Squishy Goo In A Bag

Squishy goo is awesome for those parents who don't like mess. This is a perfect activity for toddlers to feel a different texture and to squish, squeeze, smash and poke to their hearts content. Best of all, we (the folks) don't have to worry about squishy slimy goo going into our beautiful carpet or into the corners of our couch. It's also very effective for toddlers who don't like to touch slimy gooey stuff or getting their hands dirty.

All you need is:

• 1 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 cups cold water
• Food colouring
• Ziplock bag sandwich size or bigger
• Duct tape

Equipment:

• Small-ish Pot
• Spoon 
• Mixing bowls for different colours

Method:

~ Mix cornstarch, Sugar and cold sugar in a small size pot and stir.

~ Stir some more

~ Once the mixture begins to thicken, remove the pot off the heat, still stirring. It should thicken into a pudding consistence, and start looking a little transparent with a blue tinge (Vaseline looking).

~ Leave to cool

~ Once cool, you can add one colour or divide and mix into a few colours, I did yellow and red and mixed them in well.

~  Place in zip lock bags. Put duct tape on the top for extra safety measures.

~ Give to toddler to explore. You can also hang it on a low window so the light shines through.

Edible Painting

Yoghurt painting is a excellent way for your toddler to experiment with slimy, wet texture that's edible. It's also a quick to do activity for your kids, with great rewards and benefits.

All you need is:

~ Plain or vanilla yoghurt

~ Food colouring of your choice

~ Sticky tape

~ White paper

Method:

All you do is sticky tape a pattern on your paper, I did the letter of my kids name, and hanged it in their room.

Put a few tablespoons of yogurt in a cup and mix in your food colouring to your desired colour.

Put the paper in front of your toddler, and let them play.

Once they finished, hang the picture up to dry.

Once dry, carefully remove the sticky tape.

Place in a frame.

In the beginning I had to show my toddlers what it was, but nice they got the picture there was nooooo stopping them,

This is a lovely activity that's easy to clean up afterwards.

Such good fun!


This post links to:
My Personal Accent

Home-made play dough

This is always a winner. I mean what kid doesn't like play dough and it's super super easy to make.

No cooking is needed, just hot water. You could even get your kids involved in making them.

All you need is:

~ 1 cup of plain flour

~ 2 teaspoons Cream of Tarter

~ 1/3 cup of Salt

~ 1 cup of hot water

~ 1 Tablespoon of Vegetable Oil

~ 10 or 20 few drops

~ Food colouring as much as desired

Method:

In a large-ish heat resistant bowl, add all your dry ingredients, flour, cream of tarter and salt.

Stir in the water and vegetable oil. Mix it up well.

Add your sprinkling of essential oil. At this stage you can break your play dough up into sections for different colours, as I did in the picture below.

Add your food colouring, I added red, yellow, green and blue.

Mix your colours in well, if you want you could add some edible glitter for a bit of fun. 

Leave to cool.

Once cooled, keep in zip Lock bags. It can be used over and over and over again. It really does last.

Give your kids the play dough with simple things you have in your kitchen, such as plastic spoons, knives and forks, and plastic biscuit cutters, rolling pin, you can use anything you find. Sit back and enjoy the creative side of your child as they make all sorts of weird and wonderful creatures.

Play dough can also make a very nice gift. I just pop them into little sandwich bags and squeeze them into a jar, you can even paint the lids and add stickers for a extra flare. 

Always a hit!! And such good fun.

For Fantastic Free Play Dough Mats go to: Mothers Niche





This Post Links to:
My Personal Accent
Blissful and Domestic
My Turn For Us

Train Egg Carton

We got an old egg carton and decided to make a train. FUN!!

This is a fun indoor activity for all ages. It's really good for their fine motor skills (threading). 

All you need is:

• 1 x 6 pack egg carton
• 2 x pipe cleaners
• Scissor

Cut the the egg carton into sections as seen above,

With the scissors poke a hole on both sides of the "egg cup" 

Thread the pipe cleaner through as seen above

and repeat until they are all thread together as seen below.

Pull tight and waa-laaa you have a train or a caterpillar!

This Post Links to:
With A Blast
Recreate and Decorate
The Velvet Moon Baker

Blowing Bubbles!

Making Bubbles

My toddlers all-time favourites on hot days is a tub of cold water and bubbles, they are entertained for ages. I throw in some plastic bowls and plastic cups and away they go.

If you don't want them to get completely wet, another simple fun activity is to let them make bubbles.

All you need is

~ A straw (sipping drink straw)

~ A plastic bowl

~ Water

~ Bubble bath liquid of your choice

~ Optional food colour

Fill 3/4 of the plastic bowl with water then put a teaspoon or two of your bubble bath liquid and place at child height, with a straw. Let them blow away and make bubbles.

I showed my son how to blow through the straw not suck, which he did suck a good few times, but quickly learnt that wasn't the game.

Once he got the hang of blowing through the straw and saw the bubbles bubbling up, he was sold.  He had a ball of a time.

You can even add a food colouring to the mix, to spice things up. I added red, to give the bubbles a red colour.

He loved it. He kept showing me how big he was making a bubble. Such a big boy!! ;)

This post links to:
This Silly Girls Life

Touch and Mix

Touch and Feel with Textures

This activity is loads of fun and keeps your toddler entertained for a good hour or so. Mixing, covering and dusting. This can be either a indoor or outdoor activity, if you choose to be indoors, make sure you stay away from any carpet. 

I wanted my toddler to experiment more with touch and feel activities and what a fun way to do just that.

So all I did was:

Half a cup of flour on a small baking tray,

Half a cup of macaroni pasta, in a separate cup

Half a cup of whole corn in a separate cup

(you can use any texture you have in your pantry)

I also put down some measuring cups and spoons!

Then sit back and watch! 

My Toddler had an absolute blast! He was a bit hesitant to get his hands too dirty in the beginning but in the end, he just couldn't resist. Patting, poking and picking up.

I can't wait to play this again, but next time I think I will try different objects like lentils, beans and even rice etc.  I think getting the Vacuum cleaner to help clean up could be fun too, at the same time teaching them to clean up after play.

Just remember, when choosing textures for your toddlers, please make sure they are edible.

Playing with spaghetti

Sensory Activity

This is a fun way for your toddler to play with slippery worms, that will give mum peace of mind.

I feel it's very important for a child to have a safe and friendly environment for him or her to be able to explore different textures that won't harm them, and in this activity they can even eat it (if they reallllly want to).

All you need is:

Spaghetti

Oil

Food colouring

Simple!

So you cook up your spaghetti, once cooked place a drop or two of your selected food colouring (I chose the colours I had, blue, red and green) for extra slippery and wriggly worms add a touch of oil (I add before and after, add as you feel), then place your concoction in front of your toddler and then :)  try and stand back and admire.

In no time he was mixing, squeezing, tasting and spreading this slippy, dippy, wriggly spaghetti all over. 

We did get our fingers stained, but that came off in the bath easily with a little scrub!

When we do it again I will do it outside, if the weather permits, as it was quite a messy affair. 

BUT SOOOO WORTH IT!