Another first

Do you remember your first movie? My parents said that my first movie was Benji. Upon my own investigation, I figured out that the movie was called Benji the Hunted. I didn't think I remember it until I looked it up and found a synopsis of it on Wikipedia. It sounded scary and a bit depressing, and surprisingly, I still vaguely remember it. But I bet I know what my parent's were thinking, "It's a movie about a dog that saves the day! She'll like that." I'm sure I did, but all I can really remember is being afraid of the wolf that just wants to kill the dog and everything else that stands in its way.

With that in mind, I thoroughly thought about the first movie Logan would see in the theater. To be honest, as a child I loved the Smurfs. I remember quietly playing with all my Smurf figurines. I had a Smurf bank, I used to pretend I was that Smurf with the flower behind his ear that always looked in the mirror. Also, I just really love Neil Patrick Harris. Plus Logan has been playing Smurf Village on the iPad, so he was familiar with these characters.

The last time we went to the theater we tried to see Hop. Logan wouldn't even sit down. This time, we had him pick out a candy (Care Bear gummy bears), but we didn't even need to break them out to entice him. He was excited, and sat down happily. The whole movie he sat forward in his seat, obviously delighted. He exclaimed excitedly a few times, but other than that, he was the perfect little gentleman.

Do you remember your first movie? Or what was the first movie your kiddo saw in the theater? 

Try this. Seriously.

So here's the deal, folks. I'm still without power at my house. No air conditioning, no refrigerator, no hot showers, and no Internet. It's enough to make a girl cry, if I wasn't so worried about messing up my mascara. I'm joking, of course, it is nearly impossible to put makeup on in a dark bathroom. But I'm really hopeful that power will be back soon. So I can do the things I really and truly love like vacuum.

I've been feeling a bit off kilter with all of this going on. But that's not why I'm posting today. I just had to share a sensory activity that the little one and I tried. While I was at a big box store stocking up for this hurricane, I happened to wander down the artificial flower aisle. Immediately, I thought of Play at Home Mom when I saw these:

Water beads, of course! They are not just for your flower arrangements..... if you ever used them for that. I had never purchased them before this, but I am so glad I did. They came in a variety of colors and were super cheap. Three dollars! These are not recommended for consumption, so if your little wants to taste test everything, you might want to wait until they are a bit older to test these out. 

Also, if you are better prepared than I am, you will most likely read the directions before getting your kiddos all excited to play. In my ignorance, I incorrectly assumed that they would automatically grow the second you added the allotted amount of water. I was incorrect. They kind of just look like this for a long time.  

They need about six hours (or more) to reach their full potential. I let Logan swish them around a bit, and I'm guessing he would have been content just playing this way. But we were headed out, so I put this container out of the reach of my curious kitties and we went on our way.

When we came back, it was as if magic had happened. I added a bunch of containers and scoops and you know, stuff, and Logan jumped right in.

These beads can stain hands, if you are concerned about that sort of thing. They are also slippery, so be careful not to step on them if they accidentally make it to the floor. But, all of those things aside, I really recommend you try these out.

It is some serious fun.

Often, just trying them with your hands simply isn't enough.

And of course, once your standing in there, it only makes sense to try and sit in them.

Have you ever heard of water beads or had any playful experiences with them? I'd love to hear about it!

Edited: These water beads are a polymer that retain water. To learn more about these beads you can check out here:  www.waterbeads.net 

Also: Check out Play at Home Mom for even more ideas on water bead play! I love the light box idea!

Wordless Wednesday- Old School Kiddo

Irene

We have a hurricane coming our way. I hope everyone on the east coast of the US stays safe. They are predicting widespread power outages in my area. According to the recording that called me last night these outages may last a couple of days to a few weeks. Just wanted to give you guys a heads up just in case you notice me not posting for a bit. xoxo Justine

Butterfly release

For our butterfly unit, Logan and I raised caterpillars until they turned into butterflies. Once it was time to release them, my sweet little love bug was not too keen on the idea of letting them go. He'd look at me, his big brown eyes wide, and ask, "How about we keep them? They can be my pets." And as keen as I was on the idea of having bugs in my house, I knew that we couldn't possibly keep them for much longer. So, once I explained that they needed to go back home to their mommy, he seemed happy to lend a hand to his winged friends. 

Wordless Wednesday- Kite Flying

Leaf Prints

Guess what we found while playing outside Sunday? Fall colored leaves! It is clearly too early for this, right? Didn't summer just begin? I still have summer stuff to do! But while outside watering my roses, the little guy scooped up some yellow and beginning to turn red leaves. "I have a collection, Mama!" he exclaimed with delight. Of course when it was time to go in, he did not want to part with his colorful collection, so I let him tote them inside.

I knew this type of collection wouldn't last. It had happened all summer with his bouquets of flowers. He'd wake up one morning and they would be wilted and his little face would crumple with sadness. I figured we better have some fun with them while they lasted. I asked Logan if he wanted to paint them and of course he was completely enthusiastic about it. This kid loves paint. BIG TIME.

This is before I busted out our handy dandy cheapo table cloth to cover our dining room table.

But he reminded me that this was going to get messy.

He had a choice of a couple of colors. Of course pink was one of his choices,but it was really too light to yield any results. Logan painted the underside of the leaves that were all vein-y and had lots of texture.

Then he pressed them down onto paper.

Gently, he pulled them up to reveal what was underneath.

We did this a couple of times, and it seemed the ones with less paint were more easily visible. 

So I just had him press it down a couple of times, before covering them with more paint.

Do any of you have leaves changing color yet? What fun projects have you tried with leaves? In a couple of weeks, our yard will be covered with them, so I better start collecting ideas now!