Frugal Fun with lots of science and imagination!!

My kids love sledding! I had to include these pictures!

A couple of weeks ago, we had so much snow and freezing temps that school was cancelled three times in just 10 days or so.  That makes my job kind of stressful: not only do I have "extra" kiddos (two school agers) but all the kids are HYPER and excited about the snow, and it's too frigid to go play outside!

Thanks for letting me share these pix, even tho they're not related to the childcare business aspect! :)

So, I brought the outside IN!  We played in some buckets of snow. Unfortunately, those pictures are on a different camera and I can't upload them right now.  But, we had large shallow buckets that I took outside to fill with snow. I brought them inside and the kiddos played with it with mittens and gloves on.  When they grew tired of that, I brought in the toys from the sandbox. This was fun!  Raking, shovelling, filling buckets, dumping buckets.. making igloos instead of sand castles...   endless possibilities!  When they grew tired of that (as in, the next day), I filled a $1 spray bottle with a tiny bit of powder paint and lots of water, then I sprayed the snow!  They watched our snow turn from bright clean white to pretty purple, then pink, then blue..     Then, we sprayed the blue part with the yellow mix and watched it turn green.  Again, endless possibilities!  So sad that I didn't take enough pictures with the good camera!

Well, when the kids are tired of all that, I needed a place to pitch the snow in a hurry so we could put our supplies away and move on to the next thing, so I just put the filled containers outside.  To be honest, I kind of forgot about them until today. ...which is cool.

We discovered that the snow must have melted some (or maybe it froze?) to make a nice, clear sheet of ice!  Now we had a nice big, shallow container filled with a layer of pretty ice  (only the light purple - all the other colored buckets were dumped).  The kids spent a few minutes driving the small cars and trucks on the ice and exploring it with their bare hands.

When they tired of that, I allowed them to break it and "squish it" and make a mess of it.   Then, I had a brilliant (to me) idea!

We used the floor for this, because other kiddos were busy at the table and I don't have the patience to wait on a good idea.  Plus, my floor is very easy to wipe up with a paper towel.
I gave the artist a piece of construction paper with his/her name on it.
Then, I sprinkled powder paint on the paper and them go to town with a big chunk of ice on the powder. They loved seeing the colors transform!  The powder looks so much different dry than when it's wet.
Each child finished quickly - but they're still talking about the project, hours later.  Fun!!

Dried up Markers

Did you know that dried up washable markers are nothing to cry about? I used to get so mad at the kiddos for leaving the caps off the markers and letting them get dried out so quickly. In fact, markers were banned from the playroom for a really long time because of that.

But now they're a favorite thing here!  One fun activity is to paint with them on coffee filters.  Just get an old ice cube try (less than $1!) and put some water in it... I don't even fill up the cubes - maybe 1/4 full in every space.  Then, the children can dip the dried up markers into the water and "paint" with them on paper.  Coffee filter are extra fun because the wet colors blend together.

There's lot of science here - you're teaching them sequencing (okay, so that's math) by encouraging them to dip the marker in the water THEN color with it. You're teaching color blending (obvious!) and you're even creating color in the water...   with an ice cube tray, there are more possibilities. (When you use a bowl or cup, all the colors quickly turn to mud but with an ice cube try, you'll see the children learning on their own as they dip one color into another color - often finding new combinations to make without your prompting.)

Fun stuff!

I will post pictures another time - right now I'm typing from the playroom computer, and guess what - there's play to be done! Bye!

Painting with Water

With high temps only reaching the mid to upper 80's we are experiencing a COLD front around here!  The kids (and I) are enjoying this break in the uncomfortable humid heat wave we've had this summer.  Of course water play with toddler pools is always a fun way to celebrate the sunshine. And, simply running through the sprinklers is always a hit, too.  But on days like today when I can't seem to muster up the energy to help remove 6 adorable outfits to put on 6 tight swim suits and sunscreen 6 adorable kids just to reverse the process in an hour (only with dripping wet swimsuits and a laundry load pile of wet towels)- well, a little paint with water is a popular activity!  This one kept the kids busy (and quiet! my headache thanks them!) for almost a whole hour. :)  Enjoy the pictures!

Summer Fun! Pool days

We had SO. MUCH. FUN. today! It was our first water play day, and it was a blast! I have to admit, I was a wee bit nervous about it... who wouldn't be with an 8 month old, 11 month old, 2 year old and 3 year old? But, everything was smooth sailing and, did I mention? It was SO MUCH FUN!! I wish I had the time and patience to give you lots of details - about Savannah and Julia's pretend play - about Rebecca's quick retreat from the water, about Noah's splashing ... but, alas, I have work to do. Here are more pictures to oogle at! And, feel free to check out the other pictures from today over at flickr. :) God has blessed us with another wonderful day!