Going to the Beach

We’re not really going to the beach but I am doing several beach themed activities with Hailey this week. I had wanted to post this yesterday but for some reason I couldn’t upload any pictures last night. Rich has it all fixed up for me now though, so I’m back in business!

The first beach related activity I did was show Hailey what a beach would be like.

I have just a simple Rubbermaid container that can be filled with sand or water (or any kind of sensory tub activity). It’s a lot cheaper than buying a sand/water table and it works just great. When we’re done I can just put the top on it and put it away. So, here is it with some damp sand and sea shells.

I hid the sea shells in the sand and let Hailey find them. At first I made it very obvious where the sea shells were so that she would understand what we were looking for. Then I actually hid them and she had to dig to find them.

Then we built a sand castle.

I dug out an H in the sand and then had Hailey fill it with sea shells.

When we came inside we sat on a beach towel and read some books. Hailey had an absolute blast.

That was our first day of beach activities. Be sure to come back to see the other beach related activities that we are doing this week.

Tags: beach activity, beach craft, Toddler and Preschool Activities

Fireworks Craft

I had this fabulous idea to do a fireworks craft with Hailey today. I have done this project with older kids, but never a 20 month old. I figured I’d give it a try and go with whatever ended up happening.

What You’ll Need:

• White paper
• Red and blue paint
• Straws
• Newspaper to protect your table

Directions:

Put a small amount of paint on the paper in a couple of different spots. Then blow through the straws on the paint to create the fireworks look. You can poke a few small holes in the straw to prevent the child from sucking the paint up.

I did have one problem- I only had finger paint which was kind of thick so it was hard even for me to blow on the paint to create the splatter look. The next time we do something like this I will use regular paint and water it down. Or, another option is to use water colored with food coloring.

But, Hailey had a blast and that is all that matters.

Getting started

Blowing through the straws didn’t work, so Hailey painted with the straws instead. It kind of looks like fireworks in this picture.

And soon she was finger painting.

The finished “fireworks” picture. Which doesn’t look anything like fireworks- but Hailey and I both had fun making it.

Have a happy and safe 4th of July!

Tags: 4th of July Craft, Toddler and Preschool Activities

4th of July Collage

So you might have started to wonder where I have been. Or maybe not. Either way, here I am posting a cute and easy 4th of July collage.

What you’ll need:

• Red, white and blue paper
• glue
• Cut some various shapes and sizes cut out of the red, white and blue paper.

I pre-cut some stars and some different sizes and shapes of paper using decorative scissors.  Then Hailey enjoyed gluing the pieces on to her paper.

The finished collage.

Tags: 4th of July Craft, Toddler and Preschool Activities