Play Create Explore: January 2012

Monday, January 30, 2012

Rainbow I Spy Sensory Bin

I made this Rainbow ISPY Sensory bin for L and he loved it!
I used colored rice and noodles, and LOTS of brightly colored toys and trinkets.
We took turns playing I-spy and with every scoop he found treasure after treasure.
This was literally hours of fun that day!

For more colored rice play, click the photos below

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Friday, January 27, 2012

Winter Beach Bash Playdate/Party

A friend of mine created a playgroup on meetup.com called Play2Learn. The playdates in this group focus on play based learning. I hosted a playdate for the group called
The Winter Beach Bash
in which the focus was to incorporate "beachy" and summery elements into the party...the irony and fun of it of course being that we are in the middle of winter. Some of the kids even changed into their beach attire at the party which just added to the fun!

I didn't go over the top with this party. It wasn't in my budget nor was it necessary. I went with a few key elements and made those things the focus of the party and the kids and parents had a great time!

Ocean Sensory Table

I used the aquarium gravel, fake plants and coral, shells, and ocean animal toys to create this ocean sensory water table.

Beach Sensory Bin

I used Cloud Dough as the "sand" in this beach sensory bin, as well as shells, starfish, driftwood, and a plastic crab. I opted for cloud dough instead of sand because I couldn't find sand bags this time of year but it's just so darn fun to play with anyway! It's super soft and moldable, so the kids were able to make little sand castles too.
See another beautiful beach sensory bin using cloud dough and glitter!

We taped a plastic dropcloth to the floor for easier cleanup.
small plastic containers and little shovels and spoons were in a basket next to the bin

Sea Shell Painting

A basket of white shells, watercolors and paintbrushes to share.
The kids really loved this and some really beautiful shells were made!

Sea Shell Exploration

just a big basket of lots of different kinds of shells to be explored

FOOD

Everyone brought their OWN lunch and drinks and one extra thing to share with the group.

Decorations

The decor was kept pretty simple.

-brightly colored cheap table cloths

-little party palm trees and cardboard beach balls

-hawaiian lays for all the kids

-music

-limbo stick (which sadly we didn't get to)

and I also asked members to bring any beach balls, or pool toys.

The boys really liked kicking the beach balls.

And there you have it...a SIMPLE WINTER BEACH PARTY.
I absolutely LOVE hosting just because theme parties!
Even though it was simple and I didn't spend hundreds of dollars, the kids had a blast
AND THAT OF COURSE IS ALL THAT MATTERS
:)

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

What We've Been Up To

A picture post about the non posty stuff. You know...life.

First time with Cheese Wizz

I wore a ballcap and this is how Baby Son looked at me all day haha

fell asleep like this. He is VERY obsessed with his feet right now

My little GQ

A trip to what we call "Castle Park." Seriously one of THE coolest parks.

The kids can play inside that castle!

The one teeny tiny snowfall we had so far this winter.

Early morning brotherly love <3

Scared of the vaccume! lol

The reason I hate when my husband goes shopping by himself. He calls this our "pantry snack." It's the snack we snack on when we are in the pantry looking for a snack.