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?

Block Exploration

The Bug got a set of mega blocks for his birthday and we have found so many things we can do with them!

He is learning how to actually stack them and gets it about 25% of the time.

He also has started to sort them! The set we got was small so it has 4 colors but light blue and dark blue pretty much live in the same "sort" for now, red gets separated out the most!

For a mess less activity, this lasts for longer than most! He drives them around the room and dumps them out. I'll build a big tower and he'll pull it apart, brick by brick. There are so many different ways blocks can be used, what's your favorite?

Texture Walk

If you didn't pick up on it in my Snow Day Survival series, we've been stuck inside a lot because there is a LOT of snow outside... So we've had to come up with some fun things to do to pass the time!

The Bug loves sensory play but is also always on the move so I made a giant texture walk. We had some big brown paper in our stash but you could also tape individual textures to the floor (be careful not to use duct tape on hardwood). 

I included felt, bubble wrap, foam, a rough fabric, aluminum foil, and sticky contact paper!

The Bug danced all around (he used his ring stacking toy for music) and walked on all the textures.

The bubble wrap I used is thicker than standard so it doesn't pop when you walk on it (it seems the Bug and I together can pop it) but it feels really cool.

So look around your house and find a variety of textures to make your own texture walk! You could include pillows, sand paper, and so much more! Younger kiddos can crawl on it too!

Down on the Farm

The Bug and I spent a lot of time focusing on animal sounds. I'm working hard at encouraging his language as he begins to talk with purpose more despite only have a few actual words (Uh-oh, Mama, and Dada are the only ones we get in appropriate situations.) He has been very into the books Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr and Eric Carle as well as Are You a Cow? By Sandra Boynton. Brown Bear is a classic and he loves to "pet" them animals (it makes me want a touch and feel version...) but the Sandra Boynton wasn't one I had read before but now it's a MUST! 

The book simple asks if you are an animal (cow, duck, etc) and the Bug is THRILLED to shake his head no whenever we ask. It's been a wonderful way to introduce nodding and shaking as forms of communication and he uses them quite well!

We got the Bug a set of farm animals for Christmas (You can find the ones we got here) and they have been wonderful! They are great for sensory table use with smaller children who still mouth toys in place of the Toob animals (which we also love).

We also discovered they make wonderful stamps as the Bug made footprint stamps with several of the animals!

While he has not started making animal sounds, he will occasionally go get the animal that corresponds with a picture in a book (so mostly the cow...) but I can't wait to get him another set with a cat and a dog!

Snow Day Survival 6: Blocks and Books

The Bug was lucky enough to get a small set of Mega blocks for his birthday and they are a huge hit!

He put them all into his dump trucks and drives them around before dumping them out...

And he builds with them! (Ok, he's getting there...)

His favorite thing is taking them apart and yes, he's crying in the picture because the "4" block doesn't come apart... It's a whole piece but he didn't quite get that so Mommy was amused!

The Bug has recently gotten REALLY into reading! He got a little Anywhere Chair from Nana and Papa for his birthday and he'll curl up and read for longer than he'll do anything except sleep! He wanted to read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? a bit excessively for a while but we are branching out to the point where he clears the bookshelf to read them all!