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.