Number 7 and I have been having a great time on Friday afternoons. My mum returns home from work at about 5:20pm and then we get into the routine of dinner, bath, teeth cleaning, story time, tidy up. This is great, because I get to play!!
Ms 7 loves to paint. She also loves art and craft - basically if I give her pain or glue and paper she is a happy girl- and BUBBLES. Ms 8 is in a phase of putting everything in her mouth AND she wants to do everything her big sister is doing. This can be a bit of a problem, as some things you can do with a 3 year old are just not suitable for a 16 month old. Funnily enough, I made a toy last week just for #8 and her big sister wanted to play with it. I had another fight on my hands.
I have been pinning lots of great ideas for homemade toys, art and activities to both occupy these bundles of energy and stimulate their curious minds. They are both in the stage of grabbing everything in site to explore it. #7 loves to ask questions! She asks "what's that?" "why?" "show me?" "where" and "how". She wants to know everything!!
The girls love bath time too! Which is great for me, because I can sit beside the bath (close enough to grab if needed) while they fill, pour and splash to their hearts' content.
The point of this post was to tell you what we have been up to. That's hard to cover. I will say that we have used lots of my craft supplies and I have been buying more for their use. Naughty!!
Ms 7 loved cutting straws into pieces then threading the pieces onto pipe cleaners to make bracelets and necklaces. She loves stickers and stamps too. I mentioned bubbles earlier - we like experimenting with food colouring in the bubble solution and watching the bubbles pop over the top of paper. Painting and Bubbles in one!!!
Playdough is great too. Each week I get out a different set of playdough materials to use. One week we might have alphabet cookie cutters; the next week it is number cookie cutters, the next it is straws and cups. We have one small store bought playdough tools set with a roller, small animal shaped cutters and other plastic tools. Changing the tools each time keeps this activity fresh and different.
For an overview this is fairly good. If you are looking for activities to do with your little ones there are some great websites out there. I often search Pinterest to find images of activities (which tend to spark my own imagination to make up my own things) as well as good old google. I have to admit, Google searches often send me to the same type of sites. Check out my Pinterest Boards (links below) to see some great activities.
Nephews and Nieces, Bits and Pieces: ideas for activities, games, art, craft, gifts etc for kids. Most pins are related to under 9 yo.
Craft for the Kids: first created to share craft ideas with my Mum for her youth group at church. Craft ideas are mostly for children aged between 4 and 15 years old.
Just for Laney: she is a friend who works with 2-3 year olds, so I was pinning activities, read aloud books, crafts, short videos for her to use with the children at her Childcare Centre. You might find something interesting there.
I love the little Visitors and I'm loving the time we can spend together. I don't get nearly enough time to get covered in paint and splash in a bubble bath!
