Pumpkin Spice Rice Fall Sensory Bin- fun hands on play

I love trying new sensory bins.  They are fun to set up and the kids usually enjoy them. A great way for the kids to enjoy open ended play.  Each sensory bin has so many learning possibilities.  With Fall in the air it was time for a Fall sensory bin.

Dino egg soap- will have the kids begging to wash their hands

 I had the chance to work with Kiwi Crate on a few posts and this is my  favorite one.  Dino soap eggs with toy surprise.  My son loves this soap.  Not only can you wash your hands, but the kids can bathe in it as well. We had a lot of fun making this soap together. If you want to see how me made it follow the link above and it will take you to the post.  We hope you and the kids can have some soap fun too.

Please do come and visit us again. We would love to have you back.

All kids are different and only you can decide how you let your kids play. And with what materials you let them play with. My children are supervised when playing. Please keep this in mind with any post you read of mine!

Check us out on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter,  Google+,

and our G+ community, All Things Kids.

Other post you may like:  Homemade soap in fun shapes, the color red bath, Dino bath for kids.

Fall Crowns- easy to make and perfect for playtime

What a fun idea I came across at danamadeit.com.  Fall crowns.  I just knew my boys would love them.  They love playing dress up just as much as any other kid.  What a fun way to spend a part of our day creating fun hats to play in.  We love it even more when daddy is home and he can get involved.

10 Halloween Ideas We Loved This Year

I love finding ways to have fun with my family during holidays.  We have made crafts, created fun activities, and eaten yummy treats throughout this month.  These are ways I make holiday memories with my boys this year.  We have one last thing to do for the holiday and that is trick or treat!!  I am really excited since this year both boys will get to enjoy it. I look forward to many more holidays to come.
Here are the Halloween ideas we carried out this year and enjoyed.  I hope you may find one for you and your family to enjoy too.

Halloween Treat Bags ( for class party)

I love making holiday treat bags for my son's class parties at school.  This year we did cute mummy treat cups for his teachers and I am doing simple yet fun treat bags for his class.

What I used:  orange and black plastic bags I got at walmart, and printable tag I got from link.

What I did:  I chose to fill the bags with fruit snacks and Halloween stampers I got at walmart.  I also added a few stickers I had from the dollar tree.  Print(I used cardstock paper) and cut out tags(I used scrapbook scissors).  I wrote "from: name" on back of tags.  Then I used twist ties to add tag to bag.  And that is it!  Cute and easy class treat bags.  The kids should love them.  My son is already trying to get to them.

Please do come and visit us again. We would love to have you back:-)

All kids are different and only you can decide how you let your kids play. And with what materials you let them play with. My children are supervised when playing. Please keep this in mind with any post you read of mine!

Check out our pinterest board, Fb page, twitter page, & Google+

We linked up at Sharing Saturday

The Kid's co-op#29

Here is this weeks Co-op! And a quick recap of what we have been up to.

* playdough creatures

*10 fall ideas kids love

*Pink snails craft

*introducing the studio by kiwi crate

*Fall sensory bin toddlers

*paint with water and colored ice

Also we had a fun guest post at JDaniel4's Mom: Taking time to play series

Please do come and visit us again. We would love to have you back:-)

All kids are different and only you can decide how you let your kids play. And with what materials you let them play with. My children are supervised when playing. Please keep this in mind with any post you read of mine!

Check out our pinterest board, Fb page, twitter page, & Google+

Paint with Water and Colored Ice

This a great fall activity for our weather.  We are having some cool morings and evenings but our afternoons are warm.  That is when it is is a good time to get out water and ice.  We play with colored ice and water all the time but never together like this before.  Painting with both water and ice is a cheap way to entertain the kids and it is a fun sensory experiencs for them as well.  You can also add a little learning with the colored ice. You can go over colors as you play.  With the water we painted shapes and went over them.  The rest is just fun, fun, fun!  This was a hit at my house.

What you need:  colored ice cubes( fill ice trays with water and food coloring and freeze.  I leave these in my freezer at all times bc I never know when we are going to need them.), bucket of water, and paint brushes.

What to do:  put ice cubes in a bowl and set them out with the bucket or bowl of water and let the kids have fun.

Our play.

They couldn't wait to get their hand on the ice cubes.

My oldest painting with the ice.

 Our water shapes we made.  This is our circle.

As always we hope you and your kids can have some water and ice fun too.



More post you may like 10 Water Play Activities 

Please do come and visit us again. We would love to have you back.

All kids are different and only you can decide how you let your kids play. And with what materials you let them play with. My children are supervised when playing. Please keep this in mind with any post you read of mine!

Check us out on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter,, Google+,

and our G+ community, All Things Kids.

We linked up at Saturday show & Tell and the sunday showcase

Fall Sensory Bin-toddler

My toddler loves to make a mess!  So what better way to do that than give him a bucket full of fun stuff to scatter around the floor.  This sensory bin has a fall theme to it.  I did this by adding fabric leaves, yellow pom poms, and assorted fall colored pipe cleaners.  I also added a washed and dried peanut butter bottle.  This was for him to put his fun items down in if he wanted.  Once it was ready I sat it on the floor for him and brought him over to see it.

Introducing The Studio by Kiwi Crate

I am very happy to introduce The Studio by Kiwi Crate to you.  I have had the pleasure of working on the project that Kiwi Crate has been putting together.  Myself and other bloggers have been writing outstanding posts to fill The Studio with fabulous kid activities, crafts, recipes.... so you can have one great place to see them all.  It is now a great resource to find many things for you and the kids to do.   Lots of everyday fun and several Holiday ideas too!  Take a look at my activity page over at the Studio to keep up with the fun I share with them.  Do not forget to take a look at all the other brilliant ideas shared over there too.  I think you all will be very happy you took the time to look.  I can tell you I am very proud to be a part of this project.

Hope you can enjoy The Studio as much as I do.

Please do come and visit us again. We would love to have you back:-)

All kids are different and only you can decide how you let your kids play. And with what materials you let them play with. My children are supervised when playing. Please keep this in mind with any post you read of mine!

Check out our pinterest board, Fb page, twitter page, & Google+

Pink Snail Craft in Honor of Breast Cancer Awareness

A pink craft in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 

 Having been in the medical field and watching close friends and co-workers deal with this in their families it hits home with me.  My close family has been affected by many types of other cancers(CA) but not breast.  I support the awareness of all cancers but for this month I wanted to share on breast cancer.

Playdough Creatures and even more fun playdough play links for you

We love playdough at our house as many do.  I know I have seen playdough monsters and other fun Halloween creations all over my fb page and pinterest.  The one things that is special about our creatures to me is that my son doesn't look at pinterest and has never made/or seen a Halloween creature before.  So this was his first time making fun Halloween creatures and he made Halloween cookies too.  We both had lots of fun playing wit the playdough this day. 

The Kid's Co-op#28

Here is this weeks The Kid's Co-op and a quick recap of our week if you missed it. 

RECAP:
*mummy treat cups

*cat scissor skills craft

*making family memories

*Halloween food play

*glitter ice painting

Please do come and visit us again. We would love to have you back:-)

All kids are different and only you can decide how you let your kids play. And with what materials you let them play with. My children are supervised when playing. Please keep this in mind with any post you read of mine!

Check out our pinterest board, Fb page, twitter page, & Google+

Glitter Ice Painting

All post are ©

We have done ice cube paintings before and my boys loved it.   It has been quite some time since we last did it though.  With the weather starting to cool off I thought it would be a good time try it again before we have to wait till next year.  I hate to admit but I have had these fun glitter cubes in the freezer for months, lol.  Sometimes I just have too many thing I want to do with the boys and not enough time or they just may not be in the mood to do the things I have planned for them.  On those days we just go with the flow and we do the activity another time.    So today was the day for glitter cube painting.  When my oldest saw the glitter in the cubes he couldn't wait to get started.  He was right under me as I tried to get set up.  I had plain colored ice cubes for little brother because he still likes to put everything in his mouth.

Halloween Sensory Bin

If you follow my blog you know its no secret we like to play in our food almost as much as we like  to play in water.  I love setting up food play because like water play it is great for both my toddler and preschooler to enjoy together. 

Making Family Memories

"We do not remember days; we remember moments." Cesare Pavese

 When I was looking through quotes I came across this one and thought it was perfect. I hope my boys will remember these special moments we have together as they grow. We may not remember everyday but I hope our family adventures can be those moments they recall.

Cat Scissor Skills Craft

My oldest loves crafts that involve cutting up paper.  I have been trying to come up with more ideas for him to be able to work on his scissor skills and have fun.  That is what I did with this craft idea for a cat.

Mummy Treat Cups

I saw this idea on pinterest recently of a mummy treat bucket from Hungry Halloween and thought it was so cute.  I thought to myself that could be an easy and fun way to give treats to my son's teachers this year.  And that is just what we are doing.  Here is how we made the cups and what we are going to put inside them.

The Kid's Co-op #27

Wow, the weeks are flying by here and I can't believe it is co-op time again. Hope you are ready for another great week of ideas shared.   I have been busy putting out posts for the Halloween holiday but rest assured we have been doing our share of fall crafts... over here too.  I am trying to put out past posts I have been putting off finishing, as well as trying to get the new post out as well.  I am trying to spread them out for you.  And I hope to hold on to a few for when the baby comes!  It won't be long:-)  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend whatever you do.

Here is a quick recap of our week and what we are sharing on The Kid's Co-op:

Learning the letter P

10 Halloween Ideas Kids Love

Super Sized Ice = Super Sized Fun

2 Easy ways to decorate a pumpkin with small kids

Halloween I spy bottle

Firemen books and fire craft

Also I had the chance to guest post for the lovely Andie at Crayon Freckles. If you want to check it out, here's the link. 

Sorry if I have overloaded you with posts but I put 2 out this week I hadn't planned to in an attempt to squeeze everything in I want to share with you all before the month is over.  Now for The Kid's Co-op!!!!

Please do come and visit us again. We would love to have you back:-)

All kids are different and only you can decide how you let your kids play. And with what materials you let them play with. My children are supervised when playing. Please keep this in mind with any post you read of mine!

Check out our pinterest board, Fb page, twitter page, & Google+




Firefighter Books and Easy Fire Craft/Coloring sheets...

It is fire safety week.  Since both my boys love all things firefighter it was a perfect time to get out a few of our firemen books and read them.  We also did a few activity sheets and an easy fire craft.  Even though they are still at a young age I talked about fire safety a little.  We went over: stop, drop, and roll if you catch fire, what number to call if there is a fire, and what to do if the house ever caught fire.  My youngest may not have picked up on what I was saying but my oldest did.  Big brother had fun showing little brother how to stop, drop, and roll.  Even for young kids taking the time to get in a habit to go over fire safety could make a big difference in a emergency.

                                          

Halloween I spy/sensory bottles

 I was inspired by Adventures at home with Mum for this fun idea of making a Halloween holiday themed sensory bottle.  We have made many I spy/sensory bottles before and they are always fun. 

What I used: glitter, food coloring, googly eyes, plastic spiders, and Halloween themed glitter confetti I found at Walmart.  Of course you need empty clear plastic bottles.  We had an old choc. milk bottle and a powerade bottle.  I forgot that I added clear glue and corn syrup after my oldest was through with the bottle and I always hot glue the top on the bottle before they can have it to look at.

What to do:  give the bottles to the kids.  Give them the plastic pieces and glitter pieces to put in the bottles.  Great for fine motor skills and they love doing this.  For my oldest he got to add glitter, water, and food coloring to his bottle.  My youngest was having so much fun putting his pieces in and dumping them out we didn't complete his bottle for him.  We left it alone for him to play with.





 Adding the fun decorative pieces to the bottles.

 I loved that big brother went over to help little brother out.  My oldest thought that since little guy kept dumping them out he needed help to put them back in since he was through with his bottle.

 Adding the glitter.

 Adding the water.

 Adding the  food coloring.  Now is when I added the clear glue and corn syrup.  Then hot glued the top on the bottle.

 My little guy loved the bottle.  It was a bit big for him but it didn't stop him from carrying it around and being proud of the bottle.

 They had fun making the bottles and we have since been looking inside it to see what we can find inside.  What a fun and easy holiday activity.  We hope you may have some fun with this idea  too.

Please do come and visit us again. We would love to have you back.

All kids are different and only you can decide how you let your kids play. And with what materials you let them play with. My children are supervised when playing. Please keep this in mind with any post you read of mine!

Check us out on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter,, Google+,

and our G+ community, All Things Kids.

2 Easy Ways to Decorate Pumpkins with Young Kids

Here are 2 easy ways we decorate pumpkins with our young kids.  My oldest loves this time of year and decorating pumpkins is one of his favorite things to do.  It is great this year that little brother can participate too.

1. Sticker faces- for these we found stickers at the dollar tree for the kids to decorate the pumpkins with.  Another fun idea would be to just use fall or Halloween type stickers for the kids to stick all over the pumpkins. 
Here is a link to a sticker kit for pumpkins and one more link.

  

Super Sized Ice = Super Sized Fun-sensory ice play

It's no secret we love water play at my house.  It has been our go to activity for outside fun.  Having a preschooler and toddler, for me it can be hard to find things for them to do together that are the same.  With this activity they get to do just that.  A lot of our water play has elements of learning sprinkled throughout them all.  Even if its just simply going over colors and letting them work on their motor skills.  I love water play because once they are set up I can sometimes sit down right next to them and play.  ( being a pregnant mom this is a plus to me)  Having fun with my boys is always a  must.

10+ Halloween Ideas Kids Love

With Halloween coming up fast I wanted to do my next 10 Things Kids Love post on it.  Here is a great collection of ideas kids love for Halloween.  Hope you find one fun idea for you and your family.  I know I see some I can't wait to try.
       



P is for Pumpkin( pumpkin poem, scissor skills, &color/work sheet)

We started September off with A is for apple.  So carrying that over to the start of fall we are doing P for pumpkin.  I started out by printing out the  P is for pumpkins worksheets for them to color.  I found a cute pumpkin poem to print and read to them.  I took a piece of orange paper and wrote a letter P on it to hang up. And last created a pumpkin scissor skills craft for my oldest.  Now to have fun with the letter P.

The Kid's Co-op #26

Another fun filled week has come and almost gone.  So now on to the recap of the week and The Kid's Co-op!

Please do come and visit us again. We would love to have you back:-)

All kids are different and only you can decide how you let your kids play. And with what materials you let them play with. My children are supervised when playing. Please keep this in mind with any post you read of mine!

Check out our pinterest board, Fb page, or twitter page

Here is a recap of our week.  We have been in the Halloween spirit.

1.  Halloween bath



2.  Easy pumpkin craft



3.  Candy bones



4.  How to make pumpkin spice orange sensory rice



Now here is the always fab The Kid's Co-op!!!!

Fun and Easy Halloween Bath

I love creating easy yet fun bath themes for my boys.  Sometimes we add learning to them and other times we just have fun.  This was a just have fun night.  However, I did go over with my oldest son what 2 colors make orange.  The rest was just play!  Both my boys enjoyed the bath and have since asked for the same set up.

Super Easy Pumpkin Craft

I haven't found very many crafts lately to do with my tot so I was feeling a little guilty.  So today we made this simple pumpkin craft together.  Big brother also made one and enjoyed it too.

Fun "candy bone" snack for kids

 I can't remember where I came across this cute idea for a Halloween snack.  I think it was a magazine photo.  It looked simple enough to try out with my oldest son.  He and I love getting in the kitchen and trying out new treats.

What you need:  

pretzel sticks, marshmallows, vanilla candy coating, wax paper.

   

 What to do: 

take the pretzel stick and add marshmallows at each end.

Once you are through adding the marshmallows, melt your candy coating.  Then, cover the pretzel bones in the candy coating. 

Last, put the bones on wax paper to dry.

 Now the fun part starts by tasting your new treat with your kids.  Both my boys loved these little sweet treats.  I must say they are yummy.  I loved them though because they are so easy to make with no big clean up!  Hope you and your family may enjoy a "candy bone" too.

Update: I came across the place I saw these and wanted to share the link.  Love this site by the way.

Please do come and visit us again. We would love to have you back.

All kids are different and only you can decide how you let your kids play. And with what materials you let them play with. My children are supervised when playing. Please keep this in mind with any post you read of mine!

Follow along with us and be inspired to play on
 Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter,  Google+,

and our G+ community, All Things Kids.

More Halloween post you may like:

10 Halloween Ideas Kids Love