Toddlers

May 18, 2016 by Sydney Leave a Comment

Summer Bucket List For Toddlers

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Make this summer the best one yet with over 120 easy and free (or close to free) ideas for kids.

Summer is right around the corner; are you excited?! I sure know I am! We just got a text today saying they are opening our pool up this weekend so I’m sure we’ll be spending a good majority of our time there. But, sadly, we can’t spend all day, every day at the pool. And having a very active 3 and 4 year old I need to have as many fun plans and activities stashed away as possible to make our days run smoothly.

I know you’re probably in the same shoes so let me share with you what I’ve come up with.

Go to the library. Our local library has a Preschool Power Play and Summer Story Time every Wednesday. They also have a summer reading program where the kids can earn free toys, food and tickets to local museums. Check your local library’s website for their summer schedule.
Make Mini Marshmallow Shooter Guns.
Go to a splash pad. Splash pads are a fun way to keep cool and let the kids run out their energy. If you live in Utah this is the most complete list of splash pads I’ve found.
Go on a Color Scavenger Hunt.
Have a Toy Car Wash (or Barbie Spa Day).
Go yard sale shopping (check out these tips for getting the most bang out of your buck).
Go Fishing In Your Front Yard.
Find a You Pick apple orchard or local farm and go pick fruit.
Make Bubble Snakes.
Play Laundry Basket Skee Ball.
Set up a lemonade/bake sale stand.
Make Ice Cream In A Bag.
Go to a Dollar Movie. A lot of movie theaters have summer movie programs where you can see 10 movies for $5 or $10. Here are a few in Utah: Cinemark or Megaplex.
Make Giant Bubbles.
Build a fort.
Play Balloon Hockey.
Bake cookies.
Have a water balloon fight.
Paint with Shaving Cream.
Make Play Dough.
Play Simon Says.
Make a DIY Slip n’ Slide.
Have a puppet show.
Backyard Bowling
Play Yard Yahtzee.
Have a picnic at the park.
Make Pool Noodle Light Sabers.
Go on a Treasure Scavenger Hunt.
Go backyard camping.
Make Popsicles.

Want even more fun activities to do with the kids this summer? Check out these posts:

40 Free Summer Fun Activities

52 Days of Summer

January 12, 2016 by Sydney 3 Comments

5 Winter Crafts for Toddlers

Some posts may contain affiliate links. For more information please see the disclosure page.

Beat cabin fever with little ones with these five fun, easy and affordable crafts.

Man oh man has it been cold here! If it was up to me I would stay curled up in my PJs and a warm blanket all day and watch movies until spring. Maybe I’m part bear??? I have two young boys though who love being outside (whether it’s 10 degrees or 80) so that just isn’t an option. And keeping two boys cooped up in the house all day will drive them (and me) crazy.

Even though we haven’t been able to get out as much as we’d like lately we have been able to keep busy. I’ve learned that if I can keep their minds busy it’s almost as good as letting them run out their energy outside. And luckily they love crafts just as much as their mama does! Here are just a few of the crafts that we’ve done lately.

Marshmallow Igloos– Make a fun little igloo out of marshmallows and a styrofoam cup.

Supplies:

Marshmallows

Styrofoam Cup

Glue

Scissors

Directions:

Cut an oval shaped opening in top of cup.

Dip marshmallows in glue and attach to Styrofoam cup. Hold on for 10 seconds to make sure marshmallows stick.

Fill entire outside of cup with marshmallows.

DIY Window Clings– Create fun window decorations in minutes. with just three ingredients

Supplies:

Puffy Paint (I got my set at Michael’s and used a 40% off coupon)

Ziplock bag

Patterns (print snowman here and hearts here)

Elmer’s glue (optional)

Glitter (optional)

Directions:

Place pattern in ziplock bag and seal (you may have to cut your paper so it fits in the gallon size bag. Also, make sure all the air is out of the bag).

Using puffy paint, trace outside of shapes.

You can use the Elmer’s glue and fill in shape. Just make sure that the Elmer’s is touching the puffy paint on all edges.

Sprinkle glitter on wet glue.

Let sit overnight.

Slowly peel glue off ziplock bag and attach to any window.

Penguin Footprint Art– Create an art masterpiece with your feet and fingers.

Supplies:

Black, White and Orange Paint

Paintbrush

White paper

Googly Eyes

Directions:

Using paintbrush, paint the bottom of your child’s foot black. Make sure to get their foot completely covered and covered well so there is plenty of paint.

Place their foot on the middle of the white paper.

Wait for black paint to dry.

Paint a white oval in the middle of the black foot print.

Using your child’s pinky, paint the whole finger black and make the wings (near the heal of the footprint).

Repeat on other side.

Using your child’s thumb, paint it with orange paint and make the beak right above the white oval.

Attach googly eyes above beak.

Snowflake Magnets– Create magnets to display kids’ artwork with only three supplies.

Supplies:

Pipe Cleaners

Beads

Magnet

Hot Glue Gun

Directions:

Cut pipe cleaners into three equal parts.

Star to tie pipe cleaners together to make a star shape.

Make a pattern and add beads to each star arm.

Fold down end of star arm to prevent beads from falling off.

Using hot glue gun attach magnet to center of star.

Homemade Snow– Create your own snow when it’s too cold to go outside (or if there isn’t snow on the ground).

Supplies:

Baking soda

Shaving Cream

Glitter (optional)

Directions:

You can find the full directions here.

There are so many benefits to doing crafts with kids. First, it helps with their creativity and imagination. When we made the Marshmallow igloo we probably played for 45 minutes having different characters of theirs (Darth Vader, Buzz Lightyear and few others) live in and play in the igloos. We talked about how igloos are like houses only they are made out of ice blocks instead of bricks.

It also helps them with fine motor skills and pattern recognition; especially on the snowflake magnets. Learning is fun and what better way to learn than to build something?! And teaching children at home doesn’t have to be expensive. All of the supplies to make these five crafts cost $1 or less and most you probably already have at home.

I got some of the ideas for these crafts, like the window clings and the snowflakes, from Green Kid Crafts. If you haven’t heard of them before they offer monthly subscription as well as individual boxes filled with fun arts, crafts and science projects geared toward kids. Last month we got the Arctic kit which include projects geared towards Arctic living. This month we got the Mad Scientist kit which included a DIY lava lamp, Slime monsters, rockets and more. You can find out more about Green Kid Crafts here.

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There are also a ton of great kid crafts in this book.

So if your kids are getting cabin fever hop on over to the dollar store (or shop in your cabinets), pick up a few supplies and let the crafting begin!

Looking for even more activities to keep the little ones busy? Check out these posts:

40 Free Activities for Kids

Marshmallow Shooter: Tastefully Frugal for Creative Ramblings

Mini Marshmallow Shooter Guns

December 30, 2015 by Sydney Leave a Comment

New Years Eve Celebrations for Toddlers

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This is a sponsored post in collaboration with “Clangers”and Coolabi. All opinions are my own.

Fun and easy New Years Eve celebrations for toddlers.

Tomorrow is the last day of 2015 so I thought it was about time I shared our New Years Eve family traditions. I was planning on posting about this a few weeks ago but you know Christmas and family and yeah I just didn’t get around to writing this one yet. But I know how hard it can be planning things to do to ring in the New Year with little ones so let me share the fun (and easy) ways we ring in the New Year.

My boys favorite way to celebrate is with a “Noon Years Eve” Balloon Drop. All you need is:

A Bag of Balloons

Round Tablecloth

Tape

String

Directions:

Blow up all the balloons.

Tape the tablecloth on the ceiling, or a ceiling fan.

Attach a string underneath one of the pieces of tape.

Put all the balloons inside the tablecloth.

Countdown from 10 to 1 and at 1 pull the string and watch the balloons fall.

This is such a fun way to celebrate with your kids’ friends before the actual ball drop, when the little ones (and possibly mom and dad too) are fast asleep. When we have our friends over we also like to have a few treats and and watch one of our favorite shows, The Clangers. We first found this show this summer and I love how the little family of Clangers teaches healthy life habits, like acceptance and generosity, through their actions and not just their words. You can find Clangers on Facebook and get all the latest updates on new shows and events.

Some of our favorite treats to ring in the new year are “Kid Champagne” which is just sparkling cider with a rock candy stirrer, cheese balls and fried pickles. I know the combination sounds gross together but as long as you aren’t eating them all in one bite the combination isn’t too bad.

I almost always buy way more food and drink than what we need so after our friends leave we take around the extra bottles of sparkling cider to a few of our elderly neighbors and wish them a Happy New Years as well. After that it’s time for naps, dinner and then a family movie or two before bed time for the kiddos. My husband and I stay up a little longer and will watch a movie or two but usually fall asleep on the couch only to be woken up by fireworks or banging pots and pans (whoever thought that was a great way to ring in the new year must have never had young children 😉 ).

What are some of your traditions to celebrate New Years? Do you have a favorite way to give back to your community during the holidays?