Growing A Jeweled Rose

Erupting Watermelon Heads

GLOWING Ice

Other Activities in the

Summer Sensory Play Series

More fun is on the way, too!

Play Recipes- Homemade Bounce Balls

2013-05-16T16:25:00.003-04:00

Some of you may be familiar with the creative glowing RAINBOW activities and play recipes we have shared over the last few months. Some of my favorites have been glowing rainbow eruptions, glowing rainbow water beads, and glowing rainbow rice. Today, we are adding a simple and fun play recipe to the glowing RAINBOW collection.

How to Make Glowing RAINBOW Bounce Balls

A Play Recipe from Growing a Jeweled Rose

Making glowing RAINBOW Bounce Balls is a simple activity, and my girls had a lot of fun testing them out on varying surfaces. We made our bounce balls almost the same way we made glowing RAINBOW slime. The play recipe and material produced are very similar. I used this bounce ball recipe, and tweaked it to make GLOWING bounce balls.

To make Glowing RAINBOW Bounce Balls you will need to first make 6 separate balls, one in each color of the rainbow. Yes, I know there are 7 colors in the rainbow, but purple glow paint isn't very vibrant so we skipped it this time.

To Make Each Ball you will need:
(affiliate links provided)

1/2 Tsp of Borax
4 Tbsp of Corn Starch
4 Tbsp of warm water

Combine in a small bowl, mixing until all ingredients are dissolved

In a separate Bowl Combine:

1 Tbsp white glue
1 Tsp Fluorescent or Glow in the Dark Paint

Mix well until the paint is completely blended into the glue. If you have homemade glow in the dark glue on hand you can also use that and skip the mixing.

Once the ingredients of both bowls are well mixed, combine the two bowls. Allow the ingredients to react by themselves for a minute before stirring them. As you stir a sticky hard, slimy material will form.

Take the material, and continue to work it with your hands, rolling and shaping it into a ball

As you roll the material, it will lose it's sliminess and become dry and rather hard, yet still moldable

Once you have formed 6 separate balls, break them apart. We broke each ball into 6 pieces to make 6 RAINBOW bounce balls

Take the 6 pieces and work the varying colors together. We stretched and pulled them into a RAINBOW before rolling them together to form our bouncing balls. The stretching and pulling was very FUN!

Once our balls were made the girls had lots of fun experimenting to see what surfaces the balls bounced best from.

Notes about the bouncing balls:

The material of the bouncing balls is very similar to slime only thicker. The balls lose their shape if left to sit.
Placing your bounce ball material in the refrigerator before playing helps the balls to hold their shape longer.
These balls are different from store bought bouncing balls. They do not bounce nearly as high nor do they bounce on all surfaces, but a big part of the fun is the experience of making the balls.
When play time is over you can store your bounce ball material in a zip-lock bag in the fridge for future play. Next time you are ready to play just pull out the material and and re-form it to make bounce balls
The bounce ball material is also fun to play with in other ways. It is essentially a thick slime which is often referred to as silly putty. It can be used as a sensory material in it's own right, and GLOWS BRIGHTLY which is always a hit with kids.
Adults should handle the borax and/or closely supervise older children. Borax is not meant for consumption and should be kept out of the reach of small children who may be tempted to taste. The same rule applies to the borax bounce ball material. Please use your own judgement to determine if this activity is suitable for your child.

Other Glowing Activities you might Enjoy:

Glowing Water

Glowing Rainbow Water

Glowing Water Beads

Glowing Rainbow Water Beads

How to Make Glowing Jello

Glowing Rainbow Rice Sensory Play

Glowing Rainbow Eruptions

For even more GLOWING Fun check out:

Our Glowing Play Collection

Amazon.com Widgets

5 Summer Activities Kids LOVE!

2013-05-14T16:00:00.001-04:00

Hello and Happy Tuesday!

This week on Tuesday Tots I am featuring 5 Summer FUN Activities kids are sure to LOVE!

Super Summer Fun

Water Tic-Tac-Toe Blog Me Mom

Super Fun Outdoor Balloon Games with a Splash Train Up a Child

Ice Boats on a Tin Foil River Reading Confetti

Fizzy Water Table Fun & TONS more ideas for Water Table Play My Nearest and Dearest

Water Blob We Made That

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For TONS more SUMMER Fun Check out
our Summer Bucket List of FUN!

A special thanks to this weeks features for sharing your Summer FUN Ideas with Tuesday Tots!

Summer Fun- Magic Treasure Ice

2013-05-13T18:46:00.000-04:00

It was another beautiful and HOT day here in Maryland yesterday, and we had lots of fun keeping cool with more Summer sensory play. If you have missed any of the FUN Summer play activities we have been sharing as part of our Summer Play Series, be sure to check the list at the end of today's post. Today, we are excited to share a Super Summer FUN activity using ice- not just any ice either but MAGIC ICE!

Summer Fun with MAGIC Ice

Making MAGIC ice is simple, frugal, and TONS OF FUN for kids! You can make regular magic ice or Magic Treasure Ice. We made some of both, and found all sorts of ways to play.

To make Magic Ice & Treasure Ice you will need:

Baking Soda
Water
Ice Trays or similar for freezing
Food coloring if color is desired
Vinegar
Optional- treasures or toys to make magic treasure ice (similar to our treasure rocks)

We used an ice tray to make our magic ice and larger plastic cups to make the treasure ice. Any container that can be used for freezing will work. In your container, mix one part baking soda with one part water. Stir until the baking soda is dissolved Add a few drops of food coloring if color is desired. Freeze for four or more hours, and then the Summer FUN can begin!

To make the MAGIC Treasure Ice just hide treasures and toys in your mixture before freezing. We hid gems and pirate treasures in some of ours. This is very similar to how we made Magic Treasure Rocks only using more water and then freezing.

Rosie had tons of FUN exploring with the magic ERUPTING ice

Ice is such a great way for kids to keep cool while playing in the Summer, and making it MAGIC adds a whole new element of FUN !

Rosie loved pouring the vinegar over the MAGIC ice to make it erupt

The eruptions were cool in that they were slow moving and longer lasting, I guess because of the temperature

Rosie asked for powdered tempera and it added a truly magical element to our play. I loved the bursting eruptions of color the tempera created!

Getting the treasures out of the ice was lots of fun too of course! We hid the treasures in larger magic ice pieces, so it took lots of play to get the treasures free. This really extended our normal magic treasure rock play.

Another way we had fun with our MAGIC ice was by painting with it!

Beautiful works of erupting art were the result

We couldn't keep the art after, but it sure was lots of FUN!

MAGIC Ice and Treasure Ice
Sweet Summer Fun

Other Activities you might Enjoy:
Ice & Water Sensory Play
Painting with Ice
Magic Treasure Rocks
Summer Bucket List of Fun

The other Activities in this Series:

Erupting Watermelon Heads

Play Recipe- Freezy GOO

2013-05-12T14:22:00.002-04:00

Today we are continuing with our Summer Sensory Play series, and we have been having so much fun. So far in this series we have made an amazing frozen dough that melts, made freezy paints, had fun exploring Science with silly erupting watermelon heads, and played with Summer snow. Today I am super excited to share an amazing freezy GOO play recipe!

FREEZY GOO Play Recipe

I didn't think it was possible to make goop any cooler, but this activity does exactly that, pun intended. Making FREEZY Goo couldn't be easier and my kids had such a blast!

To make FREEZY Goo you will need:

Cornstarch
Water
Food coloring if color is desired
Ice cube trays or similar for freezing
Freezer space
Optional- add baking soda to your play and make ERUPTING FREEZY Goo
Optional- water for faster melting and extended play (read below)

First, make goop like normal. If you are unfamiliar with how to make GOOP you can read about it in full detail here. Basically, you just slowly add water to cornstarch until you have the right consistency. GOOP is amazing in that it is both a solid and a liquid, and acts as both interchangeably. If you handle it quickly you can pick it up, but then it quickly transforms to a liquid goo in your hands.

Once you have your goop prepared, pour it into ice cube trays or similar. Then, pop it in the freezer. Once frozen, pull your FREEZY Goo out, and play can begin. We used neon food coloring to make vibrant colored FREEZY Goo.

I swirled the colors a bit when making the FREZZY GOO- to do this just drizzle a bit of varying colored goos over your filled tray of goo before freezing.

FREEZY GOO is amazing!!!

It feels just like ice, but as kids play it SLOWLY turns to goop right in your hand.

It is really hard to describe just how cool this stuff is. You really must just try it to see. It melts VERY SLOWLY, and transforms into an icy cold goo that is irresistible to play with.

As you play the colors swirl and blend - it is truly BEAUTIFUL

We added water to our play, and Rosie loved this more than the FREEZY Goo by itself. The water helped the goo transform faster.

We also painted with our FREEZY GOO. It makes a fabulous FREEZY Paint

For our play I made one tray of regular FREEZY Goo, and one tray of ERUPTING FREEZY Goo. To make ERUPTING FREEZY Goo just add baking soda when making your goop. You want enough baking soda to make the goop react to vinegar and enough cornstarch to still have the GOOP texture.

Rosie LOVED the ERUPTING Goo most of all

It was truly beautiful, and playing with ERUPTING Frozen goo in your hands is just so FUN!

After all the fizzing stopped the girls wanted more so we added baking soda to extend our play

The girls played until all that was left was a bunch of mucky water.

This activity seriously kept us busy all morning, and it is so frugal, too

FREEZY Goo- such a FUN way to keep cool this Summer!

You should also try GOOP & Ice which was also lots of fun!

You know the saying, Great minds think alike? Well, it couldn't be more true! My friend Asia of Fun at Home with Kids also had the great idea to freeze GOOP for play. You must pop over and see what she came up with! SO FUN!

Chilly Ice Cream GOO

For lots more GOOP play ideas check out our GOOP Play Collection

For more FIZZING Fun check out our Baking Soda and Vinegar Collection

The other activities shared in this series:

Summer Snow

Freezy Dough

Freezy Paints

Bubble Wrap Sliding Fun

Play Recipe - Freezy Paints

2013-05-10T18:20:00.001-04:00

We have been having so much fun this week as we rolled out our Summer Sensory Play Series! In case you missed it, so far we have played with summer snow, made a s uper fun freezy dough that MELTS, and explored a bit of silly science with erupting watermelon heads. Today, I am excited to share a simple play recipe to help kids beat the heat this Summer!

Freezy Paints Play Recipe

Freezy paints are a lot like the many shaving cream paint recipes we have shared in the past. The big difference is that you pop them in the freezer. Freezing the paint completely transform this play recipe, turning it into a whole new material for fantastic fun and exploration!

To make Freezy Paints you will need:

Shaving Cream
Food Coloring
Freezer space
Optional- Extract, kool-aid, cocoa powder or any other ingredient you would like to use to add scent
Optional- shaved ice or ice cubes (for extended play and sensory exploration)

Mix the shaving cream of your choice in a bowl with a bit of food coloring. We used a peach and strawberry scented shaving cream purchased from the Dollar Tree to make our FREEZY PAINTS. These smell amazing as is, so we chose not to add more scent. However, you can add additional scents or mask unpleasant shaving cream scents easily. See our collection of bath paint recipes for TONS of ideas. ( Note- If you have tots who will be tempted to eat the paint simply substitute whipped cream like we did when we made cool whip finger paints.)

Once mixed pop your shaving cream paint in the freezer. After several hours you can pull them out for PLAY!

I recommend waiting until you are ready to use the paints to pull them out. On a hot day they do melt fast. However, you can easily extend your play by adding ice. We added colored specks of shaved ice to our paints, and this was AWESOME! It made the freezy paints stay frozen longer, gave them a FUN texture, and created a truly multi-sensory experience. TONS of fun!!!

Both girls had a blast exploring the texture of the frozen shaving cream and ice paint.

Closely examining the texture

Looking for ice chips ; they were the girls favorite part

The girls kept cool as cucumbers while they painted beautiful, icy works of art

Such a simple and FUN way to beat the heat this Summer!

Other ways to PLAY with shaving cream this Summer:

Summer Snow

Freezy Dough

Erupting Watermelon Heads

Bubble Wrap Sliding Fun

Check back tomorrow for more Summer Sensory PLAY!

Play Recipe - Freezy Dough

2013-05-09T19:44:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we shared Summer Snow, the first of many play recipes that will be part of our new Summer Sensory Play Series. Today the fun continues with another fun play recipe perfect for the warm weather months.

Freezy Dough Play Recipe

While Rosie played with her Summer Snow I thought about how we could use the idea of frozen shaving cream further. I tried adding scent and color and it transformed this sensory material from a fluffy clean snow to an icy cold & super fluffy dough.

Freezy Dough is AMAZINGLY fun for kids, and super simple for parents to make, too!

To make Freezy Dough you will need:

Shaving Cream (we used strawberry & peach women's shaving cream from Dollar Tree)
Food Coloring
Freezer space
Optional- Kool-aid, cocoa powder, extract, or any other product you desire for adding scent
Optional- substitute cool whip to make an edible freezy dough

All you need to do to make FREEZY DOUGH is mix shaving cream with a bit of food coloring and scent in a bowl and freeze. After a few hours you can pull your dough out and PLAY! If you use scented shaving cream you do not need to add scents, but you can if you want. I was creating a specific play time so I did add further scent (read below) You could also substitute cool whip to create an edible melting dough similar to how we made edible cool whip paints.

While there are tons of ways to play with Freezy Dough it is icy cold and feels EXACTLY like ice cream, so I decided to set up a pretend ice cream parlor for our play time. You could also simply give kids the freezy dough with a few bowls, cups, or other kitchen gadgets and they would surely have a blast!

I made three types of FREEZY DOUGH for our ice cream play:

To make Vanilla Freezy Dough

I mixed shaving cream in a bowl with a few drops of vanilla extract. I used women's strawberry scented shaving cream from the Dollar Tree, and it worked great. The vanilla scent overpowered the strawberry.

(Sprinkled with brown sugar to add a bit of pizzazz )

To make Strawberry Freezy Dough

I mixed a bit of strawberry scented shaving cream in a bowl with a few drops of red food coloring. I wanted a pink colored cream, so only used a few drops.

(sprinkled with powdered paint for pizzazz)

To make Chocolate Freezy Dough

I mixed a bit of strawberry shaving cream in a bowl with cocoa powder. This scented and colored the shaving cream perfectly.

(Sprinkled with cocoa)

As I mixed each dough I layered them into a container so that they would look like Neapolitan ice cream!

Then I popped the container in the freezer. A few hours later I pulled out our FREEZY DOUGH and it was time to PLAY!

I gave Rosie a bit of rainbow rice to use as sprinkles and powdered paints to use as other toppings in her ice cream parlor. I also provided her with scoopers, bowls, and a box of ice cream cones I picked up from Walmart for $1.

She had a blast making all sorts of yummy ice cream treats with her FREEZY DOUGH

She used the scoopers some, but as always, preferred to use her hands

With rainbow rice sprinkles and icy cold dough, this parlor was packed with sensory exploration!

She played and played until all her ice cream had melted and all her cones and bowls had been used

FREEZY DOUGH - such a blast!

What I loved about using this freezy dough as ice cream was how realistic it was. First, Freezy dough feels EXACTLY like ice cream. It smells and looks like ice cream, and then it also MELTS like ice cream! You can't get more realistic then that!

Note- This is not to be confused with the Ice Cream Dough from Play Create Explore which is also really fun! If your unfamiliar, check it out. You might also like our Bath Time Ice Cream Parlor where we used bath safe sensory dough as ice cream!

For TONS more play recipes check out our collection:

Other Summer Sensory Play:

Summer Snow

GOOP & Ice
Erupting Pumpkins

Painting with Ice

Ice & Water Sensory Play

Fishing for Letters

5 Balloon Experiments for Kids

Play Recipes - Summer Snow

2013-05-08T17:12:00.002-04:00

The other day we kicked off a new series here on Growing a Jeweled Rose, and I could not be more excited about it! All Summer long we will be sharing super fun sensory activities and play recipes as part of our Summer Sensory Play series! We began the series with silly erupting watermelon heads, and today we are sharing a new Summer play recipe!

Summer Snow Play Recipe

What kid wouldn't love to keep cool in the Summer by playing in the snow? Wouldn't it be perfect if it snowed in Summer instead of Winter? While that may never happen, this new play recipe allows for kids to experience a bit of snow during the HOT weather months. Not only is Summer Snow AMAZING to play with, but it couldn't be easier to make.

All you need to make Summer Snow is a can of shaving cream. That is it! With just one ingredient, this really couldn't be easier for parents to whip up. Take your can of shaving cream and spray it into a container that will fit in your freezer. I used a simple plastic bin.

(Note- We buy our shaving cream in women varieties from the Dollar Tree. They make strawberry and peach scents for women which smell so much better than the varieties for men.)

Pop the container in the freezer and let it sit overnight. Then pull it out, and take a spatula or spoon to the top to break up the shaving cream. This takes just a second and turns the shaving cream into a fine, super fluffy and amazing frozen powder!

Your Summer Snow is then ready to be played with! Add shovels, buckets, or whatever else your kids might have in mind for their Summer snow play.

I dumped ours right into the girls sand and water table. We love this table, and use it for all sorts of sensory play.

Rosie had a blast playing in her ice cold Summer snow

The faux snow starts out icey cold. It has an amazingly FUN and FLUFFY texture that is irresistible to touch!

Summer Snow does melt just like any snow would in the hot, but that is part of what makes it SO FUN!

It is a perfect sensory material for Summer in that it helps keep kids cool. As the shaving cream is handled it melts, and goes through a variety of texture changes before returning to the texture of regular shaving cream.

Even after it is melted it stays cold for a bit, and playing in cold shaving cream is so much more fun than regular old shaving cream! Just ask Rosie, she'll tell ya :)

Note- this activity does get messy! Shaving cream is always a bit messy, but also SO FUN!

SUPER Cold Summer Snow

Why not try some of the other Sensory Snows we have shared this Summer, too?

MAGIC Erupting Snow
DIY Sparkle Snow
Shivery Snow Slime

Don't forget to pop them in the freezer to make them cold!

Summer Sensory Play
an ongoing series from Growing a Jeweled Rose

Science Fun for Kids

2013-05-07T14:13:00.001-04:00

Happy Tuesday & Welcome to Tuesday Tots!

This week I am featuring Fun Summer Science Activities for Kids! While these activities would be fun anytime, they are perfect for Summer!

Science Fun for Kids

Gardening Play Table The Boys and Me

How to Create a FREE Science Kit Mums Make Lists

Mixing Potions- Invitation to Explore Fantastic Fun & Learning

Observing Plant Growth- Science for Kids Buggy & Buddy

Make a Water Fountain from a 2 Liter Life with Moore Babies

Life Cycle of a Silk Worm Blog Me Mom

Baby Friendly Bug Small World House of Burke

Air Pressure Experiment Science Sparks
Nature & Flower Sensory Bottle Mt Little Three and Me

Jumping Colors Science Activity Gift of Curiosity

Starting a Garden with Kids Mess for Less

50 Kitchen Science Experiments Science Sparks

Fun with Volcanoes The Measured Mom
Grow Sunflowers Here Come the Girls

We LOVE Science- here a A few of our favorites that we have shared:

Weather Experiments for Kids

Bath Time Science Lab

Liquid Lab Experiments

Flower Experiment for Kids

Erupting Pumpkins Experiment

GLOWING Rainbow Eruptions

A special thanks to this weeks features for sharing your fun science for kids with Tuesday Tots!

Summer Sensory Play

2013-05-06T17:26:00.000-04:00

Summer might not be here quite yet, but the hot weather is upon us here in the eastern United States, and we could not be more thrilled! We have been having so much fun outside playing, and I have tons of Summer play ideas I just can't wait to share! Today I am introducing a new Summer Play series here on Growing a Jeweled Rose, and we are kicking the series off with a SUPER fun Summer Activity for kids!

Summer Sensory Play

An ongoing Series from Growing a Jeweled Rose

We love Summer, and we LOVE sensory play, so having a Summer Sensory Play series is just perfect for Growing a Jeweled Rose. This series will include tons of fun sensory play activities perfect for Summer! We are beginning the series with a super silly & fun activity- erupting watermelon heads!

Ever since we made erupting pumpkins this past Fall, I have been eagerly waiting for watermelons to hit stores so we could revisit this fun playtime again! We finally got our chance yesterday, and it was so much FUN!

What you need to make Erupting Watermelon Heads:
(affiliate links provided)

A watermelon (or several for a larger group)
Carving kits or cutting utensils
Baking soda
Vinegar
Food coloring or powdered tempera (if color is desired)

What I LOVE about this activity is that it is actually many activities rolled into one. First, you get to cut open your watermelon, and enjoy some yummy fruit.

Carefully cut the watermelon top off just like you would a pumpkin

Once you have the top off, use an ice cream scoop or spoon to scoop all the yummy fruit into a bowl

While daddy scooped out the watermelon me and the girls enjoyed eating it- watermelon is so yummy!

Once all the fruit is out it is time to carve the watermelon. This is such a fun activity! Older kids can design their own, and have lots of fun carving. Daddy handled the carving for us since Rosie and Jewel are still so small.

We wanted a silly or goofy face- something that said Summer

You may need to cut the bottom of your watermelon to get it to stand upright

Then it is time for the erupting sensory science play to start!

I gave Rosie baking soda, powdered tempera (for color), and vinegar. You can also use food coloring, or skip adding color. It isn't needed, but does make things more FUN!

She had a blast making our watermelon erupt over and over again!

Lots of giggles and laughter!

And playing in the baking soda and vinegar is always a must - fun sensory play!

Such silly Summer FUN!

The next time you buy a watermelon why not get some extra use out of it? How fun would this be for a Summer party or cook out? Everyone bring along a watermelon and have a carving contest. Who can get the biggest eruption? I see lots of potential for even more play here!

Stay tuned all Summer long for lots more

Summer Sensory Play as our new series continues!

Play Recipes- Magic Mud

2013-05-04T18:05:00.006-04:00

Today is the last day of our week long Play inspired by Nature series with Housing a Forest. We have had such a blast! If you have missed any of the fun we have shared, be sure to check the list of activities from the series at the end of today's post. Today, Tammy is sharing about how sticks are nature's greatest toy, and we are sharing another fun mud play recipe.

Make Your Own MAGIC MUD

A NEW Play Recipe

Earlier in the week we shared a princess mud recipe. Rosie had such a blast I thought we would finish off the series with another FUN mud play recipe. We have shared a MAGIC mud recipe before using an indoor faux mud. This time we were excited to make magic mud using REAL MUD!

To make MAGIC MUD you will need:

(affiliate links provided)

Dirt (we bought a bag from Home Depot for under $1)
Water
Baking soda
Powdered tempera paint, food coloring, or crushed chalk (optional- use if color is desired)

Essentially all you need to do to transform plain old mud into MAGIC MUD is add baking soda while mixing up your mud.

Once the mud is all mixed up, it will look just like plain old mud.

Little ones can then have a ball playing and making mud pies, cakes, muffins, and more!

Making mud pies is one of Rosie's favorite ways to PLAY!

Jewel didn't make any pies, but delighted in simply playing with the mud itself

I love her curious expression here as she examines the mud's texture

Rosie made lots of pies and muffins, and played for a really long time!

Everything is better with color, so once Rosie had cooked up lots of pies I gave her powdered tempera to finish them off! She had lots of fun throwing the colored powders onto her creations

Then it was time to make the MAGIC happen! I gave Rosie a cup of vinegar and she had a blast making her pies erupt into beautiful rainbows of color!

I just love using powdered tempera in our activities. It is so colorful and fun!

Rosie added more and more vinegar until her magic mud no longer reacted. By then her pies were a beautiful, colorful, soupy mess!

After we were done making pies Play continued!

We added color to our left over mud mixture and used it to paint. The magic mud paint was SO FUN!

Full post coming soon! Check back with us!

Our MAGIC MUD kept us busy all morning, and it was quite a magical morning too!

Other Mud Play Recipes & Activities we have Shared:

Don't forget to pop over to Housing a Forest to see

why sticks are nature's greatest toy!

The other Activities in this Series:

Magic Puddles on a Rainy Day

Paint in the Rain- 5 Ways

Textured Nature Paints

Nature Prints

Nature Stick Garden

Nature & Kids Play Garden

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Amazon.com Widgets

Nature and Kids - Play Garden

2013-05-03T18:03:00.001-04:00

Today we are back to share more Play inspired by Nature! We have been having such fun collaborating with Tammy of Housing a Forest this week. So far we have played in the mud, made mud pies, painted in the rain 5 WAYS, made MAGIC puddles, created our own texture paints, and made nature prints. Whew, we have been busy! Today, Tammy and I are both sharing play gardens!

Nature and Kids Play Garden

Play gardens are
great fun for kids with endless ways to explore. I managed to set up a small garden space for the girls using only materials from the Dollar Tree! Not only was this a very inexpensive project, but it was EASY to set up, and the girls LOVE it!

I set our garden up over a patch of dead grass. You could set yours up anywhere in your yard, but if you have a dirt space already available, that would be ideal. I used pool noodles to frame our garden. I thought this added to the playful appeal, and pool noodles are made for use in the water, so the rain will not deteriorate them. I used wooden skewers to secure the noodles in place, and so far this has worked great!

Once the noodles were in place, I used two bags of soil from the Dollar Tree to fill the garden space. Then I embellished the garden with everything a good garden has- rakes, seed packets, a watering can, flowers, pretend bugs, toy cars, magnifying glasses, and more (all bought from the Dollar Tree). The only items not from the Dollar Tree were the fresh flowers and large trucks which we already had.

To say that the girls love their garden would be an understatement They spent the whole morning playing in their new space the first day we set it up!

They planted flowers, and tilled seeds

They dug for pretend bugs and explored with magnifying glasses

They played with and explored the dirt

They played with their cars

They played and played and played

There is so much for them to explore in this simple and small space. The seeds and the dirt and the fresh flowers are all amazing, open ended sensory materials. I got a 6 flower pack from Walmart for $2, and the girls have planted and replanted them over and over again. Before we go inside we give them a touch of water to keep them going for future play.

This garden space isn't fancy. It may not last an incredibly long time, but for just a handful of dollars we have already gotten far more than our money's worth! I am excited for the girls to dig up their seeds next time to see if any of them sprouted. The goal isn't to grow anything, but if we do that is fantastic. The materials are all there to foster play and exploration, and having FUN is the most important thing!

Now head over to Housing a Forest and see the

Nature Stick Garden she created with her kids!

You might also enjoy our gardening sensory bin and Garden GOO

The Other Activities in this Series:

Magic Puddles on a Rainy Day

Paint in the Rain- 5 Ways

Textured Nature Paints

Nature Prints

Nature Inspired Texture Paints

2013-05-02T18:10:00.000-04:00

We have been having so much fun teaming up with Tammy of Housing a Forest this week. In case you missed it, we have been sharing fun activities as part of the Play inspired by Nature series. We have played in the mud, made mud pies, painted in the rain 5 WAYS, and made MAGIC puddles on a rainy day. Today, we are both sharing fun ways to create art with nature.

Nature Inspired Texture Paints

Out of all of the activities we have ever shared, this was definitely a favorite for three year old Rosie. She had so much fun! She got to explore through sensory play, art, and science as she mixed and concocted her very own textured nature paints. This activity kept us busy all morning long too!

We began the morning by going on a nature walk to collect nature bits

Rosie and Jewel had lots of fun frolicking through a flowery field and gathering different natural materials

While the girls ran around gathering the bits of nature, I whipped up a base paint for Rosie to use to create her textured nature paints. This recipe was a bit experimental. I wanted a no cook paint that I could easily make while out in nature. We have made other play paints using a similar combination of materials, so I thought the ingredients might work well, and this recipe really did work perfectly!

No Cook Paint Recipe

2 cups of flour
1 cup of water
1 cup of dish soap

Combine ingredients in a bowl and mix until there are no lumps. At first I used a stick to stir, but found it best to use my hands.

You could also use store bought paint to make nature paints. I was not positive how this concoction of ingredients would work, so I brought tempera paint with us just in case. We didn't need it though as this base paint was perfect. Once mixed, I divided the paint so Rosie could make a variety of paints.

Once the girls were done collecting nature bits, Jewel played with the leftover paint base I had made while Rosie got to concocting and creating her nature inspired paints.

I brought along a pack of food coloring so that Rosie could add color to her paints. To sneak a bit of learning into our play, we coordinated the paint colors and nature bits. Rosie loved mixing and concocting her paints

She got to explore a variety of textures

And really had so much fun!

The textured paints she made:

Green Grass Paint

Pink Flower Paint

Yellow Buttercup Paint

Sandy Colored Sand Paint- (no food coloring)

Dirt Paint

( No food Coloring)

We also made blue seed paint using dandelion seeds

Rosie had a blast creating all of her paints, and then both girls had lots of fun exploring them, and all the varying textures

I gave the girls sticks and daffodils to use as paint brushes, but the best way to explore was with your hands

Even mommy got in on the FUN- Messy high fives!

Process art at it's finest!

This was such a FUN day! Everyone had a blast! We will definitely be doing this activity again and again!

Homemade Texture Paints

inspired by Nature

Don't forget pop over to Housing a Forest to see

how they made art with nature!

The Other Activities in this Series:

Magic Puddles on a Rainy Day

Paint in the Rain- 5 Ways

You might also enjoy the learning through movement series being shared by members of:

Gross Motor Phonics Game

I Spy

Musical Sight Words

Rainy Day Activities- Puddle Play

2013-04-30T17:58:00.000-04:00

We are back today with more Play inspired by Nature, a week long series we are doing with the wonderful Tammy of Housing a Forest. Yesterday, we both shared MUD PLAY; you can see those posts here and here. Today, Tammy and I are both sharing FUN Rainy Day Activities for Kids. It rained here the other day, and was finally warm enough to go puddle jumping! We LOVE puddle jumping the old fashioned way, but it is also always fun to bring new elements into play.

Rainy Day Puddle Activities

with MAGIC Bubbling Puddles

We have shared a few fun puddle plays in the past, but none nearly as fun as these magic fairy puddles! Rosie had such a blast, and got to explore through sensory play, science, art, imaginative play, and more! We set out with a few things from inside to have our puddle fun.

What we used:

Powdered tempera paint (you can also use crushed chalk)
Fairies, flowers, glitter, leaves- anything fairy-like that you have on hand will work great!
Magic fairy dust & potion (details below)

Rosie got dressed in one of her favorite fairy ensembles, and we headed out to find some puddles. We found a few really quickly, right behind our house. Rosie and I created our fairy puddles together. We sprinkled in purple and pink powdered tempera paint, and created a magical fairy puddle world with the flowers, fairies, and glitter.

There are just a few close up shots to show the detail- I didn't manage any other shots of the puddles themselves, because Rosie just couldn't wait to FAIRY PUDDLE JUMP!

Rosie had tons of fun running through the colorful fairy puddles, stomping, splashing, and giggling

But the real fun came when I gave her magic fairy dust and potion to transform her playful puddles into MAGIC PUDDLES!

To make the magic fairy dust I added a bit of pink powdered paint to baking soda in a clear container. I only used a touch of powdered paint, and it colored the baking soda vibrantly.

To make the potion I filled a pour spout container with vinegar. This is a FUN way to turn puddles into a science lesson, but given Rosie's age I left it all to MAGIC! Rosie loved playing a magical fairy, and transforming her puddles.

Adding the magic potion

Rosie didn't know what was going to happen to the puddles after sprinkling the fairy dust

She was in awe when colorful MAGIC bubbling eruptions formed

We made one colorful ERUPTING puddle after another

The magic puddles were so beautiful & truly magical!

Rosie was in awe!

Not only did she love making the magic puddles, but she loved stomping in them too!

She had so much fun and lots of pretend play ensued as well!

This would make a great photo op for a girl too! We weren't doing if for that, but if you wanted to, you could easily find puddles near a pretty scenic background. Bring an added light source or use a higher quality camera (we use a point and shoot) and you are all set for a magical photo session!

Don't go Puddle Jumping

Go FAIRY Puddle Jumping!

with MAGIC PUDDLE PLAY

Also check out Monster Puddle Stomping and Halloween Puddle Jumping

Don't forget to pop over to Housing a Forest & see

the great FUN they had painting in the rain

Also check out Tammy's other rainy day & puddle play activities.

The Other Activities in this Series:

30 Mud Activities to Celebrate International Mud Day

Amazon.com Widgets

Outdoor Activities for Kids

2013-04-30T12:55:00.004-04:00

Happy Tuesday & Welcome to Tuesday Tots.

This week I am featuring outdoor activities for kids!

Outdoor Play Activities for Kids

Creative & FUN ways to PLAY Outside:

Pretend Play in the Garden Play Trains

Fancy Nancy- Garden Tea Party The Homework Diaries

Outdoor Math Game The Measured Mom

Fly Kites and Explore Hands-on Science KC Edventures

Garden Sensory Bin Mess for Less

Make Welly Planters Peakle Pie

Explore Sensory Play in Nature My Nearest & Dearest

Go on Nature Walks Together The Craft Train

Start a Garden with Kids Look What Mom Found

45 Tree Activities for Kids Fantastic Fun and Learning

Sidewalk Sudoku The Usual Mayhem

Outdoor Activities - Favorites from Us:

Princess Mud & Mud Pies

Get Up & Move Dice

Art for Active Kids