Big, Messy Art Party

Margaret's third birthday party was all about her favorite things: creating art, making a mess, and covering everything in rainbows.

The balloon banner was an easy and inexpensive way to make a big statement. I used a tutorial I found online to assemble it.

Get Messy!

Shaving Cream Color Mixing - We filled the sensory table with dollar store shaving foam, sprinkled confetti throughout, and offered cups of liquid watercolors and droppers for color mixing.

Fizzy Painting - We made fizzy paint by mixing corn starch, baking soda, water, and food coloring. The kids painted it onto the concrete with big brushes and sprayed it with vinegar to make it fizz.

Wacky Painting - We rolled out and taped down large pieces of butcher paper and offered up trays of tempera paint and a variety of odd painting implements such as potato mashers, dish scrubbers, paper towel rolls, and toy trucks.

A pool of water to wash off and cool down was one of the most popular spots.

We had a sensory pool filled with colored cooked spaghetti, water beads, and partially set Jell-O. We'd planned on the Jell-O being set and cubed up, but it had plans of its own and never gelled.

Baby James thought it was a giant snack tray. (We made sure to keep the water beads out of his mouth.)

A little baby haven in the shade in case things got too rowdy.

Inside, we had lunch and cake. The cups had dried food coloring in the bottoms, so when the water was added, it "magically" changed colors.

The cake? The cake was a disaster. See that big wedge taken out of the back? That's because the whole thing started falling apart while I was assembling and frosting it, and in a fit of frustration, I ripped off a chunk and threw it into the sink. *sigh* Cakes are no friends of mine.

I saw an idea like this online but forgot that the watermelon was supposed to be turned upside down. No matter, it worked just fine this way, too.

The PB&Js would have looked and tasted much better if I'd have used nonpareils instead of sugar sprinkles. Live and learn.

Yogurt pops - Colored yogurt frozen in Dixie cups in layers.

This party was a huge hit! The birthday girl had a blast, and a bunch of neighbor kids stopped by to join in the fun!

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

Autumn Activity Shelves

I've mentioned before that we have a bookshelf in our kitchen full of novel toys and seasonal activities to keep our kids engaged while we're cooking dinner or otherwise occupied on the main floor of our house.

For autumn, it's stocked with:

Art Supplies

glue, feathers, leaf stickers, autumn foam stickers, Halloween cookie cutters to trace, foam leaves, colored card stock and white art paper, and a jack-o-lantern sticker book

The supplies are tucked away in a felt Halloween basket purchased on clearance last year.

Fine Motor Activity

tiny jack-o-lantern erasers, pumpkin ice cube tray, and tongs

Story Props and Book

Seasonal Picture Books

and our autumn sensory bin and last year's autumn treasure basket.

The art supplies, books, and fine motor activity fit neatly inside a basket.

Autumn Sensory Bin

Our autumn sensory bin contains black beans, white beans, orange-dyed rice*, plastic leaf table scatter from Target's Dollar Spot (purchased last year after-Halloween clearance, but I believe they have it again this year), painted acorns, bowls, a scoop, and tongs.

We collected some acorns at the park recently, washed them, baked them in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes (to kill off any insects/larvae), painted the nuts with soy paint, hot glued the caps on, then polished them up with some beeswax to protect the paint. They make a fun sensory bin addition.

*To color the rice, I just dumped some vinegar and a few drops of red and yellow food coloring onto the rice, stirred thoroughly, then spread it flat to dry for a few hours.

March Sensory Tub - Springtime Rainbow Rice and Easter Eggs

Like many others in blogland, our March sensory tub features rainbow rice and plastic Easter eggs.

I've been wanting to make rainbow rice for ages, and I'm annoyed I waited so long. It was simple, quick, and the kids are crazy about it. I combined 1 cup of rice, 1 teaspoon of rubbing alcohol, and a few drops of food coloring in a mixing bowl and stirred until evenly colored. Dumped it on a cookie sheet, wiped down the bowl and spoon, and moved on to the next color. I let it dry overnight, but a few hours would have likely done the trick.

The colors looked lovely side by side in a clear tub.

And even more beautiful once they were all mixed together.

I started by offering it as shown, but Meg and her friend have quickly added metal pots and pans from her play kitchen, plastic bowls, a potato masher, and funnels scavenged from the kitchen drawers. Since the rice is in a wide, shallow tub, there's plenty of room for the two girls to play together happily. It's been out all month, and they still play with it for a good half hour to an hour each day.

"Shiny Stuff" Treasure Tin for Winter

Our autumn treasure basket was such a hit, I decided to make a new one for winter and the holidays. These baskets are inspired by traditional heuristic baskets and are great fun for both my infant and preschooler. I enlisted the help of my 3 year old, and together we gathered all manner of shiny and sparkly things hanging around my craft room and tucked them into a pretty tin I'd gotten on clearance after Christmas last year.

Inside the tin are three glass jars (they once held bullion cubes) filled with silver tinsel, metal bottle caps, and rhinestones. I hot glued the lids shut, and they make interesting shakers and discovery bottles for the littlest one. I also added a large gift bow, an empty tart pan, a jingle bell ornament, and holographic foil tissue paper.

As with our autumn treasure basket, this tin is kept on the entry way credenza alongside a basket of seasonal books, magazines, and music. The kids love playing with it in the evenings while dinner is cooked and many other times throughout the day.

These treasure baskets are inexpensive (free!) to put together from recycled materials and dollar store finds. It's simple to change up the content to keep them fresh and engaging. They really draw my kids in, and I like that they're attractive enough that I don't mind leaving them out in "entertaining" areas of my home.

Autumn Treasure Basket

I put together a simple autumn treasure basket for my son (age 11 months) from some things I had laying around the house. The basket, wooden spoon, and wicker bowl were pieces from his first heuristic basket. The faux leaves and gourds were purchased from the Dollar Tree and originally used as tablescape for my sister's wedding shower.

I tossed this basket together one Sunday evening while we were trying to get dinner on the table, and the kids were getting antsy. I was surprised what a hit it was with both the baby and my 3 year old. James was very serious in his exploration. First picking up each gourd and leaf and testing it in his mouth, then exploring it visually and with his fingers.

My daughter couldn't resist the fun. She filled the wicker bowl up with leaves and threw them into the air repeatedly while we sang "Leaves Are Falling."*

I've left the basket on our entry credenza, next to our nature display and basket of autumn books, and the kids have played with it multiple times each day since.


*Leaves Are Falling
Leaves are falling all around
On the housetops, on the ground
Leaves are falling on my nose
On my head and hands and toes