Toddler “Beads”

Kidster, Hubster and I were visiting Auntie A and her family recently.  Kidster found an MP3 player and headphones and started trying to put the headphone cord into the jack.  I realized that she was ready for a few more complicated toys especially ones that help develop her small muscle motor skills.

You only need two items.  Both can be found at the Dollar Store.  A shoestring and a pool noodle.  Pretty simple to find almost anywhere especially during the summer season.

Using a serrated knife cut the noodle into ‘bead’ shapes. I cut ours into about an inch width but I think next time I’d make them thinner.  You want the end of the shoelace to go all the way through the bead so the child can grasp the other end when threading it through.

We use the ‘beads’ to learn small muscle manipulations, colors, numbers, and counting.  As she starts to learn more about numbers and letters I’ll use a sharpie marker to write numbers and letters on the beads so we can put them in order.

Kidster will ask for the ‘bead’ to play with all the time.  Be sure that your child is past the stage of having to put everything in their mouth!  

What is YOUR favorite kid craft?

~Lisa

First Time Fingerpainting

Fingerpainting.  It's a fun thing to do with the kiddos and it's something I really should start doing with them more often!  We were invited to a fingerpainting playdate a bit ago and I didn't want to get their clothes all paint-y so I grabbed some white onesies, cut the bottoms off and using a red sharpie I wrote "My 1st Time Fingerpainting" and their name and the date. I figured it would be something cute to put in a shadow box or just fold up and place behind the canvas of their first 'work of art'. 

First Time Fingerpainting

The mom who hosted the play date provided small canvases, paint and masking tape.  I use the tape to make the kids initials and then just let them go to town.  Little Man's mom loved it!  Kidster didn't quite get the paint over the whole 'initial' so it was hard to read what the letter was so I just outlined the initial with a black sharpie and it looks great.

What is YOUR favorite type of kids craft?

(A Little Late) Valentine's Day Play Group "Craft"

The day before Valentine's Day I hosted a "Cookie Decorating" play date at my house.  I went to the store thinking, "Hey, I DON'T have to make from scratch cookies."  I was going to buy the refrigerated dough and just do it the 'new fashioned' way.  Man, those things are expensive for only 12 cookies!  Even the cookies at the bakery would have been pretty high.  So I left the store with my usual, a package of butter and some food coloring. 

I found a simple recipe online for sugar cookies.  I used this recipe because it had the word "best" in it. They can't print that on the interwebs if it isn't true, right?  It was also the only recipe that didn't call for something weird like egg whites or Crisco (shiver).   The Best Rolled Sugar Cookie Recipe

They were right.  It was the BEST!

Lovely lovely cookie dough! Thankfully it wasn't too hard. 

This is my trying to be creative.

More creativity

Getting practice in for St. Patty's Day

Lovely heart shaped cookies!

Lisa loves Hubster!

Child decorated cookies!

The mom's all brought decorations and frosting for the cookies.  So much so that I will be able to host the party next year without any donations!  I have a lot of red sprinkles and icing at this point so I might need to figure out another cookie that might have a red theme...4th of July maybe?

The party was a success and I had a good time.  The mom's loved the cookies and were pretty impressed that I made them from scratch.  

Making these cookies really made me happy that I started this journey of 'learning how to bake'.  I don't get stressed out baking anymore, I actually look forward to it!  I look forward to sharing with people yummy treats!

What is YOUR favorite cookie decoration?