Clean Mud

You never know what to expect when you discover something like this:

"Caaarr-ter!! Are you hungry? Time for lun...???? Carter?"

"Busted!"

He bolted!

This was the beginning of his new love for toilet paper. So, let's play with toilet paper! We made some Clean Mud!

Can also be used as "snow".

I know that I love this way more than Carter does. It feels wonderful! You can mold it, smash it, and throw it ;) just like mud!

Here is the recipe:

Make sure and lotion up after playing with this concoction it can really dry out your skin.

12 Days of Learning: Starry Ice Sensory Fun

On the eleventh day of Christmas Carter played with ice,

that stained his face and his hands blue. (Yeah....)

Back in China, we are bringing the holidays to a close as the 12th Day of Christmas is quickly approaching. :(

Today, we looked at lots of our new books that we got for Christmas! THANK YOU everyone! You know you are a teacher when you are sooo excited to get more children's books.

Then, we got ready for some sensory fun. I thought it would be fun in the spirit of winter and Christmas to play with a bit of ice in our sensory table. So I made one ice tray filled with gold stars (like the Wise Men saw) and the other tray was blue water (just for fun).

Here they are...that's some dark blue. One drop of food coloring per cube.

One second after being dumped into the table.

I should have known! But look at him observing, exploring!

He walked to the other side of the table and was a bit angry to discover only one piece of ice.

Notice the blue is all gone! I panicked!

He scooped one more to the other side. :)

Loving it!

I added some magnet letters and another shovel. Notice he is still blue.

Ice is cool! :)

Lesson learned...here are some tips for when YOU do it:

Baby -2 years old:

• Try juices instead of food coloring. You know it will go to their mouth!

2 Years Old and up:

• Add lots more ice and add cups, buckets, tongs, ladles, measuring spoons or cups.
• Use the food coloring ice for objectives like: Finding the blue ice and getting them into the bucket without using your hands. Fine motor skills and sensory exploration! Double duty!
• Add popsicle sticks to the colored ice to paint with! Sensory, fine motor, art! Triple duty!

12 Days of Learning: Snow People

On the eight day of Christmas my Daddy read to me:

Snowballs by Louis Ehlert

We started the morning by reading Snowballs. I highly recommend checking it out at your local library at some point during this winter. It has great big pictures and short print. You even have to turn the book sideways to see the entire snow family.
We then ended our day by making our own snow family out of canned biscuit dough. My kids still put everything in their mouth, but if your kids are past that, consider using shaving cream on a wax paper and trace circles with their little fingers to make a snow family.

Supplies Needed:

Canned Biscuits

Pretzel sticks

Goldfish

Raisins

Blueberries

M&Ms

anything else they may like

Playing with the dough

Talking about the textures and tastes.

Eating a little too.

With a little help from Daddy too!

This was a great way to kill some time before dinner!

Ready for the oven!

It is funny to think they are learning by doing this, but really, anything that uses ALL the five senses is sure to be a hit.

Smell it... check
Taste it... check
Hear it... I hope not, but check
Touch it... CHECK
See it... check
Not to mention the quality reading time with Daddy, and the baking fun with mommy.

When we finished making our snow family, we baked them according to directions and enjoyed!

These snow people didn't melt!

(I was having lighting issues with the sun setting in our kitchen, so excuse the dark pictures.)