huge favorite for both Hannah and Ethan.  I took the streamers headed for the garbage can and put them in a huge bowl.  I thought it looked like salad.  I hid some green objects in the "salad".  I put in some green felt food, Lego, and some bear counters.

Looks yummy.

She searched gingerly at first.

The she went wild.

Even Ethan grabbed a hold and started pulling.

Funny boy.

They played with the streamers for a good 40 minutes.  Even found a box for added fun.

Walking through the grass.

F-Feel and Find Game

Note: I found this idea in the June/July edition of the Mailbox.  

Take a shoe box and cut a hole in the side wide enough for your child to stick their arm through.  My box was ugly so I wrapped it with blue paper.  Find some objects that match.  I choose two bouncy balls, two stacking cups, two mega blocks, two pieces of felt, two sea shells, and to stuffed tomatoes.     Place one set inside the shoe box and one set on a tray (or like me on a plastic plate).

Explain to your child that there are matching toys inside the box and with their fingers only they need to find the match.

Hannah loved sticking her hand and feeling the objects.

While looking for the ball she needed to reach all the way in.

While this was a fairly simple game to put together, Hannah had more fun finding an object and matching it afterwards,  I don't know that she really understood that I wanted her to use her fingers to find  a specific item.  Nevertheless, she had a lot of fun "finding" things.  I'm sure we will be playing this again soon.