smashing homemade 'rocks'

Found this idea on Pintrest.

How to make smashable homemade 'rocks'

mix 1 cup flour with 1 cup of water, add food coloring, dip cotton balls and cotton rounds in it, place them on parchment paper and bake until hard (about 300* for 30-45 minutes.)

In the sensory bin are the 'rocks' and some tools.

this is what a broken one looks like. Both kids were surprised at what they found inside. The textures contrast nicely: hard and crunchy vs. soft and stringy

They're pretty hard to break, which make it more fun.

Lula got a real kick out of this activity

This is a fantastsic activity for toddlers. They get to destroy something! It does make a bit of a mess, but it can be vacuumed up easily. We played a game with the colors we made. I asked him to smash certain colors. He was learning and having a blast.

Road mat for hot wheels / matchbox cars

The base is 1.5 yards of 60" wide fabric. Features include: an island, a lake, a river, beach, bushes, race track, parking lot, farm, roads and a round-about, and I plan to add a landing strip some where. 

The lake and river are made of shiny fabric that looks like water. The roads and race track are gray canvas (gray felt would have worked much better because the edges wouldn't fray. Felt is also sold by the yard) The grassy areas are different textures and colors of green fabric. (Halloween is a good time to find fun textures of fabric.)

I very unscientifically cut out the pieces and sewed them in place.

I am not finished with this yet, but right now, the pieces are just zig zagged in place. I'm going to go over the edges of the road with a satin stitch or cover the edges with ribbon at some point. Like I said, felt would be ideal for the roads. The dashes on the roads are pieces of yellow ribbon attached by a continuous stitch.

Here's the beach. It's just tan felt stitched over the water and grass. The bush you see is made of strips of felt sewn in the middle. I added other bushes that are pom poms hand stitched in place.

The farm plots are squares of fabric zig zagged in place. The brown fur is really cool because it looks like plowed fields. I plan to add green ribbon pieces as plants and to frame each plot in green or brown ribbon to hide the edges.

Car wash

Water, sponges, a bulb syringe and cars. Lots of fun! West loves to clean anything so this is right up his alley. Lula loves water play. The sponges were especially fun for her.

Painters tape roads

Painters tape is perfect for making roads in your living room!

Kids will also have fun walking on the tape.

Make shapes, letters or pictures too.