Tales of Me and the Husband

Easy activities for young kids + toddlers.

I’ve been searching this website as of late to come up with activities for Parker to do. It’s not even that we need them right now as we’re heading into nicer weather, but he’s in a requesting TV ALL THE TIME phase and is pretty much asking for Paw Patrol within three seconds of waking up every morning. (Side note: he seems very much over Daniel Tiger which makes me sort of sad. I’ll love you forever, Daniel Tiger.) We’ve given in to TV too many times, and I don’t want it to become something of a habit (though I’m afraid it already is). So, I planned a few of these activities lately and can I just tell you they are so easy?? They require the tiniest bit of prep, the tiniest bit of clean up, and the tiniest bit of money for a fairly substantial bit of fun for him. Perfect for filling that before dinner boredom! Or that as-soon-as-you-wake-in-place-of-TV time as the case may be.
The above is ooblek. One of the highlights of the four. Made with corn starch and water in the ratio of 2:1! He played with it plain white for quite awhile then I dropped a few drops of food coloring in and put him to the task of mixing them. It feels crazy. I could imagine sitting down to play with it if I wasn’t busy making food while he was doing so!
The below is baking soda and vinegar with food coloring in a squirt bottle. We used an entire large box of baking soda for this because he was having so much fun with it. After he squirted out three bottles of colored vinegar, he continued playing with it and mixing the colors with a spoon.

This one was easy. Freezing ice cubes (in an extra large tray like this) and food coloring. He was actually really excited about this one and kept checking his ice cubes the night before to see their freezing progress. The next day, he transferred them to the bowl of warm water one by one  with tongs or a spoon and watched the colors blend into the water as the cubes melted.

We moved right into this one once the ice cubes all melted. I got him another bowl of water, and in the ice cube tray mixed water and food coloring in each cube of the tray. If I had an eyedropper to spare, I would’ve used that, but we did have a Motrin dispenser! Use what you have! So I gave him that and he transferred the colored water into the water bowl. Back and forth for at least thirty minutes?

Next up, I want to try this one. And this for when we’re sitting waiting for food at a restaurant (always an antsy time–we usually play I Spy.).

As for Anders, he tried the ooblek but didn’t love it, and I did let him in on some of the ice cube fun: warm water and a bowl of ice cubes.

It’s been fun clicking through the site and coming up with more things to do with them. So many of these things are right in my kitchen cupboards, so pulling them off isn’t hard either. Let me know if you try any!
(We also bought this butterfly garden and the caterpillars have probably quintupled in size in the last week. But let me tell you — the process is gross.)

 

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  1. I bought the same butterfly kit for my class (kindergartners) this year. They LOVED it. The caterpillars do get really fat! We made the mistake of letting the butterflies go too soon. I waited a day after they came out and we tried to release them, but they didn't want to leave! They stayed on our hands. So, we put them back in the net and kept opening it for them to fly out and finally 3 days later, they all flew out of there! It was magical 🙂

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    • Please elaborate on "the process is gross." I want to try this kit with my kiddos but I'm not a fan of gross things. So how gross are we talking?

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    • You could definitely look away and let your kids take it all in but… there's caterpillar poop like all over the jar (inside!), and cobwebs and… it's just sort of disgusting looking. Good news: Parker still loves it!

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  3. I love all of these ideas! I am always searching for more activities until it is warm enough to go outside immediately upon waking up. Come on, summer! And the butterfly garden is perfectly timed- my daughter has asked several times this week to see a caterpillar turn into a butterfly and I figured that I could find something if I searched the internet…and now I don't have to search. Thanks!

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  6. As an aunt I used to freeze little objects inside sheets of ice (using s rimmed baking sheet or even something s little deeler) and my nephews would pick at the ice with little tools to get their treasures out!

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  7. oh this is so good!! tv becomes a habit way way too quickly. and i, too, love daniel tiger. so. i am too often willing to give in. i've started allowing only whatever is on PBS while i have my coffee and then moving on to activities. when dot paint gets old, these will be on my list! thanks for sharing!

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