Making Human Cookies

We call this activity "making cookies". Basically we go through all the steps of making cookies on a big scale. The ball is the rolling pin. We "chop" the cookies with light karate chops. "Sprinkles" are tickles, and "eating" refers to pretending to nibble on the cookie. The activity is good for both tactile perception and sequencing because they have to remember the order of events.

This Place is a Zoo!

My 4 year old has great ideas. She found a rope in the backyard and started linking it between different things in the yard to create a "zoo". The zoo has created a few hours of entertainment because we take turns being different animals in the cage, a zookeeper, or a visitor to the zoo. Plus it can be reconfigured at any time. This is the set-up yesterday. Today we moved the ropes around and made it have more "cages".


Here are my baby pony and my baby zebra. You can tell which is which because the zebras like popsicles...well, at least they do at our zoo!

I call it French Toast Sticks....and they eat it.

Maybe I'm a frugal mama, but I don't like to throw out the crusts from the bread. So when I make cookie cutter shaped sandwiches, I save the crust and either use them in meatloaf or I make "french toast sticks".


My kids don't notice and have fun dipping their french toast sticks in syrup. What kid doesn't love syrup?!

Owls

Looking through Oriental Trading magazine can be inspiration for kid crafts. Most of the crafts are simple and use basic supplies. Many can be replicated at the same or less cost. This craft was listed as 42 cents per item. I think we did it in less than 5 cents, but I'm just estimating so don't quote me on that!

First, we opened up a plain brown lunch sack. We filled it with about 2 pages of old newspaper, then folded the top into a triangle and folded it down. I tried gluing it, but didn't want to wait so I just taped it. Then I cut out the eyes, wings, beak, and feet for the kids to glue on. Older kids could cut these out themselves. We put two google eyes on as well.
I thought they were done, but one child wanted feathers on hers. So we got the glue back out (after the other things had dried), put glue on it, and let her glue the feathers on. She was so proud she took it for "show and share" at school the next day!

Ocean in a Bag

My 4 year old found a book with ocean crafts in it. She turned to one page and said "Can we make this today?" I looked at what we needed: ziplock bag, blue hair gel, Styrofoam, beads or shells. Oooh, cool, yea, we can make that and we'll use up that hair gel that's been sitting the the medicine cabinet for 4 year now! It was simple and she loves it!

First you take the hair gel and pour it into the bag. The bag needs to be full enough that when you lay it flat, a layer about 1/2 an inch thick of gel is in all parts of the bag. (We were a little short on gel, but she didn't seem to mind.) To make it easier I put the bag in a mug. While she poured the gel, I cut fish shapes out of Styrofoam. I didn't have any meat trays, but she was happy with egg crate lids so we have white fish with red and blue patterns on them.


When the bag is full of gel, you place the "fish" and the "bubbles" (beads) inside, release the extra air, and seal the bag. As a safety precaution, I also duct taped the top of the bag and made a rule that they can only play with it in the kitchen. Happy girl and her ocean in a bag!
A variation I thought of is to use homemade fingerpaints instead of hair gel. I think it'd be much cheaper considering it'd only use water, food coloring, and a few tablespoons of cornstarch. I might try that next time, but for now this worked and it cleaned out the medicine cabinet.

Watermelon Popsicles

So I'm not even sure where I remember hearing this idea. If it's your idea, I apologize and please take credit for it! Anyways, it's very simple and healthy. Even my kiddo who does not like watermelon was willing to at least try it, because let's face it, every food is better when it's on a stick, right?

This is so simple. Simply cut the watermelon into slices or wedges (removing the rind), then put it on a popsicle stick. Put the watermelon pops in the freezer for about an hour.
Finished product!

Dress Shirt Doll Stroller Cover

Doesn't she look happy with her "new" stroller?
It's actually a stroller she got for her birthday (or Christmas?) a couple years ago, but the cover had torn. We tried duct tape, but it was met with disapproval and eventually torn off.

I was trying to figure out how to fix it (with minimal work!) so I went digging through our box of stuff to donate to Goodwill and found an old dress shirt of my husbands. I cut the back out (all the way along the side up to the neck, but not including the arms), then I turned it upside down. I took the double layered upper back and folded it over to make an edge to hold the bottom on. Then I hemmed up the sides to fit the width of the stroller. To make the "ties", I made long tubes of fabric, sewed up the sides, and turned them right side out (anyone else remember sewing your own "scrunchies" in the 90s?). Finally, I turned the top part down, and sewed the loops on the inside of the fold. I did not trim the length so it actually just falls behind the stroller. The bottom (of the shirt) was already hemmed, so why make more work, right? Because the shirt had a pleat in the back, I didn't have to do any pleating on the edges to make a "seat". The pleat makes a natural "seat" because it hugs around the baby doll like a hammock.


So here's the new stroller cover, complete with baby. Green Baby (yes, that's her name) seems to seem content. Wouldn't you say?