December Activity Shelves

This year's December activity shelves revolve, surprisingly enough, around winter and Christmas.

As usual, the top two shelves are filled with themed activities while the lower two hold a variety of non-themed toys.

Our sensory bin is a white dish tub from Dollar Tree. It's filled with white rice scented with almond extract (I'd originally planned to use mint, but we were out), a bit of glitter, miniature mylar gift bows from Dollar Tree, and a scoop that I believe we purchased from Target's Dollar Spot earlier this year.

Our treasure basket holds a few of the same things our Shiny Stuff Treasure Tin held last year (holographic foil tissue paper, a large jingle bell, and a shiny gift bow), but we've also added some other jingly instruments.

There's an art tin with a variety of papers - old dollar store greeting cards, pages from a Christmas picture book that got ruined, a snowman notepad, and festive foam shapes from Target's Dollar Spot after-Christmas clearance last year - as well as feathers, spangles, scissors, glue, and markers.

We have a basket of books about various December holidays and wintry fun, some plush reindeer the kids were given last year at "Story Time with Mrs. Claus" at the mall, and a tree stacker from Plan Toys (purchased for a steal at the consignment store, since it was massing the top piece).

Previous Seasonal Activity Shelves
February and Valentine's 2013
Springtime and Easter 2013
Autumn 2013

Previous Seasonal Sensory Bins
Springtime and Easter 2013
Autumn 2013

Previous Seasonal Treasure Baskets
Autumn 2012
Winter 2012
Valentine's 2013

Previous Seasonal Shelf Activities
Christmas 2012
Valentine's 2013
Halloween 2013

Creating a Blank Book to Illustrate

Recently Jean from The Artful Parent mentioned buying her daughters some blank books to create with. It inspired me to make a blank book for Meg to illustrate that was a bit more special than our typical sheets of paper folded together.

I had a nice clean sheet of white cardboard stashed away in my craft room. It came in a package I'd received, thicker than poster board, but thinner than corrugated cardboard. I showed Meg how to score it down the center on front and back so it would fold nicely, then she cut some white paper down to the same size with her scrapbooking paper cutter. We stapled it all together down the spine.

After it was done being assembled, Meg wasn't happy with the staples being visible on the spine and asked if she could cover them with washi tape. It was a pretty brilliant idea and made the book very pretty. She and her brother worked together to make lovely abstract pictures on the cover and each page. He actually worked on this part more than she did. I think the assembly turned out to be Meg's favorite part.

Newest Indoor Art Supply Storage

First there was this, then we updated things a bit, then we moved the indoor art supplies downstairs to our fancy new playroom. And here's what we have now:

The "small paper" drawers hold small sheets of foam from Dollar Tree, quarters of construction paper (I chop a big stack up periodically with my paper cutter), and Post-It notes. I didn't take a good picture of the "paper" magazine file, but it holds expanding file folders from Dollar Tree to separate the Color Wonder, watercolor, envelopes and blank cards, catalogues, scrapbook, and plain paper.

The ubiquitous Ikea Bygel rail and cups. I love that Meg can easily grab a cup and carry it to where she's working.

It's all quite functional. My 18 month old, 3.5 year old, and their friends have no problem accessing everything they need to create and play with art materials. I have been thinking about changing out all the square containers on the bottom shelf with the clear plastic jars on the first shelf (the ones that house crayons and markers), but for now, I'm pleased with how things look and function.

You may have noticed that the sensory materials are now missing. They've been moved to the kitchen, since that's where they're most often played with, and it's much easier to clean up spilled rice and moon sand from the hard floors than it is on carpet.

Freeform Festive Art Explorations - A Way to Reset a Rough Day

I had a hard day with my kids today. We've spent the past couple weeks taking turns passing around a bad stomach virus, the kids have been having a number of sleep regressions, and just general the responsibilities of managing a household during the holidays all ended up piling together and made for a very trying Tuesday. I lost my temper. Multiple times. Both kids went down for naps with tears, and I dropped a few of my own on the couch while I caught my breath. And then I decided, you know what? I'm the only one here who really has the power to turn this day around.

So I set the scene for a calm and pleasant afternoon to greet the kids when they got up from their naps (hopefully) rested and cheerier. I tidied up the kitchen - 'cause Mama doesn't function well in chaos, set a pot of good smelling things to simmer on the stove, turned on some Christmas music, put out some snacks, and then went hunting in my craft room.

My only direction in mind for this afternoon activity was "festive." I gathered some baskets, raided the gift wrap center, then finished up with a few supplies from Meg's craft shelves. (Please forgive the poor lighting. It's that time of year where the days are shorter, nights are cooler, and lighting is artificial.)

The spread.

Papers - dollar store holiday cards that have been languishing in my closet for years, pages from a ruined holiday picture book, construction paper halves, toy catalogue

gift bows and ribbons

white glue, glitter glues, and scissors

"Strings 'n Things" bin - bits of yarn, ribbon, elastic, etc.

As with most art explorations in this house, Meg decided to take things her own direction when she awoke. She pulled out a number of papers and asked to use my scrapbooking paper cutter. I pulled it out, reminded her which part was sharp and how to use it safely, and she went to town, cutting everything in her path into strips. She even attempted cutting one of the gift bows and found out on her own what was and wasn't possible to cut with the tool.

Her first try.

So proud!

I'd like to say this turned the whole day around and there were no more tears and tantrums and sharp words. But that isn't true. We're all human and this has been an exhausting and trying time. But those 3 happy, giggly, singing, creating, wonderful hours were enough to get us through the rest of the day. And tomorrow we'll all try to do better.

Fun Boxes / Quiet Boxes

I've noticed Margaret (3) has seemed really bored with her toys of late. I try to rotate them in the playroom, but she's still been spending a lot of time ignoring the majority of them and wandering around crabby and antsy.

In effort to spice up the really fun toys she owns and give them the chance to be a star, I made up 5 "fun boxes." Each box has a few toys and activities she hasn't played with in a while but I know she will likely still get a kick out of. Every weekday morning she gets a different box, and it's hers to play with for the whole day. I rotate some of their contents each week to keep things fresh.

We've been using the fun boxes for 3 weeks now, and I'm amazed by what a huge hit they've been. The first thing she asks for upon waking is "Today's fun box, please!" She spends a good deal of her independent play time with them. All her other toys, books, and art supplies are still readily available to her. The boxes are just a way of highlighting and encouraging that independent play.

This week's boxes feature:

Lacing/Sewing Activities

• lacing beads
• lacing dress-up bears
• sink mat (from Dollar Tree) and lengths of ribbon
• rubber drawer liner, yarn, and yarn needle
• cut straw segments and string

Fine Motor Activities

• magnet set
• pony beads, pom pom balls, buttons, ice cube tray, tongs
• puzzles
• reusable stickers (like Colorforms)
• bubble wrap

Art Activities

• paper and stickers
• paper and glitter glue pens
• paper, crayons, envelopes, old address labels
• paper, scissors, glue stick
• paper and Band-Aids

Card Games
I buy flash cards from Target's Dollar Spot. She loves to use the cards for storytelling, matching games, other made-up games, or just looking at and talking about the pictures.

Books
This week she's really into my old Eyes on Nature animal books.

A few notes:

• I try to put one or two toys/activities I know she's crazy about, as well as a couple she hasn't shown much interest in in the past. It's amazing how the novelty of the fun box can make previously untouched toys seem so much cooler.
• I use plastic baby food containers to corral small items within the boxes.
• The best part of this is you can start with whatever toys/materials you have around and add more as you find good deals. She loves having a brand new trinket pop up unexpectedly in the fun box.

Here are some links to inexpensive (most are free!) homemade fun box activities we've made:
february Transferring
First Embroidery
Color Matching with Gift Bows
Magnetic Colored Popsicle Sticks
Magnetic Pom Pom Balls
Erasers and Suction Cups Activity
Paint Chip Matching Game
Uppercase and Lowercase Matching Eggs
Animal Matching Game
Pool Noodle Art
Button Snake Toy
Memory Matching Toy
Ribbons in a Bottle Toy
Clothespin Clipping Toy
Pom Pom Push Toy
Pipe Cleaner Poking Toy

"My Day" Schedule Board

I've been struggling lately with my 2.5 year old. She's been really resistant to anything that appears to be a command. Like most 2.5 year olds. Like most humans. She has many opportunities each day to decide independently how to spend her time, but sometimes we need to run to the grocery store, which necessitates wearing more than underwear and 15 necklaces. Or she needs to brush her teeth. Or she needs to not sit on the baby.

I've found that she's a lot more willing to cooperate when she knows the day's schedule and has some warning, rather than, "Hey, get some clothes on. We're going to the store." So I decided to make up a simple schedule board for her. I wish I'd thought to take "in progress" photos, but it was pretty simple.

I started out by making a list of her daily activities (meals, care of self, etc.) and activities we do frequently (story time, grocery shopping, play with toys, read books, art, etc.). I searched free clip art on the internet for pictures to represent each activity. (You could draw the pictures yourself if you're skilled in that area.) I tried to make sure each picture would be easily recognizable to her (so I used a teddy bear to represent story time rather than a picture of a library, since singing "the teddy bear song" is her favorite part of that activity). I printed them out in "coloring book" and colored them in with colored pencils. Then I laminated them with contact paper and stuck the "hook" side of Velcro dots to the back of each picture.

I used a sheet of foam board I had laying around (I think it came from the dollar store) for the board. I wrote out the hours of the day she's awake for (7 am to 7 pm) with a chalk marker and added the "loop" side of Velcro dots beside them. The hours are mostly for my own reference, because she can't tell time yet. On the back, I glued a piece of felt to hold the pictures not in use.

Anyway, here are some pictures that are probably a lot easier to interpret than my sleep-deprived descriptions.

Ride in car to have lunch with Daddy and go grocery shopping.

In the evenings after she's in bed, or the mornings before she wakes up, I fill in the board with any "non-negotiables" (meals, errands, etc.). At breakfast, we decide what activities we'd like to do that day and fill in the rest. We've been using this board for a week now, and I'm really happy with it. I think it'll grow with her, and it's super-easy to maintain.

Updated Art Supplies Storage

For our most recent update, click here.

I've previously shared the storage solution we have for kids' art and sensory materials. It's been working great, but it was missing a little something.



A little pretty.



Here's the new bookshelf:

Amazing what some spray paint ($3), chalkboard contact paper (maybe 1/16 of $7) and a chalk marker ($8) can do.

Large plastic bin holds scraps and works in progress.

The chalk marker works great straight on plastic, so I didn't have to stick a chalkboard label to the black play clothes bin (a repurposed dishwashing tub).

A new utensil caddy from Ikea ($3) corrals tools.

I cut construction paper and foam sheets into quarters for small-scale art. They're stored in painted drawer organizing baskets from Wal-Mart ($1/2).

A magazine holder from Target's Dollar Spot ($1) holds paper.

Sensory materials are stored in plastic jars (lids painted) from Wal-Mart ($2/ea).

The small art supplies are held in food storage containers (with painted lids) from Wal-Mart ($2/4). I drew my own template and cut chalkboard labels from the chalkboard contact paper. These labels would run about $5/12 on Etsy, but making them myself, they cost maybe 2-5 cents each. And I didn't even need an expensive vinyl-cutting machine to make them! ;)

A CD storage crate purchased on clearance from Wal-Mart ($1) holds socks and sunblock for outdoor play.

Outdoor Toy and Art Supply Storage

Edit - See the update to this post: our garage art studio.

Here's a quickie today. I've been searching for a few months for a way to store our messy art supplies outside, as well as something to contain our outdoor toys. Our area gets frequent high winds, as well as full desert sun all day, so we need something sturdy and fully-enclosed. It's important to me that Margaret be able to access the toys herself, too.

I finally settled on these Ikea Josef cabinets. We purchased two and bolted one atop the other (they come with the hardware to do so). They are secured to the house and close with a magnetic lock that Margaret can open herself.

In the top one, we have the art supplies.

17 bottles of ~16 oz paints and 2 large gallons

Top: rags, waterproof tablecloth, water balloons, hanging drying rack for wet artwork
Middle: shaving cream, glue, pie pans, paint tray, masking tape, loofah, paint cups, droppers, spray bottles

The bottom one holds Meg's toys.

The toys and supplies are now protected from the elements, but easy for Margaret to access and clean up again on her own.