Pinterest Playtime: Curing Cabin Fever

This winter has been a rough one for us. Although we've experienced a milder winter weather-wise, our family has caught every cold that's come our way. We're going a little batty from being closed in together. For my daughter and I, some of our only sanity-savers have been the projects I stumbled upon while meandering through Pinterest.
I got the idea of bathtub water coloring from Thoughts from the Courage Zone, which has some great toddler activity ideas. I put V in the tub with a small cup of water, a paintbrush & watercolors.

This was the first time she had played with watercolors, so it was a lot of fun. After she had colored quite a bit, I added a spray bottle & a squeeze bottle of water so we could watch the colors run. Finally, I got out a "Magic Eraser" and let her help me clean up the mess. She had fun making the colors disappear.
One of our next rainy-day projects was one I found on Toddler Approved! They suggested making a tower out of cut (new) kitchen sponges. I had picked up a package of cheap sponges at the store awhile back as an emergency playtime activity.

It was nice to have an emergency go-to. V had fun stacking the sponges, knocking them over and throwing them on the floor. The best part? It was all quiet!
If all else fails, I pull out the spray bottle (water only) and hand it to V.

She knows that its ok to spray the windows, doors, herself, the dogs, or the plants.  When she sprays the windows, I give her a rag and let her wipe up the water. Its fun to pretend to clean!

One of our recent not-as-sick days, we managed to get outside for awhile. I borrowed this activity from our Parents As Teachers educator. I've seen several blogs that suggest using beans or rice for kids to scoop & pour with. Our PAT educator suggested using birdseed-- if its spilled or gets dirty, we can throw it outside for the birds, without wasting any food! I also like that V gets different textures, shapes & colors with the variations in the birdseed.

This was one of our favorite activities. V quietly played with the seed for at least 15 minutes. When she started getting bored, we took turns spreading the birdseed out in the yard. Then at lunchtime we got to watch the birds eat the seed.
I love to find new activities. What are your favorite blogs?

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!