Sparkle Pumpkins

We've been buying little gourds at the farm stand down the road like crazy. Logan likes to call them baby pumpkins, and we've done lots of activities with them. Recently, we decided that some of them needed a new look, and upon his request, gave them a little bit of sparkle.

All we needed was a three pack of dollar store glitter, and some white glue. First, Logan spread the glue all over the pumpkin with a paint brush. Next, came the fun part, shaking the glitter onto the pumpkins!

He chose pink for his first pumpkin. I had placed the pumpkin on a plate in order to catch any excess glitter. 

Blue glitter was the choice of for the "bumpy pumpkin."

They are now lighting up our dining room table arrangement. What is your favorite way to decorate your pumpkins? Are you a fan of making jack-o-lanterns? Or maybe adding some color with paint? This may be a new favorite for us..... for my vacuum cleaner, not so much!

Play Center: Grocery Store

One of the very first pretend play centers I ever set up was a grocery store. Logan toddled around a chair and put play food into his basket. He would then promptly dump it on the floor, and repeat the process all over again.

Some things have changed since those initial attempts at pretend play. Logan's imagination has grown in amazing leaps and bounds. It is his favorite type of play these days. He pretends to be characters (like Smurfs) and cast me in different roles too.

Our set up has never been very complicated or involved. He usually decides at the spur of the moment that he would like to play grocery store. Some days we raid our recyclables to see what types of bins we can add, but this day we were running low, so we made do without. Here is what Logan set up one day:

I worked at a grocery store all through college, and I have to say, I am quite impressed with how carefully he lined things up! I love that he added the hot dog into the green section. He called it "a surprise!" With the addition of a few items like play money and a shopping cart or grocery bag, this play center can provide hours of entertainment. 

Pin It Tuesday- DIY (Kid Edition)

I really can not say enough about how much I love Pinterest. When I saw that  Crazy About My Baybah, Mommy Head Adventuresand Crazy Cool with a Side of Crafty had a Pinterest party every Tuesday, I knew I wanted to join. Today I am sharing a couple of pins that have inspired me, and that I want to try to make myself.

From Quirky Momma, I love the idea of making your own building block town. This year my husband built his very own tool shed in our backyard, so we had lots of angled wood pieces left over. I had him save them off to the side, so the Logan and I could attempt this project. They are still sitting there, but it will definitely be one we will be getting to once the days get darker earlier. 

Source: Quirky Momma

Logan loves Phineas and Ferb. Secretly, I do too. I find myself watching this show with him, and giggling. These Agent P sandwiches look easy enough to make, and my little guy would be over the moon if I served these to him! 

Source: Hawai'i's Bento Box Cookbook, Bentos and More for Kids

Stay at Home Mama's plexi-glass easel is fantastic, because it can be used for creating outdoors. I am hoping if I show my husband this pictures of this, he will be able to recreate it in time for us to use next spring! 

Source: Play At Home Mom

Puff Ball magnets by Mama Jenn, look so simple, but they are something I haven't actually sat down to make yet. These would be great for Logan to use to create his own pictures. Also, they are completely perfect for do a dot pages since they will stay in place rather than roll around if he happens to bump the paper. 

Source: Mama Jenn

(Not Quite) Scary Play-Dough Monsters

Sorry for my unintended absence. I was having some computer trouble, but it seems to have finally been fixed. Imagine my surprise when I came back and saw that I reached 103 followers! Welcome!

Our newest activity was inspired by Halloween. Logan likes the concept of Halloween, especially the candy, but he's still to little for any of the scary stuff. I'm completely okay with this, since I am still not a fan of it, and that's putting it mildly.

He does appreciate the less spooky, more friendly versions of ghosts, skeletons, and monsters. So when I saw play dough monsters floating around the Internet, like at The Imagination Tree and Pink and Green Mama, I knew that this would be a perfect way to get into the no so spooky spirit of the holiday.

Here's what I used:

• Play Dough (I bought this at the store ages ago, but there are also recipes to make your own here and here). 
• Googly Eyes (From the dollar store)
• Pipe Cleaners (I had on hand, but they are also at the dollar store or craft section of your local big box store).

We did take some time before our monster creations to have some fun with the googly eyes.

I explained the activity and Logan dug in happily. He added eyes and pipe cleaners to his heart content. He made sure to carefully place a smiley face on most of his new friends.

He insisted on naming all of them:

I am quite flattered that I turned out so colorful. Smudge, our gray and white tabby cat, was blessed with a million eyes. I love that each one turned out unique. The next set of monsters must have been a bit influenced by The Fresh Beat Band. 

Logan loved these little guys and was a sad about eventually having to take them apart. Another idea would be to use air dry clay and to keep your creations for a bit longer. But he loved this activity and I'm sure he will making some new monsters very soon. 

To see where I link up, see the Places I Party page. Also:

Stuff my kid says #16

After his flu shot, he looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, "I am so mad at you Mommy."

Stuff my kid says #15

It is his favorite (and my) saying lately has been, "You're the best mommy in the whole world."

Fall Activity: Visit a Corn Maze

Last Friday my sister, Logan, and I decided to check off something on our fall list of things to do. We headed to a local farm and tried the corn maze. It was the first time any of us had ever been to one, and it was a great time! I loved that the farm had set up a huge area full of corn kernels for the kids to explore. Logan wanted to spend all of his time digging and searching for the farm animals.

With a promise to come back to play before he leaves, I was able to get Logan to walk through the corn maze. He was actually pretty excited. 

They had questions at each marker in the maze. The correct answer would tell you the right way to go. They had questions especially designed for little kids, and Logan was able to answer almost all of  the questions correctly. He insisted the corn needed milk to grow rather than water. 

We finished with enough time to visit the farm animals, play in the corn, and take a tour of the farm. We ended our day by enjoying some of their homemade ice cream (for dinner)!