Kid Activities

I felt like I’ve done every single kid activity known to man in the last few months.

I’ve totally run out of both energy and ideas, and haven’t felt much motivation to share anything we’ve really done either. I’m just completely exhausted at the end of the day, and don’t want to focus on anything kid-related.

However, I felt a little inspired today and thought I’d share a new kid activity we did!

My 5-year old and my Dad are pen pals and they send mail back and forth to eachother to keep in touch. (It’s really cute and a recommended activity if you can do it.)

Anyway, my Dad will send little silly drawings and things along, and today he made a homemade puzzle.

Here’s the Curious George Puzzle that my Dad made and sent the boys:

My son loved it! First, he tried to do the puzzle and the secondly, he instantly wanted to do a puzzle back!

So, hoorah! Something new we haven’t done!

It was actually really cute. I mean, you can do a puzzle so many different ways.

My husband came over when he was doing it and was like …. oh get some cardboard for the backing, and trace it and yayayayayaya.

But he’s five and I don’t really feel like getting all fancy.

There’s so many better ways to do what I did, and more pinterest-y stuff out there, but I like to keep it simple.

Here’s what I did. I took an old calendar, and took the cover picture (because it’s already harder) and had my son cut it up however he wanted!

He just really did squares and nothing too complicated but it was cute noneless!

You could use any picture you want, and if you don’t save your old calendars like me, you could use any pictures already on harder surfaces (like the pictures on a cereal box!)

You could even take pictures from magazines, or anything you find laying around the house.

You could even print something out from the computer and then glue it to cardboard!

I also found after that Crayola has a free puzzle template for drawing your own puzzle! Just print out the template and have them make a drawing and then cut out the puzzle! Super cute!

There’s so many different ways you could make a puzzle and you can easily adjust it to fit any age!

Hope you have fun with this one and hang in there!

A Toy Washing Station is such an easy activity for toddlers and young kids!

First off, what little ones doesn’t love playing in water, especially when they don’t have to get clean!

A Toy Washing Station activity is also great because THE TOYS GET CLEAN.

The KIDS ARE PLAYING AND CLEANING!

It can get a little messy, but I’ll forgive it because it’s productive play.

You can also do it outside if you can or just throw them and the toys in the bath tub if you want to play and clean toys with less mess.

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Easy Toy Washing Station for Kids

Here’s what you’ll need to do an indoor toy washing station:

• One long storage bin
• Two small plastic bins
• Dish Soap
• Water
• Sponges or Cleaning Brushes
• Towels or tablecloth
• Toys to clean

Put the tablecloth or towel down and then place big, long tupperware bin on top of it. Then add the two small plastic bins inside the bin.

Put regular water in one, and place soapy water in the other bin with a few drops of dish soap. Make sure to fill the water in the bins no more than half way full.

Find toys for the kids to wash. Put them in the soapy bin with the sponges. Have them clean and have fun washing their toys.

When they are clean have them rinse them in the regular water bin, and then put them on a towel to dry.

You can do a theme like “washing animals” or “car wash” and have all cars in the bucket. I just did a mixture of toys to see what they liked the best.

You can also do what toy gets played with most to get rid of some germs!

My kids had fun with this one, but I do prefer just to throw them in the bath with their toys because it’s less messy and there’s zero set up or clean up.

However, they always get a kick out of stations and it’s something fun for my young kids to do!

Have you done a toy washing station before? How did your kids like it?

Looking for some silly everyday household things for toddlers and kids to paint with?

Look no further… Here are some things other than a paintbrush that you can use to paint with.

As an added bonus, most things you have laying around the house anyway!

Simply bring out the paper, paint, and a tablecloth perhaps to limit mess, and just find some of these super silly items to paint with.

I like to do one (two at most) silly items at a time so it will keep their interest. I usually have paintbrushes on hand for later because believe it or not, paintbrushes are still my kids preferred method of painting.

However, it is so fun to mix it up and get extra creative!

Here’s a few silly things you can paint with at home with toddlers and kids:

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Q Tips

Grab those Q Tips out of the medicine closet and add them to any kid painting activity for an easy substitute for a paint brush!

Q Tips are great for getting those little dots on paper and little kids love painting with Q Tips for something different!

Cotton Balls

Cotton Balls is a great paintbrush alternative and great for young kids! Put a cotton ball on clothespin and get stamping those cotton balls!

Easy, peasy!

Cookie Cutters

Cookie Cutters are fun to paint with and a great way to make all different shapes with paint!

You can use whatever cookie cutters you have on and dip them into the paint to make whatever designs you want! So easy and fun!

If you don’t have cookie cutters but do have kids, I recommend getting some. We love baking with our cookie cutters too, but it’s fun to get other uses out of them too!

Feathers & Leaves

Feathers, leaves, or anything in nature with a silly shape is great to paint with!

Using feathers didn’t keep my kids attention for too long but they did get a cute giggle out of it!

Dinosaurs

Grab those dinosaur toys and get them stomping through the paint to make dinosaur tracks!

Our dinosaurs make more like paint globs, but it was still fun to do something different!

And dinosaurs are a great size for those little toddler hands for painting!

Painting with Bows

Take bows from wrapping paper and dip them into paint to big marks onto paper and a silly design!

You could use different sizes to see the difference is size and shape or just use one at a time!

Caps and Covers

Find leftover caps and covers from the recycling pile or where ever you can to use with paint!

Caps and covers are great to paint with and make super fun circle designs on paper!

Best of all, you use what you have and you can toss that leftover pouch cap or whatever after!

Painting with Legos

Painting with Legos was probably the biggest hit, and they cleaned pretty easily too!

We used our first builders building blocks but you can use whatever legos or blocks you want!

Painting with Toilet Paper Rolls

Use leftover toilet paper rolls to paint with too! They will also give you a circular shape or you can use tape to make a new shape, like a heart!

Toilet Paper Rolls make great stampers, or you can just paint the roll like what my two year old did.

A Few More Ideas

Here are a few silly ideas that we haven’t tested but my toddler and preschooler will paint with soon!

• Monster Trucks and Cars: Drive those trucks right through the paint!
• Potatoes/Apples/Etc: Cut the produce with a design and stamp them into the paint!
• Yarn or Ribbon: Make silly lines and designs with the yarn!
• Forks: Get those silly fork shapes onto paper!
• Sponge: Cut your dish sponge into fun shapes to make a paint stamper!
• Wine Corks: Put those leftover wine corks to good use and have the kids stamp with them!
• Dice: If you have dice to spare, try using dice in your paint!
• Cardboard Shapes: Cut out the cardboard to make even more shapes and designs! Layer them for extra fun!

What other household or common items that you’ve painted with before?

I love making ornaments with the kids to give as gifts and every year we do Salt Dough Ornaments!

Salt Dough Ornaments are pretty easy but still very hands on and fun for kids to get involved!

I’ve done this every year since my child was around 20 months, so any age is good!

Just keep in mind you may lose a few over the years because they are somewhat fragile.

Here is a super easy recipe for Salt Dough Ornaments:

• 1 Cup of Flour
• 1/2 Cup of Salt
• 1/2 Cup of Water

Mix together Flour and Salt then add the 1/2 cup of water. Stir in water until dough forms. You may want to use your hands to knead the dough– or have your kids stir or knead it!

It may take a few minutes (5 mins or so) until the dough forms!

Roll dough with rolling pin on parchment paper and add some flour to the paper to make it easier to roll out!

Once the dough is nice and flat (with around 1 inch thickness, or whatever you desire), use cookie cutters to cut out fun shapes!

I use Christmas Cookie Cutters (affiliate link) on my Salt Dough Ornaments, but you can even just use circle jars and make snowmen! Or just stick those little kid hands in and use their hands as a mold and an ornament!

You may need to continue to add flour to the dough to make it less sticky or more water if the dough gets to dry. Either or neither may happen!

Don’t forget to use a pen or another sharp tip to make a small hole on the top so you can add a ribbon to the ornament for later!

Bake at 200 degrees for 2 to 3 hours.

After baking, feel free to paint and decorate your salt dough ornaments!

*You can also double the recipe if you want to make a lot of ornaments for gifts and such, but this recipe still makes a bunch!

These do make great gifts and are fun to make with the kids!

Enjoy!

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