Category Archives: Kid’s Corner

Paint Stamps

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I attempt to entertain Reagan’s requests to do various activities.  Lately, she has been asking to paint…’I paint’.  I’ve said this multiple times, but I really do need to get my butt in gear and get a variety of colors for my daughter to work with.  Blue and pink, although lovely, are getting a bit old.

Instead of pulling out the paint brushes, I decided that we would do some stamp painting with an apple, which turned into stamp painting with a potato, animal crackers and pretzels.  Who would have thought that food could be so much fun to paint with!  Our project got cut short, when daddy started watching a motorcycle race on the computer.  I was left high and dry by my 18 month old for her daddy and motorcycles… whatever floats her boat!

Materials:

The potato, animal crackers and pretzels were afterthoughts, so they aren’t pictured with materials.
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Paper

Knife

Paint- in our case…washable

Plate- or paint dish

Apple

Potato

Animal Crackers

Pretzels

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Reagan and I talked about the color of the outside of the apple and the various colors on the inside of the apple.  We talked about the stem and the seeds and how apple trees grow from apple seeds!  I then attempted to sing her the Johhny Apple Seed Song, which I butchered, thank god for youtube!  The apple that I used was small, so Reagan was able to hold the cut half in her hand.  I showed Reagan what to do and off she went!

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Earlier that day, I pulled out a bag of 6 or 7 potatoes that I had completely forgot about that needed to be trashed.  I brought one over to the table and talked to Reagan about why we couldn’t/shouldn’t eat the potato anymore.  I cut out different shapes and designs on various potato pieces to be used as stamps.

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Reagan spotted a few pieces of her left over snack on the table and asked to paint with them…’I paint pretzel and manimals’. So we painted with pretzels and animals!

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Reagan painted for about 20 minutes before she quickly moved to her daddy’s lap to watch motorcycle racing… a girl after her dads heart!

IMG_9214Excuse the random pizza slice…whatever it takes for Reagan to eat, even if it is while painting!

Lonely Toys

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Instead of continually buying new toys, try putting toys that haven’t been played with in a while away for a few weeks. When you pull them back out…it’s like you purchased a new toy!  I’ve been ‘rotating’ toys for a while now and it’s worked out really well thus far.  Reagan hadn’t played with her Melissa and Doug dollhouse in weeks. I put it away for two weeks and when she came downstairs the other day, she was in love with it all over again! Mind you, this only works for so long…buying new toys is inevitable.

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Chalk Paint!

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It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood and I’m so lucky that Reagan LOVES to play outside! I have been eyeing various chalk paint pins on Pinterest and knew that Reagan would be head over heels in love with the idea of being able to paint the driveway! Today seemed like the perfect day to DIY some chalk paint and let Reagan display her artistic talents in a new and exciting way!

We headed to the dollar store to grab some paint brushes and a muffin tin. Pinterest suggested using a muffin tin to hold the paint. We ended up leaving with a coloring book, hot pink plastic plates, a neon yellow bucket, two plastic pink veggie trays, a ball- Reagan is just a bit obsessed with balls at the moment-, foam paint brushes and larger bristle paint brushes. I don’t think that there is a person in this world that can go into the dollar store and not find more than one piece of crap to buy. I bought multiple brushes and two veggie trays, to use instead of muffin tins, in hopes that some of the neighborhood kids would be outside and we could invited them over to play.

The chalk is super easy to make and came off of our clothes rather easily. I would still recommend wearing clothes that you don’t mind ruining, just incase. Reagan participated from start to finish with this project and really seemed to enjoy it. Unfortunately, the actual painting part of the activity didn’t really hold her attention for as long as I had hoped. You see, the chalk paint, when first painted onto the driveway was super light and got darker over time as it dried. This isn’t the best process for an 18 month old that is looking for instant gratification.

After about ten minutes of painting, Reagan ended up collecting rocks in a sand bucket and dipping them into different paint colors. I was ecstatic that Reagan, independently, thought up this extension to the activity that I introduced. She took what she knew about the paints and used the knowledge she had to create something new and different! Woot! Woot!

We cleaned up by washing out tools under the outdoor faucet.

Ingredients
(I tripled this recipe)
1/4 cup corn starch
1/4 cup water
food coloring

Materials
paint brushes
veggie tray, muffin tin, something to hold the paint
Spoon
Medium sized bowl

Mix corn starch and water together until there are no lumps.

Pour into veggie tray spaces.

Add food coloring and stir.

Paint…or dip rocks, whatever works!


This is what we saw looking out Reagan’s bedroom window before nap time!

Envelopes with Love

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Reagan took one of her paintings that she made last week off of the fridge, held it up to me and said ‘paint mama paint’. Seriously, could she get any cuter? Without hesitation we headed to the basement and grabbed the needed materials. While setting up, I noticed the white envelopes that I had pulled out the night before to mail a letter to my cousin in Canada. What better way to show a little love to our favorite out-of-towners than custom made envelopes. As usual, I allowed Reagan to go to town and be as creative as she wanted. We talked about who we were going to send each envelope to and what we would put inside. This was a fantastic way to practice the names of the ones we love:)

Materials
envelopes
paint
paint brushes
dish for paint (we used a tupperware container because they’re easy to clean)
something to protect the surface of your table (we have a cardboard mat that we use)

Project is self explanatory. Allow your child to paint the envelopes one at a time. Allow to dry for at least an hour. Use a black Sharpie marker to address the envelope. IMG_4344

Play-Doh!

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I love to have play-doh in the house that’s homemade and that I know is harmless if Reagan (when Reagan) puts it in her mouth. I don’t really understand the fascination with eating play dough. I remember the first time that I made it a few months back my husband told me that he remembers eating it as a child and how good it tasted. And then our neighbor said that her and her friends would eat it for a snack…Ummm- gross. When my husband was home one afternoon when Reagan was play-dohing, he watched her lick the play dough and he proceeded to say ‘yummy, yummy’ to her- of course he did- and now every time she plays with play-doh, she licks it and says ‘yummy, yummy’- thank you, dear husband of mine. Just wait till she starts preschool in September and she’s yummy, yummying their play-doh- how embarrassing that will be.

Today I made 3x’s the batch. There are a few of Reagan’s friends that we will be seeing tomorrow and we wanted to bring them some play-doh!


Ingredients

plain white flour – 1 cup
salt – 0.5 cups
cream of tartar – 2 tsp (you can substitute 2 tbsp of baking soda)
water – 1 cup
cooking oil – 1 tsp (if you use baking soda, add 1 tbsp of oil instead of 1 tsp)
food coloring

Combine all ingredients into large bowl.

The more food coloring you add, the darker your play-doh color will be.

Stir ingredients until smooth.

Pour the mixture into a pan and bring to a boil over medium heat- stirring continuously.

Stir until play-doh bunches up to form a ball. I’ve found that it’s easiest, at least for me, to use a spatula to begin stirring and then once the play-doh begins to get thicker, switch to a wooden spoon. My arm is exhausted after this part.

Remove from pan, place on a sheet of wax paper and allow the play-doh to cool

Knead for a few minutes until smooth.

Store in airtight container- we use plastic tupperware.

If I had to take a guess, I would say that Reagan plays with her play-doh about 5 days a week. I made a batch 2 months ago and it’s still smooth and good as new.

Enjoy!