Stampin' Fun

I have a set of cute stamps that include flowers, vases, and a couple of insects. It came with its own stamp pad that I let Meghan use. Stamps are great fun for a little girl! It had been many, many months since Meghan had stamped, and this was the first time I let her use the stamps independently.

She had great fun choosing a stamp, stamping, and lining up the used stamps.

I don't mind letting Meghan use the stamps because they clean up so easily. (A diaper wipe is quite effective, actually.) Though the wood may get stained, the actual stamp will not be ruined. My recommendation for using stamps with children is to give them an ink pad you don't care about! The tiny one that came with this set is perfect since it has four colors to choose from and offers variety without ruining my good ink pad.

On the Go

Honestly, I like my days at home. I am one of those stay at home moms that really is content to be at home within my four walls and children. Some people have the need to get out and "do", but I am not one of those people. Derek and I are both home-bodies. It sometimes works against us...like the fact that we really don't have a babysitter now that we've moved (almost a year ago). So with our anniversary coming up next weekend...oh well. Maybe we'll figure something out.

But in reality, we are in the car a lot. Thirty-five to 40 minutes to church one or more times each week. The mall, Boscov's, and Jo Ann's are at least 45 minutes away, the doctor is 45, WalMart is 20 minutes, but groceries and the library are just 10 minutes away! We even have a hardware store in town!

Being in the car for longer lengths of time happens, too. Twice in July we'll have a road trip. Once is to see our families in northeastern PA over the July 4th weekend. And again later in the month when we go away as a family to the Pocono area with some of our church family to a conference center.

Our car time, even on short trips can be frustrating. If Evan "talks" Meghan complains. He doesn't have to be fussing!

We have learned that sunglasses are a must for Meghan, and understandably. I don't like the sun in my eyes either. She takes the shade off the car's window, so it is no longer helpful to her.

On long trips I have a bag of toys for her. Most of the toys are ones we don't see on a regular basis. We have a little doodler, some noisy but small toys, and lots of books. We keep snacks and drinks on hand, too. Though Meghan must be watched carefully, coins also amuse her for long periods of time.


Our portable DVD player is used for travel. Christmas was the first time we had a chance to use it for traveling. We drove 5 hours to see our families, and we didn't even use it on the way there. Returning home we did though. It helps so much! I wouldn't use it for a shorter ride (like two hours) but on the long rides it is quite nice to have.

I'm not sure how Evan will travel this summer. Hopefully he won't throw his pacifier out of my reach like he did this weekend.

(When I really love the portable DVD player is at the doctor's office! We have spent over an hour waiting many time, and with two children, it is really hard. Books and the toy bag just don't cut it. Meghan also has a problem with small rooms. Her purpose is to escape. She doesn't notice the size of the exam rooms or door much with Blue's Clues playing though.)

We have another consideration now, too. Meghan is pretty much potty trained. She has only had one accident in more than a week, AND she has been using the toilet for "poopy" too! I'm not sure how she turned the corner on this, but I'm glad she did! We'll use pull-ups for the car ride. I'm not sure if we'll take a potty chair for the car ride. She tends to drink a lot in the car, so one pit stop for a 4-5 hour ride may not be enough. Derek and I will have to figure out a plan though. Any suggestions? (Finding a bathroom on a moment's notice isn't always possible whether we take "back roads" or the highway.)

We have no suggestions for keeping a 2 year old quiet during church. NOTHING has worked for us for more than 3-5 minutes. Thankfully our church has a great kids' program so she is only with us when she's sick. Evan, on the other hand is still content and quiet while with us on occasion.

If you are interested in others' thoughts on occupying children away from home, you can check out the ABC and 123 Picnic Talk this week. Don't forget to check out their weekly giveaways, too!

Water Play

Meghan had a lot of fun transferring water from one bin to another.

I didn't want Evan on the pavement, so he hung out in the stroller until I could have him on my lap.

We used formula scoops, a medicine cup, sponge brush, and a funnel.

As neat as she was, I understand, now, why a table is better. It keeps your bottom dry!

Meghan had just as much fun dumping the water and walking through it.

Pea Popping Fun

Meghan pulled the peas from the pod.

She counted the peas (and correctly)!

And ate them raw!

One day she emptied my lazy Susan of my spices and more. Meghan lined them up along the table. If she is like her daddy, soon she'll be lining them up in ABC order!

Meghan had a blast popping bubble wrap with her fingers. When she tried to use her feet, we had the idea to have her jump on the giant bubble wrap. She had a lot of fun; Evan also enjoyed it, but he wanted a piece of the action!

Brown Bear Eye Spy Bottle

Here is another Brown Bear, Brown Bear activity. We used this site for the template for the pictures. You can go there for the directions. It's kind of neat because the animals are all the same color as they are in the book, so Meghan is used to the match-ups.

I have seen these called "I Spy" and "Eye Spy." I prefer the "I" but the title of the game used "Eye." Maybe someone can clarify for me.

I had been wanting to do this for a long time, but did not have a hot glue gun until recently.

Meghan loves the book; however, she doesn't seem to be so fond of this game. She played it with me for a bit, but hasn't shown real interest in it on her own. Evan likes the bottle though.

This is just a regular, cheap water bottle. It is really weak. If it was getting a lot of physical abuse from Meghan, it probably wouldn't last too long.

I can say that Meghan enjoyed making the bottle with me. The rice was fun. She told me what each animal was and the color before placing them in the bottle. I will warn you that if you are having a toddler put the pictures in the bottle, you might want to count them to be certain all the critters make it into the bottle before using hot glue on the lid. Our white dog didn't make it into the bottle.

Picnic!

Meghan has been enjoying pretend play, including picnics recently. Her first was with her SLP when they used a book and Meghan said, "Me more cake," her first three word sentence. (They only happen now with much prompting, and not often.)

We have enjoyed some picnics without her speech therapist, too. We used our play pots and pans, plastic cups, and real bowls or plates, depending on Meghan's mood, and our colored pasta.


Meghan actually let Evan touch "her" toys!

I want to tell you about another picnic that will be exciting. It's at a site I really appreciate called ABC and 123. It's a learning cooperative meaning the Katies do lots of work for the blog, but with readers help! They have all sorts of great ideas for preschoolers and school-aged children. At the Summer Picnic there will be weekly giveaways, and just lots of great stuff.


For those new visitors coming from ABC and 123, I'll share a bit about us.

We spend a lot of time with purposeful play to incorporate speech because Meghan has a speech disorder called apraxia. It's not outgrown, but she is certainly overcoming it. (The word list in the sidebar is frequently updated.)

I include some of our crafts and learning tools on our blog. Meghan loves to paint and glue. Since I am just starting to get into sewing a bit, I have posted a few projects including a purse, easy apron, and some finger puppets. I enjoy sharing about life in general, even if it isn't exciting. I've added "popular posts" to the sidebar if you are interested to see some good stuff in a glance.

Isn't he cute?

Fingerprint Rainbow

We made this fingerprint rainbow with some of our new paints. I am fairly sure I saw this at Lucky Me, but I didn't have it bookmarked, so I am not certain. Lucky Me's site has lots of great craft ideas for preschoolers and school-aged kids.


First we made the rainbow, using ROY G. BIV to remember the order of the colors. We started with the inside since I wasn't sure how large it would be. Meghan's patience was tried with this rainbow since I had to guide her hand, but after she saw it would be a rainbow she got excited about it. (Telling her was not enough.)

After the rainbow was dry a day or two later, I cut it out, as well as a yellow sun. We gathered some cotton balls and stretched them to make clouds. Then we glued it all down.

Meghan was really proud of this once it was completed. She took it to show her daddy saying, "rainbow." Meghan's "rainbow" sounds a lot like her "read book." As I've said, context clues are often needed to know what Meghan is saying! I think it was about a month ago she started calling rainbows their name instead of just "bows."

Potty Training...(Not What You Think)

COMMENT HELP: Several people have told me they want to comment, but can't. Shouldn't a person, even without a blog, be able to comment as long as my settings are set correctly? Can you help me?

I have been slacking with the picture taking and blogging recently. So this morning I quickly grabbed the camera when Meghan did this.

Meghan took a stuffed cat to the bathroom and proceeded to go through the steps of "going potty."

Here the kitty is going.







Kitty is scrubbing its hands. (Meghan struggled with only pretending to use soap and water.)

I think this is a great way for Meghan to show what she knows. The best way to learn something is to teach, you know!









The kitty is on Meghan's head. The lesson is over.

(No Meghan isn't tall. We use a step ladder/stool to help her be more independent. A typical stool doesn't help her at all. This one has two rungs and always stays up in the first floor's bathroom.)

This picture didn't turn out, but if you look closely you can see that Meghan's right eye seems infected. We're waiting on the call from the doctor. I am hoping we don't have to cancel the teacher AND occupational therapist appointments today. (They are coming late this morning for a combination session.)

The kitty is from a library "learning resource kit" (a book and stuffed animals/puppets). When I first saw it, I thought it seemed familiar. It has "PP" on its butt. Do you know what that means? I thought it meant Pound Puppy, but the cats are Pound Purries! (Thanks Laura!) That is a trip down memory lane. I had a brown Pound Puppy.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear Activities

1+1+1=1 is a great resource for me (and you if you have young children). I already showed our Veggie Tale tot book. This is the same idea, but I didn't put this one in a folder/book.



We began by reading the great book Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See. Meghan is now able to fill in a lot of the words in the book such as the animal names and the words "see" and "me." It's a great book for us to read together.











Here you see Meghan matching heads and tails of animals from the book. She really got into this activity.









Meghan didn't enjoy the numbers so much, but I wasn't surprised. She did it, but just wasn't very interested.

Meghan enjoyed reading the special little book, too. In addition, there is a book for her to color and other activities, too!

Check out the Brown Bear activities and other tot-books here. They are worth it! Since they were just printed on paper, I used my little laminator to make these durable.

Homemade Paints and Coloring

I made four similar pictures for Meghan to color. She colored them in one sitting, starting on the left and continuing to the right. I let her choose the colors, but limited her to crayons on the first two and markers on the last two drawings.

By these very lovely pictures you would not have guessed that at one time my college major was art education. (Eventually I changed to elementary education with an art concentration. A better fit for me!)


Over the weekend I made paint again. The recipe is below. It came from Shannon. She has two great sites called Letters Numbers and Books Oh My! and Book Worms Booknook.


I'm storing the paint in spice containers. A word of caution for you: if your lid doesn't close securely, don't use it!

We used our baby food plastic containers to hold the paint. They worked well.

The paint was fun for Meghan. Just like with the crayons and markers, she had to request what color she wanted. She is getting very good at identifying colors.

It wasn't as vivid as store bought tempera, but it works just fine!

I'm looking for more uses for the plastic baby food containers. I have thought of a few.
1. nuts/bolts/screws/nails
2. hair ties/barrettes
3. snacks
4. paint
5. homemade baby food (placed in freezer bags in freezer)
6. ???

Flour-Based Poster Paint

NEED:

1/4 cup flour

1 cup water

Small jars or plastic containers

3 or 4 drops of food coloring or paste (for smelly use kool aid)

2 tablespoons water per container

2- 4 drops of dish soap ( to make it washable)
for shiny finish a few drops of corn syrup

cornstarch to thicken

TO DO

Measure flour into saucepan. Slowly add 1 cup water while stirring to make a smooth paste. Heat, stirring constantly, until paste begins to thicken. Cool. Measure 1/4 cup paste into each small container. Add food coloring/kool aid and stir well.
* If you want to make a big batch don’t divide into containers!

Store covered in the fridge.

Foam Sewing Cards

Sewing cards are great for fine motor skills. I made these two from foam I had on hand. It is actually the "sticky" kind, but I left the white protective backing on it without any problems.


The needle is made from a folded pipe cleaner. This is much easier for Meghan to manipulate than taped yarn.


Meghan can use these, though she doesn't sew in the traditional sense. (See the fish above.) This, like many of the things we do, is more of an introductory activity for Meghan.


If you decide to make these for a toddler, give plenty of extra yarn. A toddler most likely won't sew it in the way an older child would.


You can also use recycle greeting cards to make a rectangular shaped sewing card. I was inspired by ABC and 123 a great site for parents of school-aged and preschool children and teachers, too.

I saved my little hole-punched circles. I thought they would be great on a card or another craft...they're already self stick!

Derek and I knew we had a hole punch. We could not find it. We looked for several days in all the right places. Nothing. We figured we would have to buy one (though we borrowed one to do this). The next day we found the missing hole punch in our hutch. Ugh!

The missing hole punch must have really made an impact on Derek though. He talked in his sleep a bit about needing it!

Cotton Ball Lamb and Scissors

We made this cotton ball lamb. I have seen it posted by several people, but Jennifer at Ramblings of a Crazy Woman was the first one I saw post it. Her site is great for preschool crafts!


Instead of the recommended paper plate, I just cut an oval from white paper.

Lots of glue is needed.


When I let Meghan glue (though I did most of it), she signed "thank you." She really enjoys crafts and often thanks me while we make them!


Then have some fun gluing the cotton balls!

While Meghan placed the cotton balls, I cut the four feet and head. I opted to leave off the googley eyes since they always seem to fall off. Instead I cut white eyes and placed a dot in the middle.

Does anyone have any ideas how to keep the googley eyes attached? Regular glue doesn't seem to work for us.

Meghan was so crafty that day that I also introduced her to scissors! First we cut into a strip of paper, and then we cut a straw into many pieces. This was fun for her, but she had a difficult time cutting. (She's only two though!) These scissors are made for left or right handed children, so if she decides that cutting is easier with her right hand, she can still use them.

Sticky Numbers

Meghan is starting to have a slight interest in numbers. I should emphasize slight.

ABC and 123 and The Adventures of Bear showed me an idea that I thought might interest Meghan as an introductory activity for a basic counting concept.

I made a simple chart with the numbers 1-6. In each block I had the number of dots to correspond with the number.

Meghan used some colored circles to cover the dots. She removed the stickers herself which is great for those little finger muscles!

Unfortunately she wasn't too interested in counting the stickers or identifying the numbers, but it's a start. She has more than three years before kindergarten...plenty of time to learn to talk, count, and know her alphabet. Sometimes I have to remind myself of that!

(I used the stickers when we moved to color code the boxes to correspond with specific rooms. It seemed to work well.)

Book Party

Today we had a book party. All we needed was a bed covered in pillows, tons of books, and a couple of children. My hope was to read and read and read.
















However, in true Whipple (or at least this Whipple) fashion, the pillows, books, and children were gathered in time for a quick picture, but the book party with lots of reading didn't happen as I had hoped. By the time the picture was taken, I smelled something and had to change a diaper. While I was doing that, Meghan found her blanket and pacifier, which is only used for sleeping. She had a tantrum when she wasn't allowed to have the pacifier...so Evan and I read a book together. Eventually Meghan joined us, as I expected she would. Soon after Evan needed a nap. We only read five books together during the book party. We usually read that many in a sitting on the couch, so I was a bit disappointed.

Tonight I brought home a new load of books from the library. When dinner was over Meghan and Meghan wanted to take the books "up." So we took the borrowed books upstairs while Evan napped and Daddy mowed. We had a blast reading for over an hour! The book party that flopped really turned out to be an introduction to hopefully a new tradition!

We truly have lots and lots of books. We've been very blessed, but the library still offers us so much! I don't buy fiction books for myself, so the library or church library meets those needs. Recently I found some great "learning resources" at the library. To supplement the fun and enjoyment that a book can give, included in a bag with the book are puppets! Meghan loves this and so do I!

I'm grateful to one of my blogging friends (even if I can't remember which one) who had a reading festival recently and shared the idea. Meghan can say book, so that's why we had a book party! Go and plan your own now!

(I changed the background of the blog, hoping this is a bit more reader-friendly. You are welcome to share your thoughts, positive or negative. I miss the green though...)

Veggie Tales Tot Book

I made my very first tot-book. As an elementary teacher, I used file folder games to enrich and challenge students. This is similar, but different. A tot-book is tot-sized: only half of a file folder. For more information, and lots of literature and Bible based tot-books and for older children, lap books go to this great site. I am also working on a Brown Bear tot-book. By "working on" I just mean cutting, laminating, and putting it together. Carisa already did all the hard work for me!

Meghan can learn to recognize the letters in her name, and hopefully her name soon. There is also a pull out for colors.

Included are also two little books. I decided not to attach them this time to the folder. Meghan is really into this book. She likes to point out "Bob" and say his name.

(I promise I combed her hair this day, but she likes her hippie headband!) We read the books a lot, and Meghan even read by herself. (Yes, she is still enjoying the pasta necklace, too.)

I just got a personal laminator. (It was a great deal at BJ's for under $25. WalMart has the same one for a good deal too.) The small pieces need to be on cardstock or be laminated to be durable, but I think the books would be okay with just cardstock.

Button Book and Button Eggs

Buttons Buttons!

I made a button book for Meghan's Easter basket. It was fairly simple to make. I got the idea here. Since Meghan tries to unbutton and button my shirts, I thought it was time that she had a more appropriate place to practice this fine motor skill. I used two pieces of felt, plus addition felt for the pocket and shapes. Embroidery floss holds the buttons on and the book together. Simple!

Here is the inside of the book with the sewn buttons and removable shapes.

I decided not to use the recommended blanket stitch. Instead I just used the whip stitch.

The outside has a handy little pocket for storing the felt shapes.


Though this picture is upside down (and I don't know how to fix it), it shows the button and ribbon closure. I hope she likes it!
Meghan's Reaction:

Silly me. When I made this button book I didn't consider Meghan's compulsive tendency. I will be making new shapes for her in matching colors to the buttons.

Meghan decorated an egg shape with buttons with her left hand

and her right hand.

Don't you love seeing how much she concentrates? Amazingly, school glue holds the buttons to the paper without any problems, unless a little girl tries to peel them off!

Spice Jar and Toothpicks

Derek's grandma gave us some spice jars. Immediately I was excited to have them. Not only are they the perfect size to hold homemade paint, but they are great for fine-motor skills!

Meghan enjoyed just taking the lids off and putting them on for a very long time. She has also returned to this activity mulitple times in a day. (With that said you would think I would have some better pictures, or have at least appeared to comb her hair. This is nap hair.)

With the tiny holes, they were perfect for pushing toothpicks through the holes! Here Daddy was helping her, but it is simple enough for her to do independently, too (with supervision).

Spice jars by themselves or with toothpicks, pom-poms, or Q-tips would be a great quiet activity to keep a toddler busy during a church service or some other time when you need a toddler to sit and be quiet.

Isn't the hat cute? With spring here, it was just $1 at the Dollar Tree. What a perfect dress-up accessory!

I am very excited to say that I am not home today! I will be "away" at a 12 hour retreat for ladies! I can't wait!