Fun things to do with toddlers - A week of activities!

We've been busy!  it's been a fun and activity filled summer, here are some of the things we have been doing in a bumper week of fun toddler activities. 

Ice play - Way back in 2013 I put an ice cream container filled with water, stones, twigs and herbs into the freezer and there is sat for 12 loooong months until one hot and sunny day in August when I remembered it, got it out and smashed it to smithereens on the patio!

It looked beautiful, you could see through the ice to the objects within, suspended in frozen animation like a time capsule of the previous year.

Boris had a poke around with a trowel; this activity needs careful supervision to make sure shards or ice aren't flying near eyes. I helped him to smash it up to get the the objects inside. (I think I may have used a hammer)

Biscuit was intrigued as well and picking up the ice and pushed it around. The smell of the mint that was frozen inside was amazing!  I couldn't believe how well the sent was preserved in the ice, not only stimulating the sense of touch but also the sense of smell and taste!

A great thing to suck on on a hot day.

Do you have a back log of toddler activities?  Feel free to share a link in the comments, we can have a link party!

Planning for March

It's been a busy time for us recently, with Boris' birthday followed by Boris and Biscuit's Baptisms last week and the usual hecticness (is that a word?) that is involved with life and two small children so I am slow of the mark with March planning. Things have been stressful at times and I have wished I had more help at home so I could enjoy life more instead of always feeling rushed and like I am always doing chores.  As you know, being on top of things isn't one of my strongest points so although I am trying to be organised, recently things have got a bit overwhelming.  Hopefully you can forgive the tardiness of my March planning but here it is.  (As with February, some of these activities are carried over from last month because we didn't get time to do them.)

1. Post card shapes into a box,

2. Dance to music,

3. Draw with chalk on the patio,

4.Pancake day - Make and eat pancakes,

5.Colour pasta with food colouring and thread onto pipe cleaners,

6. World Book Day - visit library and borrow books,

7. National Doodle Day - Do some doodles!

8. Walk on the beach,

9. Visit Grandpa (or other elderly friend or relative)

10. Have a pillowcase sack race,

11. Make gel colour/glitter bags,

12. World Maths day - do counting activities,

13. Mothering Sunday - Spoil myself!

14. Pi Day - Eat Cherry Pie,

15. Have a daddy/son day,

16. Create an invitation to play with wooden peg people,

17. Play pairs with pairs cards,

18. Make sock puppets,

19. Do scratch board paintings (wax crayon covered with black paint mixed with washing up liquid)

20. World Day of Theatre for Children - do a puppet show,

21. International day of Forests and Trees - Go for a walk in the woods,

22. World water day - Do a water play activity,

23. World meteorological day - Do a weather related activity,

24. Bang on saucepans,

25. National agriculture day - spend time at the allotment, plant potatoes etc.

26. Potato printing,

27. Fly a kits,

28. Make a felt shape board,

29. Earth Hour/Natural baby festival in Oxford,

30. Make stars from tissue paper to stick on the window,

31. Paint a tree. 

So there you have it, there is March, hope you are all having a good one, spring is on it's way!

Valentines Toddler Activity

I was keen to get Boris involved in Valentines day this year so found a fun activity on Pinterest that I thought he would like, it took a bit of forward planning but I was pretty pleased with it.  It's a sort of Valentines heart lucky dip come family identification game.

I got photos of some members of our family printed then cut heart shapes round the faces and stuck them onto pink card.  I then followed the heart shape of the photo leaving about a cm gap all round.

I then cut a few more hearts out of the card with no photos on and chucked them all in a plastic box.

I added some faux rose petals that I bought off ebay and some heart shaped marshmallows for Boris to dig out and we were ready to go.

He had a good time looking through the photos and we went through naming them all and did this a few times on valentines day and the day after.  I then stuck the photos on the wall and my husband and Boris played with them, pulling them off, naming them, sticking them back on then putting them back in the box.

I think it was worth doing because it got Boris involved and was a fun game (although surprisingly he wasn't fussed by the heart shaped marshmallows).  I am trying to think what I can do with all the bits now, might make a little book with all the photos in it for Boris to identify.

I also made a Valentines day cake for my husband: