Letter Collage

This is another idea I adapted from Family Fun Magazine. Draw a big letter or shape on a piece of paper and have your child fill it in with small, cut up pieces of construction paper or tissue paper. I made a big letter R because Rowin is still learning the letters in his name. For little ones, this is good practice using a glue stick and working within a given space. For older ones, a fun craft!

Nature Prints

This was an idea I found in Family Fun Magazine. First, we went outside and searched for some interesting items in our yard.

Then we came in and pressed each item into play dough to see what kind of print it would make.

Some of them turned out really cool!

Car Wash

So, I realize this blog was initially intended to give you more educational ideas...I'll get back to that. :) For now, it's summer and I have a newborn...SOOO, we're keeping it REAL simple!

We've had some perfect summer days lately, so we busted out our water table, found all of Rowin's little cars, and had a car wash! We filled one side with soapy water and threw in a couple wash clothes and filled the other side with just water. Rowin would wash and rinse each car and then toss it on a big towel to dry in the sun. Next time, I think we'll take out all of his bigger trucks for a cleaning. :)

Shoe Box Car Garage

I'm back!! I took a few weeks off because this little nugget was born!

We welcomed Rayna May into our family on June 19th. It's been a busy month and we couldn't be more thankful for this sweet little gift. 

Needless to say, I haven't been whipping out many new, creative ideas. However, Rowin and I did work on this little project the other day.... We got him a shoebox full of matchbox cars as a "Big Brother" present when his sister was born. The cars have been keeping him busy for hours at a time (which is a blessing when you're nursing every 2-3 hours!) and Rowin decided to use the shoebox as his car garage. So our project was decorating the new garage. :)

I taped a long strip of paper to the floor, gave him lots of things to color with, and let him go for it. I colored with him, of course. I can't help myself. 

 Then we traced all of the sides of the shoebox (top and bottom) onto the paper and cut out all of our pieces.

Once we glued them on, we were done! I've seen him set it up a few different ways, and then when he's done playing, they all go back in the box for storage. 

Kid-Made Garden Markers

We're a little late on getting our veggie garden planted this year. I'm blaming it on being 39 weeks pregnant. :) But in thinking ahead to when it's actually done, I decided to have Rowin help me make some herb and veggie markers. We used Jumbo popsicle sticks and acrylic paint (which I THINK will hold up to the rain but I'm not actually sure).
I painted some while he painted his. Crafts are so therapeutic to me so I always jump in too. Can you tell whose are whose?

Once they were dry, I used a permanent marker to write the names of the veggies and herbs we'll be planting. The marker bled into the wood wherever there wasn't paint so I'd recommend painting the whole popsicle stick first and then letting your little one paint over it. I ended up not being able to use a few of Rowin's because the marker bled too much. 

We'll see how they hold up once they've been in the soil for a few weeks!

Easy Homemade Father's Day Card

Father's Day is coming up-June 15th! I found tons of cute ideas on Pinterest but most of them were better for older kids. I saw a few variations of this "Hands Down" idea and thought it was perfect for a card from a 0-3 year old.
We just did it on cardstock paper as a card but it would be cute to do it on canvas or put it in a frame as a gift too!

Chalk Games

 If you don't have a big tub of outdoor chalk yet, go get some! There are endless games and activities you can do without having to buy every single plastic toy out there. Here are a few ideas to get you started...

Color/Shape Jumping

This is similar to one of my very first posts. Draw several different colored shapes. Call out the color/shape you want your child to jump on ("Jump on the pink heart!").

Variation: You could also have your child toss bean bags or balls onto the shape you call.

Water Balloon Toss

Draw a big, multi-colored target with chalk. Have your child stand back a few feet and toss water balloons at the target. You can play until you wash the whole target away or until you run out of water balloons. 

Variation: You could use bean bags or balls instead of water balloons for this game as well.

Letter Toss

Draw the letters in your child's name. (If they already know those letters but need to practice other letters, use those instead.) Call out a letter and have your child toss a bean bag or ball on it. Rowin doesn't know the letters in his name yet, so I included the color to help him ("Throw the ball on the blue R").

Variation: You could have your child toss water balloons on the letters like the previous game. You could also have your child jump on the letters like in the first game. 

Hopscotch

Don't forget this old classic! This is actually really good practice in coordination/gross motor skills. I had Rowin try jumping several different ways (one foot, two feet, alternating, etc.).

Variation: If you want to practice number identification, call a number and have your child toss a ball/bean bag/water balloon on the correct number.