February 28, 2013

What is a color game my toddler can play with that will teach him about rainbows?

I’ve made several color games for Smiley Man now and they have been awesome, but I really wanted to make something for him that was a little more self-directed. I wanted to have something he could play with even if I wasn’t sitting right there showing him what to do. I remembered this awesome easy craft clay that I made with Little Bear several months ago, and I knew just what to do to adapt it to a toddler color game.

First I made some of this easy craft clay. When you are done making it, the bottom of your pan will be coated in clay stuff and you will be worried that it will never come out. It will come out, I promise. ;)

Once the clay was finished, we rolled out a few thin “snakes” and put them on top of this rainbow template to make sure they had the right size and shape. You have to be careful with the size of your snakes. You want them big enough that they will be able to hold up to toddler use, but you want them thin enough that they don’t take forever to dry. If they are too thick it will take them a week or more to dry completely. I know this from experience. :(

Once the clay has dried completely (it will still take a day or two) get out some paint and have your toddler help paint the pieces the correct colors of the rainbow. We used watercolor paint and they worked beautifully. Be sure to talk about the different colors and explain that the colors always go in that order. You can also look up images of rainbows on the internet and show your toddler that rainbows always have the same colors in the same order. If you are lucky, you will have a real rainbow you can show your toddler.

After all the painting is done, let the paint dry completely. This will probably take another day or so. Once the paint is all dry, you can take the pieces off of the template and they are now a rainbow puzzle.  I have done this twice and the first time the pieces dried beautifully with no cracks. As you can see, there were lots of cracks this time, but it’s a puzzle, right? The cracks just make it more puzzle-like. I printed another copy of the rainbow template onto cardstock and I painted it the colors of the rainbow, then I laminated it. I have Smiley Man put the pieces onto the rainbow template.

Smiley Man really likes this rainbow puzzle. They have held up pretty well to his use, but I do have to watch and make sure the pieces don’t go into his mouth. :)

We've found some fun people with great linky parties. You might just see this post linked up on one of these amazing sites! Link and Learn from No Time for Flashcards Sunday Showcase from Train Up a Child Share it Saturday from Teach Beside Me Tot School Gathering Place from 1+1+1=1 Montessori Monday from Living Montessori Now Tuesday Tots from In Lieu of Preschool Show and Tell from ABC & 123 For the Kids Fridays from Sun Scholars Finished Friday from All Our Days Weekly Kids Co-op from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Preschool & Kindergarten Corner from Homeschool Creations TGIF Linky Party from 123 Homeschool 4 Me

February 26, 2013

I hate art projects because they are so messy. What do I do?!? What is a preschool craft idea I can do with my child?

Well, it finally happened. Two days ago I lost my temper. It was the first time in my whole entire life that I have ever lost my temper. I have never, ever, ever yelled at my children or gotten frustrated by them until yesterday. Okay, unfortunately, that’s not true. I’ve lost my temper lots of times over the years and let me tell you, the guilt that follows is not pleasant.

Well, yesterday I got frustrated over a mess. I don’t like messes. I’m not one of those moms that does sensory baths or lets my kids play in the mud and ruin their clothes. I’m one of those moms who can’t stand glitter and paint. I try to do those kinds of crafts with my kids because I know they are kids and I want them to have those experiences. But seriously, my nervous system goes into full fight or flight mode when I do messy crafts with my kids. So, yesterday, Little Bear wanted to create a masterpiece, but he didn’t have permission and the resulting mess was completely un-contained and just plain more than I could handle.

After the kids had gone to bed, I thought back on that mess. I was so stressed and irritated that it got so messy, but I realized that Little Bear was craving an opportunity to create. I decided I needed to give him more opportunity to create so he could be creative and express himself. I also knew that I needed an activity that could be contained and that wouldn’t make so much of a mess that I would lose my temper again.

So, the Choose Your Supplies activity was born. I started by telling Little Bear that we were going to do a fun craft. I set a cookie sheet in front of him and told him that he would be using lots of supplies, but everything needed to stay on the cookie sheet. He understood since we have this rule with many of our activities. Next, I had him choose a piece of construction paper for the base of his craft. He chose brown.

Next, I told him he could choose 4 supplies that he could use to make his craft. I chose 4 because he is 4 so that’s obviously his favorite number. ;) I told him he could choose any supplies he wanted: paper, glue stickers, dot markers, glitter glue, popsicle sticks, straws, etc. He chose watercolor paint, markers, glitter  glue, and some pompoms.

I had Little Bear bring his supplies to our table and then I told him to create whatever he wanted. He got right to work on his masterpiece.

He was completely engaged for about 30 minutes. He kept telling me what he was putting on the paper and how cool it was.

By the time he was finished, he was very proud of his artwork. Of course, his mommy is even more proud. I mean, just look at the abstract design of that glitter glue. :)

We put his artwork in a special spot so he could show daddy when he came home. Daddy was very impressed.

I certainly learned a thing or two from this activity. I realized that sometimes (okay, maybe most of the time) when I get frustrated, it’s probably at least 50% my fault. I also learned that messes are far less stressful when they are contained. I also learned that Little Bear is very creative.

I plan to make this Choose Your Supplies activity a regularly occurring activity in our house. I’ll probably let Little Bear do it about once a week. Who knows, I may even let Smiley Man get in on the action. I am really working on letting Little Bear express his creativity and giving him more opportunities to do that. I am also SOOOO grateful for cookie sheets. They preserve my sanity!

We've found some fun people with great linky parties. You might just see this post linked up on one of these amazing sites! Link and Learn from No Time for Flashcards Sunday Showcase from Train Up a Child Share it Saturday from Teach Beside Me Tot School Gathering Place from 1+1+1=1 Montessori Monday from Living Montessori Now Tuesday Tots from In Lieu of Preschool Show and Tell from ABC & 123 For the Kids Fridays from Sun Scholars Finished Friday from All Our Days Weekly Kids Co-op from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Preschool & Kindergarten Corner from Homeschool Creations TGIF Linky Party from 123 Homeschool 4 Me

February 25, 2013

What are some awesome blogs I can follow?

January and February have been pretty good months for Moms Have Questions Too. We have had some spectacular bloggers feature us and we wanted to share the love. Here are the bloggers that gave us the most traffic in the last month or so and a few of their best posts.

In Lieu of Preschool

The blogger at In Lieu of Preschool is a former teacher and has two adorable preschool aged children. She has an awesome post about hush bottles (bottles filled with glitter and glue). Your child watches the glitter as it settles and then he or she calms down! I also recommend her post on 7 Must See Sensory Bins and my personal favorite, Eraser Dot Art.

Living Montessori Now

Deb Chitwood is a highly qualified Montessori educator who uses her blog to write about using Montessori principles and methods in different areas of life. One of her most popular blog posts is about How to Start Using Montessori at Home. She also has a very comprehensive post about where to find Free Montessori Materials Online. Personally, I love her post on Dressing Frames.

Dirt and Boogers

Amada from Dirt and Boogers did Play Therapy with children before she got married and had her own children. Now, she blogs about activities she does with her oldest son, sensory play, and adventures in parenting. She has a fabulous list of sensory play ideas, which are not only super easy, they are also lots of fun for kiddos. She has a great post on organizing kid’s art supplies and it includes of lots of visual eye candy. My favorite post is her letter games for toddlers.

No Time for Flashcards

Allison from No Time for Flashcards has been an educator for most of her life. When she became a stay at home mom, she started her blog to share the educational activities she does with her children. One of her most popular posts is about 75 TV free activities for kids and it is filled with great ideas. She also has a great post on alphabet activities and activities for kids under 2.

Here are a few more blogs that brought Moms Have Questions Too traffic. I love all of these blogs and definitely recommend checking them out.

• Blissful and Domestic: Check out her post on how to live on $14,000 a year.
• Housing a Forest: Take a look at her awesome post on rainbow bubble snakes.
• All Our Days: She has entire series on busy bags with over 25 busy bag ideas.
• 1 Plus 1 Plus 1 Equals 1: I love her post on her kids’ daily calendar notebook.
• Live Craft Eat: You must check out her post on making a kid’s dry erase activity book because it is AWESOME!!!
• Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas: She has a really fun post on how to make homemade bouncy balls.

We've found some fun people with great linky parties. You might just see this post linked up on one of these amazing sites! Link and Learn from No Time for Flashcards Sunday Showcase from Train Up a Child Share it Saturday from Teach Beside Me Tot School Gathering Place from 1+1+1=1 Montessori Monday from Living Montessori Now Tuesday Tots from In Lieu of Preschool Show and Tell from ABC & 123 For the Kids Fridays from Sun Scholars Finished Friday from All Our Days Weekly Kids Co-op from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Preschool & Kindergarten Corner from Homeschool Creations TGIF Linky Party from 123 Homeschool 4 Me

February 22, 2013

What is a fun baby shower gift idea? How do I make a diaper cake?

Kirstylee and I have a friend who recently had a baby. So fun! Our group of friends decided to get together and make a diaper cake for her. We figured while we were at it we’d show you how we did it!

Here is what you’ll need:

• Lots of diapers (We bought a box of 200 at Costco but it ended up making 3 large cakes, I’d recommend a smaller box or two with about 60-100 diapers. I also recommend using size 3 diapers so they can use the cake as a decoration for a while.)
• Small Rubber Bands (we used these little hair rubberbands)
• Large Rubberbands
• Ribbon (we bought ours at the Dollar Store!)
• A cardboard base (we used the diaper box)
• Cardboard tube or a tower of bottles
• Strong Tape (we used duct tape since it was just attaching to cardboard, if you use bottles I’d recommend masking tape or something a little less sticky)
• Optional: Receiving blankets, small toys

So, first you start by rolling up each of the diapers and putting a small rubber band around it. We thought it looked best to put the “open” end on the inside of the roll.

Once you have all the diapers rolled up you’ll want to make the base of the cake. Start by cutting a large circle out of cardboard. This will go under the largest layer of the cake so you’ll want it pretty big.

Next, you’ll attach the cardboard tube or bottles to the base. These will provide support for the cake and prevent the layers from sliding off each other when you move it.

Place a few diapers around the base of the cake and then place a large rubber band around them. Keep adding more diapers inside the rubber band until the base layer is as large as you’d like.

Start placing diapers on the next layer using the same technique as above. Do the same for any additional “cake” layers.

Once all the layers are set just how you’d like them, you’ll tie ribbon around the middle of each layer to cover up the rubber band. If you want, you can wrap each layer with a receiving blanket before adding the ribbon. This is a fun way to include extra gifts on the cake.

You can also add a card or sign to the cake as well as decorate the cake with little toys or clothes. So many options!

Like I said earlier, we ended up making three cakes with all the diapers we bought. It was a lot of work but she loved it! It was a really fun thing to make and a great useful gift too!

We've found some fun people with great linky parties. You might just see this post linked up on one of these amazing sites! Link and Learn from No Time for Flashcards Sunday Showcase from Train Up a Child Share it Saturday from Teach Beside Me Tot School Gathering Place from 1+1+1=1 Montessori Monday from Living Montessori Now Tuesday Tots from In Lieu of Preschool Show and Tell from ABC & 123 For the Kids Fridays from Sun Scholars Finished Friday from All Our Days Weekly Kids Co-op from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Preschool & Kindergarten Corner from Homeschool Creations TGIF Linky Party from 123 Homeschool 4 Me

February 21, 2013

What is an activity with bubbles that will help my child learn about colors?

This color game was definitely one of Smiley Man’s favorites. He didn’t have to guess the right color, or sort, or anything. We just explored colors and had fun with them. Luckily, this is still a great way for teaching your toddler colors.

I started by pouring some bubble solution (from the dollar store) into each of three small containers. You could do this activity in the container the bubbles come in, but I wanted the colors to be easier to see. Next, I put a few drops of food coloring into each container. I think I dropped in about 5 drops per container. We just did red, yellow, and blue this day, but I think we’ll do this activity again with orange, green, and purple.

I sat down with Smiley Man and Little Bear at their preschool table and gave each of them a white piece of paper. Then, I showed them how they could blow bubbles onto their paper and it would make color on their paper. Both of my kids were totally fascinated by this phenomenon.

Little Bear loves blowing the bubbles and making a bunch of colors on the paper. Then, he wanted to make a paper with only blue bubbles.

Smiley Man needed my help holding the bubble wand because he kept putting the bubble wand in his mouth. :( Yucky. As long as I held the bubble wand though, Smiley did great. His favorite part was popping the bubbles on the paper and then seeing the color appear.

My kiddos loved this game and it was a really great way to learn the colors. Both my preschooler and my toddler were able to just enjoy colors and have fun with them. Plus, Smiley Man is really starting to get his colors down. His favorite color is definitely blue. I see a blue-themed 2 year old birthday party in our future. :)

We've found some fun people with great linky parties. You might just see this post linked up on one of these amazing sites! Link and Learn from No Time for Flashcards Sunday Showcase from Train Up a Child Share it Saturday from Teach Beside Me Tot School Gathering Place from 1+1+1=1 Montessori Monday from Living Montessori Now Tuesday Tots from In Lieu of Preschool Show and Tell from ABC & 123 For the Kids Fridays from Sun Scholars Finished Friday from All Our Days Weekly Kids Co-op from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Preschool & Kindergarten Corner from Homeschool Creations TGIF Linky Party from 123 Homeschool 4 Me