A Building Challenge

My son LOVES to build.  I am constantly trying to find something to challenge his building skills.  We were playing with old Cd's the other day (that's an upcoming post) when it struck me to get some paper towel tubes and put those and the disks with our construction equipment (just a fancy way to say blocks, but this is the terminology I use with my kids to hopefully encourage them to think bigger and outside of the box).  Anyway, his eyes lit up as he recognized the challenge.  He grabbed the egg cartons, (another piece of "equipment") and this is what he built.  What unconventional building materials do you have in your construction equipment?

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I love how the paper towel tube fits right on the egg carton!  So cool!

Tissue Paper Fall Trees

We have noticed the leaves on the trees begin to turn all the beautiful colors of Fall.  After a trip to the park and looking at all the different colored leaves, we wanted to make our very own Fall tree.  We glued brown tissue paper all around a toilet paper roll for the trunk. Then, the kids stuck different colors of tissue paper to the sticky side of a piece of contact paper.  They cut little strips of brown paper for the leaves and cut the tissue covered contact paper into "leaves".  They glued the leaves onto the branches and the result is a beautiful Fall tree.

Jellyfish in a Bottle

When I saw this PIN I knew it was something I had to try.  After all, you only need an empty bottle, a clear plastic bag and some string. I cut the bag in half, used some dental floss to tie a head, and cut the bottom into strips.  Then I filled the bottle water with water adding a few drops of blue food color. Fill the head with water and tie off the dental floss.  Squeeze the plastic bag creature into the water  bottle and secure the cap.  The "jellyfish" will float up and down when the bottle is turned.  Really fun to watch and sort of creepy too. My kids thought it was real! Super Cool!



Hanging Up Her Wash, or the Stuffed Animals

I set this up for my daughter and she loved it.  Not really a life skill anymore but it was fun for her.  We did this after reading the book, Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash. We tied a jump rope between two chairs, got our our bucket of clothespins (found at the Dollar Store or Walmart), and old socks.  After hanging up the socks, she tried hanging up her stuffed animals.  Fun and a great boredom buster that challenges those fine writing muscles!

Moving the Eyeballs

We scored on our recent trip to the Dollar Store.  We picked up these salad tongs and fun, plastic eyeballs. I put the eyeballs in one bowl and let the kids transfer them to the other ball.  We used metal bowls because they make a nice, satisfying "tink" when they are dropped in.  Great for hand/eye coordination, fine motor and counting. You just might have all this stuff already.  You can use any smaller sized ball, really.

Velcro, Craft Sticks and Bottle Lids...Oh My!

So while I was browsing around Pinterest, I saw a picture of some craft sticks with Velcro on them.   I didn't pin it but it stayed in my head.  I saw these Velcro circles at the dollar store so I decided to try making some.  I used a dab of hot glue when sticking the Velcro on, even though they did have sticky backs, just to reinforce them.  I also added some Velcro to some bottle lids. T designed  and created all afternoon with these.  Super fun!



Crayon Rubbings with Homemade Prints

To do this, we used our old paint chip samples and some white glue.  The kids made their own designs with the glue on the paint chips.  When they were dry, we put them under some paper and rubbed them with a crayon.  This inspired me to make some letter prints for the kiddos too.  We had a great time with this and it was "amazing and cool" to discover which print would appear on our paper.

Fun With Shmuzzies

We love Shmuzzies!  You know, "pom-pom's".  They are soft, colorful and oh so versatile!  Today, we used to sort into ice cube trays with little tongs.  A fun way to strengthen those little muscles they need to write with.  My kids made Shmuzzy cookies.  Some of us practiced our hand/eye coordination and placed the Shmuzzies into containers.  Seriously, we kept at this for over 1/2 hour.

Cookie Cutter Matching Game

I have a big box of cookie cutters that we use for lots of projects.  For this one, I took a large sheet of paper and traced around some of the cookie cutters.  The kids did some of them too.  Then the kids simply match the shapes and size to the one on the paper.



Going Fishing Snack

This was a fun way to serve snack.  Celery, peanut butter and goldfish crackers.  Dip your celery in the peanut butter and go fishing for the goldfish.  Fun!



Super Easy Play Dough

You have everything you need to make this in your pantry right now. 

 I promise, this is the easiest play dough to make EVER! 

 All you need is:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

2 TBLS oil

1/2 cup of water with some food coloring in it

Mix together and done.

No more excuses....go make some play dough!!



Straw Rockets

We have made straw rockets before but when my husband came up with this idea, I just had to share with you.  All you need is a straw and an empty water flavoring package....really, that is it.  Slip the package on your straw and blow!  That's it.  We had races, counted to see who's would reach the ground first, and who could get theirs the highest in the air.  Goodness, so much fun and couldn't be simpler!

Go ahead and give it a try....you won't be disappointed.



Color/Counting Sorter

WHOOP!  One year ago I began this blog.  It has been such a great experience and I just love sharing with all of you.  Thanks for playing along with us!

I made this little activity for my kids and it has been a huge hit.  I wrapped toilet paper rolls in construction paper, gluing it on.  Then I wrote the name of the color on one side and wrote numbers on the other side.  I got the colored craft sticks at the Dollar Store, but I think you can find them pretty much anywhere.  I glued the bottom of the tube into the egg carton holder.  The kids sort the sticks by color or count the correct number into them.