How We Play Wednesdays

Take one Christmas present. Add water. Wait about an hour. Play a couple rounds of new board games. Check and find: jellystones.

Add one kid, and have loads of squishy, sensory fun!

Reindeer Craft

Ever since my kiddo was teeny tiny, I have been making these reindeer crafts. His foot is used for the head and his hands for the antlers. I write the year on the back. We hang them on his bedroom door for decoration. It is neat to see how much he grows every year.

I love that this is a quick and easy craft that helps celebrate Christmas! 

Christmas Sensory Bin

Christmas is my most favorite holiday. To help Logan get into the holiday spirit, I created a Christmas sensory bin for him to play with. I have been able to get quite a bit of mileage out of this bin. The first week I just presented him with the red and green rice along with different types of scoops, funnels, and cupcake tins. He had a great time just running his hands through it and playing with the different sized funnels, which are new to our sensory play. 

Once the novelty started to wear off and the bin wasn't getting as much use, I added in some new, interesting items. Suddenly, the old was new again! In this bin, I added glittery tree table scatter, pom poms, tiny spiky balls, pretend candy canes, plastic ice cubes, and a wind up penguin. I had everything on hand, or I purchased it at the dollar store.

Logan enjoyed sorting the items and then played with them another way by creating a small world for his penguin. "I'm making a ice home for the penguin. The trees will be the forest. He is going to find the perfect one for his Christmas tree," he tells me. Soon, the funnel is a "dark mountain" and the pom poms become the penguin's "fish shaped house." 

I have a lid for this bin and it makes it easy to store under a bed and out of sight when not in use. I pull it out occasionally during play time to give Logan the option to play with it through out the day. I will separate the items and store them once I decide to create a new one. I'm thinking something involving "snow" for January!

How We Play Wednesdays

My kiddo adores little figurines. One of his favorite things to do is combine them all in different ways. Here he uses his Littlest Pet Shop and Playmobil toys to play in a completely different way than the toy was intended.

Sparkle Bath Paint

There are some days that my little guy is reluctant to take a bath. These days usually coincide with days when he is wearing a Band-aid that he really likes. I explain to him that I will put a new one on after bath time, but he loves that particular band-aid and "will miss it too much." So on those days, I have to find something to make taking a bath more alluring. Bath Activities for Kids, Santa Sparkle Paint did just the trick. In my house, when you add glitter to anything it suddenly makes it a thousand times more amazing. This was no exception.

I simply whipped up some homemade bath paint and dumped an outrageous amount of silver and green glitter into it. 

Logan covered almost all the surfaces of the tub with this paint. I had planned to rinse the paint off after his normal bath like we usually do, but he had other plans. He would paint a surface and then dump water over it to wash it off, and then he would squeal with delight as it mixed with the water in his bath. 

You can't see it from this picture, but it really sparkled! Once we washed the paint and glitter down the drain, he rinsed off in a nice bubbly bath. Mission Complete! Band-aid: Forgotten. 

How We Play Wednesdays

I'm starting an all new Wednesday post called "How We Play Wednesdays." It is simply a glimpse into our daily life, and the different ways my little guy plays during the week. 

Bath stickers stick to kids too. 

North Pole Breakfast 2012

Our family welcomed our elf back this week. This is the second year that Mickey came to visit us from the North Pole. To celebrate his arrival, we had a North Pole Breakfast. Last year our elf, which was given the nickname Mickey by our clubhouse loving little guy. His arrival was quite a treat, as were the sweet treats he brought with him! Logan was very excited, to find this little surprise waiting for him when he woke up. He couldn't wait to look at Mickey, read the story, and snack on some donuts. 

This sweet little tradition is one I hope he will look forward to for many years to come!