Rainbow Treasure Hunt

For our first St. Patrick's Day activity, Baby Bear and I went on a treasure hunt! We searched for gold in a box full of rainbow-colored water beads. I couldn't find gold coins anywhere, and I ran out of time to order online. So, I grabbed some Mardi Gras beads I saw on the dollar shelf, cut the gold one into little pieces, and twisted the pieces into coin shapes. It worked out okay. I'm still keeping an eye out for coins because I'm sure I could find another use for them in the future. :) We enjoyed our treasure hunt anyway, and the rainbow water beads were a lot of fun!

Assignment: Go Outside!

If your weather has been anything like ours, spring sprung a little early this year. Temps have gone up and down from day to day; one way we're wearing T-shirts outside, and the next we're in warm jackets. Baby Bear and I venture outdoors in most kinds of weather but not as often as we do on warm days. So, we have been taking advantage of every warm day we can! I love that it gets my Baby Bear away from the temptation to watch TV and that we both get a little fresh air and sunshine on our faces. I want to challenge my readers to spent at least 15 minutes outside for at least three days this week. Splash in puddles on a rainy day, take your blocks outside to build instead of inside, go to the playground, or maybe take an over-size box outside and make a clubhouse.

Finger Painting the Bathtub

The idea is simple: finger paint + bathtub = one happy Baby Bear!

Puppet Stage

Before life as a housewife and stay-at-home-mommy, I was a first grade teacher. During the summer before my last year of teaching, I spent a lot of time brainstorming ways to help bring the stories in our anthologies alive for the kids. One idea I had was to set up a puppet stage for them to act out the stories of their choice during literacy centers. The problem was that puppet stages were expensive. I was so excited when my husband volunteered to build me a stage!

Being the engineer that he is, he exceeded my greatest expectations! He build a solid, sturdy, wood stage that would fold up for storage! I used some leftover paint to dress it up a little, added some lettering, and put up a curtain. Voila! A puppet stage! My students had a lot of fun at this center all year long.

A couple weeks ago we set it up for our Baby Bear to enjoy. Right now, he has the most fun pulling the puppets off our hands or playing peek-a-book with us while we try to put on a show. Sometimes, I catch him trying to use the puppets like puppets, though. It makes my heart smile to see his imagination growing.

Soapy Water Sensory Box

Being the little fish that he his, Baby Bear loved when I filled his sensory box with soapy water.

I laid out some towels on the floor, poured a little dish soap into the box, and added warm water.

I threw in a few little cups for Baby Bear to play with since he loves pouring so much.

I also filled a couple of travel bottles with colored water and helped Baby Bear spray and squirt them into the tub. We enjoyed watching the suds turn blue and yellow. This, of course, led to the water turning a shade of green, which was also pretty cool.

The travel bottles were a little difficult to spray and squirt, so I took the caps off and gave Baby Bear a large medicine dropper to use to transfer the colored water into the tub. This was great practice for his fine motor skills!

*Sigh* It was bound to happen with a tub full of water. ;)

Suess Food

Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss! When I was a child I belonged to the Dr. Seuss book club in which I received a new Dr. Seuss book each month. I think my favorite was "My Book About Me" because I got to be a part of writing the book. I still remember when my third grade teacher announced Dr. Seuss's death to us in class. I didn't understand the magnitude of his contribution to the world of children's books at the time, but today I am thankful that he had the courage to be different. Dr. Seuss had the uncanny ability to take a controversial subject like logging (The Lorax) and put a fresh, understandable spin on it. He always has been and always will be one of my favorite children's book authors. This week I made a couple of meals inspired by his books. Today, my moms club also had a Seuss theme luncheon. I thought I would share some of the foods we made.

The Cat in the Hat pancakes for my family

Tonight we had green eggs, ham, rainbow Goldfish crackers, and cheese cut into stars (Green Eggs and Ham; One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish; and The Sneetches)

This is what I took to the luncheon. I used berry burst ice cream Oreos, Lifesaver gummies, and white frosting to make Cat in the Hat hats (found on Fancy Frugal Life). I filled plastic shot glasses with blue jello and hid a gummy fish for One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (found on Simple Girl at Home through Pinterest).

E, our hostess, made green scrambled eggs.

M made green deviled eggs... I was so excited when she said she was making these! Yum!

M made a fruity rendition of green eggs and ham. I thought it was very cute and creative.

H brought Goldfish crackers.

T also created her own version of green eggs and ham. She melted a little white chocolate on top of Ritz crackers and then added a green M&M on top.

It has been 20 years since the passing of Theodore Seuss Geisel and we still enjoy celebrating his birthday in schools, with our friends, and in our homes. Now that's a legacy!

Hand Print "Things"

I saw this idea for hand print Things 1 and 2 on Pinterest from the Little Kinder Warriors blog, and it was irresistible. I have seen similar ideas in which only one hand was used to create the hair or the hair and face, but I chose to try this one because it also used a hand print for the body. I thought that was cute. I tried using black paper to see how it worked out, but I should have stuck with yellow like in the original post. It still turned out cute, though. I think I'm going to cut around the prints and frame it to hang in Baby Bear's nursery since it matches the decor.

We only made one of the Things because Baby Bear wanted to paint on his own after doing this one. Since he thinks he needs two of everything (one for each hand), I called this one Thing 2. The head turned out nicely, but I couldn't get Baby Bear to spread his fingers for the body. His thumb also got a little paint rubbed on it, so Thing 2 looks like he has three legs. Oh, well; it's still cute to me!