Examine, Investigate and Explore

Tykes love to explore their surroundings.  Explore volume by pouring with kids.  Explored the changes in consitency as they added water to  floam from soap flakes eventually playing with bubbles. Explore the outdoors on a scavenger hunt with some nifty cards from Saltwater Kids.  What boy doesn’t like to get dirty?  Allie of No Time for Flashcards watched her son explore in dirt.  Anna of the Imagination Tree enjoyed exploring with shaving cream with her girls.

Fine Motor Skills

Are you looking for ideas to keep little fingers occupied?  Here is a collection of a Dozen Playdough Activities, a variety of discovery boxes are great for open-ended play.  Chasing Cherrios helped her kids develop fine motor skills with a cheese shaker and toothpicks, while Lilla-A made a tool and gadget wall (*swoon*).   Mya and Me had fun making towers of cherrios.

Messy Art

Dip balls into paint and have fun rolling them around on a canvas in this Ball Painting Project.   Use a variety of items for your kids to paint with, including this one from Paint on the Ceiling – a toilet brush.  Two year olds love to make handprints – here is a collection of different handprint crafts for your kids to enjoy.  Don’t want to use a brush?  How about painting with balloons?  Or using toy cars to paint masterpieces?

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These activities were gleaned in part from our weekly kids activity meme, It’s Playtime. If you have any activities you’d love to have added to our collection please join our link-up or leave a note in the comments.  I hope to update this page semi-regularly as I discover more activities.

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Like this post but are looking for activities for other age groups of kids? Check out our other age sets:

Activities for One Year Olds

Activities for Two Year Olds

Activities for Three Year Olds

Activities for Four Year Olds

Activities for Five Year Olds

Here are our favorite toddler activities:

• Sensory Activities
• Discovery Toys
• Baby Toys
• Craft Ideas for Toddlers

Sensory Activities:

A lump of clay and household items or toys can keep a toddler entertained for hours!  You and your tot can go on a texture hunt, make a book of different textures to explore (via Bloesum Kids), use the lid to a box to create a sensory version of hide-n-seek with family photos (via Inspiration Surrounds), enjoy a washrag maze (via Lilla A), or match textures as you feel them inside balloons (via Tutus and Turtles).

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Discovery Toys:

Toys don’t have to be fancy for kids to enjoy them!  Some of my infants favorites are created with items found around the house.  We made I-Spy shaking bottles, Imagination Tree added glitter to her oil and water bottles, over at Pre-school Play they have a smorgesboard of bottle ideas including one where they added marbles to shampoo, Southern Thomas added colorful items to plain water to create a collection of visual effects and Cluck, Cluck Sew made a bottle-free discovery bag for her kids to play with.

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Baby Toys:

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One of our most popular DIY creations is our toddler clipping toy – sure to entertain!  But there are other ways you can create toys from everyday objects!  Counting Coconuts made blocks from tree branches, mix pipe-cleaners and a sifter and you have toddler poking fun (via The Imagination Tree), an old cereal tub or a large tin can when decorated becomes a drum (via No Time for Flashcards) and help your tot practice fine motor skills with pom-poms and a tupperware tub (via Engaging Toddler Activities).

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Craft Ideas for Toddlers:

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Finger paint with edible paints.  A Bunch of Keys made finger paint from condensed milk and The Imagination Tree made paint from flour and food coloring.  Don’t want to risk the mess?  Angelyn’s Life has a great solution.  Put the paper and the paint in a bag.   Tape it shut and watch your tots squish to their hearts content.  Have dried out markers and maybe a tot like mine who likes to color on herself?  This blogger made watercolors out of her old markers.

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Do you have any ideas for baby’s, toddlers, preschoolers, or elementary aged kids?  Favorite family crafts or activities?  I’d love to feature them – link up to It’s Playtime.  I bookmark my favorites for days like today! 
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Like this post but are looking for activities for other age groups of kids? Check out our other age sets:

Activities for One Year Olds

Activities for Two Year Olds

Activities for Three Year Olds

Activities for Four Year Olds

Activities for Five Year Olds

To make the smoothies:

Chop up the Kale, Spinach or Collard Greens and fill your blender to the brim.   We prefer Kale as it is more nutritious than spinach with 25% more vitamin A,  higher levels of Vitamin C and Calcium – it is a true powerfood!  It also tastes better than Collard Greens which has a spicy aftertaste.

Once you have your blender full of kale, add half a cup of juice.  Blend well.

Top with 2 bananas and as many berries as you want.  I think we added about 2 cups worth.  Blend till smooth.

Serve immediately or freeze into Popsicles.  If you want to make sorbet, freeze it for 1-2hours, till it just starts getting ice crystals.  Then stir.  Re-freeze.  Wait an hour or two and then stir it again.  At this point you can re-freeze and it will stay soft.  Our Kale Sorbet is the perfect after-dinner dessert for my dairy-intolerant kiddos.  Yummy and good for them.  Who needs to eat veggies for supper when we can have them for dessert!  Don’t want to have Kale smoothies?  Check out The Local Cook for Kale Chips - they sound great!

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What is your Genius Tip? Kenmore wants to know, and is giving away up to $3,000 in Gift Certificates and a chance to have the best Genius Tip turned into a TV Ad! Visit their Facebook page and enter today!

Share your quick genius tip with us:

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Kenmore. The opinions and text are all mine.

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Ingredients for the Alphabet Cheesy Crackers:

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I Spy:

We had I Spy toys (like the shakey bottles and books), but we also played a version of I Spy while driving.  Even my 17m old loved participating!  Each age level played in a different way.  With my four year old I could describe items and have her guess what she was looking for… with my almost 3 year old I’d ask him to hunt for all the “gray” items in our car, or all the places where he could see trash on the side of the road (or in the car, that was helpful come clean-up time).  He also loved pointing out each and every water tower we drove by.  With my youngest, I Spy, was a bit more obvious.  I see a red truck (as the red truck passes us) we’d all point and she’d shriek joining in the pointing fun!  This was a great way to keep conversation flowing when your mind is drowsy.

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Box of Books:

We had a morning and an afternoon “quiet time”.  In the morning I gave the kids books to read during the quiet time.  The older kids got to share a box of books between their seats, my youngest got her single book to play with and read (hopefully, dozing).   They also got a snuggle item.  The first day this was difficult.  The kids did not want to have a quiet time and kept asking for  items/whining.  I am amazed at how quickly kids can learn a new routine!  By Day 2 they knew what quiet time meant and by the last day of driving they anticipated it and had book requests and settled right in!

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Complicated snacks:

Giving a simple snack (like pretzel or a cookie) works, but we found that snack time could double as play time.  We got snack sized bags and would put a mixture of snacks in them.  The kids got to play I spy with their food – they loved that!  Also, apples given whole take a long time for them to eat.  Other complicated snacks we enjoyed included fruit leather with another item (ex: pretzel stick) and the kids could play pretend with their food, making a scroll, a Tee-pee, pretending the fruit leather was a blanket for their toy, etc.  Come back later for a post on how to make your own fruit leather!  It’s in the works!

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In-Car Potty:

Two of our three kids are potty-trained (and our third thinks she is – but is no where near full control).   This potentially could mean tons of stops for their tiny bladders!  We would limit drinks till half an hour before our next stop (we stopped every 2 hours, one a quick pull-off and in-car potty time, the other a get-gass and coffee stop).  Having a potty in the car meant that we didn’t have to unpack the kids, we could just pull off into a rest area or onto the side of the road, let the kids go in the training potty chair, dump it (if it was liquid, solids we disposed of) and get back on the road in under 10 min.  It was great to not have to worry about bringing multiple young children into a public bathroom as often.  The Bambino potty is pretty low, perfect size as it fits nicely under the back seat.   I also like how it is one-piece, no nooks and crannies, just wipe out and store!

What are some of your sanity-saving road trip tips?  Please share them in the comments!

Thanks to Evelyn for the use of a photo!

What you’ll need to create your own buckle clipping toy:

• Plastic Buckles (I found mine for a few bucks off ebay)
• Various ribbon scraps
• Two pieces of fabric – we used canvas as it was sturdy
• Other fun items (we added a pacifier, a bell, a key-chain, a zipper. I can also see this being a hit with various sizes and textures of Velcro).
• Sewing machine and thread.

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How to make this toddler learning toy:

First, I threaded the buckles through the ribbon and affixed them to the right side of the fabric, or the side I wanted to be visible.   Then, I pinned the other piece of canvas (pretty side in) and sewed along the edge, leaving one side open, like a pillowcase.  We clipped the corners and turned the “pillowcase” inside out.  Now the buckles, which had been pinned on the inside of the two pieces of canvas, are on the outside.  I reinforced the seams with another straight stitch along the outside, added a zipper and viola!  I love homemade toys.  Our toddler has had hours of fun clipping and unclipping these buckles!

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Want to see another version?  Miss M from Splendidly Imperfect created her own clipping toy.  She added a snap, and some blocks to hers!  It looks great!  Here’s the photo she sent our way.  Check out her blog for other crafty ideas.

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There is nothing better than camping with a preschooler. My little boy is four-and-a-half and we’ve been on nine camping trips so far. Every one of them is filled with unforgettable memories. We live in Los Angeles and we’ve camped with friends and with my son, Roman’s, entire preschool on the beach and in the surrounding mountains. It’s by far my favorite thing to do with him. There is something so magical and beautiful about sleeping under the stars and waking up and cooking breakfast outside and spending day after day in the wilderness. My son enjoys it so much. He now counts down the days leading up to a trip, and he loves all of the traditions that we’ve created surrounding these expeditions. What I love best is watching Roman and his friends endlessly finding ways to amuse themselves in nature without any other stimulation. It’s important to me, a mom who loves organic living, to instill in my child the love of nature, and camping is a great way to accomplish that.

Tips we’ve used to have a great time camping with preschoolers:

Bring your child’s favorite stuffed animal and sleeping pillow from their bed and any favorite blanket. It can help with bedtime.

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Headlamps! They are endlessly entertaining for the kids and really help them navigate through the dark on their own.

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Create food and drink traditions that your child will remember and love that you save just for camping. S’mores are the obvious but we do “cowboy coffee” in the morning which is either chocolate milk or hot cocoa.

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Try to pick a site next to hiking trails or a creek. Even a small little trail can be hours of fun for little ones to explore. Also, don’t be afraid to take them out for a bit on longer trails. They become so engaged in the experience they forget how far they’ve walked! And it makes for real, sleepy campers that go to bed easily. Roman’s favorite way to fall asleep is curled up in my lap sitting around the campfire. It’s great because he keeps me warm.

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Bring a wagon if you have one. They can help haul things from the car if you have a walk-in site and take turns giving each other rides in it during the trip. They’re safe and sturdy and don’t require constant parent supervision.

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Children burn through lots of energy because of all the fresh air, excitement and activity. Make sure you have lots of healthy snacks around at all times to offer them and don’t expect them to eat meals like they do at home. They’re just having too much fun and too distracted.

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Invest in a good air mattress! It’s so nice to get a great night sleep so you have plenty of energy to enjoy all the fun.

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Bring metal marshmallow sticks as back-up to roast marshmallows over the fire but finding the right marshmallow stick can become quite the adventure.

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Kids love their own chairs too that are just their size to go around the campfire.

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But most of all remember to relax and enjoy yourself. These are memories you will cherish and your child will remember.  Thanks Kristina for showing me that kids can learn to enjoy nature and showing us how camping is feasible!  Go check out her store for organic home products.

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I love this tutorial!  It is so simple.   Jess over at Mad in Crafts is working on learning the letters of the alphabet with her little tyke.  To help him, she created custom alphabet cards using the free program Picnik.  I love free!  We have cardstock and as soon as I have an hour or two to accumulate the photos we are definitely going to replicate these!  My youngest is just beginning to learn her letters.  She printed her cards on photo paper, but I’m going to try it on cardstock.  For her terrific alphabet cards tutorial (and other crafts/tips) check out her blog!

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At the Hubbards Cupboard they have a collection of coloring sheets that you can use to create your own mini-books.  What I love about their collection is that they have them broken down into vowel sounds (ex: short a) and word families (ex: -ig).  We are were using Bobs Books and Progressive Phonics.  The weather has been too nice for “school stuff” and we’ve been outside playing or at the park most days.  We are taking a Spring-summer break (and going to have a baby!!!).  Once life calms down in the Quirky home, these books will be added to our collection of reading resources!

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We are also looking forward to moving into writing our letters this fall as well.  I found a site that has free printable handwriting worksheets.  I love the internet, we can create our entire preschool/kindergarten learning curriculum customized from the comfort of our own home!  I even have a few projector sheets lying about leftover from my teaching days.  Using the clear transparency over the printout means that my kids can wipe and re-write over and over again to their hearts content!  Maybe we’ll make mini-whiteboards with the handwriting pages!  The possibilities are endless.

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The kids get to pick their own packet – Better Oats has quite the variety of flavors – and dump the oats and water into their own bowls.

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Sometimes, they talk me into stenciling their initial onto their bowls:

Other times we just decorate our oatmeal with faces or globs of applesauce. Either way, our kids enjoy their oatmeal and I enjoy a cooking activity my preschoolers can for the most part do by themselves!

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This post was sponsored by Better Oats Oatmeal – I can attest to the Blueberry Muffin Flavor. It was yummy!

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