I'm Shavin'...Part 1

As Shaye gets older, I continue to get entertained by his little sayings that he comes up with. "Shake milk" for milkshake, shavin' for using the razor like daddy, etc.

When my brother and I were younger he would always sing, "I'm shavin". What makes it even funnier now, is realizing that when he heard the Garth Brooks song Shameless, he thought Garth was saying 'shavin'. Therefore he would start singing the wrong words.

Seeing what kids come up with on their own, makes every parenting opportunity more special. After Shaye asking to shave like daddy, it inspired me to write this post about the fun that shaving cream can bring to a child! Who would have thought a $3 bottle could provide so much entertainment for kids!!

The first thing I wanted to do was find a pretend shavor that Shaye could use. I found one for $3 at Wal-Mart with a bottle of manly shaving cream!

 

 





Now came all the fun of shaving!!

Green, Yellow, Red Blue...I'll color the water with you!

This past week we finally got to try the fun Coloured Water activity from Happy Hooligans! The boys absolutely LOVED it!!
All I did was take empty dish soap, windex & gatorade bottles to add water to. With a couple drops of food coloring...our bottles were made!

 

 

Brock had more fun playing with the bottles then anything! He kept squeezing them and trying to chew on the lids. Of course he kept saying "water" and trying to drink it...no matter what the color!

 

He would say, "dump it!"

 

 

 

After dumping all the water out from the bottles, they had fun swishing it around in the tubs

 





Who would have thought such a cheap activity would entertain them for so long!

We all Scream for ICE CREAM!

As the summer months approach us, ICE CREAM is a go to theme! From homeade recipes, water tables, playdough and craft supplies...ice cream provides for hours of fun. Below are some of my favorite ice cream activities I plan to do with the boys!



 

Ice Cream Sensory-This is perfect for those days when it's VERY HOT outside! Enjoy ice cream fun inside!

 



 

 





Milkshake Party! As much as Shaye loves milkshakes aka "shake milks", I can't wait to have some people over for a big milkshake party!!



Gail Gibbons Ice Cream Parlor- This is part of the Virual Book Club for Kids on Facebook!

 

 

 

 

Ice Cream Goo! (Fun at home with kids!) - Edible ice cream dough!

 

Freezy Dough





Pom Pons



Pom Pom balls provide many hours of fun! Check out my next blog on ideas of how to use them at home with your kids!

1)Pond Dot Markers  Simply take pom pom balls and attach magnets to them. Now kids can place the pom pom balls in the dots to complete the pictures. For an extension you could also use dot markers, found on amazon or in any craft store. These paint markers are great for younger kids!
Check out  3dinosaurs.com   What an AMAZING webpage. She does an amazing job with providing free printables for you to use at home. If you go to the free pintables page, she has everything organized by theme. Below is a picture of her Pond marker pages which are in the Pond Pack.

2) Tweezer practice, More Tweezer Practice Using tweezers is great fine motor skill practice. You can use regular tweezers or you can get kids size tweezers! You can find them on amazon or I found ours at Mardel and US Toy!

3) Discovery Bottles- Simply fill an empty bottle with pom poms, or any other craft item like beads, pipe cleaner, etc. Then fill with water and seal the lid tight! Kids will enjoy this for hours!!

4) Color Sorting - Practice color matching











Wet n' Wild...Sensory Bins: Part II

Here is a list of my top 10 water activities to do with toddlers! I can't wait to do these with the boys!

10) Swamp  (Gelatin and Kool-Aid)

 



9) Washing dishes

 

8)  Ice Paint

 

7) Summer Snow  ( I LOVE this idea!!)

6) Gel Food Coloring

 

 

5) Funnels and Cups

 

 

4) Coloured Water

 

 

 

3) Water Painting   (How simple is this!! Just give them a cup of water and a paint brush and let them "paint" outside. They could paint the house, toys, etc..but it's just water!!)

 

 

2) Ice Fishing

1) Water Beads ( I know I've posted water beads before, but I LOVE these!!)
    Around here you can find them at Dollar Tree or Joanne's Craft Store.



















Senory Bins: Part I

After becoming obsessed with the whole "sensory bin" idea, I started doing a lot of research. I kept finding things that I absolutely loved and I knew the boys would love as well! Below I've listed my top 10 bins and websites that I plan to use. Some of these look so simple and cheap...which I love!! Just click on the name and it will take you to the webpage!

1)  Jello Ice



2) IceCream

3) Ice Age

 

4) Dinosaurs

 

 

 

5) Dino Dig  (You could freeze toy cars, animals, etc!)

 

6) Gardening

 

7) Water beads

 

8) Baby Bath Station

 

 

9) Clothesline

 

 

10) Car Wash

 



 

Shake milk anyone?

How many times have you heard comments like the following:

"Boys don't play with baby dolls", "Boys don't cook!"

As I hear comments like these I cringe with fear about how kids are being raised these days. I grew up with no boundaries on what boys and girls could do. It was okay for girls to hunt, ride 4 wheelers or help build things. On the other end it was okay for boys to help cook dinner, play with baby dolls or help clean the house. Luckily my husband has the same beliefs as I do, as he was raised the same way.For those of you that know him, it won't surprise you to know that he played with dolls and played kitchen when he was young. He still plays with them! (With the boys of course!!)

Since I love to garage sale, I have found some great treasures for the boys. A kitchen playset with pretend food, a McDonalds playset that Shaye loves to serve chocolate shake milks from (that's what he calls milkshakes!) I even found a dollhouse on Craigslist just like the one I had when I was a little girl. I was so excited that it got here safely...it was shipped from Colorado! Anyone remember this??

 

 

 

As I watch the boys playing with these "girly" toys, I realize the significance of them. Society sees these from one perspective and I see them as necessities in any household. By allowing boys to play baby dolls they learn how to love, comfort and care for something little. We got Shaye a baby boy cabbage patch doll right before Brock was born. I truly believe it helped the transition of bringing home a new baby. Now both him and Brock play with it as we brought Tanner home. It's so cute to see them rock the doll, change its diaper and sing to it.

 

 



 

As for the cooking sets...the best $20 I've spent!! When they open the drive-thru window of the McDonalds set and say "Hi! Want a shake milk?"...my heart just melts. Jesse and I are always getting food cooked for us downstairs. It's cute to see Brock follow Shaye around and do what he is doing, even trying to pretend cut his food downstairs. He loves the velcro food sets. These would make great presents for toddlers! They can pretend to cut the food and it breaks apart then all you have to do is velcro it back together!



 

My next idea is to make felt food that they could play with. I love this idea on Pinterest!!

Felt Play Food. I've already ordered the felt food from Amazon Prime!

 

Pizza Set, Sandwich Set, Burrito/Taco Set