Pinterest Playtime: Indoor Snow

We had our first real snow of the season yesterday (and its nearly all melted today), but we didn't make it outside to play. I had seen previous pins about bringing snow indoors for playtime.
My husband brought in a tub full of snow, and we put it in the bathtub and let V have fun. She loved it!

 Jersey came in so we let her taste test some snow,

 

which meant V had to taste it too. It's cold! 

 Well, its not so bad after all.

Our little snowman.

 When most of our snow melted, daddy went out and got more. V exclaimed "more snow!"

Once she got a little too chilly, we started running a warm bath. She had a blast making the snow disappear. 

This activity was a great way for V to experience playing with the snow, without getting all cold. We will definitely do this again!

Pinterest Playtime

This morning started out rough. Tears, screaming, & defiance rough. The terrible twos are starting early! It looked something like this:

(this was taken 2 days ago, but you get the idea)

Thanks to a few evenings spent on Pinterest gathering some sensory playtime ideas from great blogs like Play Create Explore, The Green Fish Chronicles, & Thoughts from the Courage Zone, I was able to turn things around this morning.
I remembered that I had some salt dough leftovers (recipe here) in a plastic baggie. It was pretty gooey, so I decided to put V in the tub. We squished the closed bag of dough around for awhile, then I let her open it. I squished it into her hands and let her fling it around the bathroom. After stepping on it, and squishing it, I got out some cups & containers which I filled with water. We experimented by pouring water on the "blegh" (aka salt dough) and smearing it around the tub. The best part was hearing all V's giggles and "wow" when she squished the dough.

 Notice the drips of gooey dough on the tub & walls. At least it cleans up easy!

She had so much fun getting dirty and then washing off the dough. I filled the cups & buckets using the sink faucet. I put cold water in some containers and hotter water in others. I had her dip her hands in each before dumping them to add another sensory level to this activity.

Finally, I gave her a spray bottle with water and had her help me spray the dough off the walls & wipe it with a rag. She thought this was a lot of fun.
After we cleaned up and changed into dry clothes, her mood was greatly improved-- and mine was too. She even played by herself for a little while before lunchtime.
Do you have some go-to activities when your little ones are bored & cranky? Please share them in the comments!