Toys that are not toys

Here is a link to my family blog where I posted a great toy that is not a toy.

shedding some light on the alphabet

I mounted these vintage flashcards onto the wall of my boy's bedroom with mounting tape. At night as a part of our nightly routine, we use a flashlight that we keep by the side of the bed and we go through an alphabet quiz. I ask Max for a letter and then he points to it with his flashlight. It's a fun way to practice our letters.

Cost: less than five dollars for flashcards, or free is you make you own on the computer and hang them up.

Variation: For older kids you could say a word and they would have to shine the light on the letter it starts with. Or you could shine the light on a letter and they have to say a word that starts with that letter. You could get really tricky and say, What is the third letter in penguin??? Also, we sometimes take the flashlight around the house and do a bit of a scavenger hunt. Where's your toothbrush? Where is the refrigerator? Where is the front door? Where is the baby?

Google-Eyed Play-Do

I have a jar of Google-y eyes. Packs of them are less than a dollar a the local craft store. They really do make the play-do creatures come to life. Schmeese had fun making funny faces and just sticking 20 eyes on one blob of play-do. He also had fun watching me make the creatures he would tell me to make and then he would be in charge of putting the eyes on.

I keep a very small container of the eyes IN the play-do bag so they are always on hand during play-do time.

COST: Less than $5 for play-do and eyes. Free if you already have them. You can make the play-do as well...
Variations: You could use large beads to add to your creations or sticks and such for arms and legs.

One Hand Two Hand Red Hand Blue Hand

name that tune:

DUN DUN DUN
DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN

DUN DUN DUN

DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNdundundundun
dundundundun
dundundundun

dundundundun
dundundundun
dundundundun
da da da da
da da da da
da da da da da daaaaaaaaaa!!!!

Now, see if you guessed correctly:

This activity is pretty self explanatory but here are a couple details:

• The shirt is from good will. I cut off the sleeves and made a painting smock.
• I just had him use a water color brush from a watercolor set.
  

• Don't be afraid of painting on the windows, it washes off easily with warm water and a little dish soap.
• Use washable tempera paints like the school kids use.
• You could cover the floor if you wanted to, but my son isn't crazy messy, so I didn't. The drips wipe up easily.
• Put very small amounts of paint on the paper plate palette. This prevents spills and encourages fun mixing. You can always add more, but it's hard to take away some once it's poured.
• I didn't plan on Max using his hands at the end but he did and it was fun and the paint came off his hands MUCH MUCH easier that I thought.
  
• Throw on your favorite classical music - it's a lot more fun.

COST: Under $5 dollars
Variations: Obviously older kids could paint something not as abstract. They could draw your family. Draw what they WISHED or IMAGINED they saw out your window. Encourage them to do seasonal art on your windows, or to write things like Happy Fourth of July or Happy Birthday. They could practice their spelling words on the window. How's that for homework? Toddlers could be given only the colors for that upcoming holiday - orange and black, pink and red, etc. to create an abstract holiday masterpiece.

So much fun.

Stone Soup

Gather 'round, my dear friends.
It's time for Stone Soup.

This whole afternoon project started off as a couple of neighborhood kids wanting to dig somewhere. I told them they could dig in one area of my yard. Then the sisters came over and wanted something to do. They made mudpies in that old muffin tin that rusted out - remember??? and then we started making the soup. The glorious stone soup.

The trick is to get them really excited about all of the ingredients. Put some regular dirt in for color but add pinches of "magic chinese earth" (potting soil) and "buttercup fairy flowers" (dandelions). Raid your vegetable bin for bendable carrots and stalks of celery and wilting spinach. Throw in a handful of dry pasta, cheerios, a tsp sugar.... whatever suits your fancy. Just name it something funky and really go over the top with the drama.

Pretend to taste it and pretend to spit it out and say "NEEDS SOME PICKLE JUICE!!!!" or whatever.. I think you get my point. Just have fun with it.

I got them started and boy did they go with it. After I supplied a few things from the kitchen I told them they now had to find outside ingredients to add. And they had to name them.

It was a lovely afternoon.

Cost: FREE
Variations: Read them the book Stone Soup! It will make the whole experience even more fun. You could most definitely do this inside as well, with no dirt. I used to love "making recipes" when I was young. If you know your neighbors well, it may be fun to knock doors and see what each neighbor could add to your soup. Maybe even like a scavenger hunt. NOW THAT would be fun wouldn't it??? The list could ask for things like stale bread and withered apple and egg shell - things that people do not want... Man, I better stop before I get out of control with the ideas.

DIY dollhouses

I don't have girls but if you do, check this out

I would have totally loved that as a young girl. A great way to use old catalogs and mags.

Muffin Tins

So the animals got a totally luxurious private bath at the Muffin Tin Day Spa the other morning.

The muffin tin in the above picture actually rusted that day because the animals soaked for too long.

woops.

I set the muffin tin out on our deck with the intent of re-storing it somewhere besides my kitchen (like for a future mud pie kitchen) because it is pretty much un-usable now. While it was out there, Schmeese found it and started gathering rocks to put in each cup. Totally on his own with no prompting. He did that for like 15 minutes.

Muffin pans are wonderful. I can remember my mother using them with my little sister. She went to the local "teachers lab" where they had an Ellison press and she cut and laminated tiny paper hearts (maybe like an inch by an inch) and she would have my little sister sort them into the muffin tins by color. She has also used colored buttons for sorting. You could use little shapes or letters or numbers.

Cost: Pretty much free unless you wanted to go and laminate the little paper hearts

Takin' it back to the old school

'cause I'm an old fool who's so cool.

When I taught sixth grade before becoming a mother I realized that my students didn't know JACK-SQUAT about geography. They could possibly name and locate half of the states, but a small percentage of them would be able to find the U.S. on a world map.

Because our area of study was world history I took geography to heart and had a goal to have my students label on a map EVERY country of the world. Lofty goal eh? I had parents tell me, "Really, you think they can do that? Memorize EVERY country of the world and be able to label them on a map?" I would say back to them, "At different points in the year, they will have experienced labeling the entire world. I do not expect them to remember it all at the end of the year but they will at least have been exposed to every continent and every country so that when they hear War in Iraq on the news they have a vague idea, if not know exactly, where Iraq and the Middle East are."

At the beginning of the school year I gave them a large blank world map and asked them to fill out as many countries as they could. I think the most countries correctly labeled averaged between 3-5 or so.

If that.

The US, Canada, Mexico, and then a sampling of China, Great Britain, Brazil, France, Japan. Hardly any variation from those.

It was sad.

By the end of the year when we did the same exercise again they labeled dozens upon dozens - some nearing 100. They were floored at their own knowledge and they felt empowered.

We would do monthly quizzes on different regions. I owe much of their success to this website.

Warning - the site is addictive. After I made that goal for my class I decided that I couldn't have a goal for my class that I hadn't conquered myself. I spent a good solid week on that site a couple weeks before school started and I felt like I had a good handle on the world.

Because of school mandated curriculum and testing, many very worthwhile subjects have been thrown out the window. If your child's teacher is not keen on teaching geography, take matters into your own hands and get your family a little more world-savvy. Buy a world map and display it prominently somewhere in your home. Use that site with your older ones. World map place mats or US states place mats? Puzzles? games?

Toys that are not toys

Going on a Lion Hunt

Swabby wakes up between 6:00-6:30 and this mama is usually not keen on getting up just yet. I usually sweep him up out of his crib and bring into me for a morning snuggle. Schmeese wakes up around 7:00 and is rarin' to go. He finds us under the covers and joins the party.

It reminds me of fond memories I have of my siblings and I finding mom (and dad on the weekends) in the morning and joining her, one by one until there are five of us snuggled in the queen sized four poster bed; elbows in faces, knees in tummies, like a family puzzle.

I've been trying to stretch out our days a bit. Enjoy each part of it. Because I don't have school aged children and no particular place to be in the morning I lay in bed a bit longer with them.

And we play bed-games.

The favorite one lately is Lion Hunt (although Schmeese just calls it "Yie-eee"). We all, four month old Swabby included, throw the sheets up and hide underneath quietly and patiently. I turn to Schmeese wide-eyed and asks him what he sees.

Answers I have been given:
"Ummmmm.... Yie-eee????" (Lion)
"Ummmmm... ooh ooh?" (monkey)
"Ummm....... wee-oh weeoh?" (whale)
"Ummmm...goggie?" (doggy)

As soon as he spies the beast we just go crazy. Kick the legs, flail the arms, pretend we are running like mad to get away from the whatever it is. The baby LOVES it (I sort of protect him during the craziness part)

Then we throw off the sheet in relief and pretend that we barely made it.

And then the sheet gets thrown up again and it starts all over.

Variations: This doesn't have to be on a bed. You could play on the couch or the floor with a blanket if you wish. You could also pretend that one of the people playing was the actual animal and the other person had to guess what they saw in the sheet jungle.

Cost: FREE assuming you have a sheet and a bed.

animal wash

Not just a dog wash, my friends.
We got out our jar o' animals and they got a good washing.

You can get tube-fuls of little plastic animals many places. I happened to find them at Ross (dress for less) for around $3 a tube. farm animals, jungle animals, sea animals. Between my mother and I hitting the Rosses here in MD and there in CA we pretty much have the whole collection.

Since water playing time isn't an option outside now, The Schmeese loves nothing more than standing on a chair in front of the sink for a good half hour.
dipping animals in and out of bubbly water, making them swim,
filling up cups and containers and dumping them into each other,
washing the baby's bottles :)

above is another day with just containers and no animals.

Variations: a Barbie bubble bath, a car wash, an army man underwater excursion- maybe the army men can be pirate men??

Cost: Free - just use the toys you have.

Kiddie Music

Sometimes, when you have children, you can't listen to whatever you want. Well, you can, but you become more conscious of it and you become hyper-aware of the feeling it creates in your home. Some music that I have in my library naturally lends itself toward little ears. We play a lot of classical music around here as well as folk. We also turn up dancy-tunes. Where I have come to find a lack in my library is in music specifically written for children.

A favorite right now is Renee and Jeremy, introduced to me by my friend, Molly. Here is a song I am loving right now. I don't mind the repetitiveness of it at all because I know how children love repetition. Sometimes I can just sing 'Jesus said Love Everyone" over and over until little lids get heavy.

Jesus said love everyone,
treat them kindly too
When your heart is filled with love
Others will love you.

I am also loving Elizabeth Mitchell, who sings in the group Ida (if you happen to know them - I doubt it though). She has recently released a few children's albums.

There are a few more children's music artists I enjoy, but maybe I will introduce them in another post. Link me up in the comment section if you know of anything great and equally kid and adult friendly.

It's great to get a collection of REAL music geared toward kids instead of barney-esque repetitive ditties.

And can I die over the artwork in this video: