Valentine's Day Do-A-Dot

With just a few days away from Valentine's Day, I was looking for an easy craft to do with the girls.  I already had all of the materials at home for this project and it only took me about 5 minutes to get it set up.  I took large pieces of drawing paper and blue painters tape to block off the shape I wanted.  You can use any shape or word you want, we did a heart for Valentine's Day.  

Once you have your shape taped off the way you want, let the kids "dot" all over the white part of the paper.  Make sure all of the white is colored otherwise the heart shape won't show up as nicely.

Once I got them started, this craft was easy for them to do without any help.  I cleaned the kitchen while they were working on this.  I let their papers dry a bit before trying to remove the blue tape.  The kids thought it was pretty cool that it left a white heart shape.  :)

You could use paint as well instead of the do a dots.  Have fun with it!

Snow Playdough

We made some new play dough today.  I have seen this snow play dough recipe floating around for a while now but have yet to make it.  Having both kids home today and not being able to go anywhere had me grasping for ideas to keep them entertained!  Sparkly Snow Play Dough to the rescue!

Ingredients:

1 cup of flour

1/2 cup salt

2 T vegetable oil

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 cup of water

1 tsp of extract (peppermint, lemon, vanilla or almond - whatever you have handy)

silver/clear glitter

Directions:
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.  In a small pan on medium heat, mix water, oil and extract.  Once warm add dry ingredients.  Stir constantly over heat until it it forms into a ball and ingredients are well mixed.  Remove from heat.  Cool play dough on wax paper.

Once cooled, I gave each girl some play dough and glitter containers.  They sprinkled the glitter into the play dough and mixed it in.

They are playing happily with their new sparkly play dough - success!!

Salt Paint

With the girls being out of school for the summer, we have been looking for some new activities to keep everyone happy and busy.

We gave salt painting a try today.  We've tried something similar in the past but it didn't work out.  Today's attempt was a huge success!

Most of these items you will have in the house already, which is a huge bonus.

We used a large piece of paper and drew a design on it with glue.  Sprinkle salt all over the glue, just like you would with glitter.  Shake off excess salt.  Fill small containers with water and add a few drops of food coloring to create the colors you want for your picture.  Using a small water paintbrush, dip the paintbrush in the colored water and gently touch the salt/glue.  Watch your children's eyes light up as the color spreads through the salt!

Not a keeper to hang on the wall, it is heavy and the salt will fall off, but it was a fun activity that lasted for 45 minutes!

Berry Yogurt Popsicles

I found this recipe for frozen yogurt pops at Gina's Skinny Recipes to make for the girls.  We had a ton of berries on hand so this recipe was perfect. I loved how they have different layers, super yummy and pretty!  Both girls loved these pops but they were a little hard.  I wonder if next time I left out the chopped ice if they would soften and be easier to eat?  Recipe is definitely a keeper though!


My berries were mostly fresh and I thought the purple and pink layers could have used a little bit of sugar.  Mix up your berries and then taste before freezing to see if they need a little sugar.
Keep in mind you have to let each layer freeze a little before pouring on the next one.  :)


Enjoy!


Ingredients:
For the purple:

• 1 cup blueberries
• 1/2 cup blackberries
• 6 oz blueberry yogurt
• 1 cup crushed ice

For the white:

• 14 oz vanilla yogurt
• 2 tbsp agave or sugar
• 1 cup crushed ice

For the pink:

• 3/4 cup raspberries
• 3/4 cup strawberries
• 6 oz strawberry yogurt
• 1 cup crushed ice

Directions:

Blend each color smoothie separately in a blender and set aside.  

Pour the first color into the popsicle mold 1/3rd of the way and freeze for 30 minutes.Remove from the freezer and insert the sticks, then freeze one hour.

Add the white yogurt into each popsicle mold1/3 of the way and freeze an additional hour. Add the purple smoothie and fill it to the top of the mold and freeze until ready to eat.

Crayon Valentine's

We made homemade Valentine's for Saryn's preschool class this year. I found this cute crayon Valentine idea on Family Fun and just made a few changes. You can follow the directions for making the crayon hearts on their website by clicking on the link.

I bought the foam hearts at Michael's and the sparkly foam stickers too. Saryn helped me break the crayons, glue the hearts together and put stickers on. It took several days but we had a lot of fun. On the back of the hears we wrote "Happy Valentine's Day!" and Saryn signed her name.

Saryn thought the rainbow heart crayons were very cool. We made a few extra for us to have. Hopefully her friends at preschool like them too.

Hope you have a Happy Valentine's Day!

Sensory Bins

As a preschool teacher I was always a fan of my sensory table. I would have tons of different bins: coffee beans, rice, pasta, flour, water, & corn. The kids loved it, especially the flour. :)

Jordan made Saryn a sensory table for Christmas a few years ago and she wasn't that into it. I didn't really pay that much attention to it until about a week ago. Our sensory table is packed in the storage unit and I decided to make some small bins for the girls. Saryn likes the sensory bins - just not the toys I was putting in. Neither of my girls like to scoop, pour etc with cups or spoons. What children don't like that?! My preschool kids loved scooping and pouring!

They like playing with little figurines, dolls, or animals in the bins. Last night they played for an hour and 20 minutes in a colored rice bin with some toys from our dollhouse. An hour and 20 minutes! I did 3 loads of laundry and cleaned 2 bathrooms!

I'd recommend pulling these out when you don't mind taking 5 minutes to clean up the mess. I put a towel under the bins that catches most of the mess. I have found doing this on carpet is easiest. The contents don't bounce as easily. :) My rule is they cannot throw the contents of the bin and if they get too wound up we put the bins away until another time when they can play the correct way.

Here are a few that I've made for them this week.

Flour. Always a big hit and a big mess. They usually play with this when I'm cooking or baking. Keeps them happy while I'll get to prepare a meal without them under foot.



But, I don't let them play with this unless I know it's bath night and the floor already needs to be vacuumed! It is by far one of their favorites.



Doggy Bin with white rice



Bird Bin. To color rice, all you need is food coloring, hand sanitizer and ziplock bags. Pump about 4 squirts of sanitizer into a baggie and add 3 drops of food coloring. Add about a cup or so of rice, shake the bag until the rice is colored. Air dry on a tray before using.



Valentine's Day Bin



Coffee Beans. Looks like fun right? They took everything out and wanted to just play with the beans! I'll need to add some toy dogs or cats and then they'll be happy. :)



Colored rice with dollhouse toys. They loved this one!



Do you have any sensory bins your kids love? I'd love to hear about them. I'm thinking of doing popcorn with trucks next.

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Ornaments

Okay, these are seriously so easy and extremely fun to make with children.

My 19 month old loved helping me roll out the dough. She pretty much played with it like play dough but she had a great time.

My 4 year old helped me paint them after they were dry. She sat for almost 2 hours and painted with me. She had a great time and the ornaments turned out so cute!

Ingredients:
3 cups applesauce
3 cups cinnamon (Go to Walmart and buy the .50 cents brand. You'll need 4-5 of them.)

Directions:

Combine applesauce and cinnamon in a bowl. Roll out onto a flat surface. Use extra cinnamon on your hands to prevent from sticking. Mine did stick to my hands a little but I just washed them a few times during the process.



Use cookie cutters that are not too detailed otherwise you'll have a hard time getting the dough out. If you want to use these as ornaments make sure to put a hole in the top with a straw before baking. Put the cut outs on a cookie sheet and bake at 200 degrees for about 2-2.5 hours until ornaments have dried out.



Once they have cooled you can paint them with acrylic paints and thread with ribbon to hang on wreaths, trees, garland etc. I put newspaper underneath and put some paint on a paper plate since acrylic paint dries quickly and isn't all that washable.



We also put some glitter on a few of the ornaments while the paint was still wet. Let dry before you string with ribbon.



Have fun and enjoy the nice smell!

Homemade Play Dough

I know this isn't a food recipe, but you still need to cook it on the stove! Doesn't that count? ;) If you have children or teach definitely give this recipe a try!

This is by far my favorite play dough recipe. I started using this recipe when I first started teaching and just stuck with it! It will last a really long time if you keep it sealed in a zip lock bag. I made some at the end of November and I am just now throwing it away and replacing it with some new stuff. Of course, I only have one child so if you are making this for a school or more children it won't last as long. When I was teaching I replaced our play dough monthly.

I also like this recipe because it has kool-aid in it which gives the play dough a nice smell. Most homemade play dough smells kind of nasty to me. :)

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
4 Tablespoons cream of tartar
1 cup salt
2 cups water
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 package of kool-aid & food coloring of your choice

Directions:
Stir together flour, cream of tartar and salt. Combine water with oil, food coloring and kool-aid packet. Since I was using cherry kool-aid this time I added 5 drops of red food coloring to the water mixture. The kool-aid gives the play dough a nice smell and some color but with all that white flour a little more color is needed.

Mix in all the ingredients and cook over medium heat.



Stir until the mixture can no longer be stirred.



It will get lumpy; stir until it turns into a ball and starts pulling away from the sides of the pan.



Remove to a plastic mat (I just use my counter) and knead.



Let it cool and keep in an airtight container. I find zip lock bags work the best.



Have fun playing, releasing stress & working on building those fine motor skills!

On a side note, the cream of tartar is what really makes the play dough soft and last longer. Don't skimp on it as it won't turn out the same.