Homemade Sidewalk Paint

I saw an awesome post on Happy Hooligans today about making homemade sidewalk paint and I had to try it.  It was easy to make. You mix cornstarch, water, and food coloring together.  It took some time to figure out the right consistency, but it added to the learning process.  Little Sweets sat mixing colors and painting for a long time.  I wish I had taken a picture of the sidewalk when she was finished.  This is an activity we will be doing over and over again. 

Yes, my daughter is in a bathing suit and it's March!!  It was 85 degrees here today!

I also enjoyed painting and thought it would be fun to paint some words onto the sidewalk.  Little Sweets read the words to me after I painted them.  This is a great literacy activity. 

Tot School Week 3

This week I decided to do things differently. I don't have a theme, but instead have divided activities up by subject area.


Science Activity: We are still learning about animals. Little Sweets loved going to the pond that is near our house. She got to see ducks and turtles. She enjoyed quacking at the ducks. She also saw lots of people walking dogs. She barked at most of the dogs and meowed at a chihuhua.

Math Activity:Sorting fruit loops by color

Language Arts Activities: We are working on the alphabet. We listened to the song The Alphabet Train by Dr. Jean and Little Sweets worked on her alphabet puzzle.

Art Activities: Talked about colors as we made fruit loop necklaces. We also made colored salt jars. (We made the noodle necklace a few weeks ago.)

Field Trip: We went to Edventure the Children's Museum in Columbia

I thought this was the cutest exhibit, a mini grocery store for kids. Little Sweets knew exactly what to do since she likes to go to shopping with mommy. When she was finished shopping she had to put everything back. She knew exactly where everything went. She's just like her daddy very organized and puts everything back in its place.

Fun Frugal Find Friday-salt 2 for $1

Homemade Colored Salt Jars

I like to browse couponing sites to see if I can find something on sale that I can use for a fun activity. This week I found salt on sale 2 for $1.00 at walgreens from southern savers. I decided to use the salt to make rainbow salt jars. The activity went along with a book we read, "Dora's Color Adventure." The jars were simple to make. I used food coloring to color the salt. We talked about the different colors then daddy helped Little Sweets pour the colored salt into the baby food jar. Salt is also an important ingredient for making homemade play dough. For a recipe for homemade playdough go here.

Homemade Finger Paint

Making homemade finger paint is a cheap fun activity. Older kids will love making the paint as much as they enjoy painting with it. Little Sweets and I did this activity when she was around ten months old. The best part was that I didn't have to worry if she was going to eat the paint because I knew what ingredients were in the paint. Lets face it ten month old babies will eat the paint!!

Here is what you'll need to make homemade finger paints

2 T. cornstarch
2 T. cool water
1 C. boiling water
food coloring

Mix the cool water and cornstarch. Add the boiling water and stir. It should thicken as you stir. When it is cool, divide into small cups or muffin tins. (I use the small plastic cups that fruit comes in or baby food jars.) Add food coloring and mix.

I am sure you all know this but just to clarify never let young children add the boiling water.

Resource: Book: Miserly Moms by Jonni McCoy