Bits of Random Fun

So the past week or so we've done several fun activities!

One day I took out the ice cube trays I had frozen colored water in, and since the inflatable pool wasn't up, I decided to just stick her in the tub.  She had a blast!  I gave her about 4 or 5 at a time along with some cups and a bucket to play with.   I only had a small amount of warm water in the tub so she could watch them melt and how the colors mix to create new ones. Once the water got ugly, I'd drain it and fill it up, giving her some more.  This went on for well over an hour! Score!  I was a little afraid she might come out looking like a multi-colored easter egg, but all the food color washed off with no problems.  So simple and so fun.  A definite win in my house!

We also had a lovely wedding to go to on the weekend, so I decided I needed to find some super quiet activities that would keep her busy during the ceremony.  I remembered I saw something online where people used old spice containers to put pipe cleaners through the holes.  I didn't have a spice container but I found an empty Gerber puff's container and poked some holes in the lid just big enough for the pipe cleaners.  Then I gave her a handful and showed her how she could put them in the holes.  I wanted to make sure she liked it before I took it along to the wedding.  She did, and it kept her busy for quite awhile.  She was even able to open the container and pour the pipe cleaners out to start all over again.  She seemed to really enjoy this activity too, and it is great for developing her fine motor skills!  Another win.. unfortunately at the outdoor wedding, some of her pipe cleaners started to blow away.  Oh well, she still likes to play with it at home.  We have another variation of using the same container but with one small rectangle hole and putting popsicle sticks through it - but that is a lot noisier!  She still plays with that one too.

I also had her break out her water color paints again and she seemed to enjoy painting for awhile.  Both with her brush and fingers...they always have to be messy to have fun it seems!

And one last fun activity we did was visit the zoo!  I was really looking forward to it because lately she has been into animals and their sounds.  I thought she would love it this summer.  And even though she had fun, she still might be a little young to get too excited.  She saw the animals but when we found a puddle, that is where she wanted to stay.  I mean, who doesn't like a good puddle to jump in right? :)   At the end she also got to take her very first Carousel ride with Daddy!  She really had fun on that, and kept signing "more" when they had to get off.  

It's been a fun and eventful time for us!  And this weekend we are gearing up for a 3 day potty-training extravaganza!  Wish us luck!

Finger...Feet painting?

Today I decided to whip up a quick batch of homemade finger paints.  I got the recipe from Easy Peasie Blog here after doing a quick Google search for a recipe.  All it requires is water, corn starch, a little sugar and salt - all things I happen to have on hand!

You cook it up until it thickens and looks like this:

Then I just used some cool-whip lids for small plates

Add some food colors -

(no it won't stain your kiddo, but it may stain their clothes so you may have them wear an apron)

I decided since it was a nice morning, we best go outside!

Let the fun begin!

She really started getting into it...

And decided feet-painting was the way to go...

Realllllly glad we are outside now!

And of course, some water play afterward to wash up before going inside. :)

She had a wonderful time and was giggling and loving the feet painting especially!  The finger paint was great, cleaned off easy and everything.  Though I find it gets to be a bit more like slime or goop after it cools off for a longer time.  That made it more fun though, smushing it around and in-between her toes..

Overall a great activity, though I'm not sure I'd do it everyday.... :)

Welcome!

Hello Everyone!
You may be wondering about the title of my blog, and if you haven't guessed already - it's about my sweet  daughter and one of her favorite stuffy's right now - her duck.  She's full of energy at 22 months old, and her duck and giraffe are never far behind in her adventures, so don't be surprised to see pictures with them tagging along.

Really though, I just wanted a place where I could keep track of all the fun activities we do and also to be motivated to continue to try new things with her.  Because let's face it... being home all day with a toddler is exhausting!  They flit from thing to thing to thing!  And though my sweet girl does enjoy some Barney or Kipper on TV, I'd love to make sure it's well balanced.  So my goal is to continue to do fun planned activities a couple times a week to break up the normal routines.  She loves art and pretend play right now, so it should be fun!  Stick around and see what fun I can cook up!  (Probably with the help of Pinterest!)

Yours Truly,
 Mindy