Artsy Play Wednesday {10/16} - Top 10 Sensory Activities for Toddlers + Linky

Hosted by:   Capri + 3   Multi-Testing Mommy   Shannon’s View From Here   Baby Giveaways Galore  

Welcome to Artsy Play Wednesday! Each week, one of the host blogs (listed above) or a guest shares an arts, crafts or play activity along with an ongoing linky list of reader-submitted ideas which you'll find below. 

Manager to Mom been selected as this week's guest blog with one of my most popular posts from earlier this year: Top 10 Sensory Activities for Toddlers. If you missed it then, be sure to check it out now! These hands-on activities absolutely thrilled my 2-year-old daughter, immersing her in imaginative sensory play for (in some cases) over an hour at a time.

Here is the linky and your chance to join in and share your own children's arts, crafts and play posts. Every week 5 different craft activities from the linky will be pinned to the Artsy Play Wednesday Pinterest Board (with over 1400 followers).

Link up as many kids' crafts as you want, old or new.

PLEASE DO NOT LINK UP RECIPES unless they are made by kids.

By submitting your link and image in this linky, you are giving us permission to use and share your photo (with a link back to your post) in upcoming round-up posts on our blog.

If you are linking up today, please consider copying the following code below onto your linked up post:

   <center> This post was linked up on:<br /> <a href="http://www.multitestingmommy.com" title="Artsy Play Wednesday hosted by Multiples Mom, Multi-Testing Mommy, Shannon's View From Here and Baby Giveaways Galore" target="new"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8tvoKGmrOWyY82OIrykFkPABhpEJsNMl5f7PYKVH3P3KckaYlASlQEusO7h9xKzPE6MptjiHauFt7bly9nLPiBSMgiNbw4x2tPIfdVleA-XsxIrV0ALfknVnyrGSPyJFwmrZo30UOUazC/s400/Artsy+Play+Wednesday+with+sun+and+less+butterflies.png" alt title="Artsy Play Wednesday" width="150" height="150" /></a> Hosted by <a href="http://www.multiples-mom.com">Multiples-Mom</a>, <a href="http://www.multitestingmommy.com">Multi-Testing Mommy</a>, <a href="http://www.shannonsviewfromhere.com/">Shannon’s View From Here</a>, <a href="http://www.babygiveawaysgalore.com/">Baby Giveaways Galore</a></center>

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Big thanks to all the APW hosts for this guest host opportunity at M2M!

"Painting" the Deck with Water: Super-Simple Outdoor Toddler Fun!

On Day 3 of our 30-Day Outdoor Play Challenge, I stumbled upon an activity that was dirt-easy to set up, mess-free and totally immersed our 2 1/2 year old daughter S for a good 15-20 minutes. Plus, it got her practicing a valuable skill that could come in handy a few years down the road! ;)

"Painting" the Deck with Water!

Materials:
- Container filled with water
- Paintbrush(es) (You could provide a few of different sizes)
- Deck! (Or, in lieu of this, a patio, fence, etc.)

Steps:
- Place toddler, container filled with water and paintbrush(es) on deck.
- Observe! (You may need to remind toddler to periodically re-dip brush.)

This activity evolved out of a different one involving jumbo marshmallows in a tub of water. Surprisingly, my daughter grew bored of the marshmallows quickly and started spritzing the water onto the deck with her hands. Hooking her up with a chunky paintbrush was the logical next step!

She proceeded to "paint" lines, zigzags, big wet splotches and other shapes, chatting to herself almost the whole time. She had so much fun (and it was such a no-brainer to set up) that we repeated it tonight!

** Update **  It's 2 days later, and S has now requested to "paint" the deck for 4 straight days! (And probably counting.) We had to turn her down this morning as it was about to rain. Yesterday I gave her a small dish sponge which allowed her to paint chunkier sections at once, and a finer brush for more detailed designs. It's official - this is a Must Do activity for every parent out there with a toddler!!


So tell me - what easy & fun outdoor activities do your own kids enjoy?

30-Day Outdoor Play Challenge! #opchallenge

Back in February, I issued a Creative Kid Challenge which involved doing a different creative craft or activity with one or more children for 30-days straight. I took this up with my (then) 26-month-old daughter, and we had a blast! I ended up writing a blog post on the top 10 sensory activities we tried out.

Now that the weather is warm (for the most part!) my daughter's outside a lot. Hubby put together a "fun center" for her in our backyard comprised of a sandbox, play house, slide/swing combo and other toys, and she loves it! However, she often ends up playing alone with me on the sidelines feeling I should get in there and play directly with her, but not quite sure where to start. As such, I took to Pinterest (which originally inspired our #ckchallenge) to gather ideas for creative outdoor play. As expected, my search turned up all kinds of goodness which prompted me to take up (and issue, for anyone else who's interested) a new challenge - a different outdoor play activity every day for 30 days!

The rules I'll be attempting to follow are similar to my Creative Kid Challenge with a few amendments:

• Each day of the challenge must have a different activity
• All activities must be enjoyed outside, unless the weather sucks in which case an indoor activity can be substituted.
• A maximum of 5 activities can be familiar (i.e. ones we have tried out before)
• Activities must allow my child to participate directly
• Activities must be safe and use non-toxic materials
• Hubby (or another family member) can sub in if/when it becomes too difficult for me to participate directly (e.g. if our son's having a particularly rough day)

Now here's the thing - warmer weather invariably brings bbqs, festivals, parties and other events, so in practice I'm not sure we'll be able to complete the challenge perfectly. That would be awesome, though if we can get to 25+ I'll consider that a success. :) We'll be starting our challenge tomorrow so it'll end on June 25th. If you want to participate too, you can start at any time!

Like I did last time, I will share each day's activity on FB and Twitter (using the hashtag #opchallenge), and blog about our favourite activities when the challenge is over! Also, I will be continuously adding to my Outdoor Toddler Activities Pinterest board as we go along!

So who's going to embark on this challenge with me?

30-Day Creative Kid Challenge! #ckchallenge

With another month or two of cold weather still on deck, I've been gathering ideas for fun crafts and activities I can share with my 26-month-old daughter S. She's at such a wonderful age for learning, exploring and experimenting and the last thing I want her to feel is bored and unstimulated during the long hours we're spending indoors! (As a fringe benefit, this may also dissuade her from laying the smack down on her baby brother ;) )

I've already uncovered a bunch of cool projects to try with her, from homemade lava lamps to bath tub science and I'm sure I've just scratched the surface, as Pinterest is proving to be a goldmine for creative kid awesomeness! All this has motivated me to challenge myself and try out a new creative craft or activity with S each day for 30 days straight.

Here are the rules I'm following for this challenge!

• Each day of the challenge must have a different craft/activity
• A maximum of 5 activities can be familiar (i.e. ones I have tried out before)
• Activities must allow the child to participate directly
• Activities must be safe and use non-toxic materials
• Activities must involve creativity beyond simply using a commercial product as designed. For example, putting together a beaded jewelry box using a beaded jewelry box construction kit doesn't count! That said, commercial products can be used to supplement a more involved creative activity (e.g. Playdoh).  

I will share each day's activity on FB and Twitter (using the hashtag #ckchallenge), and blog about our experience when the challenge is over! Also, I will be continuously adding to my Creative Toddler Activities Pinterest board to fuel my inspiration! :)

Who's up for taking the 30-Day Creative Kid Challenge with me? Do you have any suggestions for toddler-friendly crafts or activities that would be fun to include?

(Note: I will be starting this challenge today (February 12) however feel free to start whenever this works for you!)

Sprouting Seeds with the Kids {Guest Post}

By: Jakob Barry

Sprouting seeds with our kids is an amazing opportunity to not only bond with them but teach a few things about the world without getting too much into the nitty-gritty. After all, there are so many lessons a child can learn from cultivating a plant, watching it grow, and enjoying its fruit. It's an experience which can positively affect them for years to come.

That's because the excitement generated when a little green stem pops through soil and grows is lasting, even when it doesn't always work out. Then, when it matures into a plant and bears fruit or flowers it's a rewarding feeling for everyone involved.

If venturing into the world of sprouting with young ones interests you, here are a few things to consider before getting started.

• Start small - As with most new experiences it's always good to start small, even if only one seedling is on the agenda. That way neither you nor the child is overwhelmed with the simple task at hand: keeping it alive.
  
• Time and space requirements - Next, consider the time it will take to grow certain plants and which are best suited for the task. For example, you don’t want to start with something like watermelon which will need a lot of space and takes months to bear a mature fruit, but you do want something that is (ideally) edible and matures steadily. Radishes, which grow quickly, are a good place to begin. You may also consider herbs like dill, basil, or parsley which are edible and have the added enjoyment of stimulating the sense of smell more deeply.

• Good placement - Whether the plant is kept inside or placed outdoors, make sure it gets plenty of sunlight though not so much that it will dry out. Consider keeping it in an appropriate spot in your child's room as this allows it to be observed and nurtured more easily by your son or daughter. Just make sure to put something under the pot if you keep it indoors to prevent water from leaking out the bottom and potentially damaging a window sill, flooring or other surface.

• Watering schedule - Wherever the plant sits, make sure to put it on a watering schedule that includes the parents so they can keep an eye on it as kids may not recognize if it's in distress or needs better surroundings. Also, making this a joint venture allows kids to take on responsibility for its care a little at a time.

• Materials - Because this is a small scale project, you'll only need a few things such as seeds, some earth, a starting pot and a few small pots if you want to transplant seedlings. The amazing thing is that besides the seeds, everything else can be found around the house. A few scoops of earth can be taken from the yard and empty containers from milk or juice can be repurposed into pots. That being the case, this is a great project which has little cost and reaps many rewards.

Jakob Barry is a home improvement journalist for Networx.com. He blogs for pros across the U.S. like Atlanta, GA, flooring contractors.