Butterbees and Bumbleflies

Apple Volcano

There are LOTS of blog posts out there about how to make apple volcanoes, but if you haven’t done this with your kids, you really really should. It’s super fun to make the apple “explode.” Simply cut the core out, leaving the bottom in tact. Pour baking soda down inside the apple, and replace the core. Then, place it on a tray and pour vinegar over top! That simple! Becca enjoyed sticking her hands inside the “bubbles” and feeling the volcano. Then, she found the vinegar smell interesting, and enjoyed playing in the soap in the sink to help her hands smell better. All in all, it was a super fun after dinner activity!

Wacky Wednesday

Playing with her food in the kitchen while I did dishes: “I love bell peppers yellow red and green and lemonade! … Look at my food mommy. They’re all lined up.”
“Im gonna eat my pumpkin before it gets a face and frowns at me.” Totally an original idea. We had just talked about jack-o-lanterns the day before, and she loves her book where the pumpkins have faces, so I guess she came up with that from there.
Put her veggies in a reusable bag: “Ok less see what Ms Julie gived us today. She gived us carrots and broccodie and orange pepper and green pepper and eggplant!” (We participate in a CSA group with a local farm, and get a bag of goodies every week.)
“I did it by by myself!”
“Mom! Dad! Look at me!” Seriously – saying this all. the. time. About EVERYTHING. It’s hilarious!
Laying on the floor by her door, inside her room, knocking saying “Mommy in there? Hello mommy! Mommy? Hello? Where you go? You in there?”

Fine Motor Snack Time

I’m not one to do a lot of hands-on cooking projects with Becca… but that’s about to change now that Cody made her a fabulous kitchen helper step stool so that she can stand at the counter! I’m SO excited that now we can finally do stuff together in the kitchen. So I decided one afternoon for snack I would let her begin to use a plastic knife for spreading. I gave her a plate and Mini Nilla Wafer cookies. I spread a dollop of peanut butter onto the plate, and she used her knife to spread. She got peanut butter on her fingers, but we giggled a lot and had lots of fun in the midst of also eating and making cookie “sandwiches.”

Melting Beads

For those reading this who have already had snow this month, this activity might not be for you… but for those in South Texas, where it’s still hitting 90+ every day, this activity is still quite in season. To set it up, I hauled our water table inside, dumped in a bunch of water beads into the table, and let her play for a while. Then, we added ice cubes of various shapes, and she played for a while – but she wanted a spoon b/c they were just “too too cold, Mommy!” HA! Over the course of about an hour, she kept coming back to the table. Then, we decided (mutually – mainly her idea) to see if we could melt the ice cubes faster. I suggested that we could try Mommy’s hair dryer. She said, “no, probably not.” So I said, “well, we could try salt!” She thought that was the silliest idea she’d ever heard. So, I got out the ice cream salt and she helped me dump the salt on top. The ice, of course, started to immediately melt. And so did the beads. It was really cool – they started to split and dissolve, and we were both really into it. It was fun. A mess to clean up later, but fun. 🙂

Leaf Man

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I LOVE books by Lois Ehlert. So when I came across this one (aff link) on Amazon and realized that not only did I not own it, I had never read it… well, I decided it was time to buy! So I did. Leaf Man is a fabulous book and true to form, Ehlert has once again brought her illustrations to life and made fun shapes and sizes of pages. As soon as the book came in, I read it to Becca, and have read it to her every day since. She loves it, and loves looking at the pictures to see all the creatures Ehlert has created in her illustrations – using only leaves.

So we decided (it was pretty mutual) that we should try to make our own Leaf Man. I got out the rest of the leaves left over from our owl project, and we made all kinds of fun things on her tray. Then, I got out some beans and popcorn kernels and toothpicks from her fall sensory bin for eyes and such. We had a lot of fun making them… and then she started to get bored. But she noticed her beans sorta made the letter O… and we were off. I started making letters out of beans, and she started making letters out of toothpicks, and it was super fun. You never know when you will have an impromptu lesson on your hands!