Olivia and I have done so many fun things this week! Again, I hate that this post is coming AFTER Valentine's Day, but I know you will have left over candy, hearts, and all things red and pink for days...so feel free to still use these ideas with your little ones! I mean...they *really* don't know that Valentine's is over, right?
So we started off the week with a sensory bin! Pink rice? Yes. Can I tell you how cheap and easy this was?
So dying the rice was easy! First, buy rice. I did a 5 lbs. bag for $1.98. *fist bump*...I know, amazing. Dump it in a large container. Add 3 tablespoons of water and mix to coat the rice in the water. Add in red food coloring and mix until you reach the color you want!
Obviously it will take more food coloring than this...but this is a before picture. :) The rice wasn't wet or messy after, so I went ahead and added the Valentine goodies to the bin and let it set overnight.
Then we played! All of the goodies are from the Target dollar spot. I just stock up each time I go in there. Note: We DID do this one outside and I AM GLAD! Rice was everywhere. So...do this outside if at all possible, or invest in a good vacuum. :)
Olivia loved this bin. I added in some plastic cups and she dug, played, dumped, scooped, and hid all of the toys in the bin. I love watching her learn and explore.
Next, we came in for snack time and I just happened to combine snack with an activity. When I was at Target (I know people, they see me coming...) I saw some Kashi Healthy Heart Cereal...in my head I thought "yuck" but I saw that the cereal came in heart shapes. A perfect reason to buy cereal right? It turns out, it is very yummy!
So I made this H is for HEART activity and she loved it. She lined the hearts up, then ate them! Perfect! And I cannot get over those sweet little hands. I could eat. her. up.
We finished up our activities for this day with Where is Baby's Valentine? It is a lift flap book and it is so cute!
So, now we move to Valentine's Day. Yep, I fed my children donuts with all the frosting. I may have also had that pretty pink one sans the sprinkles...all to myself.
And can we just take a minute...
I am obsessed with these two.
Okay, moving on.
We started off our day with Where is Love Biscuit? Olivia loves books that you can touch and feel!
Then we did a Conversation Heart Color Sort Activity. Now, I personally hate those dang conversation hearts, and I knew if I bought a big bag, they would not be eaten. My children, husband, (and I) love Sweet Tarts though, so I bought a bag of conversation Sweet Tarts.
I was a bit skeptical of doing this activity with her, I thought she might want to just eat them (like the cereal) and I wasn't sure if she knew her colors well enough. I was so surprised though! She sorted them like a pro once I added one to each heart! She ate two of them, but wasn't too interested in chowing down on them! She really enjoyed this activity and did it a few times.
Another thing Olivia LOVES to do is paint. I decided to switch it up a bit and made a heart stamp out of a toilet paper roll. I have seen this idea floating around, and wanted to try it. So I just caved one side of the roll in to make a heart shape, then taped it with some red tape I had. Done!
She loved this! I had to guide her quite a bit because she wanted to use it like a paint brush, but she got the hang of it.
This is the finished one (our 3rd attempt!) :) And do you see my hodge-podge of paint? I literally use whatever I have around the house!
I wrote her name on this one and I will keep it! It turned out so cute and I will forever remember her giggling and having so much fun doing this one!
Finally, we finished up our Valentine's festivities with another water bead bin and a fun activity for Rex!
So I just used red water beads, and some of the items from the rice bin I talked about earlier in the post!
I think the water beads are still her favorite. She really loves playing with these! I really wish we had these when I was a kid, man they are fun!
I always let Rex play with the things we do during the day, he loves them just as much as her most of the time! I wanted to do something that I knew he would really enjoy though!
So these are the items I used, and I let him just explore and play! I was curious to see what he would do!
Needless to say, he was brilliant! I am so proud of this kid. He is such a smart cookie.
And of course Livi knows how to have fun too! :)
And that is a wrap folks! We had a great Valentine's week and now we are prepping for little one's birthday party THIS WEEKEND! :) I hope you enjoyed reading about these fun activities and don't forget to check out our post on Edible Chocolate Play Dough!
Have a great weekend!
Until Next Week,
Hillary
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