With daylight savings here, I now more than ever need ideas to keep the little one entertained. I was browsing around pinterest, as I often do, and found a list of "101 Things To Do With Your Toddler". Although I will spare you all 101, here is a list of some of my favorite. I hope you too find some new ideas of things to do with your little one.
1. Finger Painting: This is always a great go to rain or shine. I have made my own finger paints before that are 100% edible and non toxic made from cornstarch, salt, sugar and water. These are fine to use, but if snack time is getting close another fast and even easier alternative is yogurt. I prefer Greek style yogurt since it has more of a paint consistency, but really any yogurt will work.
Yogurt Finger Paint Recipe
Ingredients
Yogurt (preferably Greek style)
Food Coloring
Simply add a few drops of food coloring to yogurt and mix. It's really that easy! I usually make 3-4 different colors, but feel free to make how ever many you choose. On a hot day I put the little kiddy pool in the yard with the paper and paint, and let my little one create his masterpiece. After he's done, we fill up the pool and clean up by splashing around.
Traditional Homemade Finger Paint Recipe
Ingredients
3tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 cups water
Combine ingredients in small saucepan and warm until mixture thickens. Cool and pour in containers. Add food coloring for desired colors. When I use this recipe I usually scoop some of the different paint colors out onto a divided plate or little bowls to avoid contaminating all of the paint. If you are interested in saving some for later, place the container with the "un-touched" paint in refrigerator.
2. Make a car out of a box. This can be as simple or creative project as you want to make it. Cut out little square holes for windows, paint lights on and create shoulder straps using ribbon.
3. Draw with chalk on a sidewalk.
4. Color: Coloring is always fun, but I took it one step further. I bought silicone alphabet molds and made alphabet crayons. This is an especially great way to use up all the small broken up pieces of crayons laying around.
Items needed
*Silicone Alphabet Mold (I bought mine on Amazon for around $18 http://www.amazon.com/Silicone-Alphabet-Letter-Bake-Tray/dp/B001CJGM1E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331506731&sr=8-1)
*Broken pieces of crayons with paper removed.
*Cookie Sheet
Directions
1. Place small pieces of crayons into the letter mold. Use more crayons than you think, they melt down. TIP: Be sure not to over fill your mold or the colors will bleed into the other letters.
2. With the molds on the baking sheet, put them into a 350ยบ preheated oven for 15 minutes. After the crayons are melted take them out of the oven and let them sit for a minute. Put the molds into the freezer for 15-30 minutes so the crayon letters will harden faster. If you don't have room in your freezer, let the crayons sit out for several hours until they have completely cooled. Please, be sure to keep these out of reach from little hands as the hot wax will burn.
4. When the letters have hardened, pop them out carefully. This isn’t as easy as it looks (sometimes the letters break). If a letter breaks you can just remelt that letter in the mold in the oven, refreeze, and try popping it out again.
This activity inspires all kinds of conversation. My son usually picks a letter crayon out of the bucket and while he is coloring we talk about the letter and color of the crayon. For example, he picks a blue letter 'B'. I ask questions like what do you see that starts with a 'B'? Birds, ball, balloon, etc. Then we talk about the color, blue. What do you see that's blue? The 'B' crayon, the sky, the slide, etc.
5. Blow Bubbles. What child doesn't love bubbles? Use all different size bubbles to make this an even more interesting activity.
6. Brick Layer: I'm not sure why, but I always have a surplus of boxes in the garage. A great activity inside or out is to let your little construct using over sized homemade building blocks.
7. Homemade Playdough: Spread a plastic tablecloth or tarp on the floor and let your little one explore using homemade playdough.
Peanut Butter Playdough Recipe
Ingredients
Creamy Peanut Butter
Powdered MIlk
Directions
Mix two parts creamy peanut butter with one part powdered milk.
More Traditional Playdough Recipe
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cups salt
1 1/2 cups water
1 tbs vegi oil
1/2 tbs cream of tatar
food coloring
Mix all of the ingredients into a saucepan and add the food coloring to your liking. Set your stove top to medium-low, stirring occasionally (approx 5-8 minutes). When the batter thickens and starts to stay together, remove the pan from the heat. Lay out some wax paper and scoop play dough onto the wax paper. Once the dough is coll enough to handle, 1-2 minutes, kneed until you reach a nice texture. Store dough in an air tight container.
I hope these ideas will help create more special moments between you and your little one!
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