Fruity Peach Smoothie

Every summer we get a big bushel of peaches and we love to eat them as they are, but it's also fun to make things with them! I decided to make my daughter a Fruity Peach Smoothie yesterday morning. I call it "fruity" because there's lots of other fruity ingredients in this smoothie! Doesn't it look tasty? 

Fruity Peach Smoothie Recipe:

Ingredients: 

- 1 peach, sliced with the pit removed of course. If your peach is particularly large you might want to save a bit of it and use it as garnish or just eat it right up while you make the smoothie!

- 1/2 cup of organic strawberries, hulled and halved

- 1 4oz container of mango yogurt, I meant to use peach but they come together from Trader Joe's and I didn't notice until afterwards I had grabbed the mango flavor, but it was definitely a good choice too. You could use vanilla, peach, banana, strawberry, etc. Whatever you'd like.

- 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup of Trader Joe's Organic Orange Strawberry Banana Juice (amount varies depending on how thick you want your smoothie to be, less liquid for thicker, more if you don't want it as thick). 

- A squeeze of organic amber agave nectar. I didn't measure it out, but I'd say it was about 1 and 1/2 TSP.

Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend them up to make the smoothie, pour in glass and garnish with peaches. strawberries, or bananas if you'd like. I just stuck a strawberry on the side.

Bug Wash Water Play

We love water play, especially as a way to cool off on hot summer days! The other night I set up this water play for my daughter and she had a lot of fun with it. It's such a simple way to have fun and when it's done outside you don't even have to worry about cleaning up the water.

I gave her a big plastic bowl of water with soap in it so it was bubbly for washing, a littler plastic bowl with just water for rinsing, and a towel for drying. She helped me set all her big bugs out in a row. I love how realistic these bugs look, we found a pack of them at Joanne Fabric's when she was having her bug themed second birthday party.

 She got right to washing, rinsing and drying her bugs.

Summer Bucket List 2015

This year I'm calling our summer bucket list "making the most of our summer"

There is so few summers while our kids are still small and they go by so quickly, I feel that it's important to have the most fun and make as memories as you can. That's why I think it's a good idea to make a list at the beginning of the season of all the things you'd like to accomplish so you can stay on track and feel a sense of accomplishment (and also instill that in your child) when you check things off the list! But anyways, here's our summer bucket list. Hopefully it gives you a few fun ideas of things you'd like to do as well to make the most of YOUR summer with your kids too!

• Make frozen banana pops

• Bake smore cookies

• Go fishing

• Learn about the summer solstice. You can do this by checking out some books from the library, watching videos online, and then doing some sensory play or crafts to bring what you've learned full circle.

• Go mini golfing

• Make a bird feeder. There are so many cute ways to make bird feeders, you can simply put some peanut butter and birdseed on a paper towel tube or find a more crafty option if you'd like. We're going to try this one this summer.

• Make banana smores on the grill

• Go to the zoo. You can even make or print a scavenger hunt form for the trip! 

• Practice map skills with a backyard safari

• Ice chalk. It's very simple to make, you just mix equal parts corn starch and water, a little bit of dish soap, and a few drops of food coloring, then pour it into an ice tray and let it freeze! It's great to cool down with on a hot day.

• Make popsicles. I've made some with just pureed strawberries when my daughter was a baby, if you have a baby just freezing any purees they have had, or breast milk works great for them! I usually make popsicles now with coconut water and pieces of fruit stuck in. Or pureed fruit and vegan yogurt, nut butters and fruit (sometimes even spinach blended in)! The varieties are endless.

• Chalk paint. The same recipe as for the ice chalk, you just don't freeze it! 

• Shaving cream and ice sensory play. Best thing ever to cool down on a hot day, even as an adult I love it. Here's a link to one of ours we've done 

• Have a picnic

• Do a beach/ocean themed unit

• Go to a water park

• Celebrate Teddy Bear Picnic day, like we did

• Do a fairy tale themed unit

• Play pool scrabble

• Celebrate International Mud Day, June 29th

• Feed ducks

• Swimming

• Visit a petting zoo

• Camping

• Have an outdoor scavenger hunt

• Make tie dye shirts

• Fairy garden, here's ours 

• Take some chalk art pictures

• Participate in a summer reading program at a local library

• Play in the sprinkler, maybe even make a rainbow!

• Bird watch

• Take a hike

• Have a lemonade stand, or do some of our fun lemonade stand themed activities, like lemonade stand water play or lemon jello sensory play

• Grow a sunflower

Lemon Jello Sensory Play

As I've said before I really enjoy jello messy sensory play in the summer time because it's fun to take outside and beat the heat with. Having cold sensory materials to touch outside in the sun helps to cool kids off just like water play. This sensory play stimulates more than just one or two senses too, it stimulates three, and maybe even four or five depending on what you choose to do with it! If you're okay with your little one having jello they could sample the taste while they play, but I didn't let my daughter eat any of it. We use jello just for playing! 

Children learn better when they are using more than one sense. The bright yellow colors, the cold and giggly feel of the jello, the scent of the lemon, all stimulate the senses and help children remember concepts. You can talk about how many lemons there are in the bowl, or if you're trying to teach colors to your young toddler this works good for that too. Enforcing those concepts with sensory play is wonderful to help them learn and remember the knowledge.

 My little one really enjoyed this sensory play a couple of summers ago!

You can make this for your little ones too and here's how:
1. Get a big bowl and prepare lemon jello according to the directions on the box and then put it in the bowl to set. You can add some artificial lemons in before or after it sets, either way!
2. Bring it outside to play!

Messy Jello Math Play

One of my favorite sensory materials for my daughter to play with outdoors in the summer is cold jello! I especially like to put things into the jello before it sets. Seeing that is a very cool experience for kids, and if they've never seen it before (and even if they have) they're sure to be delighted. This messy jello sensory play incorporates math because there is magnetic numbers in it. The math part of it can be changed up for different ages. Such as learning numbers, or putting them in order for toddlers, and addition or subtraction for preschoolers. 

You can see from the picture above and the picture below that it starts out looking all smooth and set and then quickly gets giggly and wiggly. The best part is that the kids get to be the ones to make it that way. It's a really neat sensory process for them to experience.

Neither of us can keep our hands out of messy sensory play.

To make this you'll need:
- a box of jello mix (any color)
- magnetic numbers
- a big bowl
- maybe another big bowl for transferring if your kiddo always ends up doing that

Just make the jello according to the directions on the box and then before you put it in the fridge to
set add in the magnetic numbers. This jello
can be saved and played with a few more times
before being tossed out.

Shaving Cream & Ice Weather Sensory Bin

I couldn't decide which picture to use for this so I am using both! Neither picture does justice to how cool the lightning bolt shaped ice cubes really looked!

This sensory bin is a messy play bin that's perfect for outside in the summer heat to cool off with. It also can be part of a tot school or preschool weather unit.

Shaving cream and ice is really one of the funnest combinations of sensory play materials that there is. Squeezing an ice cube through a shaving cream covered hand is a very unique feeling, and on a hot summer's day helps to cool the kid (and you, I know I can never keep my hands out of it!) down.

To make this bin you'll need:
- shaving cream from the dollar store
- neon blue food coloring
- a lightning bolt ice cube tray. The one I have seemed to be sold out online, but here's a link to a similar one
- yellow food coloring (the more you use the more orange they will look, so watch out for that)
- a bin of course, and a spoon or paint brush or something to mix the blue food coloring into the shaving cream

Step 1:
Fill up the lightning bolt ice cube tray with some water, and then add in a couple drops of food coloring to each slot and mix it in a little bit with a spoon or something small so the color will spread throughout the water, dying the whole ice cube.

Step 2:
Once the ice cubes are frozen (leave them in the freezer) and fill up a bin with shaving cream, squirt in quite a few drops of neon blue food coloring and mix it in.

Step 3:
Pop the lightning bolt ice cubes right out onto the shaving cream right before you're about to play with it, so that way you can get the most use out of it before they melt. It's very fun!

Messy sensory play is so important and so much fun in the summer!

International Kissing Day Messy Sensory Play

In honor of International Kissing Day today I made this adorable messy play sensory bin for my daughter! It was great to take outside and beat the heat with since there are ice cubes involved! 

Isn't it adorable?

My daughter got right into exploring it, feeling the ice cubes and squeezing them through her hands with the shaving cream. She's done this type of play before so she knows what to do!

Looking at the ice cubes as they start to melt.

Even once they all melt the shaving cream and water mixture is cold and fun to play with for a long while after!

To make this bin you'll need:

- A bin

- Shaving cream

- A ice cube tray of lips

- Water

- Hot pink food coloring

All you need to do is fill the ice cube trays with water, add in some pink food coloring to each and stir it in. Then pop those in the freezer. Once frozen, fill your sensory bin with shaving cream. Then put the lip ice cubes on top of the shaving cream.

Take this bin outside, set on top of a towel if you want. Bring out some paper towels and have the kids wear some tshirts or something in case the food coloring stains. Clean up is easy everything will wipe off with a paper towel. Then you can rinse the contents of the bin off in the sink and it'll all go right down the drain.

Summer Bucket List

Here's our bucket list for this summer! We plan on having lots of fun this summer, and I'm sure you do to so hopefully you can find some ideas you like on this list.

• Go to the zoo
• Make popsicles
• Swimming
• Ice chalk
• Go to petting zoo
• Camping
• Outdoor scavenger hunt
• Make & learn with homemade sun dials
• Bird watching
• Make tie dye shirts
• Feed ducks
• Orange Creme sensory dough pretend play shop
• Play pick up sticks
• Lemon oobleck
• Sensory pools
• Fairy garden
• Make mud pies
• Grow pineapple plants from pineapple tops
• Sand slime
• Make an earthworm observation tower
• Do ocean animal unit
• Have a wacky watermelon day
• Have a pretend play snow cone stand
• Make smoothie paints
• Outdoor pretend play foot spa
• Chalk art pictures
• Play duck pond
• Have a messy outdoor play date
• Put colored ice in the kiddie pool
• Play with shaving cream and colored ice
• Make an outdoor music station
• Ball watermelon
• Make a 2 liter sprinkler
• Practice color theory with colored ice
• Make a butterfly feeder
• Make a bird feeder
• Watch fireworks

Making a Rainbow in Your Own Backyard

Who doesn't love rainbows? We love rainbows here and it's one of my daughter's favorite activities to make her own. She also loves playing in the sprinkler, and since that's involved it's even funner!

What you need to make your own rainbow is a hose, a sprinkler attachment like this one, and of course sunlight! That's what makes it such a good science activity, you'll be able to explain to your child what is needed to make a rainbow and how it's usually done with the rain in the atmosphere. You can also discuss the colors that make a rainbow! So, once you've got your attachment on the hose and your kid all suited up, you just start the sprinkler play and experiment with when a rainbow will be made. We usually get a great one on the mist setting. 

This also makes a great photo opportunity as you can see in the photo above of my daughter. It looks as if she's running across a rainbow! Pictures of kids and rainbows are so cute, and easy to get when you can make your own on any sunny day. It's sure to wow your kiddo!

Host A Toddler Picnic

Every year for my daughter's half birthday I host a picnic for her and her little friend who has a half birthday close to hers too! This post is to share how you too could host a toddler picnic play date! Picnics are a very fun thing to do in the summer, so there certainly doesn't need to be a special occasion to have one.

Here's what our picnic table looked like all set up.

I lay out a piece of fabric that looks just like a picnic blanket with giant ants crawling all over it. It's so adorable and makes a great themed table cloth. You could probably find some similar fabric to use, use a plastic table cloth from Dollar Tree, or no table cloth at all!

Now, before I get into what're some good ideas food-wise I'm going to tell you some things I think are crucial to have a sucessful outdoor picnic with no problems:
- A plastic bag for trash
- A thing of wet wipes for wiping off hands and faces/possible messes
- Paper plates, napkins, and cups. Using plastic ones would work too, but this way they can just be thrown into that plastic bag when finished and there's less clean up.
- I found that a sandwich container was the perfect thing to put our fruit salad in. It has a lid which is great for covering it up when not being used, and traveling with it. It's not a huge size either, and holds a good amount for a few toddlers to enjoy together.
- Cold water bottles are good to have on hand and ready to be used
- Toddler utensils of course

Now, I'm starting to get into the food of it all so I'll just list off what I served:
- PB & J Lunch Box Muffins. This recipe from i should be mopping the floor is phenominal! I make these quite often and knew they'd be a great addition to a picnic. Kids love PB & J and these muffins were a great, mess-free way to pack a protein into the meal.
- Toddler Fruit Salad. I cut up a few strawberries, a kiwi, and a handful of green grapes and then sprinkle wheat germ on the top. I refrigerated it for about an hour before the picnic.
- I had out a little dish of a goat cheese with honey in it that my daughter likes
- Snacks & Hummus Tray. Kids love to dip and one of my daughters favorite healthy dips is hummus. I put some on a tray along with some broccoli, carrots, gluten free pretzels, and Multi-Grain crackers!

After that food was finished up, I brought out some homemade vegan ice cream that I had prepared the night before. It was so delicious and just adorable. I fell in love with these Ice Cream Pop Molds from Tovolo. They're such a fun thing to put our vegan ice cream into and great for little ones to hold and there's no messes made either since the drips are caught by the cone part!

 

The ice cream was made by blending a cup of frozen mangoes with two frozen bananas and a splash of almond milk. My daughter was eating hers up so fast it was hard to get a picture!

Now, I always like to have a craft or activity at the play dates I have. This time, to stick with the theme, we made an A is for Ants craft! I had it set up on my daughter's little table like this

You'll need:

- Green construction paper

- Brown construction paper

- Scissors

- Glue stick

- Black Sharpie marker

- Black washable tempera paint

- A dish for the paint

I had cut out capital letter A's from the brown construction paper and wrote "A is for ant" on the green construction paper ahead of time. All they had to do was use the glue stick to glue their letter A's down, and then dip their fingers in the black washable tempera paint and make some prints on the paper for ants. The letter A represents an ant hill that the ants can be climbing on or near. It turned out really cute. You can go back and add antennae and legs to the ants with the marker if you want.

Lemonade Stand Water Play

In the summer when it's hot out and the sun is beating down we love to engage in some water play to cool us off while we have fun! This water play activity not only lets kids play with water of course (which they LOVE) but it has sensory play to it and most importantly pretend play! It's so important for kids to start pretend play at a young age. Pretend play helps develop imagination and act out real life scenarios. There's usually lots of other skills learned during as well.

Note: before I start sharing the how-to's I'd like to add that this particular water play could also be part of a yellow themed week or day to help babies and young toddlers learn their colors.

So here's what it looks like!

You'll need:
- a plastic bin (preferably clear)
- yellow food coloring
- water
- lemon essential oil
- a ladle
- artificial lemons (a few, can be found at Dollar Tree)
- Styrofoam or plastic cups
- my daughter also wanted me to add some measuring spoons, so of course I did

Fill up the bin with the desired amount of water. Add in some drops of yellow food coloring (be careful not to add to much or it will turn the water orange). Stir that around until all the water is yellow. Add in a few drops of lemon essential oil to scent the water to add in the extra sensory element that will really bring the play to life.

If you want to add even more texture for more sensory elements you could add in some real lemon zest too.

Next, add in the ladle, lemons, and cups. You can set it up with the cups to the side like I did too. I also had a little plastic yellow bowl/cup thing that I added in.

As you can see my daughter got right to scooping and pouring the water and making me cups of lemonade!

Fairy Garden (sensory play, pretend play, outdoor play)

I am absolutely in love with this fairy garden that I made for my daughter! We had been gathering the supplies for it all April, and then ended up putting it together on Easter. I wanted to make her this Fairy Garden so she could do some digging in the dirt, some pretend play with her fairies, pretend to plant the flowers, move around some loose parts, and have something she could do beside me while I tend to our garden. 

I found that perfect pot for it at Menards, and filled it up with the dirt! 

The materials I used for inside of it were all purchased from Hobby Lobby and Dollar Tree (aside from the aquarium gems which some are from Pet Co, some have came in holiday sets from Hobby Lobby). I think the gems really add to it though, since they're loose parts that are intriguing for imaginative play. They also sparkle very pretty in the sunlight. We use the black ones for around the house and stepping stones. The green ones can look like grassy areas, and the orange ones we put on the tables to be tea and crumpets.

 Here's another picture with everything included. The bridge wasn't in the last picture.

All things from Hobby Lobby were in one aisle, so getting these items doesn't require much searching. I purchased over $100 worth of items there that day and only ended up spending about $60 because of a great coupon I had. I think it was well worth it. From that aisle we got the house, mushrooms, flower bed, bridge, 3 fairies, bench, tables, and fencing.

The things I added from the Dollar Tree were the artificial flowers and rocks.

There's just another view, without the bridge again.

My daughter likes to play with the fairies and they have tea parties and their tables, water the flowers, etc.

She also likes to take the fairy items out sometimes and really get to digging and getting dirty with her minnie mouse shovel and cultivator from Toys R Us. I also give her a big bucket so she can transfer/scoop and pour the dirt when she wants too. She can also pretend to plant the artificial flowers again and again.

I think this is great outdoor fun for any child. I'm always looking for things to do outside so we can spend more time out there. If you don't want your sons playing with fairies, this could be made more "boyish" by using gnomes instead of fairies (also found in the same aisle at Hobby Lobby).

How To Make Pet Rocks

Aren't these adorable little friends to make as a fun Spring or Summer outdoor craft? Not only are they cute, they can also help kids become ready to have a real live pet. Pretending to take care of these can teach some responsibility and make kids feel like they're doing something important.

To make these all you'll need is:
- As many rocks as you want
- Glue
- Googly eyes

We picked a few rocks we thought would make cute pets from our backyard, and then we glued some googly eyes to them. It couldn't be more simple to put them together. My daughter loves to see them on display in our classroom/play room and check on them often!

Ocean Water Play

My daughter, like most children, LOVES doing water play. If you haven't tried it with your little one yet you definitely should. It's always a hit here! Water play indoors is always okay if you have towels and such nearby, water play is the summer months is a good idea too as a way to beat the heat outdoors. For this water play session I went with an Ocean theme.

To start I got out one of our sensory bins and filled it up with water, then mixed in some neon blue food coloring until I got the color I wanted. Then I added in some seashells and the contents of our Animal Planet Animal Head Tube - Sea Life tube. 

My daughter played and played for a while. At first she delighted in looking at all of the sea animals. The great thing about the ones from the Animal Planet tube is that they all have the names written on their bottoms so you can work some knowledge in during play.

After a while I gave my daughter a plastic cup so she could pour the water, or collect sea animals in it.

Breast Milk Popsicle

Breast milk popsicles are a great thing to give to babies and toddlers to help cool them off in the summer heat, or soothe teething pain. They're very simple to make and can be made in perfectly proportioned sizes with these Tovolo Jewel Pop Molds. 

This is one that I made with the above mentioned popsicle mold set! All you have to do is pump or hand express some breast milk and then pour it into the molds and freeze. For a young baby you could pour the breast milk into ice cube trays and make breast milk ice cubes that you could put in a mesh feeder such as this one from Munchkin.

Sand Paint

This is a really fun sensory paint that you can use for summer crafts with your kids. It's really easy to make too! You just squirt the desired amount of washable tempera paint into a paint pot or bowl, whatever you'll be using. Then you shake in some sand and mix it together.

It's a great sensory experience to finger paint with these paints. Kids will experience an all new texture as they use it.