Homemade Edible Finger Paint, The Scary Fish Song and A Masterpiece

October 25, 2012 ~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

You can hit the store and spend 7 to 8 dollars on finger paint OR you can make your own with what you have in your pantry for FREE. See where I am going with this?

The great thing about making your own paint, besides the $ you save is that you know exactly what is going into your child’s mouth. Oh your child doesn’t try to eat paint {yeah sure!} Well mine does and I don’t have to cringe as much as if she does it with store bought paint.

To make it is simple:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cup cold water

1 cup hot water

* you can add more water if the consistency is too think or vice versa.

Mix together the dry ingredients.

Stir in cold water. Once it is mixed well, stir in the hot water.

Divide into separate containers and add a few drops of food coloring to each container. Use as much or as little food coloring to achieve your desired color.

Simple right?

The next thing I did was tape off Kaili’s name on a big piece of white paper, like this. I have a plan people!

She was SO eager to get started. I dribbled a little paint on the paper and she slowly got into it.

Once she was done, she wiped her hands on her face and in her hair. Sweeet!

Next up, a bath. I started singing a fish song to her and she CRIED what a little whimp..ha just kidding. So being the great mom I am, I sang it again for you. Here ya go!

Once her picture was dry, I peeled off the tape and here is what we have…

Pretty cute, am I right?

Getting Crafty

October 18, 2012 ~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

Halfway through October and it’s 90 degrees outside. I would have no clue that Halloween is around the corner if it weren’t for the ~~tacky~~ decorations strewed along my neighbors houses. Ok Fall (disguising yourself as Summer) with your freakish weather, I give in, you win.

I am not a huge fan of Halloween but I do get excited about all the fun crafts there are to do with the kids. I dug into my teaching supply boxes for a couple of activities to do with Kaili. Well if I am being honest, the hand and footprint ghosts is really an activity for the adults to do but we just say it’s a kids crafts because it’s cute, a keepsake if you will.

I gave K bear a piece of paper, some Halloween stickers, showed her how to peel of the backing and let her do her thing.

Stickers =Concentration and fine motor skills. After she stuck them on she pulled them off and that is fine, but we were left with an empty canvas. So sorry, no picture for you!

The hand and footprint ghosts turned out super cute. I took her outside, mixed a little dish soap with white paint ( comes right off with water ) and once I got one footprint done, I put her foot into a bucket of water and rinsed it off. Rinse , paint, repeat. Simple!

While she was doing her craft I sang ? told? Kaili the Five Little Pumpkins poem and she laughed at me. WTF?

I also made a failed recipe of edible Pumpkin play dough, it is in the trash now. Boo! But I have some yummy recipes to share with you soon to make up for the botched play dough.

Contact Paper Art

September 21, 2012 ~ Girlmom ~ 3 Comments

This is a super-easy art project to do with your toddler or preschooler. I advise you to prep the activity while your little one is busy doing something elsewhere.

What you will need:

Contact paper

Masking Tape

Pre cut paper in any shape you want

Stickers

Additional Item Ideas:

Tissue paper, string, card stock shapes and glitter (if you are brave)

Cut a piece of contact paper in any shape you want. This time I just cut a rectangle but next time I will cut out a Pumpkin shape for a Halloween theme project.

Carefully remove the paper backing from the contact paper. Tape the four corners of the contact paper ( sticky side up) to whatever workspace you are using. I chose the floor.

Then lay out all the items you want them to stick on the contact paper.

Demonstrate how to put the items onto the contact paper by doing it yourself. Then back away and let them create, and use positive reinforcement each time they successfully get an item to stick.

IMG_20120919_105137 — “Good job Kaili. I like how you put the sticker on there all by yourself.”

She seemed to enjoy this activity but in true toddler fashion it only lasted a short time. Then all hell broke loose…

There are so many extensions to this activity, you can use it to fit any theme you want by just changing a few things. Here a some ideas.

Apple Theme- Cut the contact paper into an apple shape, or frame it with red construction paper in an apple shape. Have your child fill in the frame with cut up red tissue paper.

Valentines Day Theme- Cut the contact paper into a heart shape, or frame with pink construction paper in a heart shape. Have your child stick on heart shapes cut out of tissue paper or construction paper.

Shape Theme- Cut contact paper into a circle and have your child stick different shapes made out of foam, card stock and tissue paper.

Flower Theme- Cut contact paper into smaller flower shapes and have your child fill in the entire space with one color of tissue paper. Add on a green stem from construction paper. These would look great hung up in a window.

Colored Ice + Water {Sensory Play}

July 8, 2012July 8, 2012 ~ Girlmom ~ Leave a comment

Kaili loves playing in the water and I wanted to start incorporating colors but I am hesitant with using food coloring. The best part of water play for a toddler is pouring it all over the place. It goes back to philosopher Jean Piaget’s Sensorimotor stage, toddlers learn by doing and these experiences help them understand cause and effect.

I will never forget years ago when I was teaching in OC. I made colored Gak using food coloring. The kids loved it but it turned their hands pink. No biggy right? I mean it will come off in the bath or at least in a day or two…Well one of my girls father was not happy to say the least. That was the last time I did that, I still haven’t recovered. So that is why I am hesitant with putting food coloring in any sensory activity.

Along with not wanting to turn my daughters skin different colors I also don’t want to ruin clothes, or our backyard flagstone. I decided instead of colored water, how about using colored ice cubes? I did use food coloring but I felt more comfortable with it in this form, call me crazy.

This is a perfect summer sensory activity. It will help keep the kids cool and it’s a learning experience. I still didn’t want do this activity in our backyard so I took it to the front yard and let her play in the water while we were having our block party.

In reality, Kaili is getting her top molars and thought the ice would feel good on her teeth. I struggled with keeping the ice cubes out of her mouth and then decided this was not a great activity to do while a child is teething. We will try it again in a few months.