Volcano!

On Wednesday Braden and I had plenty of fun with different dinosaur and volcano activities.  In the morning Braden discovered the sensory bin in the living room and brought it out. 

Rice!

Burying the dinosaur

Where's the dinosaur?

The rest of the week, whenever he found the bin he'd carry it around saying "please, please" until it was opened for him!  He really enjoyed playing with it.  

After lunch we did a combo dinosaur painting project.  For part of the dinosaur we did some more marble painting by kicking the box around.  Then for the other part we did some sponge painting.  I ended up moving the sponge around and he would press it into the plate.  

I'm not sure about this mom!

I'll just hit it

Shaking up the box before deciding it would be more fun to kick it.

Drying time 

Dinosaur

Then we had some fun making volcanos erupt!  

The set up: baking soda & colored vinegar

Trying to use the dropper

Concentrating

Drip, drip, drip

Finished volcano mess

That's Play-dough NOT a ball

This afternoon Braden and I made some dinosaur fossils.  I had originally thought I would use salt dough, but realized I didn't really want to keep them around or store them.  So, I decided to make play-dough instead.  We could easily make temporary fossils and then store the play-dough to be used again someday!  I found a few recipes on Pinterest and made two batches for now.  

I waited for them to cool down and as soon as I started kneading them Braden wanted to play too.  The first step was helping him realize that they were not balls to be thrown.  He just kept dropping them on the floor.  So, I kept saying "squish, squish, squish" and tried to show him what to do.  Apparently it looked like I was doing a little dance as I squished the play-dough from one hand to the other, because he started imitating me...

"Ball" "No, play-dough"

Dinosaurs!

Making fossils

Squish, squish, squish!

Tonight we also did a little bit of painting to make a triceratops.  

Dino Tracks

Braden seems to be having so much fun with the dinosaurs!  He was instantly drawn to the figures I had put out with the books, and he keeps saying "rawr".  

Mondays have now become "Museum Monday" with our other friends that have a membership, so we didn't get much exploring in before nap time.  

Driving the fire truck at the museum

He loves the car

Who needs drumsticks when you have a fork & a spoon

So, after dinner Braden and I made some chocolate chip cookies.  Before baking them I added a few dinosaur tracks, and maybe Braden will get to try one for a snack this week.  We'll see if they last that long!  

Then before bed we did a little splatter painting with a pterodactyl picture.  I wasn't sure he would really like it, because it involved getting his hands a little messy.  After the initial "uh oh" due to paint on his hands he was fine and went back for more fun.  He was also having a little naked time anyway, which worked out so that he didn't end up with paint on his clothes!  

Setup - cookie sheet, rubber bands, paint on each & a picture

Artist

Enjoying splatter painting

Realizing there is paint on his hands...

All done!

Week 4: "Dinosaurs"

Dinosaurs

January 28th - February 3rd

I already put together the book display for this week (waiting on a few library additions) and Braden was so surprised by the toy dinosaurs.  "oh wow" "ooooohhh"

Crafts/Activities:

Splatter painting

Triceratops painting

Paper plate dinosaur

Dinosaur finger painting (we'll see how this one goes)

Dino feet

Sensory/Discovery:

This week I will put the rice in the sensory bin with some of the small dinosaur figures and a few easter eggs.  I will add a few rocks and am hoping to find some fake plants to add to it.  We will also open up the dino capsules in water again and add those to the collection.  

Dino track cookies (Chocolate Chip)

Dinosaur fossils with homemade playdough

Volcano # 1 & # 2  ** not so sure teaching Braden to blow bubbles in his milk is a great idea, but we shall see! 

Snacks:

Dino Track cookies

Dino Eggs  

Banana Dinosaur

Alphabet:

"D" - Dinosaur  "V" - Volcano

Books:

This week we will be heading to the library to pick up a few dinosaur and friendship books.  

Mrs. Toggle & the Dinosaur

How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon?

Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp

Dinosaur Starts School

Music & Friends

Friday we had a busy day with music class and a play date at Conor's house.  We barely made it home for nap time, so we did not do any new activities at home.

He looks so grown up! Ahhhh!

Friends playing together

Braden & Leela in the ball pit

He loved this thing! "Cold"

5 Little Ducks

On Wednesday we didn't do anything new with numbers.  Braden really seems to enjoy his counting book where he can press the buttons and other books from the library.  We also played with the magnetic fish and the ping pong numbers again.  

On Thursday I put together some counting ducks to go along with the 5 Little Ducks book.  There is a little video of our story time today (don't mind my voice)!! 

Being silly with the ducks

Where did the duck go? 

Counting ducks

We also had some counting fun with the bingo dotter again!

Chicka Chicka 123

We do not have very many number or counting books in our collection, so Braden and I made a trip to the library this week.  One book we found was Chicka Chicka 123.  So, I put a tree on his new magnetic board and grabbed the numbers, so he could put them on the tree.  

We also did some counting with colored ping pong balls.  I thought it would be an item we could use later when discovering colors.  We didn't get very far with the counting, because Braden was constantly saying "ball".  This was a big hit this week - he constantly bringing the box out to play with.

He enjoyed putting the balls in the basket and then taking them out.

This was a busy week for Watching Me Grow orders, so I did a little counting/number work of my own.