DIY Binoculars

Here's another quick and easy activity you can do with things you have in your house. You'll need:

*Any kind of clear, plastic wrap

*Two toilet paper rolls or one paper towel roll, cut in half

*Washi tape or colored duct tape (if you don't have either of those, no big deal)

First, I taped two small pieces of plastic wrap to one end of each tube to make the "lens". Then I gave Rowin a few different kinds of tape and let him decorate the tubes however he wanted. 

Once he was done, we taped the two rolls together and TADA! Binoculars!

He was using them to spot animals in our backyard. Could be fun to take on a nature walk too. Ours lasted about two days until Rayna found them and poked a bunch of holes in the plastic with her fingers. Oh well. On to the next thing!

Fancy, right?

Frozen Dinos

If you know Rowin, you know that he's a bit obsessed with dinosaurs right now. Every time he gets a new interest, he's all in. So right now it's dinos. He plays with his little dinosaurs every day. They eat with him, ride in the car with him, sometimes even go to the bathroom with him. I was trying to think of something else to do with dinos and came up with this.
We have a little bag of tiny dinosaurs-probably from the dollar store. I put them in an ice cube tray, filled it with water, and froze them. (They didn't fit all the way in, but that didn't matter. If you had bigger ice cube trays or molds, that would probably be better though.)

Once they were frozen, we gathered our play tools-mostly hammers and screw drivers, and took everything outside. Rowin took one frozen dino at a time, and hammered all of the ice off until the dino was free.

We let Rayna play too. Her method of choice with licking the dinos free.

They both loved this! As soon as we were done, I got a, "Mommy, we should do this again!!"

Build an Airport

This spring, we took a trip to California and our flights sparked a new interest in planes. When we got back, we had planes on the brain, so we've made several different kinds of airports!

Indoor Version:

We laid out a blanket and taped off a runway and a landing area. We made and decorated several paper airplanes and then Rowin had fun trying to throw/fly the planes so that they would land inside the landing area.

Impressive, right? ;)

Outdoor Version:

If it's nice outside, you can do the same idea with chalk in your driveway. We made a few runways, helicopter landing pads, and an airport. He was in his own little airplane world for the longest time. 

Intro to Money

Rowin has a piggy bank full of change (not exactly sure where it all came from?!) but he's been very into "his money" lately, which has opened up lots of little teaching moments for this teaching-deprived mommy. :) 

It started with him using his money to buy a couple of toys and books from garage sales. He was very excited to hand over his precious coins in return for his new treasures. Since he was so interested in money and the whole concept of buying things, we set up a store when we got home. 

I labeled several items with price tags (ten cents and under). Here's what some of our "store" looked like.

Rowin picked out the items in the store that he wanted to buy and then counted out the correct amount of change to buy that item. We only used pennies. Children learn how to count by 5's and 10's in kindergarten, making counting nickels and dimes easier. Counting mixed coins is tricky even in second grade. My son is three, so we stuck with using pennies and counting by ones. 

This is such a simple activity, but reinforces SO many skills and concepts. To name a few...

• Number identification-your child has to recognize the number on the price tag
• Counting and 1-1 Correspondence-your child has to count the pennies, one by one, up to the given number
• Greater Than/Less Than-If your child has 5 cents but wants to buy an item that costs 6 cents, he has to determine if 6 is greater than 5 or less than 5 to know if he can buy it.
• A couple of times, Rowin wanted to buy another item, but could tell by looking at his coins that he didn't have enough money to buy it. Life Lesson=If you don't have the money, you don't buy it!
• You can switch roles so that you buy items and give your money to your child. This allows you to model how you think mathematically. You can say things like, "Hmm, I want to buy the magnifying glass but I only have four cents so I don't have enough money." Or "Let's see, I have ten cents. I could buy the ball and the race car OR I could buy the book."
• Social skills-Practice what you would say if you were buying something. "I'd like to buy that book please." "Here's ten cents." "Thank you!"

If your child knows or is learning how to count by tens or fives, you could do this same activity with dimes or nickels and price your items accordingly. I would recommend using one coin at a time until your child can consistently count the coins correctly before introducing a new coin. For example, 

• Pennies only
• Dimes only
• Nickels only
• Dimes + Pennies
• Nickels + Pennies
• Dimes + Nickels
• Dimes + Nickels + Pennies
• Quarters, etc. 

Whether you have a ten year old or a three year old, this is a great life skill to practice with your child-at your pretend store at home, at the Dollar Store, or the grocery store. You can easily adapt this, based on the age of your child. Happy shopping!

Mother's Day Cards

Assuming you are a mom, if you're reading this blog, Happy Mother's Day! I hope you have a relaxing weekend and are reminded of the beauty and significance of your job!

If you are looking for a gift or card for a grandparent, mom, or friend, here are two cute options...

Handprint Bouquet:

Draw a vase and then have your child make several handprints for flowers. Draw stems and leaves going from the handprints into the vase. 

Mom/Grandma Questionnaire: 

These are two cute, free printables to have your child answer about his mom or grandma. Here is one that Rowin did for his Grandma.

And heres's the original link: 

http://www.who-arted.com/2014/05/09/mothers-day-questionnaire/ 

Rainy Day Faves

Today rained aaaaalllllll day, so we busted out several of our favorite go to's. Nothing new. Nothing creative. But some of our favorites. Here's a list of some of the things we love and rarely ever get sick of....

1. Kinetic Sand
Have I talked about this stuff yet?? It's awesome! It's sand that you can mold and shape. Kind of like brown sugar. True confessions, I have sat down at Rowin's little table and played with it by myself during nap time. Don't judge.

2. Orbeez
I think I wrote about these at some point in 2014. They are teeny tiny beads that you soak in water and they grow to about the size of a marble. They feel wet and squishy and are fun to play with in water. Rowin will play with these forever!

3. Play Dough
It's been around forever for a reason. Classic.

4. Flashcards
I know. Once a teacher, always a teacher. But Rowin actually really likes playing with letter or number flashcards! You can make up a million games with them and you get them for a buck at the Dollar Store.

5. Window Crayons
These are a little messy but fun to bust out every once in a while. I will say though, when we're done, I usually have to wash my windows a few times to get them completely clean.

6. Building Forts
What kid doesn't like building forts?! Especially on a rainy day. Throw in a flashlight. Done.

7. Obstacle Courses
Our house isn't huge, but if we've been cooped up on a rainy day, I'll use whatever I can find around the house and set up obstacle courses for Rowin to run through.

If you have other favorite go-to activities that your kids love, we'd love to hear them!

Shadow Puppets

Oh hey. I just realized April is almost over and I haven't posted anything this month. To be honest, I was flipping through my phone to see what I've taken pictures of, and apparently we haven't done a whole lot! One little rainy day activity we did do a couple weeks ago was making shadow puppets.

I cut out several different shapes and taped them onto wooden craft sticks. We turned the lights off, went inside Rowin's little collapsable fort, and turned on a flashlight.

He had fun using the shadow puppets to make shadows on the wall of the fort. He actually played with these for a pretty long time until I made him a little guy and a soccer ball. Then he completely forgot the whole concept and just started throwing the ball shadow puppet at the guy. Haha, whatever. If your kiddo likes this, throw them in a bag and save them for the next rainy day so you don't have to make them twice.