Polka Dot Bath

After several fun baths while Trip's cousin Cooper was here, Trip asks what kind of bath he's having each time I tell him it's time for one. Most of our baths are still regular ones, but I try to have a fun bath for him about once a week. We had a tub of water beads that we had played with quite a few times, so I though we'd try putting them in the bath. I painted some circles on the tub walls with a mixture of shaving cream and washable finger paint and floated some balls in the water.

Trip was very excited to explore this new bath experience. I gave him a small strainer. He enjoyed catching the balls

and collecting water beads.

Then, he started doing something very uncanny, and actually wanted to pose for pictures, saying "polka dooooooots!" 

Then, it was back to playing until the water got too cold.

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!

Car Wash!

After painting with cars, we needed to clean them, so I filled up the water table with soapy water, a sponge, and an old toothbrush. Trip collected the painted cars as well as some others and got right to work.

The sponge was his favorite cleaning tool and he was quite meticulous.

He liked to make the cars splash in the soapy water.

His concentration was only momentarily broken by the sound of a plane.

"Look, Mommy, a plane!"

Then, it was right back to work, this time to give the cars a shower.

Chicken Playdough Mats

I found these playdough counting mats from Making Learning Fun. Since they are fairly small, I was able to fit two on each page. I used the numbers 0-5.

Since there was a blank page behind the numbers 0 and 1, I also printed the chicken magnet page to go there. 

Trip wasn't so interested in this activity the first time we tried it, but the nice thing about having laminated materials is that we can save them for another time and keep trying. We got two eggs on the 2 chicken and then he decided he was done and started putting the playdough away.

Farm Sensory Table

Trip's water table transformed nicely into a farm and he really enjoyed the results.

I filled one section with wood shavings and the other with a mix of steel cut oats, wild rice, and the bottom of a couple of other bags of grains. I also filled a bowl with glass beads to make a little pond.

Then, the animals came to live on the farm.

Finally, it was all ready for Trip to wake up from his nap.

As soon as he saw his farm, he was ready to play.

Soon, the pond was filled in with grains.

Trip enjoyed scooping "hay" from place to place and feeding his animals.

The farm became more and more of a jumbled mess as the two weeks went on, but it didn't matter because Trip was having so much fun.

Edible Playdough

We are right in the midst of our two week farm theme and having a blast. I will have lots of fun farm things to share in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, I wanted to catch up on a few activities that we have done recently that I haven't blogged about yet.

Edible playdough was something that I've wanted to try for almost a year now. I can't believe it took me so long to finally make it. You can find the simple recipe here from I Can Teach My Child. All it takes is peanut butter, dry milk, and honey.

Once I had mixed up a batch of dough, I got the table ready. Each child got some playdough, a plastic knife, and a small package of Skittles. I also put out bowls of pretzels, raisins, and mini chocolate chips.

Z was the first to finish his creation.

E made an Easter egg.

A was proud of her creation too.

I joined in the fun and made a fish since we were in the middle of our swimming theme.

Trip observed what his friends were doing and ate some of his playdough, but didn't really create anything for a while.

Then, Z had the idea to make some ships.

Trip was quite taken with that idea, so his friend helped him make one. Then, they had lots of fun making their ship's cannons go BOOM!

 

As A started eating her dough, she stuck it on the knife and made it an ice cream cone.

The big kids ended up eating all of their dough, but Trip didn't finish his, so we just put it in the fridge and enjoyed it for another couple of days.

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!