Open/Shut Activity for Baby

I set up a basket of open/shut containers for E, and she really likes it. I put a box and a basket in the basket, and 2 was a good number with which to start. She was very engrossed in this activity. I plan to switch the containers every few days, but I think we'll stick with just 2 at a time...she is more focuesd when there are fewer objects.

Making Homemade Bread and Butter

O and I have been reading books from the Little House on the Prairie series for the past month or so. We both LOVE the books, and I look forward to naptime and bedtime so we can read a few more chapters! Since we've been reading the books, we've been trying to do activities similar to those that Mary and Laura do (we play "Mary and Laura and Baby Carrie" ALL the time). Recently, we made homemade bread and butter. O LOVED the butter and was licking it off her bread and spreading more on. We were excited to read about Laura trying to catch minnows today, so we are going to try to catch minnows tomorrow morning (something we do often anyway!).

Learning the Concepts of Big/Little

E was the official holder of the cucumbers while we were working in Guhguh and Grandpa's garden last week. Since one cucumber was significantly smaller than the other, we had a quick lesson on the concepts of big and little. I asked her to hand me the big cucumber several times and then the little cucumber. She LOVES doing this type of activity, and she catches on quickly!

I didn't realize that O was paying any attention to us until she asked me to "pretend that I don't know what big and little cucumbers are and you have to teach me." Silly girl :)

Shaving Cream and Food Coloring Fun

Mixing shaving cream and food coloring is one of O's all time favorite activities. She loves to swirl the colors together to see what happens. We pressed a sheet of white cardstock onto the shaving cream and then wiped it off to make a pretty picture. Then O proceeded to cover herself in shaving cream. She had so much fun and made SUCH a mess! Luckily, we were doing this messy activity out on the screened porch! I brought out pitcher after pitcher of water and poured it over her before I let her come in the house :)

Straws Everywhere!

When we went on vacation a few weeks ago, we didn't take many toys. However, I did pack a bag of straws! O, E, and my niece had a fantastic time playing with the straws! O fixed my hair using the straws as decorations. They made straw soup. E crawled around grabbing and chewing on the straws,and the big girls sprinkled the straws on E. We connected the straws to make "the longest straw in America," and on and on and on... The straws provided the girls with tons of open ended, creative fun! Go grab a bag and save them for a rainy day!

Easy Peach Cobbler

O and I made this super easy peach cobbler for our July 4th celebration!

To make this easy peach cobbler, we poured a jar of peaches into a baking dish. O then poured a box of cake mix onto the peaches. We used the back of a spoon (and our fingers) to push the dry cake mix into the peach juice. We then scattered small chunks of butter across the mixture. I refrigerated the cobbler until we ate lunch and then baked it at 350 for about 30 minutes. It's not that healthy, but it is fast and easy and sometimes that's the most important thing! (especially since we only make this once or twice a year)

Busy Baby

E is a crawler, and she'll crawl through and on anything...

through water


on grass


on sand


on an inflatable waterslide


Research shows a correlation between crawling and later reading ability...if that is true, then baby E ought to be a fantastic reader one day!

Summer Leaf People

As another activity in our backyard exploration, O and I collected leaves to make Summer leaf creatures. We laid them out on the floor and put hardback books on them to flatten them. After a couple of hours, we removed the books and made leaf creatures. I made a girl wearing a dress, so O made a leaf boy so they could get married. I love the face that she drew on her leaf boy :)

In the interest of full disclosure, I should admit that I enjoyed this activity much more than O did!

Tiny Toes

Found Object Art

During our week of studying our backyard habitat, I thought it would be fun to make art with found objects. O and I found the perfect board in our garage. Then we went into the lake to collect empty clam shells...there's never any shortage of these! After the clam shells dried, I drew the outline of a fish on the board. We spread glue on and in the fish outline and filled it with clam shells. This was a fun and easy project, and we were happy with the end result!

This project was inspired by a similar art project by my cousin, Anne. Anne collects rusty nails and bits of glass from the field where she rides horses. She then glues these bits of found objects to boards in the shapes of horses. They are amazing! Thanks, Anne, for the inspiration!!!

E Loves to Swing!

After reading about how babies should swing in toddler swings everyday since it's such wonderful vestibular stimulation, I was motivated to get O's swing ready for E (the ropes were spiky due to sun exposure...I covered the ropes with duct tape, which worked perfectly).

E LOVES to swing (especially when O is pushing her)! Unfortunately, O's swingset is across the yard from E's swing, so I am constantly running from one to the other pushing them in their swings. Although, I guess that's a good thing...I need the exercise!

Find It Game... a Review & a Giveaway

The winner is Helpful Housewife! Congrats!

Find It Games recently sent us a game to play with and review. We chose "At the Beach" since blue is O's favorite color, and we love the beach. There are over 40 hidden items to find in this game, and we have had fun trying to find them! The top cap of the game has a list of the objects in alphabetical order, which makes it easy to incorporate phonics into the game. In this picture O is looking for an object that starts with "b."

The lack of loose pieces makes this game great for traveling and playing around babies... since you don't have to worry about them grabbing a small piece and putting it in their mouths (this is a constant concern around here since E is extremely fast and puts everything in her mouth). E also loves to crawl around on the floor while pushing the game and watching it roll.

I really like that through playing this game, O is learning to pay attention to details and to concentrate. This game also requires persistance which is something that most 4 year olds need to practice :)

Find It Games is offering a game to one lucky reader, so comment on this post to enter to win a game (US residents only please). I'll get my random number generator (O!) to choose a number on Saturday night, so please leave your comment by then. Find It Games is also offering a discount that is good through July 31, 2010. Enter FIGBLOG to get 5 dollars off your order.

Fun with Worms

O and her Daddy went fishing on Monday morning. They didn't catch anything, but they had fun. O especially had fun playing with the worms when they got back. She made letters out of them and lined them up for races.

She counted the worms and held them all in her hands. Then she insisted that I hold them in my hands. I wasn't excited about it, but I did it. She said "Aren't they wiggly and squiggly?" Yes, they were!

Stuck!

E occasionally gets stuck under chairs as she is crawling about the house. I usually try to let her figure out how to get out by herself as it is very good for her brain to do this type of motor planning. However, she was too upset this time, so we had to help her out. O lifted the top off the chair so that E could stand up, and I lifted her up. Poor baby.

4 Years Old!

O is 4 years old!!! I can't believe my baby girl is 4 yeas old! She told me tonight "I want to be 4 twenty times." When I asked her what she meant, she said "I like being a child..." I love her so much!