Baking Cups Art

Baby Bear was choosing a snack from the pantry when he spotted a package of colorful baking cups. He was so excited about the unknown package that he forgot about his snack. He carried the baking cups over to the table where he had just finished coloring and looked at me expectantly with his new found "art supply" in hand. Yep, that's my boy!

I opened the package and handed him five of the brightly spotted baking cups. I thought he was going to color inside the cups like he did for the coffee filter butterflies, but instead he reached for a piece of construction paper and the glue. I helped him open the glue and watched in interest to see what he had in mind.

At first, he poured glue onto the construction paper and stuck the baking cups to the paper. Once a few of the cups were added, he started filling them with glue (no surprise there... Baby Bear absolutely loves pouring things to and from containers!). He stuck and unstuck the little papers until they were just how he wanted them, and he had a great time in the process. I hadn't thought of using baking cups as an art supply, but Baby Bear acted like that's what they were made for. Now I have several ideas in mind of other art projects we can do using baking cups! I adore art project that my son comes up with all on his own!

Gardening with a Toddler: Part 2

Baby Bear and I haven't had much luck with our toddler friendly garden. Only a handful of shoots have come up, and most of those are in one little spot where Baby Bear was very thorough about covering with seeds. I'll have to try again with more seeds and spread them a little more densely. For now, Baby Bear and I are observing the growth of the little patch of sprouts we do have. We are using words like grow, leaves, sprout, and green as we look at the plants. Baby Bear is a little hard on the sprouts because he wants to pull all the leaves off. Even though it's a tough concept for a toddler, I'm trying to teach him how to be gentle with the plants so they can grow big and get their flowers. I do still let him touch them, though, because it is his garden.

One thing I've learned from this gardening with a toddler experience is that it might be better to start with flower pots. If I had this to do over again, I would probably choose a fast-growing plant, start the seeds in little flower pots, and then transfer the sprouts to a garden my son can play in. Seeing as how summer is just beginning, we may still do this and see how it goes.

Homemade Popsicles

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! I took the long weekend off from blogging to enjoy some extra family time with Papa Bear and Baby Bear. It was a very hot weekend with temperatures already reaching into the 90s around here! One of the ways we stayed cool was by eating these homemade popsicles.

For most of our popsicles, I froze an organic berry protein juice. With Baby Bear's two-year molars starting to come in, he hasn't been eating very well lately, so this was a good way to help him get some of those nutrients he's been missing as well as help sooth his tender gums. For a couple of the popsicles, I decided to try an idea I saw on 40 Fun Ways to Feed Your Kids, and I made a pea-sicle using water and frozen peas. It sounds weird, but when your child is going through a very picky eater stage, you'll try just about anything. As an experiment, I cooked some of the peas from the frozen peas bag and set them on Baby Bear's dinner plate the same day I planned on giving him the pea-sicle. He didn't eat the peas on his plate, but he ate more than half of his pea-sicle! I guess it just goes to show that presentation and form count for a lot when feeding a toddler!

Colored Pasta

At the same time I colored pasta for our macaroni butterfly art, I also colored some penne and set it aside for use at a later date. A few days ago, Baby Bear saw the large bag of pasta sitting in the crafts closet and wanted to play with it. So, I poured the colored pasta out onto a baking sheet and let him explore. I also handed him a shoe lace we sometimes use for lacing practice and a short piece of PVC pipe. He immediately grabbed the shoe lace and tried stringing a piece of pasta. I taped one end to the floor to help keep the pasta from all sliding off, and I helped him add the pieces one by one, naming the colors as we worked. He had the patience to help string about a half dozen pieces and then decided the PVC pipe looked like more fun. He slid a piece through the tube and smiled in delight as it fell out the other end. After a few minutes of this, he began experimenting with ways to get the pasta to stay inside the pipe. He figured out that setting one end on the floor worked best. This made me smile as I watched him use and develop this problem solving skills. I think he prefers gluing the pasta to paper over playing with it because, well, it's glue! But, playing with the pasta in other ways proved fun as well.

Washing Dishes

What kind of mother would I be if I didn't take advantage of the fact that my son loves playing in warm, soapy water by having him help wash dishes? ;) This time, when Baby Bear asked to play with bubbles in his sensory bin, I threw in a handful of his plastic dishes, a dish rag, and a scrub brush, too! I showed him how to wash the plates and cups. He showed me how much more fun it was to pour soapy water from one cup to another over and over and over again than to wash them. Oh, well, at least I tried!

Distressed Shelf

With all this warm weather lately, I've been craving touches of bold color around my house. Mainly, I've had a soft spot for shades of teal. I guess I miss living near the ocean sometimes. I've also got an eye for distressed, antique, and vintage furniture. So, when I found an old bookshelf from my very first apartment (my first staining project), I decided to try my very first distressing project. I wanted this to be fun and not worry about being a perfectionist, so Baby Bear and I worked on this project together. He loved being mama's little helper!

I had just enough blue and yellow acrylic paints leftover from another project to mix together and make teal. Baby Bear thought he was big stuff when I let him paint a shelf rather than just a piece of paper! It took a little smoothing over on my part, but imperfections were fine because we were going to start distressing as soon as it was dry.

Later in the day, Baby Bear and I took some sandpaper to the shelf. I focused mainly on the edges because that's where furniture tends to wear and tear most as time goes on. Baby Bear focused wherever he wanted. :-) During his nap, I took the shelf to the opposite end of the house and banged at it with objects that left small dents and scratches... mainly, a light-weight hammer. I tried to imagine how hard I was on my furniture as a child, bumping, knocking, and dropping various objects in my youthful carelessness, and I acted accordingly. I kind of wish I had done this part on a more stressful day because that would have been a great stress reliever!

It turned out pretty well for my very first furniture distressing project, if I do say so myself. I'm glad I chose a shelf I had considered throwing away anyway, and I'm glad I let Baby Bear help. I was able to let go of my perfectionist tendencies and just have fun.

Fun with Sticky Notes

Sticky notes + construction paper = great toddler fun! Baby Bear actually came up with this activity on his own and sat there for about a half hour just pulling the paper off the pad and sticking them to his paper. Pulling the sticky notes apart was really good for his fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, too. Sometimes, the best forms of entertainment can be found in the simplest household items.