Welcome to another week of quick play ideas.This week’s activity is tremendously fun- glow in the dark play fun.

We have a big box and we have been having fun with it. We have used it as an art studio, for splatter painting, as a store and the obvious gross motor play.

The other day however I surprised them with this simple invitation to play.

I have a black light flashlight purchased from Amazon. Click on the following image to take a look. (affiliate link)

I cut out a hole big enough for the flash light to fit snugly. “Snug” being the operative word- the hole can’t be too big.

I set out couple of fluorescent markers and a white sheets of paper and called the kids to check out the “groovy” box.

Keep in mind that this is our first glow in the dark play activity. So something as simple as this one elicited a big excited squeal from the kiddos.

It was great to see the excitement on the kids’ faces and to hear my 4 year old’s constant reminder that the ” marker looks really pretty” . My 4 year old started off drawing and scribbling just to check out the light’s effects right there on the cardboard.

To give it a more dramatic look I encouraged to try drawing on the paper and of course that was so much more cool to look and admire. It was amazing to see a how a simple marker, black light and a box got her excited and kept her attention for a long time.

She started drawing an elaborate scene and ofcourse with some animal in here. We love animals and animal activities.

This is what she created.

The glowing effect does really capture the kids. To top it off, we were simply hanging out in the kitchen with the lights dimmed. She felt she was camping!

To make play time more fun inside the glow box consider setting up a glowing play dough party like Four little piglets.

If you are willing to risk paint ( washable paint) purchase some glow in the dark activity paints here. Click on the following affiliate to take a look.

Everything is fun inside a box you know.

I have already thought of a GREAT time to use this glow in the dark play box – during dinner time whining and sibling fights. Dim the lights in the kitchen, haul the box, turn flashlight on and hand over sharpies and may be if i get around to making the glow in the dark play dough, hand over that as well. Hopefully this doesn’t get old too soon. Anyway I really think this glow box will come in handy quite often

Thanks for reading

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As though sand needed something extra to be more fun!

It’s summertime and we have started playing in, on, under and around our sandbox more now. Sand is such a fun and frugal sensory material for any sensory activity. To make it even more exciting we made colored sand using 3 different ways.

Method 1

For 1/2 cup of clean sand I added 1 packet of Kool-Aid. This proportion gave the resulting sand a nice color and a great smell. After adding the Kool-Aid mix the sand and the drink mix well together. Then add about 1/2 tbsp of water and start mixing to get the color nice and even. Remember that Kool-Aid stains. Although the stain is gone after a few hand washes. Once you have your colored and scented sand, lay it out on a flat tray or sheet to dry. Note: The tropical punch and ice blue raspberry flavors give the best colors.

I found that lemonade does not give you a true yellow but the scent is amazing.

Method 2

I tried coloring the sand using powdered tempera as well. This worked just as great as the drink mix method. Of course you won’t have the scent but the color is so rich and vibrant. I simply added sand and powdered tempera and thoroughly mixed them together to get an even color

Method 3

Add a few drops of food coloring or a small squirt ( if using gel food color) to the sand. Add 1 tbsp of water and start mixing vigorously. With a few rounds you will start getting a bright color. Drain out the excess water and lay the sand on a flat surface to dry.

I mixed all the colors in empty yogurt containers. They looked great and smelled even more amazing..

I laid out the sand (while being a wee bit wet) into our flat sensory box for further sensory exploration and play. More on that in another post.

Remember if you use your hands, kool aid stains. The best part however it you can use your stained hands to  play “hand monster  with your kids and make them uncontrollably giggling and squealing.

Thanks for reading. Have fun playing with sand this summer.

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We played with our big box yet again and this time the activity included paint! 2 weeks ago we came in possession of a huge box and we have already turned it into an art studio for the kids for all their art activities.The kids have played pet shop in there, used it as a workshop, enjoyed the box as reading nook and many more. Today’s post is about how they enjoyed painting inside the box. To see our earlier art activity which involved lots of movement visit our tin can roll painting

I taped the insides of the box with butcher paper. You could leave it as it. The reason I taped paper was to simply have a removable piece of process art after the art activity and so that the box can become something else the next day. Kids’ interests are fleeting and we all are well aware of that.

I set out a few plastic balls and those sensory squishy creatures available at the dollar store or even at the dollar spot at Target.

With some vibrant colored  paint set out in flat trays the kids dipped their balls to their hearts’ content

and then splash! time.

They threw the balls inside the box and it splattered paint all over. This art activity was pure fun! I had watered down paint so the splatter was even more dramatic.

My 4 year old could not get enough f the ball splattering paint all inside the box

For my toddler apart from throwing the paint dipped ball, it was all about feeling the paint. All art activities turn into sensory activities with her.

She put her hands and feet inside the paint tray and did a few hand stamps on the box.She even used the squishy creature to paint the insides.

My preschooler was all about getting the ball all over the paper. This was one of those multi-age open ended fun art activity – all inside a box.

After all the fun here is our box. We would have played longer but the fun had to be cut short for an evening errand.

You even have your own kids active art to display or save or anything you want to do with these.  I have so many of these I’m completely overwhelmed. Ha

Thanks for reading and let’s have a fun summer

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First things first, recipes for making a bubble solution

Recipes

Simple homemade bubble solution

Recipe for those GIANT bubbles

Bouncing Bubbles

Recipe using corn syrup

Recipe using gelatin : Use gelatin in the place of corn syrup

Tear Free bubbles 

Kool Aid Bubbles

Art

Bubble Painting

Bubbles homemade cards

Play

Rainbow Bubbles

Bubble Snakes

Rainbow Bubble Snakes

Bubbles baby play

Bubbles sensory bin

 Bubbles in a cup

Glowing Bubbles

DIY Bubble Wands

Using straws and strings

Using dowels and hooks

Using the rings from beverages

Berry Baskets : blow through an empty basket

Using just a bunch of straws

Kitchen tools as wands

Tips

Tips  for making better soap bubbles

Tips for experimenting with bubble snakes

and more evidence that bubble snakes work and they are not something you saw on Pinterest

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Can I start by saying how much I love strawberries. They are hands down my house favorite. When the season is in full bloom, strawberries become a house staple. So now the question is what else can you do with strawberries? – Introducing, Strawberry Pops – easy, kid- friendly and elegant dessert.

We always have a lot of summer parties and that only means one thing – FUN for ALL. With summer dessert recipes, I confess, I tend to take shortcuts for dessert, usually its an easy dumpcake or dessert shells filled with fruits and whipped cream or store bought ice cream or in summer its everybody’s favorite – chocolate covered strawberries. While most desserts are served in a bowl and need a spoon, chocolate covered strawberries are a 1 bite food for adults but for kids its a messy eat. So, I did what I should have done a long time ago – PUT THEM ON A STICK.

Here’s what you need for this summer dessert recipe:

• Fresh Strawberries
• Chocolate bars( I prefer Hershey’s) or candy melts
• Funfetti
• Craft stick
• Styrofoam block

I trimmed the berries and discard the leaf/stem. Chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. In the mean time melt the chocolate in the microwave. I do 10-15 seconds at a time. You don’t want to burn the chocolate.

Take the berries out and insert the craft sticks into each and dip them into the chocolate, gently tap off the excess. Do not stir them around or you’ll lose the berry into the chocolate.

You can also chooce to dip the craft stick into the chocolate before inserting into the strawberry for a firmer hold. Remember to put the berries back in the fridge to harden up if you choose to do that. While the chocolate is still wet, sprinkle with funfetti like you would on a cake pop. Place on a styrofoam block to harden up.

We created a few Red, White and Blue berries a preview for the July 4th party.

Berry pops any day better than a cake pop and were definitely a hit with the YOUNG kids and the BIG kids.

Once dry you can choose to serve it on a platter or in a pot (fill it with styrafoamand cover it with water beads or colored rice or colored pasta). For a visual treat, that’ll make your guests go -oooooh !

Easy to make and sure to become a conversation with your dinner crowd. Enjoy and tune in for more summer party ideas.

Thanks for reading.

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To make goop or oobleck all you need is cornstarch. We have explored oobleck before and even played with pinecones and goop.

Slowly add water to cornstarch until you get to a squishy consistency. The substance should act as a solid when you try to hold it but act as a liquid and easily flow when you stop applying pressure. This is when you know you got the perfect play material!

I made oobleck in small clear cups and added food colors ( you could use paint)  to create all the 7 colors of the rainbow. We also added pink because you know it is PINK!

I poured all the 8 colors into a clear plastic flat box a.k.a our sensory bin one by one. The colors looked so grand and vibrant and my preschooler gave out a bunch of “ooohs and aahhhs” It really is amazing to see the kids enjoy all the hands on activities we do together.

After that, it was simply time to dig into the oobleck and have some sensorial fun. How easy was that? Yeah cornstarch, water and color.

After doing multiple art projects my 4 year old is very much aware of the consequences of over mixing the rainbow colors– muddy brown. It didn’t stop her.

We kept playing with the rainbow oobleck and ended up with a super muddy brown goop. Well, we threw in a couple of pigs and continued the play. The oobleck didn’t look quite as pretty as before but pigs in mud was so much FUN.

Surprisingly my sensory loving toddler was on and off in this activity. But my 4 year old was completely engrossed with feeling the oobleck on her hands. She played  in there for a very long time. Pigs and cornstarch mud seemed like a fun way to enjoy the afternoon.

Thanks for reading

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What we used:

• Modelling Clay
• Canvas
• Glue gun
• Small cookie cutters(optional)

So, yes, I took the easy route and bought clay. If you want to try making your own clay, here’s a recipe that we use. I must add that the clay we bought was non drying clay, means it will always have wetness to it. It is more pliable and easy to work with. It is different from the other pottery clay or air dry clay.  Now, back to our project, we set up a crafting station. When working with clay I highly recommend that you use small amounts and work in batches. This helps to keep the clay from drying up and saving you money.

Clay is tougher than play dough so rolling it to make shapes is a good workout on the motor skills.  That said we used some fine motor skills to pinch balls of clay and roll it and squish it to make petals and leaves.

We made butterflies and clouds and sun and flowers. We used the small shape cutters to create our beautiful garden scene.

The play also involved a lot of discussions as to what you see in Spring & Summer. The kids know spring is in the air when they don’t need to wear those hefty jackets and layers and layers of clothing. The birds and the bees are springs first visitors and we decided to incorporate them into our craft.

Needless to say that spring and Summer bring a lot out outdoor play time and outdoor fun. So she made two figurines, Big S & Lil’ S who love to play outside in our garden with all the spring/summer blooms.

So when does this craft meet the art? Once we finished making our flowers, bees and little people it was too cute to just sit and after days get crumbled. I picked out a 11×14 canvas and turned this into an Art piece, one that my daughter can always look at and enjoy her work.

So i picked up my glue gun and all the clay crafting and started to glue and put the pieces together.

Look at these pretty flowers we crafted from clay.

Simple isn’t it?  The look on her face when I put it in a frame hung it; She was brimming with joy and pride, not to mention the big boost in her confidence, looking at her own masterpiece – PRICELESS.

We have done many Art projects here in the past and we are adding one more to our favorite collection. Hope you like it and be sure to give it a try.

Thanks for reading

Visit our Art Projects Category Page for more art activities

My preschooler has been having fun with various sensory bins turned small world set ups of various animal habitats. She adored her sandbox savannah, South pole model and recently pond sensory bin. When we started reading more about lizards she became very curious about other animals living in the same area. So we ended up gathering her desert TOOB and created a simple desert sensory bin. Sensory activities have always been THE best way to learn and introduce newer concepts for us. Just by playing and asking questions, I’m able to keep a fun and light conversation going with the child.

Please note that the following desert sensory bin is based only on the American South Western Deserts. Sorry no camels! I just realized we don’t own a camel figurine ( what a shame! and I’m pretty sure if we had a camel toy, it would have gone into the sensory bin!)

We used corn meal as the base for the sensory bin. If you want it to be brown just add brown ( or red and green) powdered tempera paint to get an even color. I just had the cornmeal itself. I also created a simple terrain with large flat areas and sand dunes in the corners.I set our a few rocks and wood chips for added interest. Extra manipulative need not be used in a particular fashion. They were there simply to be used in any way that pleases the kid. I expected her to stack or create patterns or even make homes for the animals..It is cool that she actually did all those… She created her world with a specific play for each and every item in the bin.

We had lizards on logs camouflaging

There were scorpions under the rocks, snakes slithering under the desert sand..

We had mountain lions hanging out on the rocks and a coyote road runner face off. I told her about the old Road Runner show and she has been asking me to show her a video.

She even created a tent for the explorer camper.

An explorer with a pet bob cat?

This sensory activity was a great way for her to have fun and learn more about the habitat. We talked about the characteristics and diet of various animals while pretending to be one. My kids and I took turns pretending to be an animal and were chasing around each other in the cornmeal bliss. The cornmeal base was perfect for us.

In our household with my 4-year-old she is more interested in a small world play when she participates in the creation. She simply LOVES to create her own little small world when given appropriate materials. I’m hoping in a few months we will be able to even come up with even the materials needed to create a small world.

Do you think your child would love a desert sensory bin?

Affiliate link to the animals used here

Animal habitats sensory/small world we have shared

Thanks for reading!

This recycled craft  was so simple.

I just gathered up all their wonderful art work. I used regular clear tape and arranged them all up all around the insides of the box. We usually have all their creations up on the walls jus to encourage them to get creative. Having their work , not just art up on the walls for display does great things for the child’s self-esteem and confidence.

If you feel the box is too closed off, simply cut out a small window on any of the sides

I also set out some of their supplies : markers, pencils, crayons and paint inside the box on a raised platform.

With some crisp white sheets of paper in a recycled and decorated cereal box the kids are ready to create in their brand new studio.

But wait the art studio is also mobile. To enjoy a bright and sunny day carry the studio to your backyard. I spread out some beach towels and set up the box on the top. It was fun to watch them enjoy inside the box

Please set this up when it is not too hot, possibly late evening for the best experience.

I’m sure almost all the kids would love the box much more than the stuff inside the box. There are so many fun ways to play with a large. What is your favorite. Feel free to leave a big box play post on our Facebook wall here.

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All the art work you see inside the box have been shared previously here.

Tulip Printing

Potato Hearts

Suminagashi Painting

Sheep Printing

Textured Paper Art

Today we are back with another activity with animals. What can I say?  All things wildlife is my 4yr old’s go-to activity.

It’s great to have indoor toys and outdoors toys. But every now and then we mix it up and bring all our animals outside for a grand time of imaginative play.  On this particular day with glorious weather we dragged out farm animals and headed out to our newly tilled dirt patch under our beloved fig tree. Before we went my kids and I had a brief discussion on “farm” itself. Simple questions while getting ready to play have always worked for us. As opposed to giving them items needed for play, we talk about it while collecting the things needed. It helps that our sensory/small world bins are only moderately elaborate.

What is a farm?”

“What toys do you think we need to carry?”

” Do we need vegetables or just animals”

” What will the animals eat there?”

To engage my toddler I just had her bring a few farm animals out to play. Every now and then I’d “slip up” and bring a lion or a whale. My 4 year old found that hilarious..:)

As far as play time was concerned the kids were creating and arguing over the layout of the farm. We’d soon agree on a layout and start creating the farm one part at a time..

My 4 year old did the gates first because her animals should not escape!

We built the pig pen and set out our cows and lambs. With some grass clippings strewn around those animals were happily munching around

Horse stables are a must for my ” When can I learn horse riding” girl!

Of course we are going to find roly polies while playing.

Farmer also grows her own vegetables.

Simply by playing with her usual toys in a different setting ( dirt) we gave the “animal play” activity more excitement. The kids and I had a wonderful afternoon engaging in this fun imaginative play which requires NO PREP or set-ups.

>After play is just as fun because it involves soap and water. The kids cleaned up the animals and we washed them in a big tub of soapy water. In fact washing the animals in itself can be a fun too-hot-for-the-park afternoon activity.

Thanks for reading

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