Shaving Cream Painting

Shaving cream "paint" has been one of my standard sensory activities for the last five years. Probably the reason I love it so much is because it so inexpensive to make. Get the white foamy shaving cream (which also happens to be the cheapest-WIN). Then add food dye. In the past, we usually paint on cookie sheets although you could certainly do it in the bath tub if you wanted to. 

Then I saw the great idea from Happy Hooligans to use the paint outside on sliding glass windows. I love how you can use something a hundred times but someone will use it completely different and it brings a whole new dimension to it. 

The boys then decided that they should paint "B's" car. They have their own ideas on how the paint should be used. Which lead me to think of a car wash. Even though they were cleaning they were having a blast, a getting awesome sensory play in at the same time. 

Hey while they are cleaning out there why not clean the windows as well. They didn't even see it as a chore. Bonus for me!

Sea Life Sensory Bin

Sensory bins have always been a favorite activity for me to put together. B has always had a propensity of putting inappropriate things in his mouth, so it has been a while since I made one. As he gets older and has more tools to help (thank goodness for chewelry) I thought I have another go-around with sensory bins. 

Now I know we are quickly approaching Easter. I had all these creative ideas flowing of an Easter theme, Holy Week theme, or other Spring ideas. However, B just kept going back to the shark toy. I am trying to fight my natural instincts to take over and instead have more kid-directed play/craft time, so a sea life sensory bin it is.

We started out with little brown rocks that go into fish tanks. We added shells, agate type rocks, green play tree that look sorta like seaweed (well at least to me), and whatever sea animals I had on hand. Don't forget the sharks!!!

I also found a boat with  little guy (in case we want to play JAWS), a fishing pole game found at the $3 bin at Target, and  a whale sponge. Wringing out soaked sponges is not only fun sensory play but helps strength hands and forearms which promotes fine motor skills.

Next I added water dyed with blue food coloring. Another day B wanted me to try green water. Do a mixture if you want. Then just let them play. He has played with this numerous days for at least 20 min. each.

This isn't the only beach theme sensory bin I have done. To see a more traditional sand sensory bin without water go here. Also if your family loves sharks I have a great game to work on learning ABCs or sight words here. Lastly, for your budding scientists out there we did a closer look and activity with shells here.

Frolicking in Fountains

In Portland, OR we have a plethora of beautiful fountains, and get this-it's okay to play in them. As a kid I have tons of found memories of my three siblings and I swimming and splashing in city fountains. It is a great way to beat the heat and it is completely free!!! This week has been pretty sweltering (for us anyway) and I wanted to have the boys play in the water before the weather starts to change. There is a fairly new waterfront fountain on Ankeny that has interactive sprays. It appealed to me especially because at times the sprays are fairly low so "B" could get some water play in too. It turned out to be a wonderful evening. I just hope my kids have memories of days like this, just as I do from my childhood.

Row, Row, Row your Boat

My son tried his very own water experiment this week. Since his tub (for outside toys by the way) floats in the pool will he float if he is in it? First he was sure that if he filled the pool until it was overflowing (and flooding my backyard) that would make the difference. Then came the problem of trying to get in the tub. It was pretty funny trying to see him climb in a deep tub while it bobbed on over a foot of water. We emptied the pool a bit (even more water on the lawn-Argh) and then he was successful climbing in. I kept explaining that he wouldn't float because he was too heavy, but he just couldn't accept it. The amazing thing is he didn't actually sink either. The tub had about 2-3 corners touching the bottom, but he was definitely still buoyant. Then he looked for some make-shift paddles to see if he get around the pool. That was a no! But he still had fun singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat....that is until the tub tipped over ;o)

Water Cycle for Preschoolers

I decided to do two science experiments for "A" to better understand the water cycle. One of the science experiments took 24 hours for observation so I prepped it yesterday. I filled two water bottles out 2/3 full. I made a mark on the bottle so we could make sure they were both at the same level. I explained to "A" that in every experiment everything is exactly the same but one thing, that is called the variable. In this experiment the variable would be the lid. One water bottle we would put the lid on and the other one we would leave off. Next we set both bottles outside in the sun for 24 hours. The next morning I had him infer what was happening. I asked him why he thought the bottle without the lid would be a little lower than the one with the lid? He wasn't sure but thought "something may have drunk a sip". Then I asked him what all the drops on the inside of the bottle above the water could be? He guessed rain! Ahh-but how would the rain get in the bottle with the lid on it?

Bottles yesterday

Bottles 24 hours later. Notice water droplets at top.

Next we watched a free book being read aloud on the computer called Drippy the Raindrop: To the Mountain and Back. To read this great book about the water cycle created for preschoolers go here.  Once the Drippy book was over I had "A" color a simple water cycle at Kidzone.

After getting a better understanding about the water cycle we did a cotton ball experiment found at first-school. I gave "A" a cotton ball and said since we are talking about the watercycle what do he think the cottonball would be in the story? At first he said Drippy the raindrop. I redirected and asked if the cottonball looked like a raindrop. Once he said no he then figured out it was a cloud. I asked him to tell me what it felt like:"soft, squishy, light". Then he gently put it over a small bowl of water (our ocean). It was important he didn't submerge it. The cotton slowly would fill with water. Putting the cottonball down was to represent evaportation and as it filled with water condensation. Once the cottonball was filled I asked him to describe it again:"wet,cold and heavier". When the ball started to drip I asked him what that would be in the water cycle. He correctly said rain. I asked him why he thought it would drip water? I was hoping he would say that the cottonball was too full of water but it took him a while to get there. After we watched the precipation I asked where the drops were going? Since they were going back into our bowl (ocean) the water was doing the next stage-collection.

Getting ready to "evaporate"

"Precipitation"

Since we understood the cycle we went back and talked about our two water bottles. I wanted to see if he wanted to change his guess of what the water droplets were. He then said the "rain was trying to get back into the clouds". Right! It was water that had evaporated. So then why now would he think that the water without a lid had a little less water than the one with the lid? He then figured that those "raindrops could leave the bottle and reach the clouds". YAY!!!

Our science notes from the experiments for his science journal (along with water cycle coloring).

Treasures in Ice

We recently read the picture book, Immi's Gift by Karin Littlewood. It is a sweet story of a little girl in the Arctic who finds a treasure while ice-fishing. The flotsam she finds brings color to her stark, white world. Later she sends off a piece of her world. We followed this up with a text-to-text connection with David Wiesner's Flotsam.

I have been scouring online for some water activities for this week's summer challenge, and ran across Counting Coconuts' frozen block of treasures. When I saw the picture it immediately reminded me of Immi's igloo. I knew I had to make one of our own! In a 9x12 glass dish I filled it with water, shells, coloful rocks, foam sea animals, letters from our family, and a large sea-star. I tried to do colored ice-cubes like Counting Coconuts but I was unsuccessful. "A" couldn't wait to "excavaute" the treasures and dropped the pan, so I don't have a whole block to show you, only pieces.-SO SAD!

From Immi's Gift

Our block isn't pretty but you get the idea!

Now that we made the block we needed to "excavate" the treasures. "A" and I thought of some things that may melt or break ice. "A" thought more about breaking by using his dinosaur excavating tools and his toy hammer. I added a water bottle, salt, and sugar to help facilitate melting. I knew all these 
items wouldn't work (sugar) but wanted "A" to try them for exploration. He said he would first try with the thing he knew wouldn't work -the water bottle. Hmm was he surprised by the results! Although he liked trying to break it we found the salt and water bottle the best at melting the ice to release our "flotsam".

Our Excavation Tools

Getting smaller now

This activity kept "A" busy for hours.

Hooray For Parks with Water Features

The summer has been cruddy this year, with it being one of the most wet and humid ones that I can remember. Today was the first day finally above 85 degrees, and I had to take advantage by taking the boys to one of our favorite hot day activities: parks with water features. These parks are great because they have playgrounds for dry play and water for wet play. I also like it because it is just splashing about, so your little one doesn't need to know how to swim and can have safe water play. Did I mention they are free! Portland, OR has a ton of community parks and there are quite a few that have water features. I wanted to highlight my two favorites: Irving Park and Peninsula Park.

Irving Park on 7th and Fremont in North Portland: This is my favorite with a fire hydrant, shower, numerous fountains, and a cool new playground. There are tons of area for picnicking as well.

Peninsula Park on Rosa Park Way and Albina: This park has so much to offer. It has a community center, outdoor pool ($2.50 for kids) and was the original rose garden for Portland, OR. I highly recommend coming in late June/early July. The garden has a Alice and Wonderland feel that is great for picnics. The playground is pretty cool too. Plus it has a cute froggy and flower water feature that is fun for those hot days!