Painting with Rolling Pins and Bubble Wrap

I am definitely not a hoarder. I like to throw things away. But when I received a package wrapped in bubble wrap, I decided to save it knowing that I would somehow use it in a project with D. So when I came across this idea from messforless.net I knew I'd found it. 

I started by pouring little puddles of paint on a long piece of paper then handed D a toy rolling pin wrapped in bubble wrap. 

He immediately slid off the bubble wrap. 

So I put it back on and rolled it on the paper so he could see what to do. This was a foreign concept and he was more interested in using the paint brush.

I demonstrated again. This time he painted the bubble wrap with the brush.

So I demonstrated again, and this time he got it.

He loves getting paint on his hands.

 But then he spotted a snail and we were done.

I took his cute painting and cut out an image (a cement mixer). I framed it with painter's tape on the wall to make it a little more special. Its a nice touch in our playroom.

Dinosaur Spikes

This was another easy activity I pulled out to kill some time. I found it here: http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2009/02/we-dig-dinosaurs.html. They had the kids paint the dinosaur first, but I didn't have time for clean up so I simply cut out a dino, drew a happy face and showed D how to clip on the clothespins. He tried hard to do this for quite a while and sort of got the hang of it. I helped him a few times. He would go off and play with something else, then come back to it and try again. 

Painting on Glass

Now that the weather is getting warmer, I'm on the look-out for 'cool' activities. When I saw this idea from www.messforless.net, I thought: Perfect! 

The idea: Paint with washable paint on a glass door or window as your canvas. After you're finished with the artwork, simply clean it off with a water filled spray bottle and a squeegee. 

D did enjoy this one but he was more interested in the water bottle and squeegee than the painting. I had to keep demonstrating how to paint on the glass. The waterbottle was too hard for him to squirt all by himself so there was a lot of me helping him squirt it. The "washable" paint turned out to not be so washable despite having diluted it with water and liquid dish soap. I still have evidence of it on my cement. The take away: always use a drop cloth and a kid friendly spray bottle. I think this is one of those activities that we'll tweak and try again.  

Foil Painting

This project was simple: Paint on foil. 

D was more interested on painting on cardboard so we quickly removed the foil and it turned into a painting on cardboard project. He loves anything with paint so he enjoyed this one.

While we had the paint out, we created our Mother's Day cards with his handprint. That was probably his favorite part. After we cleaned his hand he wanted to do it all over again. Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of them. 

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie Soup

I don't enjoy cooking but my husband does. He loves to cook and is very good at it. But I have these moments when I think he would appreciate a home cooked meal by me. So I go to my 'Yum' folder and  see what I can dig up that looks yummy and has ingredients that we most likely have or will have. In this case, I found this...

I thought it looked easy enough for me and would be tasty. I was right. It was both. My version looked a little different but only because I didn't have a fancy pastry cutter. I thought about using D's play-dough cutter, but ended up using a regular kitchen knife.

Dot-A-Dot Tractor

I came across some adorable vehicle templates from learncreatelove.com. For our project, I chose the back hoe, since D is really into "diggers" and construction these days.

I decided we would use it a bit differently than they suggested.

We had just received our Dot-A-Dot markers in the mail and I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to have D try them out. I printed out the template and let him go to town. He enjoyed banging down the markers as hard as he could and painting his hands. I had to help him focus on specific areas so that all the parts were covered.

Once he was done, I cut out each part and glued them to a piece of construction paper. When Daddy came home that night, he showed it off. He was pretty proud of it.

Setting the Table

One idea I've come across several times on Pinterest, is how to teach children responsibility through play. There are many lists of chores children can do at different ages. One such chore for toddlers is setting the table. I loved this idea; I think its important for every family member to have responsibilities in the home. So I pulled out some basic items from D's play kitchen and had him practice setting the table in his play room. 

I gave him two sets of play placemats, plates, utensils and cups. He did a great job.

Then we had to do a little pretend play, of course.

Then onto the real world. At dinnertime, I handed him each item saying: One for Daddy, one for Mommy and one for  Deshy. He quickly got the hang of it and now loves to help set the table each night.

Bubbles in the Sink

There are some days, that we don't have anything going on and I don't have anything planned and we need to kill time. So I'll put D up on the counter next to the sink and fill it with water and liquid dish detergent bubbles. A funnel and a giant spoon are all he needs to have fun with this one. 

Indoor Mini Construction Site

One of D's favorite things at the moment is TRACTORS! He loves construction sites. We live in a community where homes are being built around us, so we have lots of opportunities to watch the giant tractors at work. He could sit and watch them for hours if I let  him.

I've seen several pins about creating construction theme sensory boxes such as....

from pinkandgreenmama.blogspot.com

from in lieuofpreschool.com and

from one of my favorite mommy bloggers dirtandboogers.com

I knew D would love this. Dirt, tractors, rocks...what more could a boy ask for? 

I put my spin on it and made moon sand (or cloud dough) to use as the sand. We spread out a giant beach towel to contain the mess but quickly realized we didn't need it. The "sand" somehow made it off the towel and all over my floor. I have hardwood and the sand is easy to vacuum so it wasn't a big deal. 

I poured the "sand" mixture into a big tub, added small rocks and miniature toy tractors, and he was good to go. (I'm about 9 months pregnant right now, so on days we don't leave the house, D ends up staying in his pjs.)

A bit later we added some miniature sea animals....

He liked the feel of the sand.

Then we added some blocks.

Took a break to color. 

Made a hat out of some pipe cleaners.

And then played with it some more....

I kept the moon sand for a couple of weeks and occasionally pulled it out again. My bag of sand got smaller with each use. It was easy to make and loads of fun, so I'm sure we'll be doing this again soon.

Under the Sea Paper Mosaic

When I stumbled across this Pin from toddlerapproved.com, I instantly knew I wanted to try this with D. 

First I cut out shapes of fish and placed them on top of the sticky side of contact paper. D helped me tear up some construction paper and we decorated the fish. Next, I taped a large piece of contact paper (sticky side out) to the wall. With large pieces of torn construction paper, we created seaweed and water. We placed the fish that we had created earlier on top of the water and wah-lah! Under the Sea Mosaic. 

Of course, nothing can be done without his toy trains these days.