Independence Day

Happy 4th of July!

We didn't have any big plans for the day...no day at the beach, no barbecue or picnic, and definitely trying to avoid the fireworks {especially since the wonderful people in my neighborhood have felt it necessary to put on a show for the last 3 days}. I'm starting to sound like a grouchy old lady. 

Bubba and I celebrated in our own way. We went bowling and swimming. 

Made this festive sensory bin.

Attempted to make our own firework art,

which didn't work out quite how Better Homes and Gardens said it would. {Note: to make diluted glue use 2 parts glue to 1 part water}

And Bubba worked on his 4th of July Preschool Unit from 2 Teaching Mommies.

Hope ya'll had a great 4th! 

-Karla

Half Way to Christmas

Last Monday, we had a few friends over for a Half Way to Christmas Party play-date.

What better way to stay cool in the summer, than to celebrate the moderately cool (in Florida) month of December?

source

We kept cool with this awesome Frozen Hot Chocolate (recipe from Serendipity's).

And kept our tummies full with yummy semi-homemade "pop tarts," cut into fun holiday shapes.

To make your own tarts, you'll need:

store bought pie crust

preserves or other filling

cookie cutters 

Cut the pie crust with the cookie cutters, or use a knife to cut into small squares. Spread the preserves on one side of pie crust. Top with the second piece and crimp edges with a fork. Bake at 400º for 9-12 minutes, or until golden brown. 

Top with your favorite frosting, or make your own...

1 cup powdered sugar

1 Tbs milk 

1/2 tsp vanilla

-Karla

Counting Goldfish

This activity was part of the Letter F pack I put together for Bubba.

I cut out 10 fish bowls on construction paper, numbered them 1-10, and laminated them. Then gave Bubba a small box of goldfish to count with.

For every one fish he put down on a card, he would put one in his mouth.

Check out some of the other fishy activities:

Rainbow Fish CD Suncatcher

Ocean in a bag

-Karla

It's better than a real hammer and nails...

Such an awesome post title, don't ya think?

But seriously, golf tees, foam, and a toy hammer are wayyyyy better than a real hammer and nails. At least when it comes to my little guy...and this is coming from the person who lets her child play with just about anything in the house (with supervision of course). 

And it is at the very least 45 minutes of fun, with only 2 simple steps:

(1) Poke the golf tees in the foam

(2) Hammer them in 

Another plus...you don't have to worry about your little one whacking a finger with the hammer because the tee will stand up on it's own thanks to the foam. 

I helped Bubba make this (what is supposed to be a) fish design. We were doing activities related to fish/sea animals that week, so it seemed fitting. 

(Check out Rainbow Fish CD Suncatcher and Ocean in a bag for more fishy fun.) 

Then he just did his own thing, and proceeded to cover the entire piece of foam in golf tees. 

Whatever floats your boat, dude.

-Karla

All of Those Rainy Days...

Hurricane season is officially upon us...

With the weather not really cooperating with us, we've been stuck indoors a lot the last week. We usually get a small window of time to sneak outside, but it is short lived. So, here are a couple things we've been doing to keep ourselves entertained...

Small Objects and Alphabet Cards

This activity is done on a daily basis; but they really come in handy when it's raining. 

These items are just small toys we've collected from around the house. I've tried to represent every letter of the alphabet {I'm still working to find objects for Q, I, and X}, so that he can match the item to the letter card. However, you don't have to use the cards; sometimes Bubba just likes to play with the toys instead. 

Cardboard City

We've recently purchased a few small Lego City sets, and since I'm not ready to invest in the larger sets, I was inspired to create our own cardboard city. 

 So I whipped up a few buildings out of cardboard shipping boxes and cereal/cookie boxes. 

Then, it was time to put all of Bubba's emergency vehicles and rescue workers to good use.

The fireman rescued the lady off of the burning building....such a hero. 

Baking 

I also decided rainy days are the perfect excuse to stuff our faces with cinnamon buns.

I'll confess now that these are not made from scratch. All the props go to Immaculate Baking Co. They are delish....go get yourself some!

-Karla

Rainbow Fish CD Suncatcher

Continuing our "under the sea" theme, we did a little up-cycled fish craft. Here's what you need to make one of your own...

Supplies:

CD

Googly eyes

Scrapbook paper

Tape or Glue

Scissors

String/Hole Punch (optional)

Draw and cut out the pieces of the fish on scrapbook paper.

Tape/glue all of the pieces, except the side fin, on to the front of the CD...which will now be the back. 

Secure the side fin with tape/glue over the hole in the center of the CD, on the shiny side...which is now the front of your fish. 

Add the googly eye, and punch a hole in the top fin for the string. 

Ocean in a Bag

After our recent field trip to the Aquarium, we put together our own ocean in a bag. 

It was fun, easy, and could be {mostly} done unassisted by a 2.5 year old. 

Supplies:

Hair Gel {blue; or clear and use blue food coloring}

Sea creatures

Shells

Plastic bags

All items {minus the shells, of course} can be found at the dollar store. If your dollar store, like mine, doesn't have blue hair gel, use the clear gel with just a drop of two or food coloring. Also, if you can't find the little plastic sea creatures, you can use colored foam sheets to cut out the shapes of the animals. 

Bubba liked squishing the gel, and I liked seeing the light reflect through. 

Pin-tested, Toddler Approved: Colored Vinegar and Baking Soda

Bubs and I tested out a fun activity for toddlers using colored vinegar and backing soda, that I found on Pinterest. Of course, I can't find the original source, but I googled "colored vinegar and baking soda toddler activity," and found many matches. Here is just 1 of the 219,000 that Google came up with.  

You don't need much for this, and it will keep your little one entertained for at least an hour. At least that's how long it held Bubba's attention. 

All you need is baking soda, vinegar and food coloring, a medicine dropper, and a plate or rimmed baking sheet. The plates we used are from Ikea, and were just perfect. They come in a set of 4. 

He had so much fun watching the baking soda fizz every time he dropped the vinegar on it. I had fun getting some laundry folded while he was busy doing this. 

I think we'll try this baking soda and vinegar activity next. 

Dot Sticker Art

We watched 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure recently. And by recently, I mean, when we did this project we had just watched it for the 4th time, and since I've been a slacker with posting, we have since watched it, 10 more times. 

I don't know if you can tell by that picture, but a lot of the movie revolves around this artist painting black dots {which reminds Cruella de Ville of the puppies, of course}.

Since we were working on the letter D, and I had found these black dot stickers at a yard sale, we naturally decided to make some dot art inspired by the dalmatians. 

He actually, surprisingly, really enjoyed doing this project. And it was simple, and mess free, so a BIG plus in my book {not that I don't enjoy getting messy with the little guy}. 

I intended on having him just use the black dots, and really after he had finished putting on the ones above, he was kind of done. 

I thought it looked kind of dull with just the black ones, so I left all of the stickers out during the day, and he would come back to every so often and add more stickers. 

This is what we ended up with......two days later.