Tag: toddlers


Apr
2014

Kid Art: Make and Paint Baking Soda Dough Easter Egg Ornaments

categories: crafts, holiday, kids, toddler school

painteasyeastereggornaments

Recently we experimented with making dough from baking soda and corn starch, and ended up with a ton left over after we created hand print ornaments. I  thought it would be fun to create a few Easter egg ornaments with the Bear and let him paint them. The boy loves a good project, and every time we get the paint out he gets so excited. This ended up being a really fun craft to do with him and would work for kids ages 2 and up. I’ll share the details of our process along with a few things we learned and would do differently next time.

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Mar
2014

Our #DisneySide Play Date and 25 Amazing Disney Party Ideas

categories: crafts, diy

disneypartyideas

I’ve had a lifelong love affair with all things Disney, so when I was given the opportunity to host my own #DisneySide celebration I couldn’t pass it up. Disney sent our family a fun package full of goodies to help kick of the festivities, and we had an amazing day filled with Disney fun. I’m sharing our ideas as well as some fabulous Disney party ideas from other creative bloggers to help you with your next birthday party, play date, or whatever excuse you find to show off your own Disney side.

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Oct
2013

Painting Pumpkins with Toddlers

categories: crafts, play, toddler school, toddlers
  Painting pumpkins is the perfect way to let your toddlers decorate the gourds of the season with out knives or messy pumpkin guts involved.  It is simple and an be pretty mess free if you do it just right.  The pumpkins turn out really pretty and don’t rot instantly like a carved one.  Want to try it?  Here’s how we do it…
Pumpkin Painting Instructions:
1) Go outside and set up a little station cleared of anything that might get ruined.
2) Put a blob of each color of washable paint on a piece of construction paper.
3) Show your child what to do, and then let them go for it.  If they don’t like the sensation of paint on their hands, foam brushes work well.
4) You can use painter’s tape to tape off designs on larger pumpkins, or leave well enough alone and drink your coffee.
5) Leave your pumpkin out to dry for several hours.  Throw away your paint paper, or save it for this project.  Wash down your station with a wet rag and wash your child’s hands.  You’re done!  Don’t you feel festive?
The Bear is so proud of his masterpieces.
We actually did this on two different days and it kept him entertained for quite a while.  Fine motor skill building is the best entertainment.
Have you decorated pumpkins with your wee ones? What techniques do you use?


Oct
2013

An Easy Fall Pumpkin Craft for Toddlers and Preschoolers

categories: crafts, play, toddler school, toddlers
Crafting with toddlers and preschoolers can be a bit of an adventure, but it is great for their fine motor development and can kill major chunks of time with no tv involved.  This one is crazy easy, turns out really cute and festive, and will give you about 20 minutes of peaceful fine motor practice.  Go for it.  Everybody needs a festive pumpkin to hang on the fridge, and your little one will be so proud of their handiwork.
Materials Needed:
construction paper or cards tock
scissors
one sheet of orange tissue paper
glue stick or spray adhesive
Directions:
1) Trace a basic pumpkin shape on to your card stock or construction paper and cut it, or just cut it out freehand with scissors. It doesn’t need to be perfect.  An oval with a stem will do.
2) Let your toddler tear the tissue paper up in to tiny pieces.  Really let them get in to it.  To contain this part of the process I put Bear in his art box and let him go to town.  He LOVED it.
3) Spray your pumpkin shape with a light coat of spray adhesive or cover with your glue stick.  I recommend the spray because it won’t get your little one sticky and holds the tissue very effectively.
4) Show your wee one how to stick the pieces of tissue on to the pumpkin.  Encourage them to cover the whole thing.  Back away slowly and watch them work.
5) Take a photo of your babe with the finished product and then pat yourself on the back.  Craft accomplished.  Mischief managed.
What’s your favorite fall craft for little ones?

 


Jun
2013

Five Easy Ways to Entertain Toddlers in the Summer

categories: cloth diaper, frugal, giveaway, toddlers

Summer is officially here and our regular week day events during the school year have slowed down or stopped completely until September and we are constantly looking for ways to keep the Bear entertained.  Today I’m breaking down my favorite toddler entertaining ideas for you that are all free or super cheap ways to beat the heat and keep that kiddo happy.

#1 Fill up a Kiddie Pool in your yard.  We actually have 2, one from Amazon and one from a consignment sale and he LOVES them.  He will splash and play for hours in both of them.  Give a toddler a hose and a few buckets and he will be happy all day.  At the end of the day we take his buckets and water the plants and trees with whatever is left in the pools, so nothing goes to waste.
#2 Visit you neighborhood pool.  Our city has 5 neighborhood pools and membership is super cheap ($60 for the whole family for all 5 pools all summer).  We visit a different pool every few days and swim our hearts out.  The Bear has a great little Puddlejumper life jacket and is already jumping off the wall into the water.  We love it and he always eats and sleeps well after a big swim.  As a former pool rat (shout out to my Leawood pool peeps) there is no better summer getaway than the neighborhood pool.  We use cloth swim diapers in both our backyard and our neighborhood pool.  You can read all about swim diapers here and shop for them here.
#3 Go to Story Time at the Library. Air conditioning + free = awesome.  Our local library has story times for every age group as well as one for the whole family.  We signed up for the toddler class and are so excited to have an air conditioned, fun, educational, and FREE place to get out of the sun all summer long.
#4 Find a free Splash Park in your area.  We are so lucky to have several free splash parks near our house and will be spending lots of time there this summer when the playground equipment is too hot to touch. Check out your city’s Parks and Recreation website to find splash parks in your area.  They typically have several water elements and a soft pad underneath for kids to run on barefoot.
#5 Mall walk and play at the indoor playground.  Several of our local malls have great indoor, air conditioned play spaces perfect for toddlers.  We pack up the fam and a picnic lunch and head to the mall in the morning to mall walk like champs getting a little exercise for mama and then hit the mall play ground to get a work out for the Bear.  Everybody wins and nobody sweats.
How do you entertain yourself and/or your kids in the summer?

Mar
2013

Frugal Friday: Cheap Toddler Entertainment

categories: cloth diaper, frugal, toddlers
On a recent grocery store trip I accidentally purchased the wrong kind of dried beans.  I was going for kidney but came home with pinto.  I meant to return them but kept forgetting.  Best $2 I ever accidentally spent.  I didn’t get the red beans and rice dish I was craving, but I did create a fresh way to entertain Bear.
We took half the bag of beans and poured them into Bear’s sand pail and got out the rest of his sand toys as well as a few plastic cups.  Every afternoon we go outside and sift, pour, and dump the beans til his little heart is content.
He LOVES them.  I love them because they are super easy to scoop back into the bucket and there is no harm done if a few end up in the grass.  All that scooping and sifting is great for his motor skill development, and keeps him completely entertained.
I’ve seen lots of sensory trays on Pinterest and have wanted to make one for a long time.  Instead we have a cheap sensory bucket.  Yay for cheap entertainment!
How do you keep your kids or yourself entertained on the cheap?

Feb
2013

5 Things We’ve Learned From Cloth Diapering (Almost) 2 Years In

categories: baby, cloth diaper, toddlers

We are now almost 2 years into this little cloth diaper experiment.  I’ve learned so much and am still picking up new info every week.  I’ll probably get the whole thing totally mastered by the time Mini Bear potty trains.  Today I’m sharing with you the top five things I’ve learned from our first 20+ months of using cloth.

1. Diapers We Love:
If you read our about Great Cloth Diaper Trials you know that we’ve tried and tested 11 different kinds of cloth diapers.  We are now up to 14.  Out of control.  Not all of the brands we tried worked for us, but we do have a few that we absolutely love and we are always looking to try more.  Our all time favorite brand is Softbums.  We’re obsessed and they make up the bulk of our diaper stash.  We also love the Bumgenius 4.0 and Freetime.  We use our Bumgenius Elemental, but the drying time takes it from a love to a like.  I love Apple Cheeks diapers, but Jed is not as big of a fan.  I loved the 1 size two AC we had so hard the elastic is now busted.  Anyone want to fix it for me?  We love our Bummis swim diaper, and our Bunzuke bandana diaper is still in the rotation as well.  That Bunzuke is so cute and hard to find I will never give it up.  The rest we’ve sold.  Which brings me to #2.

2. The Cloth Diaper World:
Did you know there is a whole underground world of cloth diaper people out there?  We DO exist.  There are Buy/Sell/Trade groups and fan pages on Facebook for every major brand.  There are local cloth diaper swaps.  There are forums where you can learn everything you every wanted to know about every diaper on the market.  I’ve sold all of our used cloth diapers we didn’t love because they work really well for other people.  I’ve bought used diapers from people who didn’t like our favorite brands.  There are cloth diaper meet ups and mom groups in most major cities.  The cloth diaper world is amazing, and I love being part of it.  Before we started this experiment, I looked to blogs to learn everything I could.  That’s why I now post about what I’ve learned to share with you.


3. The Laundry:
The cloth diaper laundry is no longer intimidating.  You can read about our original simple cloth diaper laundry routine here.  We just switched to Rockin Green detergent because of a hard water issue at the new house.  Our new routine is one cold wash, one hot wash, extra rinse.  We use 1 TBSP of Rockin Green in both cycles.  That’s it.  Then we hang the dipes up to dry and dry the pods and inserts on low.  We now have the routine down pretty well and do a load every other day and never run out, even giving the diapers overnight to dry.

4. Over Night Cloth Solutions:
We struggled with this for a LONG time.  Bear is a super heavy wetter and I thought we would never find the right fix.  Bear would literally explode an over night disposable diaper, but we couldn’t find a cloth solution that worked either.  Finally after begging for help from Twitter and Facebook friends as well as in cloth diaper forums, and visiting my two local shops, we have found a solution that works for our super heavy wetter.  We use a waterproof cover (Rumparooz and Tiny Tush), two Grovia bamboo prefolds with one of them folded in half towards the front, two microfiber inserts (one in half towards the front and one flat on top of everything else), and two fleece liners covering the microfiber.  It makes the fluffiest booty you’ve ever seen, but it works.

5. Cloth Diapering Really is Easy, Cheap, and Doable
It’s true.  Maybe not for everyone, but it is true for me.  I had many doubters when I first started talking about cloth, but thankfully I’m stubborn enough to prove them wrong.  If you are interested in using cloth diapers, do your research and go for it.  Don’t buy all one brand though, because that brand might not work for your babe.  There are a few specific things that have made it easier on me as we have gone on.  Our diaper sprayer is magnificent.  We bought the Bumgenius diaper sprayer and have it attached to the toilet in one of our bathrooms.  We keep our diaper pail beside it and after the dipes get sprayed they go straight into the potty.  Totally easy.  We use a simple Ikea pail with a lid.  The other thing that makes it easier is having a bigger stash.  We wash every other day and let them dry overnight, and still have enough to make it through.  It just makes my life better if I’m not doing laundry every day, and is totally worth the investment.  You can do this.  If you want to.  You will save around $2000 per kid and thousands of disposable diapers from the landfill (which don’t biodegrade for over 500 years!).  I believe it’s worth it.

Do you use cloth diapers?  If so, what’s one thing you’ve learned from cloth diapering?

 


Oct
2012

Our Easy Cloth Diaper Laundry Routine

categories: baby, cleaning, cloth diaper, frugal, parenting
One of the most intimidating things about cloth diapering a child is the actual washing of the diapers.  There’s a different routine for every cloth diapering family, but I’ll share the super easy routine that works for us.  We tried and tested 11 different types of cloth diapers and you can read about that by clicking the link.
Here we go.  We need a few items for our routine, besides the obligatory washing machine.  We use a plastic bucket from Ikea with a lid, bumGenius Diaper Sprayer, and Country Save detergent.
Step One: After The Bear soils a diaper, we spray it off in the toilet with the diaper sprayer.  We spray both poop and pee diapers, to help get the ammonia stink out of the cloth.  The diaper then goes into the bucket, and the lid stays on til we are ready to wash.
Step Two: We wash our cloth diapers every other day.  I turn on the washer on the heavy duty cycle with cold water, and let the water begin to fill.  I add 1/4-1/3 the amount of Country Save detergent I would use for a normal load.  I toss the diapers in, making sure the velcro tabs are closed so they don’t get crazy in the wash.  Close the lid and run that sucker.
Step Three: After the cold wash finishes, I turn the dial back to heavy duty wash, but this time in hot water, with no detergent.  Run it.
Step Four:  We pull out the diapers and hang them on the clothesline if it is nice out or from the shower curtain if it is rainy.
And we’re done.  We’ve learned a few things over this year+ of cloth diapering.  Never soak your diapers because it damages the waterproof liner.  Always double check your velcro/hook and loop.  Don’t be afraid to start using cloth diapers.  You CAN do it.
Do you use cloth diapers?  What is your cloth diaper laundry routine?