Shaving Foam!

Yesterday  after our Christmas break and being off school for 2 weeks the boys were starting to show signs of being bored, so i decided to make a rough plan of some things to do with them during the day sort of like a holiday programme at home that i can easily adjust for when they're not up to it or the weather is no good. 

Ive made plans like this before but after being so tired finishing school for the year i hadn't anticipated  they'd be bored already- there's another 4 weeks yet!

This was one of the activities i set up.

Shaving foam.

This kept them happy and entertained for quite a while.

i usually do messy play outside but shaving foam dissolves with water so any that made it off the the tray and the splash mat i had down was easily cleaned up.

I put some cars in for them to drive around, they really enjoyed the foam between their fingers, and the great thing about shaving foam compared with cream is that it stays foamy.

Clean up just involved washing their hands under water and taking the tray outside to be hosed down and left in the sun.

 I bought the cheapest shaving foam which i think was a few dollars but with the can once you start spraying the foam it swells up a lot so you dont need the whole can and can use again at a later date.

I didn't let the baby play in this, shaving foam wouldn't taste great so maybe this should just be for older ones who wont put in in their mouth.

Great  sensory fun that can be an inside rainy day activity!

Corn

Its been a while since i have posted anything on here, we've all been a little unwell and this time of year it gets busy quite quickly.

But today i decided to do an activity with the boys as they needed to do something different after school that didn't require a lot of energy on their part as they don't have a lot of it lately so i created this.

Coloured corn.

This was quite easy to do but requires some prep work ahead of time.

To make:

1. I used just a couple of nags of corn kernels and emptied into 5 different bowls

2. I added enough water to cover the corn and added a few drops of colour and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and stirred it all around.

3 I left mine to sit overnight but a few hours will do.

4. Once they've soaked a bit i scooped them out with a slotted spoon and put the individual colours on plates that had paper towels to absorb any extra liquid. I left them on the table all day to dry then when ready added them to the tray and put a few cars in.

They really enjoyed playing with the corn- it sounded great when they dropped it onto the tray they loved hiding their cars amongst the corn as well as scooping it up into containers.

They sat for nearly 40 minutes doing this so i was pleased they got so much out of it without requiring them to do much.

They were quiet, calm and happy

What more could a mama ask for?

Maybe the baby having a turn when his brothers were done?

He loved it too, he scooped them up in his baby hand and let them go again feeling them and pushing them around.

The corn came out so beautifully vibrant and a little shiny too

I recommend this for older ones who no longer put things in their mouth and corn kernels could be a choking hazard.

Clean up was easy.

I actually decided to keep the corn kernels for another time and i gathered it all up into a ziplock bag and added one of those little sachets that keep contents dry- you can find them in some packet food items.

Any corn left on the floor i quickly swept up with a hand brush and shovel.

Potatoes and paint!

Tonight while i was cooking dinner my older 2 boys were hanging  around the kitchen getting rather impatient for food, so to stop them from being under my feet and to keep them occupied i quickly put together this activity that i did when i was little.

It took me around 5 minutes to prep so is great when you don't have time on your side.

To make:

1. Get a couple of large potatoes and cut them in half.

2. I used a permanent marker to then draw shapes on the potatoes.

3. With a small knife i carefully cut out the shapes on the potatoes, it pretty much turns them into stamps!

 If you have an apple cut that in half too to get that pretty star pattern.

If you don't have potatoes handy you can try other veg too, the softer ones work better and are easier to cut.

I rolled out some paper on the table gave them the potato and apple stamps i had made along with some poster paint. 

I didn't put newspaper down which you may want to do but if i had i could have just scooped it all up and either dried their art.

Poster paint is the best it comes off 90%of the time with water the other 10% with a bit of soap so clean up is quick. it took me around 5 minute to clean the table and wash their hands in the sink.

They really enjoyed stamping and seeing what shapes appeared.

It also kept them occupied while i finished dinner which by then they were ready to finish up!

I have to say i was really pleased with how this activity turned out.

Kinetic sand

A while ago as i was passing through a craft store i happened to come across Kinetic sand that was on display, i touched the sand that was out and had a quick look at it.

 I was in a hurry though and i couldn't make a choice there and then if i should get it so i left it. 

Over the past couple of weeks its gone through my mind and the more i thought about it the more i liked the idea of getting it, i could see no downside.

I was right. 

The only one thing that sticks with me is the price. 

When i do activities i aim to spend as little as possible.

 I created this blog so that i can share my activities with you, so you too- can create sensory activities to enrich your littlies minds with everyday items you may already have in your house. 

So forgive me but yes this one cost.

The link to where you can buy it is here.

But the cost did outweigh the fun the boys had. 

Its such an odd sensation -this kinetic sand.

 Picture if you will a cross between playdough and sand only less squishy.

Its soft and when you grab a handful it flows away from your hand like a waterfall. You can mould things and shapes. It doesn't stick to hands, or tables or carpet (yuss - i love things that dont mark the carpet). 

Its super easy to tidy up and the kids walk away with no mess to clean. 

My boys sat for nearly an hour filling up little jelly moulds and making sandcastles with them, they absolutely enjoyed it.

This activity though is not for littlies who still like to put things in their mouths as though its non toxic its probably not a great idea for it to be swallowed!

I highly recommend the kinetic sand, it can be stored away for another time and its such a great sensory activity- for that fine motor, cognitive and tactile stimulation.

Oats!

 On a bit of a colour kick after discovering i can colour salt, chickpeas and pasta i decided to give colouring oats a go. Who knows where this may lead me! What will i colour next?

Oats worked really well.

 (I am going  to invest in more colours though so will order some online)

It took a little time to prep but only in the drying

It was really soft and fun to play with, giving the boys tactile, cognitive and visual stimulation.  

The boys spent a lot of time playing with the oats. My middle discovered that his tiny snow plow 

and dump truck were great to shovel up the oats and load them in to the dumper.

They especially looked really great when mixed together.

To make:

1. I used 2 bags of 500g oats and divided them into bowls.

2. I added enough water to cover the oats then  added a few drops of colour, i mixed it around and let it sit for maybe a minute- any longer and the oats get too squishy. Do note- I only did a bowl at a time.

3. I turned my oven on to bake 50 deg c.

4. I took the bowl  and with my hand (gloves on) i took handfuls of oats out of the bowl giving them just a bit if a squeeze to get excess liquid out (otherwise they tend to clump in the oven) and put the oats on an oven tray.

I put the tray in the oven and every 5 minutes i gave them a stir on the tray to evenly dry them. I did it this way rather than drying them in the sun as i know you can toast oats so i figured i could do the same with coloured oats too. 

And it did work!!

They loved it!

Chickpeas!

Today i made coloured chickpeas as something different for the boys to play with and just a bit of a challenge to me to create something new.

My middle and baby loved it. Chickpeas make a great sound when they hit the tray which is a great auditory sensory activity to get their little ears tuned in as well as being quite tactile.

The chickpeas i used were from cans as i had no dried chickpeas which i think would have worked better and dried better once coloured.

It didnt take too long to put together but drying took maybe half an hour in the sun. Cleaning up didn't take much time either.

To make:

1. I used a can of chickpeas per colour but if you were to use dried i would say as much as you want as they don't swell up.

2. For the canned chickpeas i drained them then added each can to a bowl with a few drops of colour and mixed around (any excess liquid- drain before you put out to dry). 

For dried chickpeas i imagine you could do the same just adding a few drops of colour to the bowl but maybe add a bit of water if needed -just drain before you dry.

3. I then put my canned coloured chickpeas on a plate leaving them in the sun (again you can do the same with dried chickpeas).  

They didn't take long to dry but because they were canned didn't dry back to a hard state as they had been soaked in the brine in the can.

 I think the dried chickpeas would dry back to their hard state as they were before being coloured- probably a much better result.

I did this activity outside so when they were finished i was able to sweep up any chickpeas that had fallen out of the tray with a hand shovel and broom and put them in the compost.

Nonetheless my boys still really enjoyed scooping up the chickpeas and watching them fall- which is great for vision and eye tracking!

Spaghetti!

This afternoon after school my boys were a bit tired and a bit agitated, they gravitated towards each other upsetting the other, feeling a little stressed by their behaviour i decided on this sensory activity. 

I thought it might calm them and distract them from their boredom. 

I was right.

The spaghetti was cool and slimy to touch, the colours were lovely to look at and i think it helped relieve some of that tension they had pent up and made them feel relaxed as the sat for ages squishing it between their little fingers like one of those squishy stress relievers. Very tactile activity.

It was easy to make too, the most time consuming part was the cooking of the pasta itself but once done it was pretty straightforward and quick to put together.

Cleaning up didn't take too long either, after brushing off excess pasta form their clothes i put what was left in the tub in the compost bin and swept the rest which had dried hard again in the sun 

To make:

1. I used 2 packets of spaghetti pasta, cook it until soft then drain and run under cool water. Pasta swells up when you cook so not to worry if it doesn't look like enough.

2. I divided up the pasta once cool into bowls then added a bit of oil to each bowl along with food colouring, you could use a spoon to mix but i find using your hand tends to be more helpful (gloves on!) to work the colour in.

3. Add to a container or a tray and let them go!

Its great fun!

Goop!

This was a such a successful sensory- fun filled activity I did with the boys today that i'm going to definitely recreate it again sometime.

What is it?

Cornflour and water. That's it.

To make;

Get a bag of cornflour - I used two because I had this large tub to do it in but you could use a bowl. 

Add water and mix it around, it pays to use your hands and a little warm water until you get this goopy consistency.

If you want you could add some colouring to it. I left mine plain as we have done a lot of activities of late with colours.

Its a super messy activity as you can see but the boys spent so long playing with it. They had such a great time and they were really engrossed in putting their hands and feet in it! 

Lots of laughter- lots of picking it up and watching it fall from their hands.

Great visual and tactile stimulation.

The great thing- actually few things is that :

1. Because its cornflour, its baby friendly if they put it in their mouth.

2. Because of the way it hardens and dries; it becomes like powder, you can sweep it away off the concrete (or carpet if they walk it through on the way to the shower- use a damp cloth and give any drops a wipe then vacuum). And also because of its consistency you could hose it off the concrete.

3. It washes out of clothes no problem.

What makes this even better?

You can turn into a science lesson because it can be a solid or a liquid.

Here is some more info on it for you!