muddy play – more fun in our mobile mud-pit

You may recall that last year,  after seeing all of the gorgeous mud-kitchens out there in the blogosphere, I used our wheel-barrow to create a portable mud-patch last year for the Hooligans (you can see the original post here).

Well, re-creating that mud-patch has been on my mind for days, and yesterday when my feet hit the floor at 6 a.m., and the air in the house was already thick and muggy, I knew the day to do it had arrived.

When the Hooligans arrived, I hauled out the old wheelbarrow and dumped a generous amount of clean potting soil into it.  Then I called to the Hooligans bring some sand from the sand-box.  They’d been watching me, and were oh-so-curious about what I was doing, so they were only to happy to jump into action. They ran back and forth from the wheel barrow to the sandbox delivering and dumping small pailfuls of sand until we figured we had enough.  Then they stirred it all up with their shovels while I was setting up their water supply.

A water jug with a spigot is without question one of the best things we’ve ever added to our outdoor play-space.  I often see them at our local thrift shop.  We don’t have it ours often (although I suppose we should in this weather), but it comes out on days like these, and the Hooligans LOVE it.  The spigot is a bit stiff and provides a challenge for little hands to manage, (think muscle development and motor control) and they love having complete control over their own tap and water source!

After adding enough water to make a great, sloppy mess, they brought cars, trucks and tractors from the sand box to add to the mud-pit, and  I set up a “baking counter” by placing a long board and some baking utensils and “ingredients” at one end of the wheelbarrow.

What great, messy fun!   At the end of the day, the mud-patch gets wheeled away to the shed, and we can pull it out another day.  

Now what to do with those muddy kids?  Click here to see how they cleaned up.

cloud dough!

This is something I’ve waited all winter to make!  I’ve seen it done on plenty of other blogs, and every one mentions the mess-factor so I was waiting until the weather was good and warm so we could take it outside.

Cloud dough (I think it’s also known as moon dough) is really easy to make (two ingredients), and it is amazing!  It’s so silky and moldable.  The Hooligans absolutely loved it. I’m not kidding when I say it kept them engrossed for well over an hour.  

You’re going to love how easy it is to whip up:

Add one cup of baby oil to 8 cups of flour.  Stir well.  I used a pastry cutter to mix mine, but a spoon or whisk would be fine.  Transfer your dough to a bin or basin (I purchased this kitty litter box at the dollar store, and it’s perfect for sensory activities), and that’s it.  You’re done!

Set out some containers, scoops and molds and let the little ones at it.

There’s something so soothing and relaxing working with this dough.  The Hooligans were so QUIET while they played with it.  

You’ll want to wear old clothing or an apron (you can find my tutorial for my aprons here.  I make them out of the legs of our old jeans).  It’s definitely messy play, and I personally wouldn’t suggest doing this inside.

I had another activity set up as well.  I filled the wagon with warm soapy water, and added containers, spray bottles, sponges and some farm animals.  

The Hooligans went back and forth between the two activities but the Cloud Dough bin was by far the most popular place to be today.Store in an air-tight container for future use.

spring fever

Hello!  I just wanted to pop in and let you know that I haven’t forgotten about my little blog!   The temperatures have finally warmed up a bit around here, so we’ve been outside appreciating nature and Spring-time!

We are working on a mother’s day craft this week in steps and stages, and it will be finished by tomorrow, so that will be up on the blog by the week-end.

In the mean-time, here’s what we’ve been up to outside:

We had a nest of baby robins which kept us captivated and entertained for a couple of weeks.

I have an album on my Happy Hooligans facebook page which follows the baby from the time the eggs were laid, until they left the nest.  The album is titled “Our Baby Robins”.  I took daily pictures of the babies, and documented their activity and progress.  It was a thrill to put it together and it’s a beautiful collection of photos!  Be sure to pop over and check it out!

Just as the robins were getting ready to leave the nest, the toads showed up in our pond and began mating.  I’m taking daily pictures of the development of the eggs, and will continue to photograph the day to day changes in the tadpoles when they hatch.  That album is also on my facebook page.  It’s titled “New Life in the Pond”.

Outside of that excitement, we’ve been hiking around the neighbourhood, playing in the yard, and spending our days outdoors.  Here’s a glimpse of what we’ve been up to:

climbing trees

rolling down hills

investigating ants

and toads

and the snails in our pond

picking “flowers”

learning new skills

workin’ the slide

and playing in the sandbox

And here’s a peek at the Mother’s Day craft we’re working on.  They’re going to be so pretty, so stay tuned!

Valentines activity bin

Last night I set out to make our Valentine’s Sensory Bin, after seeing this one that Growing a Jeweled Rose made for her girls.  Let me say that this was no easy task.  I’m the only female in our home.  Our boys are 11 and 14, so pink items are kind of a scarce commodity around here.  I struggled all evening to pull a bin together, but I just couldn’t round up enough materials to fill the bin with. 

I decided instead to take what I was able to find, and make up several different Pink and Red activities to set into the bin, and you know what?  I love it.  I was tempted to bring it out for the Hooligans today, but we kept busy with other things, so I figured I’d wait on it a little longer.

I want to show you what it looks like though.

I filled a couple of glass jars with red beaded Christmas tree garland.

I had two more large jars with lids, so into one I put white lentils, and pink and red foam pieces.  Into the other, I put that red, stretchy mesh that clementines come packaged in.  I’ve been saving that up for a while, thinking it would be perfect for a Valentine’s craft or activity.

I filled two small jars with pom-poms, and a small spice bottle with pink, red and white buttons.  Beside that, I placed one of those little cases that holds medicine and a scoop for filling it with.  Jars and bottles with lids are great for fine motor development, and little ones love snapping the compartments open and closed on the medicine holder.

I added some pink ice-cube trays, some red foam trays, and some tongs for sorting and organizing.

Lastly, I found some pink paint chips for a cutting activity.  This is a great way to teach little ones how to use scissors.  Encourage your child try to cut along the white lines to chop the strips up.

As an extra activity, (this didn’t fit into the bin) I filled a plastic heart-shaped pan with red and pink markers and crayons, and added some white cardboard hearts for decorating.

I love how pretty and inviting this bin looks.  It makes me think of a candy shop! I think we’re going to have some fun with this!!

What crafts and activities are you doing at your house for Valentine’s Day?  I’d love it if you’d link them up on my Happy Hooligans facebook page!

mitten-match up

The snow is really flying today!  Finally!!  It’s super windy and wet though, a very blizzardy day.  To celebrate, we have a bit of a mitten theme going on here today.

This is a really simple activity to prepare, and the Hooligans really enjoyed it.

I used my good-old wall paper sample books to cut out a bunch of mitts and set out a small basket of coloured clothes pegs. 

The children had fun matching up the mittens, clipping them together, and setting the matched pairs in a wicker basket.  Clothes pegs are always a hit here, and of course get used for other purposes than what I’ve set them out for, but that’s half the fun. 

They clipped them to their fingers, to their clothing, and to edges of the baskets.  It’s  a great exercise in fine motor control, and takes real concentration for the youngest ones.  I love these plastic clips, as they’re much easier to master than the wooden ones that I keep outside.

This little Hooligan worked away at the activity for about a half an hour by herself, as quiet as a mouse.  In my books that’s a long time for a 2 year old to be engaged in one activity.

We followed this activity up with a mitten-themed lunch!  I’ll link that up soon, and you can pop over to see what I whipped up.

Stay warm folks!  Hope you’re getting some of this white stuff too, where-ever you are!

our Christmas village

My Christmas village is usually one of the first things that I set up as the Christmas season approaches.  I was really late pulling the village out this year though.  I set my tree up a few weeks ago, after we’d had a little dusting of snow, and that was it.  The sun came out, and melted the snow, the weather turned unseasonably mild, and decorating the house just sort of fell to the bottom of my list of priorities.  It just hasn’t felt like Christmas with the weather being as warm and wonderful as it has been.

Today I decided we’d better get at it!!  I can’t believe Christmas is less than two weeks away!

I hauled the rubbermaid “village” container up from the cold-room this morning, and the Hooligans had a wonderful time investigating all the houses, the people and the different bits and pieces that go along with it.  

I always set the village up on top of my piano.  It’s too high for them to get at it, we we started by setting all the pieces out on the piano bench, and then one by one, they handed me everything until we had it all put together.  While they were having snack, I rigged up all the extension cords, and then we had a countdown, and I hit the lights.  Oooooh, Aaaaaah!

Last night, I was at my mom’s, and as luck would have it, she was scaling her village back a bit, and she gave me a bag of small village houses and pieces that she no longer wanted.  Today we emptied out our Christmas Sensory Bin, except for the rice and a few beads, buttons and cotton balls, and we placed all of Mom’s hand-me-downs in the bin.  The Hooligans now have a village of their own to play with!

It was a big hit! 

November sensory bin

I absolutely love the months with holidays in them, so we can base our crafts and activities around a special theme.  November has me kind of stumped.  Hallowe’en is over, and Christmas is still off in the distance, so we don’t have any real celebration to focus on.

I decided to go with another fall themed Sensory Bin for November.  I chose some fall-ish items that we’d used in our September bin, like chestnuts, apples, mini-pumpkins etc., and placed them on a bed of rice and pasta.

A few tongs and trays for sorting and we were good to go.  It’s amazing how switching just a few things up, gives an activity new life.  

Tongs and scoops are the most popular tools in the bin, so I try to have a variety so everyone is happy.  The meat-ball maker (at least I think that’s what it is), is great for picking up chestnuts and other small round objects.  Large plastic tweezers are fun too.

I covered some toilet paper tubes in fall-coloured wall paper samples, for pouring and dropping things through, and provided some ice-cube trays for sorting.

As you can see, some of them get right into the whole sensory thing.  One with his body, and one tasting the rice and pasta.

I love sensory bins.  They’re so easy to pull together with things you have around the house.  If you’ve never made one, go for it!  Your kiddos will love it, and you’ll be amazed by how much fun and entertainment they provide!

What’s going into your sensory bin this month?

 

ghost mud

Ghost mud was the perfect thing to make today, on this last day of October, to celebrate Hallowe’en.  I first read about ghost mud over at Teacher Tom’s.

Grate a bar of Ivory soap and add it to about 1 cup of hot water.  Stir it around a few times until it’s melty and mushy.

Meanwhile, toss a roll of toilet paper to your little people, and challenge them to get all of the paper off of the roll.  Enjoy the giggling and squealing that follows.

Now, just pile all that t.p. into a large bin or basin, and have the kiddos rip it into a million pieces.  How fun is this activity?  And we haven’t even gotten to the “mud” part yet!

Once your t.p. has been shredded, pour the soapy water into the basin and start mushing and mashing everything all together with your hands.  It feels good, and smells great, and you wind up with this awesome slippery, silky, moldable “dough”.

I’m not sure if ours turned out exactly as it should have.  I’ve heard others say it should have the consistency of cool whip.  I don’t believe ours ever did.  It was pulpier than that, but maybe we didn’t rip our t.p. enough.  You know what though?  It totally didn’t matter.

This stuff was awesome!

Hallowe’en match up

Here’s a great little matching activity.  I’m pretty sure I had as much fun making it as the Hooligans had playing with it.

Little Family Fun‘s “pumpkin matching” activity was the inspiration behind this one.  They used a file folder, and scrapbook paper to make theirs.  

As I’ve mentioned before, I have this awesome stash of Wallpaper sample books, that my local Benjamin Moore store was happy to donate to our daycare, instead of throwing them in the trash.  I can’t tell you how much I LOVE having these books to go to, when I need some groovy paper!  I love the colours, the patterns, and the textures.  Some pages are puffy and thick, some are slick, or bumpy or glossy.  And I love that there’s a colour/pattern/texture that is just perfect for almost anything I want to make!

I chose 4 simple Hallowe’en/Fall shapes to use for this activity:  Pumpkins (which kind of look like apples, but hey, apples work for fall too), bats, owls, and fall leaves.

I don’t think there’s really any need for instructions here.  The pictures kind of say it all.

How cute are these?  The Hooligans this activity.  LOVED it.   Big hit.  So simple, and I can see doing this anytime a new holiday rolls around.  Just think of all the Christmas shapes there are to choose from!

 

 

what doesn’t belong?

Ok.  This is a game that I made up (well, I’m sure someone else out there has made it up as well), when Matthew was about 2.  That’s 12 years ago.  That’s how long we’ve had our beloved Magna-Doodle.  I love that thing.  A LOT of little people have played with our Magna-Doodle over the years, and it’s starting to show its age: the permanent black marks on the screen, the puncture wounds, the missing bit of the pen.  Remarkably, we still have all four shape stampers.  How on earth that is possible, I do not know.  

Anyway,  What doesn’t Belong is a crazy simple game that you can taylor to any age.  I was still playing it with my kids when they were 4 & 7.  I’d just make it a whole lot tougher.

As you can see, there’s not much to this game.  Make a criss-cross, draw 3 similar objects and one object that, (no surprise here) doesn’t belong.  

As they get better, you can make the game more challenging, and as they get older, you can make it down right difficult.  

Every child I’ve ever played this with, has LOVED it.  They get so excited when they know the answer.  I always keep the drawings a secret until I have all 4 done, so they’re not guessing away at the answer before I’m finished.  

You can pretty much count on your little person wanting to be the artist at some point too, which can be entertaining, if not a little challenging, considering it’s sometimes hard enough knowing WHAT they’ve drawn, never mind guessing what doesn’t belong.

So there you go!  Dig out that magna-doodle, and give it a try.  We’ve played it hundreds of times over the years.  Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!