Toddlers and Rainy-Day Activities

It was a rainy day yesterday; I had to come up with several activities to keep the kids' attentions.  I know everyone has done this before.  This is just a journal of what the day looked like for my kids and me this time.

5:30 am
Everyone is awake.  I am not saying this with a smile on my face. It is just a fact of life; I am raising farmers for children.  They like to wake with the sun; however, I always lament that I don't have chickens for them to feed.  If I had chickens, at least my kids would have something to do that early in the morning.  Since there are bi-laws against chickens where I live, I tend to relay on the Disney channel that early in the morning.

6:15 am
Breakfast
Daddy leaves for work, and the kids get instantly hungry watching him driveway.  It always amazes me how dirty the floor gets after oatmeal, pancakes, and fruit. Crumbs and more crumbs -- and two of the three food items cannot even make crumbs.  I have determined kids are just crumb-makers; they can make crumbs out of a banana.

7:00 am
Dress-Up

Aidan wants to dress up like a pirate. Madeleiene, Zuzu, wants to do anything he wants to do.  So pirate day it is; the house is immediately filled with Arrrrrs. *mommy/teacher hint: dress-up is great for developing a child's imagination.









7:15 am 
Science Play

I set up a fun activity I saw on Pinterest.  Put baking soda in a flat container with sides.  Place a small amount of white vinegar in several small bowls and put a bit of food coloring in each of the bowls.  Place a kid's medicine dropper or a kid's medicine syringe in each bowl. Put your kids in ponchos -- and stand back and watch the fun ensue.  When the colored vinegar hits the baking soda, the chemical reaction is lots of fuzzy colored bubbles.  The kids loved it. Aidan is almost four and it kept him entertained almost an hour and half.  Zuzu is two so it kept her going for about an hour.  Anyway I call that a success.  And at this point, it is ...

*mommy/teacher hint: this activity is good for teaching cause and effect

8:45 am (Only 8:45 am)
Snack Time
This past Christmas, my mom bought me an air popcorn machine.  I thought it would be healthier for me and the kids, they would enjoy watching the popcorn pop out of the machine, and I could put olive oil and salt on it.  Another fabulous use for olive oil --- trust me you have to try it.

9:30 am 
Cooking Play
I thought....... only 9:30am..... what to do... what to do.... ? Let's make pudding.  It is easy, it will keep them on a task, and it will give them something to look forward to eating after  dinner.  They were super excited when I told them we were making pudding. They yelled,"Yeaaaaaaa!"  Then Aidan asked, "what is pudding?"  Once again I realize that my highly healthy eating standards have held the kids back a bit on the spectrum of normal American eating habits; I am not saying that is a bad thing -- but I just cannot help but notice. I explain that it was creamy, light, and yummy.  That is all the kids needed to know.  They enjoyed sticking their tiny fingers in the pudding and sampling the yumminess that they were going to endulge in after dinner.
*mommy/teacher hint: cooking helps kids learn to follow directions

10:30 am
Reading Time
We went up to the kids' rooms and read a bunch of books.  They love taking tuns to pick books out to read.  I am so happy that they have the reading bug; now I just have to keep that momentum going as they continue through their childhood. *mommy/teacher hint: this one is a no-brainer -- reading is wonderful -- teaching kids to appreciate the joy or reading is life changing.

11:30 am
Art/Letter Practice/Stamping
The kids love drawing; most kids love drawing.  They like using those big dot markers, pip-squeak markers, and stamps. I have regular stamps, letter stamps, and stamps that I have made.  I keep those big caps that are on the kid's milk jugs at most restaurants.  Then I glue two of the same foam stickers on the back.  Instant stamps. *mommy/teacher hint: art/ letter stamping inspires creativity and starts kids thinking about and using letters.

12:00 pm
Lunch Time
I put on a little good old fashion Tom and Jerry.  Nothing gets the kids attention as two animals going after each other like cat and mouse -- literally.  This wonderful show allows me enough time to make lunch.  Ahhhh it is so quiet that it is almost scary how much attention the kids give to the TV. About 12 pm Nonna stops by to visit and have lunch with me and the kids.  It is always a  treat to have Nonna come by -- the kids squeal with delight when she walks into the kitchen.  She happily sits down and eats with us.

1:00
Nap Time
Zuzu goes upstairs and after a half hour of fighting her sleepy feelings, she surrenders.  Aidan says he is a big boy now, so he wants to take his nap on the couch in the family room.  Nap time today ... it is so quiet in the house that I hate to even breath too loudly.  Most of the time the kids take naps at different times, which is good and bad.  Good because  I get alone time with each of the kids.  Bad because I don't get any down time for myself.  But soon they will be big and they will not want to spend all their time with me and I will have so much down time that I will not know what to do with it.  So for now -- I don't care about my down time.  But today -- they happen to asleep at the same time.  The quiet house and the sound of the soft falling rain is beautiful.

2:00 pm.  At this point, there is still a lot of day left.
Sorting Game
This game keeps their attention for awhile.  I bought a large divided dish at the Dollar Store, a bunch of colored pom poms, and a couple of tongs.  I give them some of their bowls.... and they are off and running having a good time.  At first I ask them to follow my directions, put all the blue pom pom here and all the yellow there .... you get the idea.  Then after awhile, they start to create their own plan.  It is amazing to watch how they think and the patterns they see. *mommy/teaching hint: sorting and creating patterns with color is the beginning of mathematical skills, literacy skills, organizational skills.

3:30 pm
Pirate Dress up (again)

4:00 pm
Mommy starts to make dinner
The rest of the day is filled with playing in the family room, basement, and mommy making dinner.

After dinner, it is bath time, reading time, snuggle time......whoooooo.... bed time.

Hope tomorrow is not rainy; cannot wait to get outside and play on the swing set.

Making Playdough and Outside Chalk Games

As a stay at home mom, I am always looking for activities to do with the kids.  My kids wake up at 5 am and go to sleep around 7 pm.  This is a long day.  We have made homemade playdough in the past, but this by far is my favorite recipe I have used.  First of all the cooked playdough recipes are far better than the non-cooked recipes.  Here is the best one I have landed on:

Homemade Playdough
2 cup flour
1/2 cup of salt
4 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 cups of warm water
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
food coloring
scented oil (optional)

Put all ingredients in a pot and cook over low heat until it comes together as a smooth ball. If you want you can add some peppermint oil or lemon oil.  Who doesn't like nice smelling things, but you don't have to.  Take it off the heat and take playdough out of pot and let it cool on your counter.  Once cool enough to handle, kneed until smooth.  Cut into four equal parts.  Now the fun part.  Use food coloring to dye each section.  The kids love doing this part.  When storing, I place plastic wrap around each ball and then put each ball into a sealed plastic baggie.  Then I put all the baggies in a Ziplock plastic container.  I  know it seems like a lot of protection for some playdough.  But you can keep this for a long time if you keep it airtight.


Outside Chalk Game

We had a lot of fun with this direction following game. And what kid doesn't need to practice following directions.  Get four or five different colors of chalk.  Make a start box and a finish box across from each other. For example start with blue.  Make a blue circle (big enough for  kids to jump into) jumping distance from start box.  Then continue making a circle path to finish box.  Then do the same with the next color.  Keep trying to intermingle the colors so it is fun for the kids to jump.  Always make sure each color path has a safe jumping distance to the next circle of its color.  Lastly, you sit back and start to call out directions for the kids to follow.  You can make them follow each color path or you can mix up the colors like Twister. Have fun outside.
    

Candy Airplanes Big Hit as Treat for Goody Bag

These candy airplane were a big success as a treat in my son's Valentine's Day gift bags.  But they could be used for treat bags for any occasion.  I originally got the idea from Disney's Family Fun magazine; someone put it on pinterest. The original plane's wings were made from a stick of gum, and the wheels were hard Lifesavers.  I modified it to be a bit more 3 year old friendly.  I don't know about your little ones, but my little ones don't chew gum yet. So with a few changes it is now ready for a tots goody bag.

Items needed to assemble plane:

Small Hersey chocolate bars (instead of gum)
Gummy Lifesavers (instead of hard mint Lifesavers)
Smarties
Small rubber bands   

Step One:

Place rubber band between two gummy Lifesavers and keep your fingers in the rubber bands during the next steps. It makes it easier to put the plane together.

Step Two:

Fit the Smartie between the two Lifesavers "wheels."

 Step Three:

Then loop one side of the rubber band over the Hersey bar (keep your one finger/thumb in the other side of the rubber band so to hold it in place). Then loop the other side around the chocolate bar.

This is what it looks like from the underneath side of the plane.



They are easy to make with the kids, and they are a big hit when the goody bags are opened.  The best part is it is not another throw away item tossed into the goody bag. The kids actually eat them.