A special gift to the new addition

At some point, you may be wondering how to help your first child adjust to the idea of a new child coming along the way, or getting the older to do something nice for the younger. Here is an idea that will allow you to spend special time with the older child, while still doing something for the younger child. Let's take a 5 year old and a 2 year old for an example.

The point of this activity is to give the younger child a special ABC book that was made by the older child.

Buy a blank notebook for the 5 year old. Have an adult write each letter of the alphabet (one letter per page, or every 2 pages). Then, with the help of the 5 year old, think about what things start with each letter. For example, A is for apple, ape, antelope, avocado, etc.  You could also draw family members like Amy, or Aunt Agatha, or whatever it may be. Then draw the pictures on the correct page with the corresponding letters. When finished, have the 5 year old show the book to the 2 year old, and let them learn and study together. Your 5 year old will be proud of the book they made, and it will bring the two children together in a fun and learning environment.

You could also skip buying the notebook, and instead use large blank note cards, and then laminate (or use contact paper) them, whole punch them, and tie the cards together with ribbon or yarn.

Activity: All About Me

This is a fun activity that can help the children figure out their likes and dislikes, do a craft project that is centered around them, and learn to take the initiative with only a little help from an adult (in the form of cutting and gluing).

Here is what you need:

Magazines (particularly kids ones)
Old Catalogs (kid or toy centered)
Old books
Family pictures
Markers
Glue/paste
Colored paper
Scissor

Now you can let the children cut out the things that they like and glue them to pieces of paper. These papers will become a book, so you may want to cut them in half or in quarters first. As it looks like the kids are starting to finish up, serve some sort of healthy snack (you can find ideas here and here) and allow the glue to finish drying. once dry, staple the pages together and you have a book all about what your child likes and/or dislikes. As a genealogist, I think it would be awesome to do with every year close to the child's birthday. But of course what I wish I could do and what I actually do don't always seem to match up, but we shall see.

What do you think? Have you tried anything like this?

Make It Yourself: Finger Paint

Here are multiple different ways to make your own finger paint:

Cornstarch - Water - Glycerine
Mix 1/2 cup of cornstarch with 1/4 cup cold water until there are no lumps. Cook over low heat until it begins to boil. Remove from the heat and then add another 1/2 cup cold water and 1 TBSP of glycerine. Mix together and then add food coloring if you want. That's all it takes!

Cornstarch-Gelatin (You will need 2 small pots and one bowl to make this recipe)
In the first pot, mix 1/2 cup of cornstarch with 3/4 cup of cold water to a smooth paste in a saucepan. In a separate bowl, mix together 1 envelope of unflavored gelatin with 1/4 cup of water. In the second pot, bring  2 cups of water to a boil. once the water is boiling, add it to the first pot and stir as your pour. Bring it to a boil again, and the mixture is clear. Remove from the heat and add the gelatin mixture (from the bowl). Then just add food coloring if you want to, and let it cool!

Cornstarch - Basic
Mix together a 1/4 cup cornstarch, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 1/2 TBSP sugar, and 1 cup cold water in a pot. Cover and cook over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. The mixture starts out thin, but will thicken as it cooks. After it thickens, remove from heat and let it cool. Once it's cool, divide into small containers and add a few drops of food coloring. Now you are ready to paint!

Activity: Toilet paper tube slide

In our bedroom, I have a stack of empty toilet paper tubes that previous had no purpose. Well now they have a purpose! I'm going to have my husband Jacob design and build a toilet paper tube slide that the kids can drop ping pong balls (or anything smaller than that) into it, and watch them come down at the bottom. It's kind of like a  water slide, but with toilet paper tubes, indoor, and no water.
And if you have a child that really loves to build things (future engineer?), then they can help too!

Here's how it works:

Items needed:
Toilet paper tubes (or paper towel/wrapping paper tubes)
Scissors
Tape (something sturdy like duct tape)
Markers/crayons/etc.
Any other decorating materials (colored paper, stickers, etc.)
Ping Pong Balls

 

Figure out if you want an "open" tube where the kids can watch the ball the whole time, or a closed tube, where they will hear it rattling around. You will also need to figure out if you want it to have any twists or turns. Then begin taping it together, remembering that it will need to be taped to the fridge or something where the "top" of the tube slide starts. After it is decorated and assembled, you can then begin the fun by putting things down it. Be aware that if it is an open tube, it will be MUCH easier to keep things from getting stuck inside, whereas a closed tube you might have to take apart or put a stick or cooking utensil down it to dislodge objects.


Here is another idea for a "style"

 

Have you done anything like this with your kids? How did it go? Do you have any pictures?

Make it yourself: Table Top Easel

Photo courtesy of: http://playinghouseinmaryland.blogspot.com/2012/06/diy-tabletop-art-easel.html

Instead of buying an easel at the store for more money than you would like, why not make your own? Here's how:

Find a sturdy box and cut out one entire side. Tape the remaining 3 sides together, forming a triangle. It might help if you then taped the box on it's side to the table so it doesn't slid around. Then you just need to tape paper to the front of it for the child to draw/paint on.

Activity: Imaginary friend

Let you child create imaginary creatures using paper cups and art supplies. Here's how it works:

Photo courtesy of: www.mpmschoolsupplies.com

Cut out a small circle on the side of the cup (big enough for your finger to fit partially through (to make a nose)). Then let the child draw on the eyes, ears, hair, mouth, etc. Now you can turn the cup into a puppet by putting your finger through the hole for the nose, and making it talk. For older kids, you could have them make the same creatures, but then have them help the little kids put on a puppet show. As far as decorating materials go, you can use pens, markers, crayons, colored pencils, glitter, yarn (for the hair), pipe cleaners (hair or arms, legs, etc). Pretty much the sky is the limit. If you have extra scraps of fabric, you can let the kids make clothes. But of course, the difficulty of the activity will be based on the child's age and understanding.

This photo courtesy of: http://seewhatwedidtoday.blogspot.com/2012_07_01_archive.html

Have you ever created imaginary creatures using sups? Something else?

Photo courtesy of: http://tangrila.blogspot.com/2012/07/halloween-paper-cup-spider-craft.html?m=0

Shaving Cream Art

I've been hearing from a lot of moms lately about "painting" without actually using any paint. It has been suggested that I use jello, pudding, water, soap, shaving cream, and other materials. In an effort to use what I already had at home, we opted this time to use shaving cream as our medium. Here's how it all went down:

Items needed:
Shaving cream (the cheap stuff would be great for this project)
Cookie sheets or 9x13 pans
Any small toys that you want to have the kids "search for"

Participants:
1 almost 5 year old (cousin)
1 just turned 2 year old (cousin)
1 20 month old (Mia)

Messiness/Clean-up?
Super easy to clean up. It can get a little messy though, so I would suggest having towels nearby and perhaps putting a plastic table cloth on the table.

I started by adding shaving cream and Cheerios for texture. You could of course add toys or something else to it.

I had to practically shove Mia's hands into the shaving cream. As you can tell by her face, she didn't like it.  Maybe it was because she had just woken up from a nap and was unusually grumpy.

This is Mia's 2 year old cousin Jenna. Apparently, Jenna didn't like this activity the first few times she did it either. But now she loves it!

In fact, she loves it so much that she gave her "baby" a bath in shaving cream.

This is Mia's almost 5 year old cousin, Brooklyn. Shaving Cream Art happens to be one of Brooklyn's favorite activities.

I definitely plan to try this activity again, but this time I will do it when Mia is in a better mood.

Have any of you ever tried an activity like this? Did you use Shaving Cream or something else? How did it go? What suggestions or tips do you have?