Water Bead Play

More activities from these mom blogs:
Play At Home Mom
Chasing Cheerios

Fun with Water Beads:
I had no idea how these things worked. Play at Home Mom uses them all the time and LOVES them so I had to give them a try.  My father-in-law also had recently, randomly just given me a light box he found at a thrift store, thinking I may find a use for it. (um, yes!). I bought a clear plastic bin and taped the light box to the bottom, knowing how my kids like to discover! I dumped all the water beads in the bin. They come as teeny tiny balls in little plastic packs in the fake flower section.  So I poured water over them, thinking they would just start growing before my eyes, absorbing all the water. I dimmed the lights and turned on the light box then brought my kids in to play and explore.  Oops! Should have read the instructions!  It takes hours for the beads to fully expand.  I think my kids were like, "Okay, this isn't all that cool, mom."  So we bailed for an hour or so and played outside. 

When we revisited, the beads were somewhat larger.  Still not full size.   They were pretty cool at this point though.  You can see them almost full size in the last picture.  They feel a little slimy and are so interesting. I gave the kids spoons and containers to fill and spill. I kept urging them to keep the beads in the bin but that began to exhaust me, so I let them splash some. I had previously spread an old blanket over the floor (not knowing what to expect). So whenever one of the boys dumped a bowl of the beads on the floor, we'd put them all back in the bin together.  I tried to just let them play freely but I'm such a control freak and fear having a giant mess to clean when we finish!  I guess I'm telling you this because I was tired after the water bead play!!!  I guess the more they use them and I enforce a rule to keep them in the bin, the more they'll know what type of play is acceptable. I don't even know if they would stain the carpet. I don't think so.  But then I kept thinking if a bead went flying and was never put back, one of the boys would later find it and think it was a fruit snack! 

Anyway, we played with them again later that evening. When finished, I saved all the beads in a mason jar.  Since this first day, we've played with them one other time and I hope to get a few more uses. I have no idea how long they last.

Ornaments

Making Ornaments:

I first have to say that all of the supplies for this activity were given to us as a gift from a Parenting magazine rep. (My husband is in media planning).  By the way, I thought that was an adorable gift idea!  The ornaments and all the little supplies were in a cute little bag.

The pictures describe the project pretty well. I set all the supplies out like you see below, hoping to encourage the boys to know what to do without too much guidance from me.  But....ya know....I definitely had to guide them so that "Let's throw the supplies" didn't become a good idea. I also took most of the fluffy balls out.  When they were in there, the bells and other noise makers were too muffled.  I do have to suggest that you glue the ornaments closed when you finish! We let our kids dance with their new ornaments and two of them popped open spilling the fake snow all over. Oh well!

Re-purpose old Christmas Cards

Brad says, "Why do our kids always have to be entertained?"
I say, "They are toddlers! Did you expect something different?!"
Actually, they play pretty well on their own or with each other when well-rested and not hungry.  But....since they are in daycare all week, and don't get enough sleep there, our evenings can be quite frantic.

I always say how great they do when they are directed in some way, whether it is an organized activity or not.  The only problem is that it takes effort, whether organized or not.

I'm going to post a few blogs about some of our little activities. Some are big. Some are small. Some were awesome. Some failed.   Some I could pull together on a weeknight after work. Others were done over weekends or Thanksgiving or Christmas Breaks from school.

Just about all of these activities or projects come from one of these blogs:
Chasing Cheerios
Play At Home Moms

Christmas Card Puzzles/Matching Game:
Great way to re-purpose.
We keep all of our photo cards but next year we'll start a new tradition of putting them out in a basket each year to flip through and watch the families grow and change.  This year, I took the regular, non-photo cards and cut the back off of them, then cut a small rectangle piece out.  Then I set all the cards out on the table and gave the boys pieces to try to match.  My kids may be a little young for this but they did okay.  After some guidance, Carter "got it" and could find the matching card but got very frustrated when he couldn't make it fit just right (but that's his personality!).  Nolan was more focused on getting the piece into a card spot whether it was the matching one or not.  We've played a few times and they get better each time.  Fewer cards and pieces to choose from helps!

 

beep beep!

A little Sunday night grocery shopping with the Ps.

Dude, hug me back. I'm sorry I pushed you earlier.

Forgiveness at its finest.

And......
forgotten.