Quiet Day Activities

My husband got a promotion this week. We are definitely thrilled with the pay increase. I am, however, less than thrilled with the weird hours that come with it.

He went in at 6 am yesterday morning, got off at noon, and had to be back at midnight. He’ll be working midnight to 8 am for the next two weeks.

I understand that some families have schedules like this all the time. My heart and sympathy especially goes out to military families and single parents.

I am just not used to it.

I have never lived alone- ever. I went from my family to college dorm life to roommates to being married.

I know with the kids, I wasn’t technically alone… but still kind of creepy. Naturally, every noise was an intruder. Every creak meant our pipes would burst or the AC would spontaneously combust.

Anyway, the kids must have sensed my loneliness because E started coughing really badly and joined me at 2 am. I usually would try to get her back to her own bed, but I was tired from defending my home from imaginary goblins. By 6 am, she was in the very middle of the bed and I was sandwiched between her and K, who had to be next to me too.

Not much sleep over here.

E has the banshee whine of an overtired one year old. She fidgets and cries in my lap but cries harder when she gets down. I’m not sure what she is going for at this point. She is usually my late sleeper. 6 am is not her favorite time to be woken up, especially by brother whining loudly about wanting to be where she was sleeping at that moment.

Andy survived his first overnight and is now trying to sleep. We have to come up with some good quiet activities to accommodate daddy’s schedule for the next two weeks.

Some ideas I’ve entertained:

•Movie time- The ones that mesmerize, not the raucous laughter kind.
•Dance Party- Put on Pandora and tell them to dance and wiggle but no talking.
•Puzzles and Books
•Craft Time- Bust out the markers and let K go wild. Adding glue increases quiet awe but increases mess factor too.
•Divide and Conquer- My kids are exponentially louder together. If I get K playing in his room and E playing in the living room… Hmmm.
•Pack it up- Leaving for the park, mall play place, or Nonna’s may be the ticket.
•Ear Plugs- Maybe we’ll buy daddy ear plugs.
•Sleeping Pills- For Andy and/or the kids. (I didn’t say they were all good ideas.)
•Alternative Sleep Locations- By the end of two weeks, Andy may decide anywhere (his car, a park bench, an airport terminal, a rock concert) is more conducive to sleep than here.
•Sound Proof Wall- Building a soundproof wall between our bedroom and the rest of the house.
•Coffee IV- Maybe we can just hook Andy up to a constant supply of espresso. He won’t even need sleep!
•Reverse Psychology- I’ll tell the kids I really want them to be loud.

Ok, what are your quiet day ideas?

In other news, K earned his AWANA vest last night! He was so excited.

He is actually wearing his vest this morning. I’m glad it is washable, because E is trying to paint everything with banana.

Neon Noodle Activity

Sorry for the lapse for the past few days.

Friday we did E’s 1 year old photos, shopping, E’s 12 month check-up, E’s 12 month blood work, grocery shopping, and Family Game Night at church. Poor baby girl was pretty chipper for a kid without enough naps, 4 shots, and having blood drawn.

Yesterday was my cleaning and my brother’s birthday party.

We’ve had a busy busy weekend.

We started this activity on Saturday morning. K has had a great time with it.

Neon Noodle Activity:

You will need a bag of Italian Trio Pasta, food coloring, and white vinegar. (We try to do natural foods and whole wheat pastas, but we made an exception for this activity.)

First I opened the bag of pasta for K and set up three bowls and a pair of tongs. I had him sort the different types into the bowls. He made up a story about the seashells noodles (shells), wiggly noodles (rigatoni), and stick noodles (penne) going to school together. They went to school but it was time to go home to their families.

After sorting we put them in separate baggies and K added several drops of neon food coloring and a splash of white vinegar (about 1 tbsp). He shook it up and we let them soak for about an hour.

We spread them out on foil covered in paper towel for a couple hours to dry. At bed time I folded them up in the foil and put them in the fridge until this afternoon.

This afternoon I boiled the noodles. I wanted to make sure the colors came out really vibrant, so I did each one separately and added a few drops of color to the water. After draining them, I tossed them together in a bit of olive oil. K was really proud of his noodles.

We served our neon noodles with Alfredo sauce, pork roast, and salad. It was a big hit.

Bodies of Water Cards

We pass over a lake every time we visit my mom. K loves the lake and always looks for boats.

The other day we started talking about lakes and rivers and oceans. Now when we are in the car he says, “Tell me the water story ’bout wakes and ribers and the ocean.”

I decided to look for some sort or color sheet or printable on bodies of water for him. I found a free one at Super Teacher Worksheets.

First we colored our cards and talked about each one. I had to point out what parts were water and what parts were land.

He cut them out with my help. He is 3 and his cutting skills aren’t exactly precise.

Then we played a memory game. I’d ask him where a certain type of body of water was and he would land his plane on it. Of course, this wouldn’t have been complete without him talking in his funny plane voice to each one.

K in his deep machine voice: “How ya doing Mr. Lake?”
K in a different voice: “I’m good Mr. Plane!”

He also got a placemat of America and we’ve been working on the states. His plane likes visiting states too.

Texture Painting

Who says you can only finger paint with fingers?

We found some different fun things to add to our painting experience. I set up a plate with finger paints and another with some objects; a truck toy, cooked spaghetti noodles, uncooked noodles, and a potato cut in half.

K, my 3 year old, had fun seeing what shapes and textures the different things made. His favorite was the toy truck.

He also got some craft sticks out to paint. Here is his finished art.

Computer is still in the shop and I’m still blogging from my phone. Sad sad fuzzy pictures. Oh well!

Dyed Cooked Spaghetti Play

We dyed dry noodles with food coloring and rubbing alcohol the other day but I stumbled upon a tutorial for dying noodles with vinegar. You can actually cook the colored noodles and eat them!

Dying noodles for eating/play:

I set up the table with baggies of spaghetti broken in half, a bowl of vinegar with a teaspoon, and food coloring.

Daddy helped K count out and pour 3 teaspoons (or 1 tbs) of vinegar into each baggy. They also counted out 6 drops of food coloring into each baggy. We had six total and used a whole ($0.75) pack of spaghetti.

They shook the baggies really well and worked the color into each one. We let the baggies sit for a couple hours and then I laid them out to dry. We had a noodle rainbow!

Looking back I would have had them do one bag at a time and shake it really well. We had a few clumps.

I let them dry for an hour and broke up any clumps as best I could. I cooked them in a big pot with a splash of oil like I normally would. Next time I’ll do blue based colors separately from the red based ones to prevent colors blending. This is our bucket of noodles! I mixed in a splash of olive oil to keep them from getting gummy.

I got the tub ready and put it in the fridge overnight. Today we spread out a sheet in the living room and let the kids go to town. They had cups, bowls, and various kitchen utensils.

K loved the fact that he could play with them and eat them.

And here is E in the bucket.

They had a lot of fun. K played restaurant. E explored everything. The best part? It only costs $1 to do.

I’d rather spend $20 on different fun projects that they’ll remember than the same money on a plastic toy that will be be forgotten.

It’ll be a few more days of horrible phone pics. My computer is still being worked on. 😦

Shaving Cream Painting

I love Pinterest. There are so many great play ideas. I’ve been seeing shaving cream bath paint floating around online for a while but I though E may be too young for it.

Usually our kiddos bathe together, but tonight E was super tired when we got home. Daddy bathed her and got her in bed. K got the rare treat of a special bath by himself.

I filled a muffin tin with shaving cream (the cheapest kind at the store). I put 2-3 drops of the neon colors and 4-5 drops of the regular colors into each spot. K helped me use his paint brushes to mix in the coloring.

He really enjoyed his painting.

He also used his monster truck to paint. He thought the tires made it look neat.

His finished masterpiece.

This was the easiest messy play activity to clean up ever. When he was done we rinsed the muffin tin, paint brushes, and truck in the bath. We let out the water and used the shower sprayer to clean the walls and wash his hair.

Super fun, cheap, and easy. My favorite play activity adjectives!

I hope everyone has a blessed week.

Colored Noodle Play

Well, our computer is being shipped off for repairs. I’ll be posting from my phone for a few days. Sorry in advance for the phone pictures.

I decided to try my hand at dying dried noodles for K. I bought a box of rigatoni noodles for a whopping $0.88. We spend big on play stuff, huh?

I split them up into six different sandwich bags and added food coloring. We made green, yellow, red, orange, blue, and purple. I was running very low on blue food coloring, but we used what we had. Our “blue” ended up light green and “purple” is kind of pink.

I then added a small bit of rubbing alcohol (maybe 1 tbs) to each bag, sealed them up, and gave them a good shake. I left them in the bags, occasionally shaking them, overnight.

The next day I dumped them all out onto a pan lined with paper towels. We have a few multi-colored noodles from where they touched while drying. If you don’t want color mixing, separate them while drying. I left them out overnight and they were dry this morning.

K and his cousin (both 3) had a blast with them today. They mixed them with their Legos and eventually used big, dull needles to string them on yarn. We sent cousin KT home with some noodles, yarn, and a dull needle of her own.

It was less than a dollar well spent. 🙂

Fondant Play

I decorate cakes with my mother-in-law as a hobby. K loves “helping” and playing with the fondant.

If you have never used it before, it is essentially clay made out of sugar. You can buy it pre-made at the store or make your own cheaply with marshmallows and powdered sugar. There are a lot of easy tutorials online. You can dye it different colors with gel food coloring.

It is a great play medium for kids. It is edible and molds easily. It makes K feel like a baker. K often plays with my fondant tools but kids can easily manipulate it with just their hands. It does have a ton of sugar, so let them eat a bit sparingly!

Today I had to make fondant bride and groom bulldogs for a shower at my church this weekend. K used my tools and made a cement truck and cookies. I also made an elephant and lion for him. They eventually got squished into cookies too.

Sorry for the cell phone pics today. I left my camera at home. 🙂

K using mom’s tools to make fondant “cookies”. He even added sprinkles.

My finished bride and groom bulldogs. They will go on a store ordered cake this weekend.

Ice Play

Last night a storm hit our area and brought an unseasonable cool front with it. This is Texas, so by “cool front” it means going from 100+ to the 90s.

I decided to take advantage of the probable lovely morning we would have today and got some things ready. I filled two ice cube trays with water and put a drop of food coloring in each one. I also filled a few cups with colored water and put a small plastic lizard or dinosaur in them. I figured that if it was still rainy or too hot, we could always take a bath with colored ice cubes.

This morning was perfect for some ice play. It was warm but not the blazing hot that usually hits Texas in August. We brought out our ice cubes, a blanket, a real mallet for K, and a play hammer for E. K enjoyed finding the things hidden in the cubes. E loved copying big brother and playing with the small cubes.

E has a great time copying big brother. K just wanted to find out what was in the big cubes.

This went on until all the cubes were completely crushed and we had a wet, colorful sidewalk.

Dollar Store Dash

Let’s talk creative play.

Play time is so important for kids. It is how they learn and relate to the world around them. Toys are great but they don’t always leave enough room for imagination. Our kids love their toys but they also love playing with regular household objects.

My 10 month old just discovered how to brush hair. She has been swiping my brush out of my purse at every turn and brushing everything. I prefer my brush to be free of drool, so I decided it was time to get her a brush of her own, just for play.

We set out for the dollar store after lunch today.

I love the dollar store and so does my 3 year old. He loves picking out new treasures. He went in with me while Daddy waited in the car with a sleeping E. We got her a brush, comb, and a mirror. When then set out to find something new for him. He has to look at everything.

We turn this into a game. What can he find and how is he going to play with it? Are we making something or just playing pretend?

The first thing that piqued his interest today was a set of red salad tongs. He decided he needed something to pick up with his tongs. He chose a bag of green glass stones. Of course he also needed to put his rocks in something. He picked out a plastic container.

I love seeing him develop his own games and learn to play in his own way. He is so creative!

The dollar store is a great resource for moms and teachers. Kids love having real household items. Why spend so much more on a toy version? I made both kids very happy campers today for around $5. You can’t beat that. It is also so open ended!

He promptly came home and started pulling his rocks out of his big container and dropping them into an old jar. He is working on hand-eye coordination, listening to the sounds the stones make in the different containers, counting, and fine motor skills.

Using his dollar store finds for endless entertainment.

What are your favorite dollar store finds and games?