Coffee Filter Butterflies!

 The Bug has been very into using watercolors lately but this is the first time I've given him a cup of water! We got paint cups (ours are Melissa and Doug because that's what I found but any cup with a twist cap will work!) and I added some water so he could dip his paintbrush!

Because he was so excited, there was a lot of water and a little paint added to his coffee filter!

After he finished (2 since he was having so much fun!), we added twist ties to make his coffee filters look like butterflies!

Here they are on his art display board!

Getting Messy!

The Bug is no stranger to mess but we haven't done anything too terribly messy since it got cold so I got a crazy idea- Full body texture finger painting! We striped the Bug down to his diaper and gave him paint.

Each color had a different texture- one had sand, one had honey, one had oats, and one had flour, the final color was just plain paint.

The Bug stood up pretty quickly and got REALLY into it...

He of course had to taste it...

Which resulted in some belly painting...

Adding textures to the paint is one of my favorite ways to add a new dimension to the Bug's exploration- he loves fingerpainting and playing in the sensory table so this combines them both!

It was messy fun! We went straight to the tub from here (which is high up on the favorite places!) but you could always start in the tub! 

Whiney Boxes

Lately, I've been trying to play with the Bug and he's just not quite there. As I got annoyed at him for knocking over a tower I was still working on, it dawned on me that he's not ready to play together but he needs some structured play along with his free play in order to TEACH him how to share and play together.

I searched my favorite place- Pinterest and found a blogger who wrote about her older children asking her to play with them and the boxes she had created. The lightbulb went off and instead of creating boxes for me to play with the Bug, we have boxes that create a more structured play.

When he gets whiney and wants me down on the floor playing with him, I pull out a box. I happened to have 3 empty boxes that I use to store the materials and when I get bored with them or the Bug doesn't seem interested, the boxes will be changed out!

For the time being, we have 3 boxes! One has a fine motor activity, one gross motor activity, and one messy activity.

Fine Motor: Scooping Eggs

The Bug has been obsessed with eggs since he had shakers to play with. Scooping them is the next logical step and he really likes it! We discuss the colors of the eggs he scoops and evidently he added a practice golf ball to the box!

Messy: Flubber

You can find a similar recipe here but to get the recipe we used, you have to buy this book! The Bug has always loved sensory activities but I still have to make sure they are taste safe because everything still gets tasted sometimes...

Gross Motor: Scarves and Bubbles

Dancing is a favorite activity for EVERY toddler I've ever met. We're working on fast and slow with the Bug so we turn on fast music and slow music! The bubbles add a bit of fine motor as the Bug is learning to pop them! The Bug doesn't need a lot of help in the gross motor area but he does need some release of energy!

So what activities would you put in a whiney box?