Bath Time Fun with Blinging Ice-balloons & Other Developmental Activities

Blinging ice-balloons

There is so much you can do with balloons and food coloring. Ice-balloons for bath time or snow fun is one of them. Freezing balloons with food coloring inside is  a neat idea that I discovered from the blog Hurrayic. A.J. thought it was fun, too. He didn’t want to handle the cold balloons as much as he did the ice cubes, but he liked watching the ice balls melt in his bath water.

We also practiced Circular Arm Movements by scrubbing potatoes. This little scrubber is perfect for A.J.’s small hands.

I wanted to practice his 3-finger pincer grasp by using a clothespin to transfer mini pom poms, but he was not ready for this activity. Instead, he used his hands, but in all honesty, he wasn’t feeling this activity at all and only did it once. He dumped out the mini pom poms and went on his way. Oh well…

I'm done! NEXT.

To keep A.J.’s interest we played “marching band.” I put in a video of Florida A&M’s Marching 100 band and we danced and marched around. A.J. didn’t know that we were in fact developing his Gross Motor Skills!

What other balloon fun have you had lately?

Pray, Persist & Prosper!

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Celebrating the Kings & More Streamer Fun!

Every King has a Queen and Coretta Scott King was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Queen. I found some excellent, free printables of Dr.King to color at Family Education. This site has a wide selection of printables for holidays and even for Black History.

Board book about Coretta Scott King

A.J. learning about when Dr. King met Coretta.

Celebrations and streamers go hand and hand. We had more streamer fun today. I took down the “streamer net” and tied it to an extendable curtain rod that I placed in the entryway of our kitchen. I saw this done over at Having Fun at Home and had to try it!

What did your little one(s) do to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.?

Pray, Persist & Prosper!

7 Wrapping Tube Sports for Tots

Balloon volleyball with tubes as posts

1. Balloon Volleyball with Tubes as Posts – I used old wrapping paper tubes and covered them with wrapping paper for a uniformed look then slid them onto two paper towel holders as posts. The painters tape is kind of tacky, but it worked to keep the posts in place.

A.J. loved throwing the balloon over the “net.” He also enjoyed exploring the streamers. My makeshift net probably won’t last too long though because he’s kind of rough with it, but that’s okay.

Balloon Tennis or Balloon Swat

2. Balloon tennis or balloon swat – These DIY racquets are made from cut pieces of tri-fold poster board. I covered the boards with thick scrapbook paper and added popsicle sticks for handles. I doubled the sticks for a sturdier grip and duck taped them to the boards. I also used pieces of clear tape around the handles to keep them from shifting during play. Although I am a tennis player, I got this idea from Toddler Approved. They used paper plates, but I didn’t have any on hand, so I used what I had available.

A.J. had fun with his racquet although he preferred to hold the square part instead of the handle. I will keep these in storage and bring them out periodically until he gets better hang of it.

Tube Slide

Trinkets to slide

Tube sliding in action

3. Tube Sliding – One of my favorite blogs is MontessoriMOMents written by Lori. Although I saved several of the tubes for “projects,” I hadn’t done anything with them. I saw the tube sliding on Lori’s blog and got excited because I knew A.J. would probably enjoy it, too. And I was right. He got a kick out of sliding items down the tube and watching them either land in the basket or spin up and out of the basket due to speed.

We haven’t tried the next few activities yet, but they’re on my play list.

4. Golf – I will use a tennis ball and cut the tube for A.J. to use. When he gets older, we can use golf balls and a club. His Auntie plays golf, so we will have to get him ready!

5. Baseball – I really should say, “balloon ball.” He can hit the balloon with the tube as if playing baseball.

6. Fencing – The tubes look like they were made for jousting. Why not explore this sport and use it as a learning opportunity.

7. Javelin Throw – I can see A.J. throwing the tube like a Javelin during outdoor play. Ohhh what fun we will have!

What are some other ways you’ve used wrapping paper tubes for toddler fun?

Pray, Persist & Prosper!

7 Brain Boosters for Tots (Part 1)

I love playing with A.J. and seeing him engaged in activities. Besides drumming, he gets a kick out of putting items inside of things (like the garbage can.) While a muffin tin doesn’t have a lid, I added the Muffin Tin Matching game to his shelf along with a lock and key. Also on his shelf is a numeral recognition matching game to help boost his brain power and fun quotient!

Muffin Tin Matching- I found some red and green Christmas bells at the dollar store that I thought would be perfect for this game. A.J. loves the sounds the bells make, especially when they clink against the tin. I have several pattern combinations that are printed. A.J. actually followed a pattern, but I think this was by accident. When I changed the pattern, he was still focused on the joy of putting the bells in the order that came to his mind. He understood the one to one correspondence and was happy to put them in and dump them out to start again.

He wanted his stuffed animals to watch and learn, too!

Lock and Key – Every time A.J. sees me with keys, he wants to play with them. He tries to insert them into car doors or keys holes on doors in the house. I bought a simple lock and key for him to play with and it was a hit. Although he was able to get the key into the lock, he is working on strength to turn his wrist.

His focus was completely on the lock. This engaging activity is improving his concentration.

A.J. was inspired to add playing with his lock box, which has several different types of closures for kids to play with.

Numeral Counting – I called out the numbers, which actually goes up to ten, but in this particular session we focused on 1-5.

Pointing to objects is exciting. I ask him to repeat after me so that he can learn as he explores.

At first he was using his drum sticks to point to the numbers.

Stay tuned for Part II of this post. What fun learning explorations are engaging to your tot right now?

Pray, Persist, & Prosper