Sticky wall

You can find a bunch of ideas on Pinterest for this activity. All you need is contact paper and painters tape. Both of which can be found at the dollar tree (my most favorite store!). Tape a piece of contact paper on the wall with the sticky side out. Gather any random or theme based objects to stick to the wall. These can include, paper scraps, tissue paper, shapes, flowers, animal cut outs, beads, etc. This is a fun activity for the youngest to the oldest little ones.

Tin Foil Christmas Ornaments

 You will need:

A recycled cereal box

foil

cookie cutters or stencils

tape

glitter glue

hole punch

ribbon

1. Trace Christmas shapes using your cookie cutters.

2. Cut them out and cover with foil and secure with a piece of tape on the back.

 3. Have your little ones decorate the ornaments using glitter glue.
4. Punch a hole at the top or your ornament and put a ribbon through the hole and tie it.

5. Hang your new creations on the Christmas tree!

Little Pintesters: Acorn painting

 This fun activity was found here as I was browsing Pinterest. 

You will need:

An empty oatmeal canister

construction paper

acorns

paint

 Line the oatmeal canister with your paper and add some dollops of paint to the inside or the canister also. Toss a few acorns inside. Close the lid and shake it up. That's the really fun part!

 I loved that this was a mess free painting activity. I also liked that my 1 and a half year old and my four year old could both do it. I often try to find activities that they can both do so neither of them feels left out. This was PERFECT! It's definitely a do over. My four year old especially liked it. For some reason he is really into collecting acorns and playing with them. Fun, fun, fun, fall activity! This can also be done for other occasions using marbles, similar to this activity we did a while back. 

Score: a big 10! 

Little Pintesters: Homemade Finger Paint

 Back for another Little Pintesters post where our little ones test out pins we find on Pinterest. 

This recipe was found here. 

Ingredients:

3 T. Sugar

1/2 t. salt

1/2 c. cornstarch

2 c. water

food coloring

Combine ingredients in a small sauce pan. Mix and warm until mixture reaches desired consistency. Let cool. Pour into containers. Add food coloring to make desired colors.

The verdict: this was easy to make. I like that you can adjust the consistency to make it thicker like finger paint, or less thick for painting with brushes. The blogger of the original post suggests doing so if desired. It came out pretty thick. Next time I'll add a little more water if they will be using sponge brushes. 

This activity actually really entertained both my four-year-old and my 1 and a half year old. They were entertained for almost 45 minutes. Which is a long time for them!! So much fun.

Score: 10 out of 10 !!

That's all for now! Let us know if you try this activity and if it's successful for you :)

Little Pintesters: Wacky Sacks!

I found THIS fun idea I wanted to try for the kids I teach in the nursery at my church. It looked simple and fun so we gave it a shot.

All you need are balloons (larger are better), playdough (I made my favorite recipe. Found HERE), and a permanent marker

You start by stretching the balloon open as much as you can. The adult has to do this. It's too hard for little hands. The orginal post said to shape the playdough into a snake and have the child stuff it into the balloon. We just did little chunks. It was easier for the little ones.

 Now close the balloons and draw some funny faces with a permanent marker.

 Now have fun with them! Squish them, toss them, play hot potato, play catch, shape them into funny shapes, and when you're done playing with them you can take the playdough out and let the fun continue!

I would give this project a 9 out of 10.

Why? They were super easy to make and the kids loved them so much we had to make more for siblings. My little ones even wanted to keep them during their nap. It doesn't earn a perfect 10 because the faces started to wear off. My little one kept asking me to redraw it.

There you go! Wacky Sacks! So fun!



Little Pintesters: Bubble wands and Homemade Bubbles

Bubble wands and homemade bubbles

My little Pintesters were eager to try out these homemade bubble wands and bubbles. The bubble wands are made using pipe cleaners and plastic beads. They were fun to use on a pinch, but they soaked up a lot of the bubble solution so it was a little wasteful. 

Bubble wand score: 8 

why not a ten? Because they soaked up more solution than necessary which made my Little Pintesters and I all wet. 

The bubble solution:

4 cups water

1 cup dish soap

1/4 cup corn syrup

container

Mix the ingredients together in a container to store in such as a gallon jug. Pour the bubble solution into a shallow dish and give your little cookie cutters, water bottles with the bottoms cut off, and bubble wands to explore with. 

Now for the review: This solution was fun to play with the water bottles and cookie cutters. It made big bubbles that would not float away so it was not as useful for the bubble wands. The most that would come out of the wands were about 5 bubbles. 

Bubble Solution score: 8

Why? Because it did entertain the little ones for a good 15-20 minutes, but I would've liked for us to be able to use the bubble wands and produce lots of "floaty" bubbles to play with. 

That's our review for now! Have a nice day!

DIY Angry Birds

If your little ones are anything like mine they would love this angry bird game. My 4 year old loved tumbling down structures with his new homemade toys. 

Materials:

balls

red material

rubber bands or string

sharpie

Wrap the balls in red material and secure with a rubber band or string at the top. Draw an angry bird face on the material. Now you're ready for action!! 

We used our building bricks from a previous post, and they worked perfectly for this angry bird game. The pigs can also be made a similar way. 

Introducing. . . Little Pintesters!: Dying Rice and Pasta

Hi! This is Angela. We're starting a new kind of post on this blog. We will periodically write all about activities, projects, learning games etc. we have found on Pinterest (our favorite resource!). We'll have our little ones test them out so you won't have to! Then we'll rate the activity and how well it worked with our kids. And we'll give suggestions for improvement and whether it would work better or worse with kids of different ages. Your comments are appreciated!

 

Dying Rice and Pasta

I found this activity here: http://thebakerbee.com/2011/09/28/crafts-for-toddlers-rice-noodles/

 

You'll need:

rice or pasta

rubbing alcohol

parchment paper or foil (I used foil- it worked well)

food coloring

a large bowl (preferably one that will not get stained)

spoon for stirring

 

put a couple tsps of rubbing alcohol and 6-10 drops of food coloring into a bowl

add 2 cups of rice or pasta of your choice and stir until it is fully coated

 

set it out to dry on a piece of foil for an hour or two

 

Use it to do art projects, beading, sorting, or in sensory bins like my kids did here.



 



They seriously loved it!! They spent at least 30 min digging out little pompoms and beads and burying plastic dinosaurs and cars. After lunch they asked to play again for another half hour! It was huge a success!

 

I give this project a big 10 out of 10!

It is so versatile that it can work for kids of all ages. The possibilities are endless!

If you've had success dying your own pasta and rice please comment and tell us how your kids played with them.

 

Little Pintesters. . .signing out.



 



Sidewalk Painting

 What you will need: 

cornstarch, food coloring, water, tray or large lid to put paint on, painting tools or just your hands!

Mix together a couple tablespoons of cornstarch, a few drops of food coloring, and enough water to make your paint runny. Place on an large lid and have fun painting. 

 I took out fly swatters from an idea I found here, but they preferred just to use their hands. I would recommend changing your little ones into clothes that are okay getting dirty and possibly stained with the food coloring. Bath time was a must after this fun but messy activity. 

 This paint is liquid when you touch it but it can be picked up with your hands easily. When it dries it turns back into powder. The little ones had fun exploring with the consistency and getting all messy. 

Music and Movement Ribbons

Materials: shower curtain ring, ribbon and/or string. 

Tie the ribbons and string to your shower curtain and enjoy dancing to the rhythm. 

I saw something like this on Pinterest. I don't even know the website because I didn't even pin it, but there are many other people that have done something similar. Just so you know it wasn't my original idea:) We sure did have fun with it however!

DIY Toy Building Bricks

Materials: Empty boxes (I used sturdy rice milk cartons), duct tape. 

1.Save clean sturdy boxes. 

2.Cover them with duct tape. 

3. Build!

Box Shape Fun

Materials: cardboard box, box cutter, markers, stickers, balls

We made this game based on the idea found on this website. I thought it would be fun if the kids were involved in the decorating process. We colored it with markers and then stuck a bunch of stickers on it. Then I gathered all the balls and bean bags that would fit into the shapes and they put them through the shapes. With my four year old we also played a game where I would tell him "Put the ball in the...." and then would call out a shape. 

Scratch and Sniff Watercolors

Here's a great art activity you make with Kool Aid. So fun and it smells good too. I found the idea here.

Easy Drum

MATERIAL: empty container, construction paper, glue, foamy stickers, sticks for drumsticks

1.We glued construction paper to cover the container.

2. We put all kinds of stickers all around the drum.

3. We found some sticks to play our drum

4. We put on music and made some noise!

Fort

I recently found out my little one loves to play under a fort I made for him. It's an old game we all played as kids and it seemed to entertain him for a little while. I just tied a sheet to his crib and secured it on the other side with his dresser. It would also be fun to bring in some stuffed animals, blankets, books, etc. This one's also good for kids of all ages!