Sensory Bottles

Wave Bottle, Bubble Bottle, Slow Motion Bottle

This can be a great calming activity. They are fun to shake or roll and watch what happens with the different contents inside of the bottle.

Wave Bottle: fill 3/4 of the way with water, then add 2 tablespoons of cooking oil and a few drops of food coloring.

Bubble Bottle: fill 3/4 of the way with water, then add 2 tablespoons of dish soap. We added food coloring to this one as well.

Slow Motion Bottle: fill with a clear thick liquid, such as light corn syrup, shampoo or hair gel. Then add small items of your choice. I put fun beads, small metal scrapbook eyelets, paperclips, safety pins, and glitter.

Be sure to add a little super glue to the inside of the lid so your child can't open the bottle!

Kid Twister

The best part about this simplified game of Twister is that it is so versatile. Here's how we played: we have these little animal cutouts, so we placed them on the floor and then I would call out instructions such as "put your right foot on the monkey," then "put your left foot on the dinosaur." My daughter loved it. You can use different colored paper to help learn colors, or try shapes, or combine both to add more challenge.

Goop

This was a favorite of mine as a child, so I knew my children would love it. Just mix two parts cornstarch to one part water. This is how I did it: I put the cornstarch, water and a drop of food coloring (my kids LOVE colors!) into a ziploc bag, then I closed it tight and let my kids mush it all together. They had a lot of fun with that! When it was all mixed, I poured it onto paper plates so they could really get their hands into it. After awhile, they mixed their two colors together to make purple.

Balloon Paddles

My kids had so much fun trying to keep the balloons off the floor with these balloon paddles. Just tape a paper plate to some sort of "handle" (we had paint stirrers, so I used those, but you could use rulers, wooden spoons, or whatever you have), blow up a couple balloons and have fun!

Paper Bag Blocks

These were fun. You just take paper bags (I used small since that's what I had at home, but I would really love to try the big ones), stuff them part way with newspaper, fold over and tape shut! The kids had a lot of fun stacking and knocking them over, tossing them into a big basket, and yes, even throwing them at each other. But nobody got hurt! :) My original plan was to have them decorate them, but they were too eager to play. Maybe next time. Anyway, cheap (free if you have bags) and very quick to throw together.

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! :)