More Halloween Tot Play: Get Sticky, Slippery and Sparkly!

Halloween is almost here! Here are two more of our Spooky Play activities, plus a couple of Halloween crafts. 

Giant Sticky Web

I made this web out of masking tape and washi tape (after I ran out of masking tape). I put the tape sticky-side-out so that we could throw little "flies" at it and hopefully catch some. The "flies" were little crumpled up pieces of black construction paper and catalog pages from some kids clothing catalog that came in the mail. Calvin helped tear and crumple the paper "flies." It was actually pretty hard to get them on there by throwing! Maybe if I had stickier tape... or better aim!! Calvin preferred to stand next to it and stick the paper on. You can see all his "flies" in the bottom left corner!

Sticky Wall with Halloween Items

A sticky contact paper wall is fun anytime! This is one of the ways I attempted to keep Calvin busy while he was home from school with a cough. You just tape big sheets of contact paper sticky-side-out on a wall or door. I had Calvin help hold the paper up while I taped it onto the closet doors with painter's tape.

I made it Halloween-y with bats leftover from our Halloween cards (see the next activity), big googly eyes, big sparkly sequins, plastic spiders, and orange triangles cut from scrap paper. Later, we also made a spider web on the sticky wall using pieces of white string. 

Batty Halloween Cards

Spoiler alert to Calvin and Henry's grandparents and great-grands! As I'm writing, these cards are en route to you! 

I wish I could give credit to the mom-blogger I first saw this from, but once again I can't remember which one it was!! To whoever it was: Thanks for the great idea!!

I drew bats on some cardstock and cut them out, then taped them to black cards (also cut from cardstock) using painter's tape. Then I had the boys help me paint some white, yellow, and orange tempera paint over the bats, making sure to get beyond the edges of the bat shapes. After the paint dried, we added some glitter glue on top.

When they were completely dry, I peeled the bats off. The glitter glue did make this difficult. It would have been easier with just the paint. 

I added a piece of orange cardstock to the back of each card so that I could write a greeting. And now they're off in the mail! 

Pumpkin Painting

I thought I could contain this paint mess by spreading out some butcher paper on the floor. Silly me. 

Part of my Contain the Mess plan was to have Henry roll his pumpkin around in paint inside a shoebox rather than have him try a brush or just set him loose with plates of paint... As you can see he ended up loose with the plates of paint anyway!! 

The box thing worked at first. I drizzled a few colors of paint over his pumpkin in the box and let him roll it around. The problem started when I tried to take pictures... at which point Henry rolled the pumpkin out of the box and across the floor... and then chased it across the floor with his paint-covered hands... and found the other plates of paint Calvin was using.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he ate some paint. 

Meanwhile, Calvin was being relatively civilized with his pumpkin painting. I had set out a few plates with different colored paints and a brush for each color. He did a little body painting, as he likes to do :) and he and I painted our pumpkins with the brushes. 

Glitter Pumpkins

I was both excited and afraid to do glitter pumpkins with Calvin. I decided I definitely wasn't brave enough to get Henry involved with glitter, so I gave him a little sheet of contact paper to play with instead.

I let Calvin choose 4 colors of glitter from a set of little tubes of fine glitter that I have from Michaels. He picked the green one, and three shades of purple! I was like, "Don't you want blue...? Or pink...? Something besides more purple?" And he was like, No. All the purples. 

So I poured a little of each color glitter into separate cups and I had a spoon for each one, though we didn't really need all the spoons. I put the pumpkins on plates to catch the glitter, and I taped brown paper over the table to catch whatever the plates didn't catch (glitter is sneaky). 

I painted each pumpkin with glue and we used the spoons to scoop and pour the glitter over the pumpkins. 

Here's where I have to admit that I became kind of a control freak about the project and I pretty much would not let Calvin spoon the glitter by himself. He could have done it, but it would have been more messy. And I probably should have let him go for it and dealt with the mess later. That is usually my M.O. But this time, my inner control freak got the best of me and we did most of the glitter scooping-and-pouring "hand over hand" style, meaning that he was holding the spoon and I was holding his hand and steering him. 

The finished glitter pumpkins are so pretty and sparkly! I feel a little guilty every time I look at them though! Maybe in the future I will be able to relax a bit more and let him have at it with the glitter. Also, I think glitter might be a good outdoor craft project next time. 

Anybody have tips for letting your toddlers use glitter without having a nervous breakdown?? Or tips for cleaning up glitter??

Did your family decorate or carve pumpkins this year? We haven't carved our big ones yet. Last year we carved them too soon and they rotted before Halloween! But I am enjoying our little painted and glitter pumpkins on the mantel. 

Happy Haunting ;)

TBT: Halloween Countdown 2014

Baby Harry Potter and Hedwig are here to tell you... It's almost Halloween! Again!

And though it's not quite a week 'til Halloween yet, it is Thursday so for your #TBT from me, here are last year's Halloween Countdown posts! In case you're interested in some inspiration for Halloween-themed play :)

Click on the pics! Each one will take you to the post for that activity. 

If you do happen to do any of these crafts or activities and share them, tag me on Instagram @dianapancakes, because I'd love to see it! And if you have your own favorite Halloween activities, do share! 

Spooky Tot Play: Spiders, Ghosts and Glow Sticks!

I'm linking up with @playandlearneveryday on Instagram, as well as several other parents of toddlers for a Spooky Play Every Day photo challenge for October! Follow us on Instagram to see all of our daily spooky activities, or even join us in our spooky, silly fun :)

Here are my favorites of the spooky activities we've done so far.

Spooky Sensory Bottles

After much searching through our storage closet I managed to pull out the Halloween sensory bottles I made for the boys last year! For more details, here's the original post from our Halloween Countdown: Spooky Sensory Bottles

Icy Spiders

Calvin has this strange fascination with spiders at the moment. He's a little afraid of them, and he's obsessed with finding them both in real life and in books.So I thought he might enjoy this spider-infested ice, and sure enough - since they weren't real spiders after all - he loved this activity!

And it could hardly have been easier! That morning while he was at school, I filled up an ice tray and stuck a plastic spider into each well. They floated, but I didn't mind them sticking out of the ice a little. That afternoon when Calvin was home from school, I set out a big bowl of water and we started plopping our spidery ice into it. I gave him a scoop and some tongs and just let him explore. 

After a while he yelled, "Oh no!! The Spiders!!" And I said, "What about the spiders??" 

The ice had melted enough that the spiders were getting free! I thought maybe he was freaking out because he was afraid of the plastic spiders, but then I realized that it was more like he thought his toy had broken. I explained that the ice is supposed to melt, as ice will in a bowl of water at room temperature... and then we had a little science-y discussion about solids and liquids, freezing and melting. 

Meanwhile, I gave Henry a small bowl with just two ice cubes and no water (because he would have just poured it all over himself in an attempt to drink the water). He licked the ice a bit, but was generally displeased that what I had given him was not, in fact, a snack. 

Glow Stick Bath

We had a busy weekend, particularly Sunday which we spent first at a pumpkin farm, and then at the beach. We ended our Sunday Funday with this awesome, eerie glow stick bath! I had a bunch of glow bracelets that I got at a party store, but you could do this with any kind of glow sticks, glow necklaces, etc. Henry was too pooped from our big day to enjoy the bath, so he went to bed early. Calvin loved it and would only get out when I agreed to let him take the glow bracelets to bed. He went to bed with them stacked up both arms like Rainbow Brite!

Boo-nanas!

For a spooky after-school snack, I used raisins to make ghost faces on Calvin's favorite fruit. The cookies are Halloween Joe-Joe's from Trader Joes. Super cute and super yummy!!

More spooky tot play to come! #spookyplayeveryday

When Calvin is Suspiciously Quiet...

I bet you know the feeling, fellow parents. You're busy doing something, cooking, folding laundry, changing your other kid's diaper, checking Facebook... and suddenly you realize the house is quiet.

Too quiet.

Next thought is something like: Wait! Where's the toddler? (Or maybe, Oh sh**! Where's the toddler?)

Unrolling an entire brand new roll of toilet paper in the bathroom?

Stuffing his face with Cheerios from the pantry which he managed to open himself?

Distributing the laundry all over the living room floor?

Not Calvin.

Nope.

When Calvin is suspiciously quiet... he's usually sitting down somewhere reading a book.

Not that he never makes messes or does naughty things like dump out all of his stuffies/train tracks/duplos/you-name-it all over the floor or push his baby brother down and sit on him... It's just that when he's doing something naughty it's usually something LOUD.

But when he gets really quiet, I can almost always find him curled up somewhere with a book. The kid loves books. And he's perfectly content to look through books by himself. Maybe he's "reading the pictures." Maybe he's remembering the story from when a grown-up has read it. Maybe he's making up a story.

I watch him and I see him look at each page thoughtfully, turning pages periodically as though he were really reading.  Sometimes he gets to the end and starts over at the beginning, but usually once he finishes one he's on to another. Some mornings he'll go through stacks of books leaving behind a wake of them strewn on the floor.

He doesn't seem to have a specific favorite, but he has always loved Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie books. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak is another favorite at the moment, and also this Little People Valentine's book (which gets on James' nerves because it's more of a toy than a storybook... Sorry honey! The kid loves it!).

Unfortunately, his love for books does not extend to taking good care of his books. Some of his favorites have been loved literally to pieces... though to be fair, a few classes of first graders loved them a little too hard before Calvin ever got his hands on them. 

Calvin loves books so much, he has taken to snuggling a book with him in bed instead of a stuffie. Last night it was Tomie dePaola's Mother Goose book of nursery rhymes.

Goodnight from Calvin and Mother Goose!

What are your kid's favorite books? Any other Mo Willems fans? My favorite Elephant and Piggie book is My Friend is Sad. So funny and sweet! What about you?

Or how about most annoying books that your kids make you read? Like that Valentine's book!

Ocean Themed Tot Play

Yesterday we watched the first installment of a 3-night TV documentary series by PBS and BBC called Big Blue Live. Big Blue Live is celebrating and exploring a huge gathering of marine animals in nearby Monterey Bay. They are filming live from Monterey Bay Aquarium, as well as from helicopters and boats out on the bay to see the animals: humpback whales, blue whales, elephant seals, sea otters, sharks and more. It's like a huge ocean animal party that apparently happens every year in Monterey Bay. I so wish we could drop everything and take the boys down there today! We were just there a few months ago for a visit.

On the deck at Monterey Bay Aquarium

Big Blue Live reminded me of this ocean animal theme week we did a while back. Calvin LOVES marine animals. They are probably his favorites, maybe even more than dinosaurs! Here are a few ways we brought ocean wildlife into our home :)

Ocean Sensory Bin

I bought a set of small aquatic animal toys from Target and we made them a little ocean habitat with water and blue food coloring. I don't have a photo of it, but later we even added some small seashells. Calvin liked to pretend the crab was a hermit crab and he would try to stuff it into the seashells. 

Squishy Ocean Sensory Bag

This is a zip-lock bag full of blue hair gel with some of the animal toys from our set. So squishy and fun! Henry later destroyed this by biting it... so just be careful! 

Ocean Bed

Looks suspiciously like our Space Bed, doesn't it? Yup, we just left the blue sheet on and swapped out the rocket ship and astronaut toys for some ocean animal stuffies.

Some sensory play and some pretend play. We also have a few favorite songs about ocean animals: Slippery Fish, Baby Beluga, and Under the Sea!

Check out Big Blue Live if you have any interest in marine widlife. It's on live tonight and tomorrow on PBS!

Monday Funday: Fun with Paint

For Monday Funday, I bring you Calvin and Henry getting messy with some paints in our kitchen! :)

This was the first time I'd given Henry real fingerpaint - until now, I only let him paint with yogurt or jelly or pudding because I was afraid he'd eat the fingerpaint. He didn't eat it (yay!), and it turned out the paper was just as entertaining as the paint.

When Calvin saw what fun Henry was having getting messy, he decided to join in.

These two crack me up. 

Happy Monday! Have a great week :)

Tot Play Tuesday: Solar System Exploration!

This was probably my favorite Tot School theme! We did this space/solar system theme for a couple of weeks back in June. We did a lot of sensory play and pretend play and we worked on learning the names of the planets (plus Pluto!), and a bit about our sun and moon, other stars, comets, and asteroids. I quizzed him today out of curiosity and he can still pick out each planet/dwarf planet (Hi Pluto) correctly when I say the names using his little planet models in the picture above. I was impressed! 

We only have one kids' book about space, and now the literacy teacher in me is thinking Why didn't I get more books?! But this one covers the basics and has pretty pictures.

We also watched this little clip from an old Blue's Clues episode (remember Blue's Clues?? It was awesome!) with the song about the planets in our solar system. 

Here are the lyrics (*with my own edit to the last line about Pluto):

Well the sun's a hot star

And Mercury's hot too.

Venus is the brightest planet,

And Earth's home to me and you.

Mars is the red one,

And Jupiter's the most wide.

Saturn's got those icy rings

and Uranus spins on it's side.

Neptune's really windy.

And Pluto's really small!

*In fact, Pluto's a dwarf planet - 

It's not a real planet at all! 

The song really helped him learn the names of the planets. 

James also showed Calvin some videos of space shuttle launches and different rocket launches. Calvin had fun counting down with each launch. 

Here are some other ways we played around with our space theme and explored our solar system!

Solar System Sensory Bins

For this space sensory bin I ordered these small 3-D Planets and glow-in-the-dark stars on Amazon and found black lentils at Whole Foods. I love love love this sensory bin! I like the smooth feel of the lentils and they're perfect for this solar system scene. And the planets and stars all glow in the dark! 

I also had this crazy idea to make an edible space sensory bin... don't ask me why. I can't really remember. Maybe it was the cheddar rockets from Trader Joe's that gave me the idea. Or the solar system cupcakes I made for Calvin's first birthday. Whatever my inspiration was, the result was a little weird, but kind of pretty and it smelled like blueberries.

The blue goo is Duff Blue Suede Cake Mix, which I bought at Target. See, I thought the cake mix would look like blue powder. Silly me. I had to wet it to make the color show. Which is why it's all lumpy and sticky and weird. But it sure smelled nice! Like blueberry cake!

I still had those little white pearl candies left from Calvin's 1st birthday cupcakes, so those were the stars. For the planets, I used Fruit Loops Bloopers cereal, and some small fruits like cherries and blueberries. I couldn't figure out what to use for rings around Saturn, so I wrapped a strip of string cheese around a cherry... ew. I happened to have some green rock candy sprinkles so those were perfect for the asteroid belt, and we also happened to have Saturn peaches at the time so I used one for the sun. Then Calvin played around with making the little cheddar rocket crackers blast off from Earth and fly around to the different planets. He also enjoyed snacking on cheddar rockets and tasting the sugary cereal bits, and I even let him taste the cake mix, which was a big mistake because then all he wanted to do was eat it!! 

Space Bed

To turn Calvin's bed into a "space bed," I hung a dark blue sheet over his bed and used a flashlight and a colander to make stars. It was Calvin's idea to use his light-up clock as the sun. He and Henry had fun playing in there with their rocket ship and astronaut toys, and Calvin also wanted Mickey and Donald to go into space with them. 

Space Play Dough

I gave Calvin some blue play dough and a bunch of sparkly stuff that in my imagination could be planets and stars and comets and moons, and I let him at it. 

Sparkly Space Art

Glitter glue + construction paper + big circle sequins = one of the prettiest art projects Calvin and I have ever made! I'm still obsessed with this sparkly space-inspired art. We just swirled the glitter glue around, stuck the sequins on, and Voila! Masterpiece. Couldn't be easier or prettier!

We did this Tot School theme around the time we went camping at Fremont Peak State Park where we got to visit the observatory and see some gorgeous starry views of the night sky. 

I always try to tie our Tot School themes in with real life experiences one way or another, whether it's a trip to the zoo or the Academy of Sciences, or in this case a camping trip with some stargazing. 

And now I want to do space week all over again! Let me go get the glitter glue! 

Note to self: Get more books on space!