Little Pintesters: Toilet Paper Tube Fun!

Here are two activities you can make using empty toilet paper or paper towel tubes.

The first one is a fun game my boys absolutely loved. Found HERE. You take the tubes and cut them up into different sizes and you tape them onto a cookie sheet or tray. Then you take a small ball and the kids have fun tilting the tray and making the ball go through the "tunnels." To make it more complicated you can add more balls. FUN!

Our Score: 10

The second activity found HERE (This a great website if you're teaching your preschooler at home). You take six tubes and cover them with colored paper. Then you glue them onto a long piece of cardboard or cardstock and onto each other. I used a glue gun and it worked very well. You label each tube with its corresponding color. You can have your little ones sort all kinds of objects. We've used popsicle sticks, pompoms and beads so far.

Our Score: 10

 

The best part of these activies is that they cost little to nothing to make! 

 

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 :)

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. 

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.

Shaving Cream Bath Paint

Found this great idea here. So fun and inexpensive!

Color Scavenger Hunt

I made a little chart with several names of different colors. Then we used these orange tubes from a game to spy for things in our house that are each color. You can use paper towel rolls as your spy tubes to search for your objects. It was a hit!