Ice Block Toys

For a fun twist to bath time, try Ice Block Toys. First, find some toys around your house that are water safe. Fill up some containers with water, and freeze the toys in them. Once they're frozen, dip them in warm water to release the ice blocks. Toss them in the tub, and let your kids have fun watching their toys appear! If you don't want to do bath time, let your kids play with them in a sink full of warm water.

Chunky Crayons

If you're like me, then you most likely have tons of broken crayon pieces in your crayon box. Rather than throw them away, I like to recycle them and use them again! This is one of my favorite things. It's great for learning colors, sorting, and teaching about recycling.

First of all, take all the paper off your crayon pieces. Then sort them however you want. This was my daughter's favorite part. You can sort like colors, by season, or just any combination of rainbow.
Put them in a sprayed muffin tin- you can use the big or mini one.

Put muffin tin in a 275 degree oven for about ten minutes (just keep an eye on them- they melt pretty fast). When they're all melted, take out and let cool. When it's cool enough to handle, you can put it in the freezer to speed up the process, and that also makes them come right out of the pan.

Take them out, and you have brand new chunky crayons! These are perfect for my one year old son, who gets frustrated with regular crayons.

If you have candy molds or other fun baking tins, you can use those as well. Just make sure your child knows they're not a treat! :)

Muffin Tin Meals

As a mother of a very picky, fidgety eater, I am all for ideas that will get her to eat! I've seen this around a lot, and thought I'd give it a try. I love it because it's so versatile- you can use a six muffin tin, or twelve, mini muffin tins, as well as switch up what you put in them. My daughter was actually excited about helping mom get lunch ready! The little mini spoon just made it more fun to eat.

For an older baby, you could do different finger foods.

"Scrap" Book

I save my scrap paper for my daughter to color on, but I found a way that's much more fun! We took several pieces of scrap paper, folded them in half and stapled down the edge to make a "book". Then I gave her some crayons and stickers and she made her very own book. She felt pretty important, if you can tell from the pictures below. Anyway, this is just a random daily activity that we spiced up a little.

Water Fight

Okay, so not very original, but sometimes the most spontaneous things are the very most fun! My husband and I were outside the other day when it was pretty hot, and we somehow got into a water fight, fully dressed of course! We involved my kids (being gentle with them) and they had a BLAST and didn't want to go inside. Yes, I had to deal with wet soggy clothes afterwards, but pure joy like that is worth it.

Bubbles and Bubble Wands

Sorry I've been missing in action! I've had a crazy couple of weeks.
I LOVE bubbles (and my kids do too.) I made this homemade solution because we go through so much of this stuff, and this is cheaper for us, plus it works great. I have a few more recipes I want to try, but for now here's this one.

Bubble Recipe:

(Fills a gallon milk jug)
11 Cups Water
4 Cups Ajax dish soap (anti-bacterial works best)
1 Cup corn syrup

Mix all together!

We've been having a great time experimenting with different bubble wands.

Bubble Wand Ideas:

First of all, pipe cleaners are awesome. Kids can make whatever shape/color they want.

Another thing I love to do- take a couple straws and cut them in half, then tape them together. Dip one end in bubble solution, and blow into the other end. This makes tons of little bubbles, and it's easy for young children to do.
Fly Swatters are GREAT. (You can buy a new clean one for really cheap.) Just dip and wave it around. Makes LOTS of bubbles. Funnels. We dipped the small end in the solution, then blew into the big end. Easy for my daughter.

The possibilities are endless!

Highchair Entertainment

I was getting really frustrated tonight trying to get a bunch of cleaning done while trying to keep my one year old out of it. He wasn't hungry, so snacks were out, and he was just restless- he got four shots this afternoon! :( Anyway, I decided to try this. I've had it in mind for awhile. All you do is take some little toys, tie them to pieces of string, and tape them to the high chair. This is GREAT because he loved playing with all the little toys, throwing them off, and then he could get them again. Bonus for my son in particular- he loves playing with his feet, so that was fun for him too. :)