Mitten match

Simple felt mittens with a simple design on them (all different) make for a great activity.  I cut them out of felt and hot glued the designs on them.  Daphne has fun matching them up.  We are also working on sequences.

Rice ornaments

We got wooden shaped ornaments awhile back for 50 cents each.  The little metal tray is glue (so glad we got it for a penny a bottle before school started!).  She used a paint brush and painted glue on the ornaments.  Then she took rice from the bowls and sprinkled it on the ornaments.  Before I knew it she was mixing the rice all together and dumping it in the tray.  After the initial glue dried I then took them and painted over everything with a lot of glue.  I don't have hodge podge because it's so expensive.  I plan on making some when I get some containers to put it in.  Once the coating of glue dries I'll post a picture of the finished products!

Colored Rice! You can do it!

I googled a lot of different way to color rice trying to find an easy and quick way.  I was surprised to find a recipe that was what I needed (and worked with rice and pasta).  I used about 1 1/2-2 cups of rice per bag, two teaspoons of rubbing alcohol, and 10 drops of liquid food coloring.  The red was kinda pink but all of the colors were a softer color.  To make them more bold use extra food coloring.  I used the walmart brand food coloring so it came with red, blue, yellow and green.  To make orange I used 3 drops of red and 7 of yellow and to make purple I used 4 drops of blue and 6 of red.  With that said, I came to the conclusion I did things a bit backwards.  So let me tell you how I should have done it so you won't make the same mistake!

Steps:
1.  Get your supplies ready: food coloring, rice (I used regular long grain rice that was cheap), rubbing alcohol, teaspoon, measuring cup, zip lock bag (I used quart size).
2.  Place the 2 tsp of rubbing alcohol in each bag.
3.  Place drops of food coloring into each bag.
4.  Mix food coloring and alcohol together.
5.  Add rice.
6.  Seal the bag and shake/mix until it's all mixed well.
7.  In a well ventilated place lay rice out to dry.  (used aluminum foil but you can use cookie trays or anything else you want to...wax paper, etc)
8.  Once dry (I did it before bed and put it up in the morning) place it in your chosen containers.  I use canning jars but zip lock bags work too.

I did six colors and didn't ventilate what I did...my husband and I almost got high off the fumes.  So PLEASE make sure it's well ventilated!!!

The next day...we made ornaments as Christmas presents!  Once my phone is charged enough to post the pictures, I will show everyone how we did it.

Getting creative with random things

The other day Daphne found a game of pick up sticks.  Other than stab thing with the sticks I didn't know what to tell her to do with them so I made a game.  I took a cardboard basket I got from Target for $1 and used a nail to poke holes in it.  It became a favorite game instantly.  After having it a week or so she started using the sticks to count.  As she put one in a hole she counted, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.  Once she got to five she ran through the numbers all the way to 12.  This is a significant thing for her.  This is the first time she has initiated counting on her own and gone to 12 without help AND it's the first time she has associated counting objects and using numbers by herself.  Since there are different colored sticks we also use this as a color game.  Sometimes I let her lead play and sometimes I suggest things.  Can you find all of the yellow sticks?  How many red sticks do you see?

 

This was another impromptu game I made.  A styrofoam sphere, pipe cleaners, and straws.  I cut the sphere in half with a knife and cut the pipe cleaners in half as well.  Then I folded the pipe cleaners in half and twisted them together tightly.  Then I carefully pushed/twisted them into the styrofoam.  Afterwards I cut some straws up so she could thread them on the pipe cleaners.  I have to straighten them up sometimes but over all, this is another fun game she enjoys quite a bit as well.