Simple Summer Fun: Watercolors Outside

A fun activity for summer is to paint watercolors outside.

You can paint on the driveway, paper, or on each other (as my girls decided to do). It all washes away very easily. All you need is a brush, watercolors, and a cup of water. When the cup of water gets spilled, there is no clean-up because you are outside! 

Color Mixing with Ice

This is a great outdoor activity but a few simple adaptations can easily bring this activity inside during the winter months and actually works well with a winter theme.

Ice is a great medium to practice color mixing.  J and I made yellow and blue ice cubes together. This is an activity all in itself, so be sure to include your little one in this step.  It's a great way to teach the process of freezing. Let them add the coloring and fill the tray using a scooper or a medicine dropper to include some fine motor skill practice!  Then they get to practice patience while waiting to play with their color cubes.

Fast forward to the activity, J first separated the ice cubes into bowls by color and chose to make blue water first.  I filled the tray with a small amount of water.  Make sure the tray is white/clear so you can easily see the water change colors as the ice melts. J really enjoys scooping and stirring the ice cubes, letting them melt in his hands, etc.  He basically plays while watching the ice melt.  This is a great time to let them utilize their motor skill practice with tongs or different size (and length) scoopers or spoons.  I’m surprised at how long a little ice can entertain! 

When he moved onto the yellow ice cubes I asked him which color the water (currently blue) would become and he of course guessed yellow.  I told him it was going to be a surprise that he’d have to wait and see.  He wasn’t convinced the water was actually green until the very end when there was no denying it.  He was sure it should be either blue or yellow!

We then filled the ice cube trays with green water to play with in the future.  This activity is free, entertains and recycles itself too!

Becca also blogs at Fun and Engaging Activities for Toddlers 

Making the Old New Again

Do you have any toys that you don't want to get rid of, but have been sitting stationary in your house for a while? Our play kitchen was like that.

The girls seemed to be on a hiatus from playing with this kitchen. One beautiful day, my 3 year old herself had a brilliant idea. "Wouldn't it be fun to take the kitchen outside? I can cook outside, like Daddy does on the grill!" Genius!!! Per her request and to her sister's delight, I loaded her up with some fun "mommy stuff" to cook with...extra flour, some random spices, sprinkles, etc. She had so much fun making a normally not allowed and extremely large mess. :) Oh, how I love cleaning up with a garden hose. Ignore the extension cord...husband was doing some yard work while they played happily.
Atalie was not too fond of Charis's creation, but sampled it multiple times anyways. :) Muffin tins, a washable mess, and happy kiddos.

Take a look around your house today! What toy would be more fun or made new again by just a different environment? Grocery cart? Baby stroller? Tea set? Have a party with stuffed animals? Picnic outside (don't worry, the ants will clean up your crumbs)? Even a doll house or trucks and cars?

Pitch a Tent!

The weather has been nice and cool this week (at least around here). My husband commented that my oldest daughter is at a great age to go camping. However, work, events, and other issues will prevent us from driving up to the mountains to try it out this year.

But have you noticed that there's something about a covered area that amazes and captivates kids? Pillow forts, sheets over the dining room table...if they can crawl in it, they love it. So why not make the most of amazing weather and a great make-believe activity. Go camping!

We set up a huge tent (and by we, I meant my husband) in the backyard for the girls. Add a few sleeping bags (or blankets and pillows), some snacks, and you've just become World's Best Mommy (oh, yeah...Daddy too). :)

My husband, the more outdoorsy of the two of us, even helped the girls build a little stick fort, make beds for baby raccoons (not really, but they pretended), and keep a watch out for grizzly bears (okay, again, not really...but you get the point). My job? Hot chocolate! S'mores in the oven!

Pretend to build a fire...pretend to roast marshmallows...eat hot dogs and PB&J outside...go for a "hike"...but most of all, have fun!

Outdoor Fun: Mud Paint

My toddler, with her "I'm ridiculously happy" face.

In The Everything Toddler Activities Book by Joni Levine, one of the fun outdoor activities suggested is Mud Paint. One thing I know for sure....my toddler + dirt + water = some seriously messy fun.
Here are the steps:
1. Find some mud, or better yet, show your child how to make mud. Use a spoon to help make the mud a creamy consistency.
2. With the spoon, place a blob of mud on a piece of poster board for your child to finger paint with. For older kids, let them make their own consistency (thin, thick, etc) and use different things to paint with...leaves, rocks, paint brushes, fingers, toes...the possibilities are endless.

If you don't have poster board, I think it's fun to get an old white sheet and paint it. When you are finished, let it dry, shake it out and wash!

After a few times, my girls got creative and started painting each other. It was hilarious! My youngest likes to dig in the mud so much we made her a mud bucket, especially for her digging pleasure. :)

Sidewalk Chalk Love Notes

For Father's Day, we decided to tell Daddy that we love him in Sidewalk chalk. My husband really likes words of affirmation to let him know he is loved. So the Friday before Father's Day, we went out and decorated the driveway to tell him why we loved him. It was something all three children could do...even if the one year old kept trying to eat dirt...

I wrote "We [heart] you Daddy!" and the kids decorated around it. Brayden made a stop sign so cars would know to not run over the writing.

Daddy loved it! This is something you can do during nice weather months. You could even go to a home of a neighbor and tell them how great they are in sidewalk chalk (but you might want to be pretty sure your neighbor won't mind).

Sidewalk chalk is always fun, but it seemed to be extra fun with a goal in mind.

Sand Letters

There are so many variations to this idea. You can do this in flour, shaving cream, and sand, just to name a few. Since it is summer time (or supposed to be if it ever stops raining), I thought a sand activity would be fun. I have some beach sand in the house I planned on using, but it turned out to be the first sunny day in almost a month, so we headed outside.

SUPPLIES

• 
  
  Sand
• 
  
  Child
• 
  
  Container for sand if inside (like a cookie sheet or baking dish)

ACTIVITY

Have your child write letters in the sand.

For Kaitlyn, my 3 year old, I had her write simple letters like H, I, L, T, E, F--letters that involve only straight lines. She also does well with circles, so I had her do O and Q. She wanted to try some harder letters, and for those I held her hand and helped her make the movement.

For Brayden, my 5 year old, I had him do any letter that came to mind and also had him spell words. He can write all upper and lowercase letters on paper, so this activity in its simple fashion is too easy for him, but writing out simple words was just right. It was an activity to provide variety and texture beyond simply writing on paper all the time.

For McKenna, my 14 month old, I had her just play in the sand and perhaps gain something simply by listening in on her siblings.