Banana Snowmen

When I saw these fruity snowmen in Family Fun magazine, I knew my little childcare boys would like them for a special snack one day!

Instead of threading the fruit onto skewers, I simply arranged the fruit in a snowman shape on a plate. Two and a half year old boys are plenty dangerous without the help of sharp pointed objects!

I used blueberries instead of a grape, large chocolate chips instead of minis and carrot sticks instead of pretzels for the arms. Older kids would enjoy assembling this snack themselves.

There were smiles all around when these fun snowmen were served!

Works For Me Wednesday-The Toy Edition

This week's Works-for-me-Wednesday is a themed toy edition. What kind of toys will not end up in the yard sale pile soon after they are opened?

I'm not a mom, so I can't speak from that perspective. But I'll share some of the things that our nieces and nephews love for gifts.

Both my sister and sister-in-law are rather picky about the toys that come into their homes, so I often ask for recommendations for Christmas gifts. I want to give the kids gifts that they and their parents will love!

Here's the good gift ideas that they've given me in the past few years:

1)Books. My sister-in-law told me that she doesn't get rid of books. I try to pick out classics or books pertaining to subjects that the kids are interested in.

2)Craft supplies. Our oldest niece especially loves crafts. So extra supplies are helpful for her. Paper, packs of foam, glue, beads, stickers, etc.

3)Consumable items. These are things that get used up and don't hang around taking up space. They can include art and craft supplies but also things like bubble bath, favorite snack foods,etc. We gave our 3 year old niece a bottle of "Princess" bubble bath for Christmas last year. She was beyond thrilled!

4)Little People toys. All the kids love these and have continued to play with them past the toddler years. Best of all, these toys last and last through multiple kids.

5)Handmade Items. I am the resident apron-maker for the girls, sewing them new and bigger ones every couple of years. Last year, crayon pouches were a big hit!

What are gifts that your kids really love?

For more toy-themed posts, please visit Rocks In My Dryer.

Homemade Watercolors

Amy from the Mom Advice blog posts links to fun crafts and do-it-yourself projects each week in Amy's Notebook. Recently she had asked us to join in with Notebook Experiments by picking a project to do and then linking back with pictures and specifics.

This week, we made homemade watercolor paints (Dim Sum, Bagels and Crawfish) which were featured in last week's Notebook(8/21/08).

I love making my own art supplies like play dough and finger paints so these quickly caught my eye! The next drawing point was that they could be made in minutes and used right away. No cooking and cooling periods. When you take care of two 2 year olds, immediate gratification is of utmost importance!

I had all the supplies on hand-another plus.(Please see the original post for a complete instructions.) I set out the ingredients and we got right to scooping and counting! The baking soda and vinegar combination was very cool-the fizzing really fascinated the boys!

The boys helped with the stirring by using these small Pampered Chef spoons-the perfect size for little ones! Just like the instructions, I divided the paints into recycled applesauce cups, since that's what I had on hand. I stirred the food coloring into each one and viola! We had paint!


We had so much fun with these. It was a short enough project that could easily be completed with antsy little ones. The leftover paints are hardened up now to use again soon. And their very wet paintings dried up really nice into beautiful pastel colors. This recipe is going into my toddler activities book to be used over and over again!

(I had a picture of all 6 colors of paint in their cute little applesauce cups, but it refuses to load for me! Oh well... enjoy the pictures of the littles having a grand time painting!)


Click here to read about more fun experiments or join in the fun!

All Little Einsteins, All The Time

One of the toddlers that I babysit has a thing for Little Einsteins. He loves them. He loves them so much that his mom and I refer to the show as L.E. when he is around. He talks about "Rocket" all the time.

Today I made his day. We watched the Little Einstein's theme song via You Tube videos.

5 times in a row!

In Spanish!

In German!

In French!

Even in Japanese!

And to think I'm blogging about it!!!

Cornmeal Fun

The little boys that I babysit had great fun driving their cars in cornmeal one day last week.

I put a couple of spoonfuls of cornmeal on a cookie sheet and spread it around.

A simple activity but one the little ones really liked!

And it was ok if they ate some of it.:-)

For Mom, From Toddler

This is what I helped the little ones make for their mothers this Mother's Day.

It's sometimes difficult to come up with gifts for toddlers to make that don't look like a craft that the adult created while the child looked on!

This is easy, easy. But when it comes to squirmy one year olds, simple is always better!

These pictures can be made by any age child, and are an excellent choice if you have little ones. I used card stock and Crayola finger paints, letting one color of hand prints dry before using the second color. These could be made with all sorts of variations and can easily be adapted for Father's Day. Just be sure you write Dad instead of Mom!! hahaha

Keeping it simple,I mounted each picture on a coordinating color of paper. It's either ready to frame or can be placed in a scrapbook for safe-keeping!

Frugal Fridays- Cheap Toddler Toys

Thanks to Crystal at Biblical Womanhood for once again hosting Frugal Fridays!

When I first started doing some in-home childcare about a year ago, I didn't have very many toys or money to buy them.

Drawing from my experience as an Early Childhood major as well as using some common sense, I began looking around my house for items that the babies could play with. As I've been able, I've supplemented my toy basket with some nice classic toys from yard sales as well as a good selection of wonderful board books that were almost all purchased for a quarter each. (One day I sat down and figured out that buying all these books brand-new would be well over $100!) I also keep a good supply of basic art supplies handy such as crayons, used computer paper, markers, play dough, water color paints, etc.

I've found that the kids like playing with my homemade toys or the recyclables better than the store-bought toys! The basic items tend to keep their attention longer than the battery operated stuff they have at home.

I hate clutter, so I continually am cleaning out the toys and sorting to only keep one basket full of stuff in my living room. My living room is too small to have lots of toys all over! I rotate the toys in and out every month or so and that helps to keep interest up.

Here are some cheap things that I've found that the toddlers like:
~oatmeal containers
~any plastic container with a lid
~orange juice concentrate lids(I decorated these with a sticker on each and cut a slit in a coffee can for an inexpensive but fun, "Kerplunk" game. Remember it's toddlers we're talking about here!)
~laundry detergent scoops-wash these well and keep in your outdoor bag for sand and water play
~boxes- Aldi boxes work well as well as bigger boxes, especially when you have someone to push you around in your "train".:-)
~food boxes-these usually last a short while, then they get cluttery and I recycle them:-)
~wooden spoons and other non-dangerous utensils
~ tin or aluminum pie plates
~water bottles-clean and dry them then add colorful objects such as jingle bells, ribbon, shells, beads or colored water. Be sure to hot glue the lid on or only give a tightly shut one to a small child that you know is not able to open it yet. (Use your common sense with this because of the potential choking hazard and consider the age of your child.)
~measuring cups and other plastic kitchen items-I use these while cooking. It keeps them occupied as well as close by where I can see them and interact with them.
~diaper wipe boxes-fill with scarves or tie scarves together for child to reach in and keep pulling out.

Hope this gives someone some great frugal toy ideas. Let me know of any more you've used or thought of!

Children don't need expensive toys to learn or to be happy. Little ones love having a caring adult close by to sing, talk, play and include them in their daily activities.

Check out Crystal's blog for more great Frugal Friday tips!

My Favorites: Activity Books For Toddlers

I recently treated myself to some new books from half.com. Among them were these toddler activity books. I remembered these as some of my very favorite resources when I was teaching little ones,but never had my own copies.

The Toddlers Busy Book by Trish Kuffner has so many great ideas in it that are very suitable for using at home, since it is written for moms by a mom! My favorite part of this book is the lists of recyclable and relatively cheap items that are recommended to keep on hand.

Wonderplay by Fretta Reitzes and Beth Teitelman is also a great find. This book starts with activities for infants and moves on up to things to do with older preschoolers. I would recommend this book to those with young, young babies and toddlers in order to get enough out of it. I like this book for the plethora of new chants and rhymes! (You'd think that after several years of toddler care-giving, I wouldn't need any more chants and rhymes, but hey, we all need new ideas occasionally!)

Even though I have lots of ideas in my head from experience with little ones, its nice to have some great resources for those brain-dead days or just to bring to mind new ideas or things you haven't thought of lately.

So if you're a mom who needs new ideas or an in-home child care provider as I am, check out these books!