Hammer Time!

We've done a couple of really fun activities with hammers!

First, I gave Trip a block of Styrofoam, some nails, and his hammer. He was resistant to this activity, but once he tried it, he was busy for a long time and was determined to get each nail firmly pounded into the block.

Some took lots of concentration :)

Then, he decided to hammer while on his tummy.

Once all the nails were in, we got out his pliers from Bapa and he pulled them all back out.

Our next hammering activity was delicious as well as fun. We had a great time breaking into a coconut! We worked together with Daddy's drill to make two holes so that we could drain out the coconut water.

Then, Trip got to start pounding.

He was excited to break the shell and get to the meat.

Once we got to this point, it was time for a taste! Trip didn't care much for the water, but he did really like the flesh, which we refrigerated and enjoyed for several days. 

Ocean Bath

I loved the ocean bath from Growing a Jeweled Rose and set out to make one for Cooper and Trip. I started by boiling a pound of spaghetti in water with green food coloring to make some fun seaweed. I also used the water I boiled the noodles in to color the bath water. In retrospect, I would have used less of the green water so that the blue coloring I put in the bath water would have come out more.

I also painted the tub walls with a mixture of shaving cream and washable finger paint.

The boys were excited to open the door and find an ocean (or fish tank as Trip called it). They were not so sure about the "seaweed," however. Cooper got in first but Trip had to play with the noodles before he would get in the tub.

Once he was in the tub, though, he was all about exploring the spaghetti!

He even started putting it all over himself.

Cooper liked playing with the fish. Watch out for the shark!

They had some fun imaginary play with the fish too, pretending they were a family.

After a while, they were done with the pasta and helped me scoop it out of the water. We collected it and put it in the fridge so that they could play with it in the water table later. I certainly don't advocate wasting food, so if we're going to use food in our activities, we'll get several uses out of it whenever possible.

Once they were done playing, I enlisted the boys' help to clean the walls. I gave them each an old toothbrush and let them scrub away!

This bath was a big success and provided them with about forty-five minutes of fun!

Kitchen Bath

Trip's cousin Cooper visited us for ten days. During that time, we had several special baths. The boys thoroughly enjoyed them. Each day, they asked what their bath would be that time.

Our first bath was kitchen-themed. I drew some appliances and a window on the tub walls with bath crayons.

A stool made a nice table in the middle of the tub. I got out some play dishes and we were just about ready.

I put some shaving cream and a little washable finger paint in the bowls and some colored water in the teapots as the finishing touch.

 They got right to playing as soon as their feet hit the water.

They had lots of fun with the shaving cream and colored water.

Mid-way through the bath, the boys were trying to eat the plastic food, so I got them some baby carrots to snack on.

Check back this week to see our other fun baths!

Fishy Sensory Table

Trip got this water table for his first birthday and still loves it just as much now- if not more- than he did two years ago. It was a great gift choice, Aunt T!

 

For the last couple of weeks, it has been an ocean of fun. I filled it with all of the fish and other sea creatures that we have.We had squirting bath toys, sand molds, foam creatures (from the little capsules that dissolve), and a few other toys.

I added some glass rocks and a big shell for some extra fun.

Trip and his older friends all enjoyed playing with this sensory table. One of their favorite activities was giving the octopuses a shower. 

We filled and re-filled the water table quite a few times over the last two weeks, so these jugs came in very handy. I used a trick my mom taught me and cut the top off of some milk jugs as well as a laundry detergent jug. Trip loved to help carry the smallest one.

Check back next week to see the water table become a farm!

Fizzing Sidewalk Paint

Trip absolutely loved this activity! It was the perfect thing for a sunny afternoon. I found this super easy recipe from Hands On: As We Grow and it took just minutes to mix up the four ingredients (cornstarch, baking soda, washable paint, and water) and fill a small spray bottle with vinegar (which makes the paint fizz).

Once outside, Trip and I got right to work painting. I wrote his name,

but also had to paint him a baseball diamond (because we can rarely do an art project without drawing some sort of sports field). 

Once we had done some painting, I gave Trip the spray bottle. He loves using a spray bottle anytime, but he was especially thrilled with what the vinegar did to the paint. He proceeded to walk around to everything we had painted and spray each thing.

He loved the fizzing and did a lot of giggling. :)

We will definitely do this activity again!

Easter Egg Hunt Lunch

Last week was spring break, so we had the opportunity to have some of Trip's friends over when they would normally be at school. I took the chance to try a couple of fun food activities that I've seen online, knowing they would be more fun with a few friends instead of just Trip by himself.

I found this pin on Pinterest and was sold on the idea of an Easter egg hunt lunch immediately. I washed some plastic eggs, counting out four of each color since we would have four kids eating lunch. I then filled them with finger food. We had six colors of eggs, so I came up with six different fillings. I used cheese cubes, pepperoni, carrots, grapes, oyster crackers, and a mix or raisins and M&Ms.

While the kids were busy painting, I was able to sneak around the house and hide the eggs. I then gave each of them half of an egg carton and set them loose to find one of each color of egg. They were excited to fill their tray and helped each other find any missing colors.

Once the cartons were full, they headed to the table to discover what they had for lunch. They were all quite pleased with what they found and did a great job of cleaning their plates.

This lunch was such a hit that I re-created it for Trip to take to his babysitter's house and share with his friends there. I think it would be fun to do an egg hunt breakfast too. It could be a fun thing to wake up to anytime.

E Week- Letter E Matching Game

I saw the idea for this great matching game in eggs from Playing House and set out to make one of my own. I found some images of Elmo, an ear, an egg, an eagle, an eye, and an elephant online, printed them out, and cut them in half.

They fit nicely in large plastic eggs.

Trip actually had a great time opening all of the eggs, finding the matches, and putting together the puzzles.

If you would like to make a set of these puzzles for your own personal use, the PDF is available here.