Dyeing Eggs with Toddlers

How do you safely dye eggs with toddlers?

I've done this method before when there was a parent for each child

so how do you I make it safe for my three?

 The main change was to replace shaving cream with cool whip.

And I diluted the food colouring so their hands wouldn't be totally dyed.

 For the twins this was all about discovery.

 The texture and the taste

and trying to make the egg move.

 Of course putting them in the same chairs that they eat, with their bibs on may have sent a message that it was time to eat.  I couldn't think of any other way to do this without having it all over the house.  And unfortunately it was a rainy day so we couldn't do it outside.

 Here are the eggs before the cool whip was washed off.

The colour isn't as bright since the food colouring had been diluted with water.  But it doesn't matter as the process was so much fun.

Decorating a Tree

Talking with my daughters, leading up to Christmas, they were both wondering if they should put up a real tree yet.  Or would their little ones be too curious and try to pull it down?

For my oldest grand daughter I found this big felt tree.

It is a big cone and has velcro that holds it together.

(makes it easy to flatten and store through the year).

She was excited to discover  all the decorations

and took time check out each one.

On the tree there are lots of red pompoms.

Each felt ornament has a string attached so it can be looped over the pompoms.

 I thought this would be challenging for her but she managed very well.

For a younger child the felt ornaments will easily stick to the felt tree.

Finally there is a star that sits on top.

They added lights and now have a toddler friendly Christmas tree.

Tomorrow I'll share what I made for the one year old twins.

Valentine Decoration

I've been giving more and more thought into how to include the families 

as co-facilitators in the program.

For example; instead of decorating the room myself, how can I work it into our day.

The following is one way that we did this week.

 

My part involved getting some branches and setting it up.

The families did the rest.

It is a fun activity that involved art, the holiday, fine motor skills

and having fun.

One parent commented on the parts to make this

and how I put it together.

I wonder if she'll make one at home.

Now it's the centre piece for our next activity.
This piece could be changed throughout the school year.
Stay tuned.

Decorating the Table

The first of December I brought in some evergreen boughs and little vases and asked
                    the children to make centre pieces for our snack table.
                  
          
I put a bit of florist foam in the red vases but it was difficult for the children
                                 to poke the thin boughs into.
     
      So we used a skewer to poke holes first and that made it a bit easier.
     
For some children this activity became a sensory play.  “It’s pickly” said the
older child.  The younger child ran her fingers over the needles again and again.
          
            They add a little festive colour and smell to our snack table.