jingle bell and ribbon bracelet / anklet

To make these I just measured a lenght (about7") of 1/8 inch elastic to fit easily around my children's wrists or ankles, threaded bells on and tied the ends together. The ribbons are sewed in groups of three (you could do more or less). I cut the ribbon in about 12" lenghts and folded them over the elastic and sewed them. I also sewed the tied ends of the elastic into one of the groups of ribbon to really secure it. The bells would be a choking hazard if they came off.

close up of how the ribbons are attached.

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.

Shaving cream paint

Just add some food colors to shaving cream and toss your kid in the tub!

Snow Painting

Classic.

Just add some food color and water to a squirt bottle.

We finally had a warm enough day to do this. West had a blast!

Treat trick for Lula

I found a slightly narrow mouthed container and just added some puffs to it. This is a great problem solving activity.

She couldn't quite reach inside...

Dumping works to get them out, she quickly discovered.

Lula enjoyed putting them back in the container and dumping them back out.

Food color and droppers

I saved the little food coloring droppers so West could play with them. I just added a little food coloring and water and let him squeeze out drops over some tissue paper. He really liked adding drops to a bowl of water so he could see the it change color too.

ice in the sensory table

Our fridge has an ice maker and it stores it a ton of ice in the freezer so all I had to do was dump it into the sensory table and add some toys. We did this in the shower stall to make clean up easier. All the ice melted and ran down the drain when we were done.

West enjoyed making me all kinds of tasty ice treats.

My DIY sensory table

I had a few options when it came to bases around my house (this stool, an old night stand, an old lego table.). It came down to what size bin I could find.  This old stool would be the perfect height. My husband cut a hole in the top so the bin rests in it perfectly. The bin is just sitting there so it can be removed and cleaned.

There it is.

Very simple and very cheap because my only cost was the bin. I really didn't like the stool as a stool, it was very uncomfortable.

The kids just love this, it's the perfect height for them to play in. We will be getting a lot of use out of this item.

More light box fun with tissue paper

I thought tissue paper would be fun on the light box too. But I used contact paper instead of the self laminating sheets. The tissue paper is just sandwitched between the contact paper then I cut out squares. The way they over lap and create new colors is really fun.