Afternoon Activity: Bathtub Painting

Rose and I are stuck at home for the better part of today while waiting for a contractor to come and patch up a hole in the garage ceiling. Luckily, we were able to run to the late story time at our library where Rose had an awesome social breakthrough and detached herself from me for a whole 5 minutes to play with the parachute. It was a big proud-mama moment.

After we came home and ate lunch, we were pretty bored and didn’t know what to do with ourselves. I thought about finger painting but I really didn’t feel like cleaning up the big mess that was sure to come with that activity, which of course would lead to a bath. That’s when it hit me. Why not skip the middle part? Why not make the mess IN the bathtub? Well, that’s exactly what we did. I prepped Rose’s paint tray (icecube tray), attached cotton balls to the ends of some clothespins, and let Rose go at it in the tub.

I made sure to use washable finger paint. I recommend the Crayola brand, but you could always experiment making some DIY finger paint (although be careful when using food coloring, it may dye your child’s clothes and/or your bathtub).

My favorite things about this activity is that the prep time was minimal (around 2 minutes) and Rose enjoyed playing for about 30-35 minutes! After about 15 minutes of play Rose started getting bored with the cotton balls, so I introduced some q-tips and she continued playing with those for another 10 minutes. Once she decided that she had enough of painting, I turned the water on and she had even more fun playing in the colored water and helping mom clean the sides of the tub. The one “bad” thing about this activity is that it left a lovely red ring around my tub; but since I used washable paints, it was easily removed with a wet rag.

Overall Rating: 5+ Stars!

Below is a quick summary of why this activity was so awesome and received a 5+ rating:

• Minimal prep time
• 30-35 minutes of play time
• Sensory play: cotton, water, goopy paint
• Learning opportunities for colors, counting, and letters
• Creative play: making art, mixing colors 
• Easy clean up

Afternoon Activity: Cotton Balls and Contact Paper

This post is a bit late and this activity was actually done a couple of nights ago. My one-year-old was a bit restless since we had been inside all day and I, myself, was tired from cleaning the house. That being said, I wanted something that was both easy to clean up and fairly simple to set up.

I have been trying to find ways to utilize a couple of bags of cotton balls that I had previously purchased for a crafting play date earlier in the month and discovered this idea on Pinterest. Five minutes later I had the contact paper taped (upside down) to my daughter’s activity table and gave her a bucket of cotton balls, q-tips, and Styrofoam packing peanuts and let her go crazy.

She played with the whole set up for about 15 minutes. Her favorite part was to take the cotton balls and stick them to the contact paper and pick them up so they left cotton fibers. But eventually she got bored with it and soon discovered that the packing peanuts could be torn and shredded into smaller pieces (that were so much fun picking up afterward). She did this for about another 10 minutes.

Overall, I’d say this was a pretty successful activity. It lasted for about half an hour and clean up wasn’t horrible. If we keep with my previous rating system, I’d give this activity 5 stars. 

Afternoon Activity: No Cook, 2-Ingredient Play Dough

For today’s afternoon activity adventure, Rose and I made a 2-ingredient play dough recipe I found while searching Pinterest. The result was a super soft dough somewhere in the middle of the play dough to cloud dough spectrum. It was in no way, shape, or form as crumbly or powdery as the cloud dough and since it had no salt it wasn’t as tough or clean as play dough. I do highly suggest that you read the entire post (at least the conclusion part) before setting out to make this recipe. That way you know what you are in for. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Ingredients:

1 part conditioner

2 parts corn starch

Activity:

Before jumping into everything, I poured the cornstarch into a shallow plastic dish and let Rose play with it by itself. Corn starch has a unique texture so go ahead and play with it yourself. Use this moment to talk with your child either prompting an older child to describe how it feels or by telling your younger child its color and texture. I hid small lids in the corn starch and Rose has a blast digging them out.

Alright, if you are ready to get on with the show. I put the cornstarch up on the counter for a while and brought down the conditioner in a separate bowl. I squeezed a couple drops of Sargent Art’s WaterColor Magic coloring to it (you can use food coloring) and let Rose mix it up.

Bring the cornstarch back down and slowly add the conditioner to it. This is where things get really messy. We tried mixing it with a spoon but it began clumping up really bad. So we went all in and got our hands in and squished it with our fingers. Hence why there are no pictures of it clumped up since my hands were all goopy. (I did remake a small batch afterward, see the small container above.) 

Continue adding more conditioner until you have a nice consistency. Remember, not all conditioners have the same consistency so the 1:2 ratio may need to be adjusted a bit. If you overdo it, just add a bit more cornstarch.

After a while you will be able to shape the goopy gunk into a smooth dough-like ball. Ta-da! You just made our amazing 2 ingredient, no cook, super soft play dough.

Conclusion:

Pros:

• 2 Ingredients
• No cooking required
• Soft texture which you can talk about with your child
• Smells great
• Leaves hands silky smooth

Cons:

• Creates ONE GIANT MESS! I spent more time cleaning up afterward then I spent on the activity itself.
• Play dough leaves a residue on the tabletop and hands.
• Crumbles when trying to form. (This may be fixed by using more conditioner. I don’t know. I did not try.)

What I would have done differently:

• I would have taken Rose’s clothes off at the beginning. The goopy glop got everywhere and I had to soak her clothes in the sink. I didn’t want to find out what cornstarch would do to my washing machine.
• I would have taken my ring off. Dried cornstarch goop is hard to get out of tiny cracks.
• I would have contained Rose to a high chair. She began walking around leaving (the cutest) little powder tracks across my kitchen floor.
• Finally, I would have made a smaller batch. A lot of cornstarch makes a lot of mess.

Overall Rating: 1 Star

With this activity, the pros did not outweigh the cons. I cannot stress this enough. I wish I could explain perfectly how big of a mess it was. It took me 30 minutes to clean. Which involved soaking Rose’s clothes, washing dishes, cleaning the tablecloth and the counters (wet cornstarch forms a heck of a film), and finally vacuuming and mopping the floors. The cornstarch goes everywhere. Perhaps I would add a couple of stars if we could do this activity outside, but it is winter so that’s out of the question right now. 

Afternoon Activity: Making Play Dough

Welcome to Rose’s and my second “Special Afternoon Activity” post. Today we decided that it was time for Rose to try out some play dough. During nap time I researched play dough recipes and concluded that the recipe listed below is by far the one most used and liked by other online moms. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to make play dough with your child.

Ingredients:

2 Cups Water

2 Cups Flour

4 Tsp. Cream of Tartar

2/3 Cups Salt

2 Tbs. Vegetable Oil

Activity:

Simply pour all the ingredients into one bowl. Let your child (at least try to) pour some of them in themselves. Help your child mix the ingredients together. It may be hard for them since it’s a pretty thick mixture, but that’s okay let them try anyways.

Divide the mixture into four (or more) bowls and add food coloring. I prefer to use Sargent Art’s WaterColor Magic (available on Amazon for $15) because it is washable. Once again, allow your child to be part of the process and let them mix the color in.

After everything is nice and mixed together. Heat a non-stick pan to medium heat. Make sure it is out of child’s reach. Safety first! Pour one of your color mixtures into the pan and stir continuously, see Picture 1. (ProTip: Start with the lightest color and move the darkest; for example begin with yellow, then red, then blue, and finally purple.) Stir the mixture until it begins to clump up on you, see Picture 2. It will be sticky, but that’s okay. At this point, remove the glob of stickiness onto waxed paper or your countertop. Let it cool for a while (I went ahead and “cooked” the other 3 colors) and then knead the dough until it is no longer sticky.

Just like that your play dough is now ready to be played with! (See Picture 3).

Rose’s Experience:

Rose really wanted nothing to do with the play dough after it was made. She would touch it and hold it if I handed it to her, but she would not squeeze or squish it. Oh well. I did some quick thinking and grabbed some old-fashioned clothes pins and some chipboard pieces from my craft room and we had plenty of fun poking them into the play dough and taking them out.

Conclusion:

Pros:

• Great practice at mixing ingredients.
• Color learning opportunity.
• Multiple sensory opportunities. Rose played with the flour, salt, play dough mixture, and then finally the playdough itself.
• Making the play dough takes 15-30 minutes (depending on how much time you and your child take to talk about each ingredient and mix them together). And playing with the play dough takes up another 15-30 minutes.
• Ingredients are basic household staples (except maybe the Cream of Tartar, but ProTip: Google “Non-cook play dough recipes” for a recipe that uses all of the above except cream of tartar).

Cons:

• Rose did not like waiting while I cooked the play dough. She didn’t understand why she was a part of all the other steps except that one.
• Rose did not understand and/or like the concept of play dough and became bored with sticking things into it after 15 minutes or so.

Overall Rating: 4 Stars

I debated giving this activity 5 stars, mostly because you and your child might have way more success than Rose and I did. Our personal experience was pretty positive except when I had to cook the dough and Rose all of the sudden wasn’t part of the process anymore. Rose really enjoyed the making process, but wasn’t too into playing with the end result. We will continue to get it out occasionally and hopefully she will learn to love playing with it.

Other Variations:

• Consider making a Non-Cook version of this recipe. That way your child can be part of the process the entire way through.
• With younger children (like Rose’s age, around 1 year), consider making only one or two colors. Rose really didn’t care that there were four colors.
• If using chip-board cut outs, older children can practice sorting. Have them group and stick the different objects into different mounds of play dough (as seen in the last picture above).

Afternoon Activity: Baking Soda and Vinegar Play

With the New Year comes new segments for my blog! If you read several of my posts from my 14-Day Challenge, you will see that Rose and I have a couple of hours in the afternoon in which we stare at one another in boredom. My remedy was to research fun learning activities for her and I to do together during those long afternoon hours before Dad came home. And, of course, I find myself needing to share these fun activities with you guys. So here’s the first one!

As the snow falls and temperatures drop, I have found the need to be creative in finding fun indoor activities that (most importantly) hold Rose’s attention while being both fun and educational. This one is all three of those things. Rose loved it. And best of all, you already have all the supplies in your kitchen

.

All you need is vinegar, baking soda, and some type of food coloring. I prefer using Sargent Art’s WaterColor Magic instead of regular food coloring, as it is washable and doesn’t stain fabric. I highly recommend this product. We use it for almost all of our crafting and activities. Go to Amazon right now and buy it so you can have it in the future!

Activity:
Simply pour some baking soda into a plastic dish for little one to explore. Let them play with the powder by itself while describing its texture, color, and even taste.

While the little one is playing with the baking soda, pour some vinegar into two (or more) small containers. Then add your coloring. Finally take the dropper and slowly squeeze the liquid onto the baking soda. If you do not own a dropper, try using a straw or a baby medicine syringe.

Watch your little ones face as the chemical reaction occurs and bubbles form. Describe the colors, bubbles, and sounds as they happen. At the beginning Rose didn’t understand how the dropper worked, but with time we worked together and she finally figured how to squeeze the dropper’s bulb to spray the vinegar everywhere.

From beginning to end, this activity held Rose’s attention for over 30 minutes! That’s unheard of with a 15-month-old. After we added all the vinegar to the baking soda and the mixture had turned into a purple sludge, Rose had even more fun playing with the goopy slop. ProTip: have some baby shampoo and a towel on hand so you can throw little one in the sink afterward to be cleaned.

Conclusion:

Pros:

• No special material needed. Uses household staples for ingredients.
• Introduce basic science terms (reactions, mixture, chemicals)
• Opportunity to talk about colors and sounds.
• Work on fine motor skills by learning to squeeze dropper
• Holds little one’s attentions for a long time

Cons:

• Creates a giant mess
• Post-bath is a necessity
• Little one may become frustrated if they cannot figure out dropper

Overall Rating: 5 Stars

To me, the pros heavily outweigh the cons for this activity. Yes, clean up took a while; but, the learning opportunity and Rose’s giggles were so great that the mess is bearable.

Other Variations:

• Try this activity at a play date. Buy a bunch of baking soda and vinegar and divvy it up between the kids and moms and watch the little ones enjoy and learn together.
• Put baking soda in multiple smaller containers. Then add different amounts of vinegar to each. If you child is older, talk about the differences in the reactions. (Adding a lot of vinegar to a good size of baking soda is fun even for moms!)