I Week- Colored Ice Cubes

 I thought that the idea of colored ice in a bag was a great one. It would be fun to watch it melt and see the colors mix. It would keep us cool on a hot day. Trip, on the other hand was not so impressed. I had carefully added a couple of drops of food coloring to the water in each section of the ice cube tray, and once frozen, put the ice in a zip-top bag. I had also taped the top shut, because knowing my son, he would want to open it, just as any self-respecting little guy would.

When I presented him with this cool bag of fun, this was his reaction:

throw it on the ground and walk away...

No amount of showing or suggesting would make a difference. Oh well, you can't win 'em with every activity. Maybe I caught him at a bad time. Who knows?! In any case, this one was a flop that day. Maybe he will like it better next summer.

Next time, I might try smaller bags and fewer colors. This could be a great way to watch what happens when certain colors mix. A bag could contain three yellow cubes and one red, for example, or yellow and blue.

Maybe your child will enjoy this more than mine did!

I Week- I Spy Bottle

I first came upon the idea for an I spy bottle a couple of months ago on I Can Teach My Child. Genius! I had made a couple of them already as gifts but hadn't made one for Trip yet. Terrible, I know. I week seemed like the perfect occasion to finally put one together for him. 

Any small to medium plastic bottle will work for this project. (Glass bottles can work too but will be heavier and have some chance of breaking.) I like to find bottles that have fairly smooth sides without too many ridges. I have also found that the easiest bottles to use are the ones that have the label shrink-wrapped to them so they just cut or tear right off and you don't have to mess with any sticky residue. So far, I have seen this feature on iced tea and orange juice bottles.

Once the label is off, add all sorts of household items, knickknacks, toys, letters, and such. I like to use foam letters to spell out the child's name, mini erasers, crayons, golf pencils, nails/screws/nuts/bolts, buttons, bouncy balls, jingle bells, small plastic animals and insects, coins, and more. The possibilities are endless!

Your bottle can have a theme (I would like to try fall/Halloween and Christmas) or just contain things your child likes.

Once your objects are in the bottle, fill it about two-thirds full of sand, sugar, salt, rice, tiny pasta letters or stars (often found in the Mexican section of the supermarket), or any combination thereof. I also like to add some glitter to make it more colorful. Glue the lid on with some super glue, and you're all set! Some people like to glue some fabric around the cap or tie it with a ribbon to make it more decorative, but so far I have just left mine plain.

Trip was happy with his bottle, but really wanted to open the "door" (aka lid) and was a little frustrated that he couldn't. With older children, it would be fun to let them choose what goes in the bottle. This could also be a great way to remember a vacation or special event by including some small pictures and trinkets.  

When I make these as gifts, I like to attach a laminated list of what is in the bottle.

I Week- Make Your Own I Spy

 I have had the idea to create my own I Spy-type photos for years now, but only made it happen just a few weeks ago. I thought that Trip would enjoy seeing his own toys displayed and identifying them. So far I have successfully created two scenes:

Pool/water  

and Farm

I also attempted a sports scene, but the lighting wasn't right and the pictures didn't turn out well, so I need to try that one again. It's best to create these pictures where there is lots of natural light but not direct bright sunlight. It helps to take a picture or two and then look at it/them on the computer so that you can see if the light is right and if anything needs to be moved around. I had so much fun collecting toys during nap time and arranging them. I would suggest working on this when little ones are not around! I could only imagine Trip's frustration at me taking his toys and then trying to keep him from moving my carefully placed objects. In a few years, it might be fun to have him create an I Spy scene of his own, but we're not there yet.

I had these printed as 4"x6" photos, then placed them back-to-back and laminated them. This small version is to keep in my purse or the diaper bag. Next time I come upon a great deal for 8"x10" prints, I will make these (or others if I get more done) into a placemat for our table at home or to take with us to restaurants. Trip is just starting to take an interest in this type of activity, so I project that it's something that will last a while and I'm hoping that it can be a good distraction when we're out and about.

I Week- Insect I

This week, we decorated our paper I with insects. We used two insect stamps and some plastic insects we had. Trip helped a little with the stamping, but wasn't too interested. He didn't care about gluing on the insects, so I did that part myself. This I now hangs on his door with the T and R that we have already made.

I Week- Books

We had several fun books to include in I week. I had collected some "I Spy" books during my days in the classroom and Trip has become somewhat interested in them. He likes the pages that contain anything sports-related. I'm pretty sure that he can identify all of the basketballs, baseballs, or any other balls in each of the books he has seen. His friends helped him find many other fun objects.

Trip also loves the musical Itsy Bitsy Spider book that he received from his Great-Granny V. It plays the music as soon as you open the book so he likes to try to sing along and do the motions

"Washed the spider out!"

I Week- Icy I Spy

With so few words that start with I, a hide and seek bowl just wasn't going to work for this week the way it had so nicely for T week and R week. What would work, however was an icy I spy! I had seen the idea to freeze toys in ice several places and figured that Trip would like it. I underestimated his excitement, however, because he absolutely LOVED it and we repeated the activity several times throughout the week. This could easily be adapted to any theme, or not have any particular theme at all, but just contain some favorite objects or new treasures.

I started with a clean plastic container from an angel food cake that I had purchased a few weeks ago. You can really use any container, but this one was nice because the ice came out of the thin plastic easily. I scattered a few plastic insects, an ice-cream-cone-shaped eraser, and some foam letters in about an inch and a half of water, then placed it in the freezer. It took longer than I expected to freeze solid, so unless you are using a deepfreeze, I would suggest freezing it overnight or at least planning on it taking half the day to get solid.

Once the base was solid, I added more insects, letters, and water, and froze it again. Freezing it in layers is not required, but it ensures that there will be treasures throughout the ice.

The foam letters all stayed at the top, so I froze another small layer of water to cover them a little.

As soon as I got it out of the container, Trip got right to work on it with the tools I had prepared for him: a squeeze bottle of hot water,

a plastic hammer (which was useless but fun),

and a spray bottle of hot water.

We worked on it for quite a while but Trip never lost interest. He kept wanting to get the next insect or letter out of the ice.

Toward the end, one of Trip's friends stopped by and enjoyed helping melt the ice, then feed Trip chunks of ice. Even at the age of nine, she thought it was a lot of fun.

This simple activity is a great inexpensive and educational way to spend a summer afternoon for kids of all ages (and maybe even mommies too)!

If you try this, leave us a comment telling us what you froze in your icy I spy!

I Week- The List

I has been a much tougher letter than T and R because so few things start with the letter I, so our list is a little sparse. The timing of I week has worked out well for us, however because we had a very busy week and had less time for our letter of the week activities.

I have also found that I is a fun letter to do during the summer because there are some fun things to do with melting ice. Of course since we live in the mountains, we are quite familiar with ice during the winter as well, so we could have done some ice making activities instead, but they wouldn't have been quite as fun.

This week I will be sharing several "I spy" activities that we did, as well as how we played with ice.