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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Favorite Things...

One of my most favorite things to do at night is check on the kids. This may sound crazy, but hear me out first.  On this particular day I had changed 9 stinky messy diapers, threw away 2 pairs of underwear because it wasn't even worth dealing with, cleaned up coffee grounds that somehow spread like wildfire all over the floor; forgot about a dental appt(and yes it was on the calendar), had to cancel dinner with a friend and her children due to frazzledness, bit my tongue more than I'd like dealing with a very sassy 5 yr old, found out moving dates had changed due to someone else's lack of competence, was trying to get things set up for our stay in Fl and in England,  and my To Do List had grown instead of shrunk. Now I know this is nothing, and things could be a lot worse, however I was done this day! No matter what kind of day you've had, when you see those angelic innocent faces your troubles melt away.

It's different when they are your own children, but for the sake of this blog take a look at mine: :)





AND then this happens...
and all moments of peace are now replaced by panic and the first thing u say is "CRAP I wasn't quiet enough! PLEASE go back to sleep, please, please, please!"

Toddler/Preschooler Activity Bag Swap

Since we're moving to England and overall will spend 20 days in a hotel, 17 days at a friend's house, 4 plane rides totaling 17 hours, and 16 hours in airports, not to mention the car rides around everywhere. I've been busy gathering supplies, toys, and ideas to keep the kids, ages 5, 3 & 18 months busy and entertained during it all. I came across a pin on pinterest and it's exactly what I was looking for! Toddler/Preschooler activity bags.

The main idea is to get a group of mom's to create activities that could fit in a ziplock bags that will keep the kids entertained while travelling, or busy during a dr's appt etc. After creating an invite on facebook, 11 moms decided to particpate and they each chose an activity that could fit in a bag and just had to follow 4 simple rules; 1. All activities must fit into a ziploc bag; 2. & 3.  Inexpensive & Easy to make and 4. Re-usable.


Below are the pictures of each activity with a brief descrption:


-Lacing Cards-
made from foam with a posterboard backing

-Homemade Play doh-

-Crayon Roll-
Made from assorted fabrics, convienent way to store crayons when on the go
Crayon Roll, when rolled up

-Pom Pom color/shape matching Game-

-Felt Board-
2 pieces of felt cut in half glued onto same size cardboard, then seperate pieces were cut out of different color felt to create this house scene or on the back, shapes.

-Number Boards-
Made from foam and large buttons provided



-Paint Chip Color Graph-
Graph printed from computer and laminated and then laminated paint chips


-Popsicle Stick Puzzle-

-DIY Felt Pizza-

-Color/Number Wheel-
On one side there are stamped images in a pie chart format and the clothespins have the corresponding number that you clip in the right area, same idea for the back of the wheel that has colors.

-Tooth Pick punch art-
foam glued onto a pieve of lightweight wood, then you clip the colored paper and a shape onto the wood, and the idea is to poke holes to outline the shape or fill the shape.

-I Spy-
Rice and a few small objects sewn into a felt shaped sun, a guide is provided and the object is for the child to find everything inside the sun that is shown on the guide. There is a small pocket on the back of the sun to hold the guide.


Thanks to Leslie, Tiffany, Chelsea, Lori, Emma, Jennifer, Kelly, Tristyn, Ashley, & Katie for taking some time to create 11 of the same activity and participating in the swap; hopefully our children will enjoy it as much as we did putting it together. :)