{'Splorin}

If you are a mommy like me, you've probably found yourself thinking, "What else can I do with this child?!" Being an early childhood educator, I would take age-appropriate activities/materials into people's homes once/week to give them new ideas of things they could do with their children to promote development. So I thought when I had my own children that I would pull all these old tricks out of the bag and have the smartest child ever (or maybe I just thought that because I married Mr. Mensa - not sure what that is? Look it up .. you'll find Benny's picture). However, the laundry piled up, the sleep deprivation became unbearable, the lack of any sort of routine, the preparing of meals, the panicking over every bump and scrape, the puke, the poop, the full-time job of nursing somehow got in the way and I suddenly realized my child was 11 months old and I hadn't done all 6 billion things I wanted to do with him and his life was basically half over ... okay, that's a little over dramatic, but you get it.  

I reminded myself that he was getting everything he needed by just exploring. Babies learn by exploring. They love exploring. And trust me, Trice is quite the 'splorer. However, I wanted to offer him some new opportunities to expose him to different materials as well as keep him from getting bored and me from going stir crazy.

 I plan on sharing some of our activities each week. They can always be modified to your child's age/developmental level and using items you have in your house. Most of these activities were when we were engaging one-on-one so I could make sure they were done safely as some objects used are choking hazards. I just thought it'd be fun to have pictures of him doing some of these things and also to give other people ideas of what does/doesn't go over well so if you are getting bored of all the toys around the house, you'll have some quick and easy tricks to pull out of your sleeve. As you will see, they are nothing fancy. Most of these were just part of our daily play. I'm no super-mom, but Trice sure thinks I'm pretty fun. :)

                                                                 

1. Secret Fort

There's just something about being in things that babies love. It's their own little space. (My next post is actually going to be all about Trice being IN things) I set this up while Trice napped in his crib (yes, he napped in his crib once. It was epic). He saw the fort immediately when I brought him to the living room and dove out of my arms. He read books, played his instruments, hid the books under his pillow, pretended to be asleep, crawled through the holes and played peek-a-boo. I will do this again and just switch up what I put in there. This can be done with a blanket or towel, but I do like this little play hut I got at a garage sale for $1.

I LOVE this picture I snapped - he is a book lover, for sure. I, of course, got in there with him after taking this and we read together. He fits a little better than I do...

2. Sticky Tape
I normally do this activity by taping down a piece of contact paper sticky side up and we stick different objects to it, touch it, walk on it, crawl on it, etc. I didn't have any contact paper around (and was NOT about to go to Walmart), so I grabbed the tape.

**This was a little difficult to get off the high chair, so I will probably just lie something down next time with the sticky tape on it.**

Stiiiccccky .. 

3. Muffin Tin Play

Whoever invented the cupcake/muffin tin clearly was thinking of children. The possibilities are endless. Trice LOVES putting things in, taking things out .. so what better opportunity? He also LOVES these shapes from his shape sorter, but that's a little over his head and leads to major melt downs right now, so I knew he'd be excited to play with them in a different way. As the day went on, many different small objects made their way to the muffin tin. 

Things usually work better if you sit on them...

What ya doing up there, mommy?

3. Cupboard Play
If you want to get anything done in the kitchen .. EVER .. give your child a cupboard. Seriously, giving up two shelves was the best decision I ever made. I might just give the next baby a cupboard starting at birth. I have every intention of switching up the materials in there so when he opens it he'll get that great big grin on his face .. maybe tomorrow!

Squats

Drumming!

4. Water Play

PLEASE ignore his ridiculous outfit in some of these pictures. His swim shirt was dirty (who only has one shirt but 3 pairs of swim trunks .. silly) and since I'm OCD about him not getting a sunburn, he had to have a shirt.. this is what I found.. we were headed for a meltdown, and I went with it. The hat was just to make it look even more ridiculous. Also, that is indeed a sandbox turtle. Another awesome garage sale find. We were going to get Trice a little pool, but frugal Benny said No, no, no when we had this gem taking up space in the garage. It has worked perfect for this summer and I wish we had tried it earlier. It's now going to be my sensory tub and I have very big plans! 

Water play is incredible. There's nothing more fascinating or versatile. And all you need is a bowl and some random objects (or just splashing, but that may be short lived!)  I'm all about using stuff you have around the house. Cups, spoons, sponges, measuring cups, lids, tupperware, etc.

Here's a little indoor water play..

What do we have here, mom?!

Splash, Splash!

Diving in!

 

And a little outdoor water play...

Mmm.. yummy water!

Update: Today Trice's sippy cup fell off the table and exploded on the kitchen floor. You would have thought their was a gallon of water in it because it was everywhere. Before I could even think about grabbing a towel, he was rolling and splashing in it - soaked from head to toe .. and yep, he was drinking it. Good thing I swept this morning. He was having the time of his life so I let him have at it... and then cleaned it all up before he fell on his face. Total water baby!

Sopping wet baby.

5. Squeezing Sponges

Trice was a little behind in fine motor skills for awhile because we started him so late on solids which is a major fine motor activity. He caught up right away and is now pinching peas and cheerios like a boss. However, I'm always looking for ways to build stronger finger muscles ... so I used his love of water to my advantage.

Squuuuuueeze! Look at those little muscles working.

And last, but definitely not least, an activity we didn't technically do this week but do often...

6. Finger Painting

There are tons of recipes for home made finger paints or you can buy some. I'm usually kind of OCD about things Trice uses since he is still in the "stick everything including dirt in your mouth" stage, but I went ahead and bought finger paint for now. So far he hasn't tasted it .. surprisingly.

I've got some really fun ideas for next week ready to go so check back soon! :)