Toddler Time: Kool Blue Playdough

This old classic recipe was first taught to me by my mom.  She used to make this all the time for her kindergarten class.  Its cheaper than constantly replacing Play-doh and she liked to change the colors to go with the seasons.  We have plenty of store-bought dough but I need something to pass the afternoon with my boys.  This gave us something to make and something to play with.  A double bonus!  Plus, I love working recipes with 3-year-old N. right now.  He's learning to recognize his numbers and recipes help us out a lot.  Now if only I can get 1-year-old P. to stop eating the yummy smelling play dough... .  (It is non-toxic, by the way.)

Some tips.  The grape smell becomes a little strong.  Citrus ones, like orange and lime, smell good and make for pretty colors.  Because its saltier than Play-doh, make sure to wipe everything down when done.   Beware dough dropped on the floor and clothing as it can be hard to remove if rubbed into fabric. 

How to Make Kool-Aid Play Dough:
Ingredients:
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. salt
2 pkgs. unsweetened Kool-Aid powdered drink mix
2 c. boiling water
1 T. oil

1.  Mix flour, salt and Kool-Aid

2.  Add oil and water.  Mix well with a spoon.  Cool until ready to touch.  (For faster cooling, chill in freezer.)

3.  Knead until color is uniform and dough is smooth.

4.  Store in air tight bag or container.  Keeps for about a month. 

Toddler Time Activities: Nature Explorers

It's been incredibly hot lately but my boys still need outside time regularly.  For the past few weeks, this has meant we have this little window of time before 9:00 AM to get outside.  Its still hot and muggy when we leave the house, but at least its not yet over 90 degrees.  Then I have to hope that will last us the entire remaining 11 hours of the day.  You might have guessed this usually only burns enough energy to get us to 10:30. 

Its especially hard to be inside when we now live in a place that has so much wildlife.  In the past few weeks we've been watching a mama doe and her twin fawns hiding in the pines by our house.  We have regular bunnies, woodchucks and turtles in our yard.  P. insists on picking at least one wildflower every time we take a walk.  In that little window of morning outside time, we've become nature explorers.  Equipped with safari hats and toilet paper-tube binoculars, we now take morning walks with a mission.  (When back from our walks, the boys have time for outside play.  I know they need unstructured play, too.) 

I've made clip art checklists of things for us to be looking for on our walks.  We have three lists to choose from before we leave the house.  Some of the items are things I know we'll see, like trees and flowers.  Some are things we usually see, bees and spiders.  Some are things we might see, such as those baby deer and the woodchuck.  Of course, you can recreate this activity no matter where you live, just use things that you know to be in your own neighborhood.  We may even do a winter version of this for Nature Window-Gazing on snowy days in the winter.  Whatever it takes to pass the time while encouraging good observations of the woods that we know find ourselves surrounded by.

Toddler Time Activities: Dinosaurs

I'm not entirely sure that this fits my domestic theme, but my mom encouraged me to share some of the little things I've been doing to keep my three year old busy lately.  Hoping you find them entertaining or useful. 

We've put off preschool so far for N. because of our recent move.  He's ready and will start soon.  But until that day comes, I've been trying to work in some little activities for us to do.  With help from my mom, a retired early educator, we do monthly or weekly themes and work in little busy activities around them.  Our theme of late has been Dinosaurs!  Its a little early for the dino-stage, but that's what N. has really gotten into lately. 

So here's two easy-to-create activities for young children.  You can of course use the stuffed dino activity with any theme. 

How to Create a Paleontologist Dig:

Supplies:
Large tub
Cornmeal or play sand
Plastic dinosaur shapes (Michael's has dinosaur skulls and the foam hats)
Brush


Fill tub with cornmeal.  Hide dinosaurs in cornmeal.  Let your kid dig them out and brush them off as he finds them. 



How to Make Stuffed Dinos:
Supplies:
Craft felt 
Cookie cutters in dino shapes
Pen
Scissors
Stapler and staples
Cotton balls 


1.  Trace dino shapes into felt.  Create out two shapes for every one finished dinosaur.  Cut out shapes.  (Since N. is still too young to do this step, or to have the patience to watch me do it, I did it the night before.)

2.  Place two cut pieces together and staple around most of the shape, leaving a hole for stuffing.  You can have them help push down on the stapler with you.  (Yes, you can use hot glue, but this was a more hands-on way for N. to be involved.)

3.  Stuff shape with cotton balls to desired fullness.  Staple hole shut. 

4.  We made a Dinosaur Hunt game with our shapes.  One person hides them in a given area and the rest have to find them.