Pit Of Fun

 Okay. So I found a wading pool at Walmart for only $6 and I had this brilliant idea to use it as a ball pit in Super E's room. I bought a bag of 100 balls thinking that should be enough to start out with.

Wow! I seriously underestimated the number of balls that it would take to fill up that pool! At this rate it would cost me a small fortune to fill it.

And Super E was looking at me like, "Okay, what am I supposed to do with this?"

 

Then I found this great idea on... you guessed it... Pinterest:
 

This site has directions for making a pool noodle pit as well as other ideas for pool noodles.
 

I bought 6 pool noodles and cut them up. It worked out great!





The pool noodles actually work out better than the balls because they are softer. Those plastic balls are hard! Another plus is that they are less likely to be thrown. Not saying that your child won't throw the noodles all over the room (Super E does) but they are a lot more likely to throw a ball. I mean, let's face it, balls are for throwing. And if they do throw them, at least they're soft.

A word of caution: I wouldn't recommend the noodles if your child tends to bite or chew on things. They could bite a chunk of the foam off.



 

Questions and comments are always welcome. You can also email me at adventuresofahomeschoolmama@gmail.com.

 

Thanks for stopping by! Please make sure to check back. I'm just getting started but I will be adding new stuff daily.

Fruity Fizzy Fluff

This is officially my new favorite sensory material. And discovering it was kind of an accident. My intent was for the boys to play with some baking soda and vinegar - make it bubble. For some added fun I mixed in a packet of Blue Raspberry Kool-Aid.

I made sure the Kool-Aid was mixed in thoroughly with the baking soda because I wanted it to turn blue regardless of where the vinegar was dropped.

I filled an empty vitamin dropper bottle with vinegar.

And let the fun begin!

I should have know that Super E wouldn't be content to just watch the magic happen, but I was a bit concerned about him digging in. It was Kool-Aid after all! And blue, at that! He couldn't resist. He had to see what those blue bubbles felt like.

I just knew he was going to end up looking like Baby Smurf! Amazingly, the Kool-Aid didn't stain his hands at all. It smelled great! You couldn't smell the vinegar but the fruity smell of the Kool-Aid filled the house. The boys had a blast!

And then, right when we thought we were finished, we discovered something even cooler. The blue fluff that remained was moldable! You can shape this stuff.

More vinegar...

Wow! The possibilities! I will be adding more ways to play with this fluff in the days to come.



Questions and comments are always welcome. You can also email me at adventuresofahomeschoolmama@gmail.com. 

Thanks for stopping by! Please make sure to check back. I'm just getting started but I will be adding new stuff daily.

Puddin' Cup Paint

I wanted to make some paint to do some finger painting with Super E. I've seen several recipes for pudding paint (made with instant pudding and food coloring) on Pinterest. Well, I really didn't feel like mixing up a batch of pudding... I had enough dishes that needed washing already. And I only needed one color - orange. So I looked in my kitchen and found some pudding cups. Why not?

And thus puddin' cup paint was born.

I just took the pudding cup, added my coloring, gave it a little stir...

And viola!

 

Time to turn things over to my testing panel.

And we have a winner!

And it's yummy too!

 

We LOVE this paint! It's so easy to make that it's ridiculous! It dries nicely... You wouldn't think that pudding would, or at least I wouldn't. And, if you prefer, you could always mix up a batch of instant pudding and get the same effect. I just like to cut corners whenever I can.

 

 

Questions and comments are always welcome. You can also email me at adventuresofahomeschoolmama@gmail.com.

 

Thanks for stopping by! Please make sure to check back. I'm just getting started but I will be adding new stuff daily.



Homemade Textured Paint

This is not my favorite homemade paint recipe but it does work well if you are going for a textured finish. I like that it is safe if you are like me and have a little one who likes to taste everything he gets his little hands on (except vegetables, that is).

Here's what to do:

1. Mix equal parts of flour, salt and water.
2. Add food coloring to make the paint a desired color.

We whipped up a batch of this paint to make our Easter Sensory Book. When it dried it did crack a little bit. I covered it with a layer of decoupage to help prevent it from cracking further.

 

Questions and comments are always welcome. You can also email me at adventuresofahomeschoolmama@gmail.com.

 

Thanks for stopping by! Please make sure to check back. I'm just getting started but I will be adding new stuff daily. 

Making Rice of Many Colors

We LOVE colored rice! There are just so many things you can do with this stuff!
You can glue it. You can scoop it. You can shake it. You can pretend to bake it.
You get the idea... It's really great stuff! And it is super easy to make!

All you need is a gallon size freezer bag, some rubbing alcohol and food coloring or Kool-Aid. If you are using food coloring you may also want to use some essential oils or extracts to give your rice a nice scent. Don't let the smell of the alcohol scare you. It will dissipate as it dries.

Here's what to do:

1. Add about 1 Tbsp of the alcohol to your freezer bag. It's not an exact science. I usually just pour a little in there.
2. Add a few drops of food coloring and your scent (if you are using any) to the bag and mix.     (If you would like to use the Kool-Aid instead of the food coloring, just mix in 1 packet with your alcohol. The Kool-Aid has a nice scent so there is no need for oils or extracts.)
3. Add about 2 cups of rice to the bag. Make sure the bag is sealed well or this could get VERY MESSY. 
4. Just shake it and squeeze it until it's all mixed up. Kids love helping with this part!
5. Once your rice is nice and colorful, pour it out onto some newspaper or paper towels. Spread it out so that it can dry. It will probably be dry after a couple of hours but I always let mine sit and dry overnight just to be on the safe side.

That's all there is to it! Now you're ready to play!

For added fun, you could also make glow in the dark rice. Simply follow the same steps as listed above, only replace the food coloring/Kool-aid with about 1 Tbsp of glow in the dark paint.
Click here to visit Growing A Jeweled Rose for more detailed instructions. We have got to try this!

Questions and comments are always welcome. You can also email me at adventuresofahomeschoolmama@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by! Please make sure to check back. I'm just getting started but I will be adding new stuff daily.

Easter Sensory Book

We have been working with Super E on all things sensory. For Easter, we made a touchy feely book in the shape of an Easter Egg. The original idea came from a pin I found on Pinterest. Here is a link to the website that inspired us:

http://www.connectingfamilyandseoul.com/2012/03/easter-egg-touch-and-feel-book.html

                                                        

I made most of the pages but I let Super E help with a couple of them.

I mixed up a batch of homemade textured paint. This paint dries with a sandpaper-like texture. This made it perfect for our sensory book. Plus, it is completely safe if when Super E decides to taste it.

 

I squirted some glue and helped him sprinkle on some colored rice. He wasn't very happy about the rice sticking to his fingers.

I went back over the rice with a layer of decoupage after the glue had dried. Hopefully, that will help to keep the rice from popping off.

I used card stock to cut out the egg design. I glued each egg to cereal box cut outs for reinforcement. I covered one egg with aluminum foil, taping the back side with packing tape. I covered one with felt and pipe cleaners using a glue gun. I attached silky ribbon to another. His favorite page is the squishy page. I filled a sandwich bag with a little finger paint ( I double bagged it to be on the safe side). I attached the bag of goop with some packing tape and viola!

He loves it!

Questions and comments are always welcome. You can also email me at adventuresofahomeschoolmama@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by! Please make sure to check back. I'm just getting started but I will be adding new stuff daily.