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All posts tagged dollar store

2 Spring Toddler Discovery Bottles

Though she’s not yet two, our toddler got sent home from school with homework this week.

Every family in A’s room at school got two empty water bottles in their cubby and marching orders to make a pair of discovery bottles. The new bottles made by families would replace the worn out ones the kids were currently playing with.

I browsed around for some ideas and saw lots of cool bottles out there: shampoo and marbles, water and oil, liquid soap and water, corn syrup and glitter. These look cool, but we ended up going in another direction. First, I wouldn’t want to clean up a broken bottle filled with any of those things and I’m just watching one kid, and, second, this is obviously a competition for most creative parent and anyone can make what they find on the internet.

I used some supplies on hand and spent about $4 at the dollar store for the other items I needed, like the ornaments I used in the garden bottle. Both took less than ten minutes, including A. “helping” me with one.

Here’s what we came up with:

1. Mice in the Grass

Green shredded paper or Easter grass
Three small mouse catnip toys

Stuff the Easter grass and mice into the bottle, adding a few handfuls of grass between each mouse so they are distributed. Sear the cap with glue.

2. Garden I-Spy Bottle

White rice
Vinegar
Green Food Coloring
Small ornaments or erasers

Dye rice using your preferred method. (Need a tutorial? Try this one. Couldn’t find my usual “recipe”, so I found this via Google. It was the first time I used the oven dry the rice and it worked really well and helped me finish super-quick. I always use vinegar to make it as baby-safe as possible in case anything is ingested.) Layer the rice in the bottle, spreading out your ornaments between scoops of rice. I used carrot ornaments, but originally thought I had flower erasers on hand. Either would work! Leave about 1.5 inches empty at the top of the bottle so there is room for the rice to move around. Seal the cap with glue.

A. is super excited to share them at school on Monday. I like the bright, Spring green colors! What do you think?

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We’ll be linked up here:

I Heart Nap Time  Clip With Purpose   Sew Chatty  Skip To My Lou

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by Tiny Leaf Studio on March 4, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in activities, kids
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Posted by Tiny Leaf Studio on March 4, 2012

http://tinyleafstudio.com/2012/03/04/2-spring-toddler-discovery-bottles/

Six Easy, No Mess Art Ideas

A. LOVES to paint. I hate to clean up paint. This is a pretty unfortunate dynamic, since one of us always get the short end of the stick. We still manage to do lots of art, but I’ve been looking for ideas to keep things as mess-free as possible.

I found these guys during a recent trips to the dollar store:

Bingo dabbers, in lots of colors. It’s a marker, it’s paint, it’s perfect!

These things are not just for old ladies looking to win big! They are amazing; the don’t really drip or bleed through paper, come in several colors and wash out pretty easily.

This is a total win-win. A. can do what she loves almost any time, since clean up is a breeze. For us, that can mean an easier time getting dinner finished or laundry folded while she gets her art on. More importantly, we can spend more time enabling her to do the things she enjoys without banishing art projects to weekends only. Even though we picked up several of these, which have quickly landed at the top of our list of  go-to activities, our easy art supply organization system helps us keep control over the growing collection of art supplies.

Five more no-mess ideas to try, courtesy of Pinterest:

spill proof paint cups

1. No-Spill Paint Cups by Melissa & Doug: If you still want to try traditional paint with less mess, try picking up some of these guys. Because I love everything they make, I just ordered some for A.’s birthday (which is less than two months away…eeek)!

 

Paint bags

via Let's Explore

2. Plastic Bag Painting: Pour some paint into a plastic freezer bag, seal well, spread the paint around and let your kiddo doodle on the bag with their fingers. Could be a fun way to learn about combining colors by using two primary colors.

 

 

paper towel painting pages

via Fun & Engaging Activities for Toddlers

3. Paper Towel Painting Pages: Make your own no-mess watercolor paintings by tracing designs onto paper towels with washable markers. Let the kiddos ‘paint’ over your lines with water for an instant water color effect.

 

 

painting with water

via Teach Preschool

4. Painting with Water: This one is super simple and great for summer. All you need is a bucket of water and a paint brushes. Let your kids create incredible disappearing works of art by painting with water on the driveway or sidewalk.

 

 

bubble bath paint

via Meet the Dubiens

5. Bubble Bath Paint: It doesn’t get easier to clean up kids art than when they create it right in the bath. Try bath crayons or bubble bath ‘paint’ (thickened with corn starch and dyed with food coloring) and lets the kids get creative in the tub. Just rinse and you’re done!

 

Do you have any tips to make sure art time stays good, clean fun!

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by Tiny Leaf Studio on January 29, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in activities, kids, tips and time savers
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Posted by Tiny Leaf Studio on January 29, 2012

http://tinyleafstudio.com/2012/01/29/six-easy-no-mess-art-ideas/

Starry Night Sky Sensory Bin

We’ve been playing with A.’s snow-themed sensory bin for a few weeks now. It’s been a crazy winter, so for a while, her pretend snow was all we had seen for the season!

Of course, now that the snow finally hit the ground, she’s over it. That sent me back to the drawing board for a new theme.

I’ve noticed that A. still enjoys the basic “scoopers” – rice and beans – the most, so I built her newest bin against a backdrop of black beans. I noticed some yellow gemstone-shaped beads at the dollar store during a recent excursion and my wheels really started turning. I spotted a set of glow-in-the-dark stars (the kind you stick on the ceiling in a kids room) and my idea came together: a starry night sky sensory bin!

Starry Night Sensory Bin

A. really loves this one. She asked to play with it several times today and it kept her busy for longer than almost any other theme we’ve tried. I like the contrast of the beans, the see-through gems and the bright stars. My favorite thing about this is that it took relatively few items but is still super interesting.

A. scooping stars

Stars are one of the shapes she can consistently name right now and she’s working on counting and colors, so I love that we can reinforce all of those things through this theme.

I think we’ll work on some more seasonal themes next, like Valentine’s Day (more shape recognition) and Spring. These are just as much an exercise in my creativity as they are play and learning for A.!

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by Tiny Leaf Studio on January 17, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by Tiny Leaf Studio on January 17, 2012

http://tinyleafstudio.com/2012/01/17/starry-night-sky-sensory-bin/

Unplanned project: closet craft organization

Last Tuesday, we got home from a week on the road. With a weeks’ worth of laundry, new toys, spent car activity supplies (more on that coming soon) finally unloaded for good, the house looked like a tornado zone and felt like a mess.

On Wednesday, A. and I ran errands together on our last day off before heading back to daycare and work. On my list for the day: stop at the dollar store to get new bulbs for the front entry light fixture. This should have been simple, but the dollar store tempts me with ideas for crafts, toddler activities and home organization. Given the current state of our house, I was an easy victim.

In addition to picking up a few light bulbs, I grabbed supplies for a quick closet storage makeover project. For just a few dollars, I whipped up a simple, cheap and effective solution for A.’s growing collection of art and craft supplies.finished bins on shelf

We had been storing A.’s art supplies in a big shoe box under the bed. As she’s gotten older and more mobile, this is no longer a safe place for finger paints, markers, glue and other supplies we’d rather she not use unattended. When I saw the cute and colorful handled bins, I knew a grouping of these on A.’s currently empty closet shelf would be perfect for easy adult-only access to supplies while keeping things neat and sorted.

As I wandered the store, I also grabbed a three-pack of Sharpies in coordinating colors, some cotton twine and a pack of index cards to make custom labels for each bin. I had recently pinned a tutorial on DIY striped bakers twine and though this would be a cute and simple way to try it out.

bakers twine

The DIY tags didn’t work out how I had hoped, so I ended up trying something different. I used a bokeh photo of Christmas lights I snapped last week as a background and whipped up matching labels by adding text in Picnik. I used Scotch self-sealing photo laminating sheets to give them a wipable, durable finish.

I love it! A.’s art supplies now look as cool as the things she makes with them, and I am thrilled that she has a neat and organized closet. If only the parts other people could see looked better!

2 Comments
by Tiny Leaf Studio on January 1, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in kids, organization
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Posted by Tiny Leaf Studio on January 1, 2012

http://tinyleafstudio.com/2012/01/01/unplanned-project-closet-craft-organization/

Winter Day Activity: Snow-themed sensory bin

A few months ago, A’s daycare was closed for teacher training. I took three days off work and hosted ‘Mom Camp.’ It was pretty awesome…until 3:30 on the first day when we had played with every toy in the house, gone to the park, run errands and read books several times. I was stumped and I still had two whole days to go! A. tore around the house for a while, full of energy after her nap and I put on my thinking cap.

A’s daycare is amazing and the teachers are super creative. I remembered a morning when they dug around with shovels and toy construction trucks in a bin full of coffee grounds. Inspired by this idea, I started digging through the cupboards to see what might make for a fun activity.

Luckily, we have a well-stocked pantry! I came up with a bag of rice, black beans and lentils. I lined up a few pie tins, poured in the rice/beans/lentils and handed A. some measuring cups and spoons.

She played with this set up for an entire HOUR.

Seriously. I was hooked.

Sensory bins are great for toddlers. The colors, texture and sounds stimulate little senses, encourage tots to explore and engage with different objects. Sensory bins give us a lot of options for play and learning. We can play together when we have some time before before school or open one up to keep her busy while we hustle to walk the dog and make dinner after a busy day at work. Contents can be just for fun or designed to encourage skills including sorting, color recognition and more.

I’d been mulling over ideas for sensory bins after finding this great one at Play Create Explore. My first theme was fall, but we’ve also tried ocean and forest themed bins. We woke up this morning to the first official snow of the season, perfect timing for the snow themed bin I created for A. yesterday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the items I used for this theme:

Plastic shoe bin with lid
White paper shreds
Snowflake ornaments
Bubble wrap
Clear glass scatter beads
Mittens

For just a few dollars, I have a fun, flexible and engaging new activity for A. that we can use for many skills and free play. When we’re done with this theme, the snowflakes and paper shreds can be used for art projects. We’ll reuse our bin again for other sensory activities.

Have you tried any sensory bin themes that your little ones loved?

by Tiny Leaf Studio on December 17, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by Tiny Leaf Studio on December 17, 2011

http://tinyleafstudio.com/2011/12/17/winter-day-activity-snow-themed-sensory-bin/

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