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A Family that Plays Together, Cleans Together

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Yesterday we experienced the joy of Oobleck. I spent the morning cleaning the kitchen while the kids played so it would be ready for the fun. As I finished, the kids came calling for something to do with me. Perfect timing!

We watched this video together that we found on Pinterest, then got to work. Elli poured the cornstarch (2 cups), I poured the water (1-1 1/2 cups), and Sammi stirred.

Then the fun began.

Scott was such a charmer. He loved handing it to me and watching it slip through his fingers and then mine to make designs all over his legs. Then he’s eat it off his hands. I loved that this was something I didn’t have to worry about him eating, unlike the play dough since I still haven’t made a gluten-free version yet.

Then mama made the unwise decision to make an important phone call while the kids were so engaged. The call took me out of the room in search of my computer. I ended the call to very loud arguing between Sammi and Elli. I went upstairs to see what was going on and found at least a gallon of water covering the table mixed with the remaining oobleck and a puddle of smoothie that Scott had spilled. Then there was at least another gallon of water on the floor tinted with cornstarch.

The mess wasn’t the bad part. It was the constant “She did it. I didn’t do anything!” from the oldest. I gave them towels and had them soak up the puddles of water. Then I sent the girls to their rooms for some peace to calm down and give me a chance to think about how to tackle the mess.

So it’s rare that I get the whole kitchen clean all at the same time. It’s never happened that I’ve done that twice on the same day. But it had to be done. We couldn’t live with cornstarch caking everything from the sink and mat to the table and chairs. Even I wasn’t going to cross that line! So after time out we cleaned together.

Since we were all calmed down, the cleaning was actually quite fun. We each had a washcloth and we wiped up all the cornstarch and water we could find. We wiped down the chairs and even the chair legs! I don’t think that’s happened since they were repainted last year. Every one was cheerful and helpful. It was a good end to a good activity.

It reminded me of a sign I saw at the children’s museum in Utah. It reads: Clean up is part of play. For someone who doesn’t like to clean, this message is my new mantra when it comes to messes. Just like I had to learn to schedule in diaper changes and packing snacks into the diaper bag so we could get places on time, I am working on making clean up a part of our playtime instead of something I grumpily force the kids to do after we are too tired to do anything well. I admire those who manage clean up so much better than I do!

What do you do to make clean up manageable for your family?

Starting a NewVember Tradition

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My talented and creative sister-in-law started this tradition in 2008 and we decided to get on board, finally. Each November she celebrates NewVember where she tries to do something new everyday.  Between her blog and Facebook statuses she’s done an amazing range of adventurous activities over the last few years. I’m always inspired by Ann.

So this year we are starting our own NewVember tradition. Yesterday we started our gratitude journals. Today we remembered to add to them at the last possible moment. Seriously. We had to wake Elli back up to find out what she was grateful for. She was so sleepy but got out “thank you healthy bodies” which sounds an awful lot like when she prays before a meal. Just too sweet.

So for today, we played in a leaf pile. This is new in comparison to last year when we didn’t rake a single leaf. Yeah, my last year’s pregnant self wasn’t that interested in taking care of the yard last fall. But to make it truly new, we added a favorite game of all three kids: peek-a-boo. Sammi loved getting all the way covered with leaves, over and over again. Elli loved covering her up, again and again. And Scott had a perpetual smile watching the whole thing go down. Check it out for yourself:

During all the fun, Elli and Sammi worked on their gross motor skills by scooping leaves and covering each other up. Elli practiced counting to ten and even made it to sixteen a few times. She loves the number three now, since it’s her age. And Scott practiced his gross motor skills by standing while holding on to my shoulder. He loves to be upright and to walk everywhere. I’m glad he’s finally tall enough that I don’t have to bend over when he holds my fingers and we walk, endlessly, around the house and anywhere else we are. Next I’ll be glad when he can do it without holding my fingers at all. Though his little fingers gripping my fingers is something precious.

What NEW thing will you do this month?

Potty Training: Setbacks and Successes

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I hate poop. It’s harder for me than throw up.
No, seriously. I hate poop.

I lucked out with Sammi that she NEVER had a poop accident while potty-training. She figured out pooping on the toilet before peeing.

Elli has been a whole different story. We didn’t even attempt to potty train until after Scott was born. Then we let her run naked and start to figure things out. She was almost completely potty-trained, but then I realized it’d been a couple days since she’d last pooped. I put her in underwear and hoped for the best. After all, Sammi hadn’t had any problems with pooping. After a couple of days of cleaning up poopy underwear, I was not a happy mama.

I started calling the poop yucky and trying to help her understand that pooping in underwear is yucky. All that did was throw us back to diapers. Elli refused to wear underwear any more. She refused to sit on the toilet. If I changed a poopy diaper she plead with me to not say yuck. I realized I had shamed her and her poop instead of teaching her how to get the poop in the toilet.

We took a break. I bought another box of diapers and told her when it was gone we’d try again. About half-way through the box she started peeing in her potty chair again. She got more and more consistent with using the potty. I braced myself and promised myself that I would not freak out about the poop.

It’s been roughly four months and we’ve reached a happy medium. She wears pull-ups. She pees in the toilet every time. She has only pooped in the toilet once. I’ve tried my best to replicate that day. However we encouraged her, helped her, or whatever it was that allowed her to “get it” that day, but to no avail. {sigh} My current strategy is loving her, cleaning up the poop and waiting for her to figure it out on her own.

What I’ve learned about potty-training

  • Every child is different
  • Every child is on their own schedule
  • Shaming a child who has accidents is way more detrimental than helpful
  • Potty-training, like most other parenting experiences, will test you to the point of exhaustion
  • Potty-training, like most other parenting experiences, refines your parenting skills

I’m hoping that we get this figured out soon. We have a family trip coming up and I’d like to have this mastered before driving across the country and back.

What successes or setbacks have you had with potty-training?

Getting Dressed

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Elli has finally discovered the joy of dressing herself. This comes as a relief because now I can hand her her pajamas and she can put them on herself while I change the baby. I remember this being a huge burden lifted off my shoulders when Sammi transitioned into dressing herself for bed, and then for the day.

I say burden because by the time we’re getting ready for bed, I’m exhausted! It takes so much focus (which I seem to lack at the end of the day) to get all the kids in their pajamas with their teeth brushed and their bladders empty and finally settled in bed. To have Elli dress herself is a huge step toward simplifying this process.

The downside to this new discovery is that it is just that, NEW. And every time I turn around, she’s changed her clothes, again. While I’m lamenting the extra laundry, I have to smile at the outfits she puts together.

Helping your little one learn to dress

  1. Be patient with the extra laundry!
  2. Provide clothes with give: elastic waistbands and shirts with loose sleeves and necks.
  3. Let them struggle a little with the clothing, but intervene before full-blown frustration.
  4. Sit back and let them be in charge. Sometimes I have to occupy myself with another task so she has the room to struggle with her clothes without me hovering over her.
  5. An older sibling’s clothes can be just right for learning to put on and take off clothes.
  6. Dress-ups are another great way to practice.
  7. Enjoy the crazy outfits that come your way!
How have you helped your little one learn to dress?

Coloring Rice for Play

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We had such a blast with our Spring sensory tub that I wanted to try a rice-based tub with Spring-colored rice. I used vinegar and food coloring following directions found here.

I love the colors. They are so vibrant and looked great next to each other. I was too impatient to wait for the orange to dry so I gave the tub to Elli with just the green, purple and pink.

She immediately mixed them. She then proceeded to play with just the rice for about 10 minutes. Such fun!

Elli helped me make the rice by pouring the vinegar into the jar, helping me squeeze the food coloring in, and shaking the jar one the lid was on tight. She loved being a part of the process. I was worried she would be more destructive than helpful, but she’s really figuring out the fun of following directions.

What have your little ones been playing with this Spring?

Sensory Tub: Spring

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I’ve seen the cutest Spring themed sensory tubs all over the blogosphere, so today I decided to put together one for Elli. Since this was a last minute deal, I just gathered spring colored items that I already had. Some she’s been playing with and some have been ignored for a while. I added in Sammi’s left-handed chopsticks, a purple spoon and a measuring cup for added fun.

Sifting through the corn, finding the little toys and even picking up the corn that falls out of the tub are all great activities for developing fine motor skills. She had the added challenge of using Sammi’s left-handed chopsticks. She was able to pick up several things for me and had a blast!

As I was coaxing her unsuccessfully into picking up the corn on the floor, I experienced a moment of parenting-inspiration and turned it into a game. Games work every time! I don’t know why it takes so long for me to remember that. This game was about counting. I picked up one or two kernels, showed them to Elli and asked her how many I had in my hand. We counted them together until she could identify one or two by herself. We never did get three mastered! But then I asked her how many she had. She’d pick up as many as she could and then show me. We counted them together (usually four or five) and she put them in the tub and did it again. She was cleaning up and practicing numbers without even knowing it! Love that kind game.

How have you turned chores into games? I’m always looking for inspiration!

Halloween Wreath

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This was a quick and fun craft project we did one afternoon. We just used Halloween supplies we had on hand. Last year after Halloween I bought a bunch of rings and other Halloween plastic goodies. We discovered this year that the ring part pops off easily and leaves the Halloween shape free to become something else (other than a ring!) So we used them to make a Halloween wreath.



Supplies
  • Paper plate
  • Paint
  • Halloween shapes, figurines, anything you have around the house
  • Ribbon, Halloween colored or not
  • Glue gun
Directions
  1. The paper plate is the base of the wreath. Cut a circle out of the center of the paper plate. Then trim around the outside of the plate so the wreath is the size you want to accommodate the decorations you have for it.


  2. Paint the paper plate. We used orange, yellow, purple and black. We also used the Bingo bottles to paint so that the pain wouldn’t be too thick and would dry faster. Let dry.


  3. After the painted plates were dry, we warmed up the glue gun. The girls chose which shapes they wanted on their wreath. We laid them out to see how full the wreath would be and what order they wanted their shapes in.


  4. I added glue to the back of the shapes and helped the girls put them where they wanted them. Then they pressed down and counted to five to let the glue dry before we did the next one.


  5. After all the decorations were on the front and the glue had cooled, we added the ribbon. I just cut the ribbon pieces all the same length. I doubled the ribbon and glue gunned the ends at the top of the wreath. After a minute to cool, they were ready to hang.


Wishing you Happy and Safe Halloween Celebrations this weekend!

Flower Craft and Poem

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The other day I picked up a Highlights High Five magazine to see how Sammi would like it. She loved it! We read it through twice and then we cut out the little book at the end and folded it together. Then we had to run to the store to buy cheap paper plates to do the flower garden craft.

I made a template and cut it out. Then we folded a bunch of plates and traced the template. Sammi had fun cutting out the centers, but decided the petals were not for her.

Then we cut strips of paper. She even identified them as rectangles, totally unprompted! She helped me pick out the papers and then we worked together to cut them with the paper cutter.

She loves tape and had so much fun taping the beginning and end of each strip. She also loved threading the paper through the middle hole as we wrapped each strip around the flower.

One is for Sammi and one is for Daddy. Not only are they flowers, but they also act as crowns and bracelets. Such creativity!

I wanted a flower poem to go along with our craft, but I couldn’t think of one. So I made one up and the girls loved it. We did it ten times and they both got the actions down.

Five Little Flowers
by Amber Passey *

Five little flowers, sitting in the yard,
The first one says, Growing tall is very hard.
The second one says, I just want to see some rain.
The third one says, I want the sun again.
The fourth one says, I am ready to bloom!
The fifth one says, I just need some wiggle room.

So clap went the thunder and down came the drops.
Then the sun comes out and all the rain stops.

Line 1: Show five fingers
Line 2: stretch up tall on tiptoes
Line 3: have fingers rain down
Line 4: circle arms overhead for sun
Line 5: put fists by face and then pop open fingers on “bloom”
Line 6: wiggle like crazy
Line 7: clap hands then rain fingers down
Line 8: circle arms overhead for sun then on “stops” hold both hands in front like you’re stopping traffic

*Poem is original. You’re more than welcome to share it, but please give credit to Because Babies Grow Up. Thanks!

Creative Spring Crafts

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Sammi started going through “craft project withdrawals” while at my dad’s house. I had my suspicions that this was the case, but I knew for sure when she brought me two empty toilet paper rolls and said, “Let’s make something with these!” There was an almost pleading sound in her voice and I knew we need a great project and fast!

I remembered No Time For Flash Cards‘ post on toilet paper flowers and decided we could do that with the resources we had at Grandpa’s. I cut one toilet paper roll in half then snipped about halfway down several times around to make petals. Then I folded them out and gave them to Sammi. She colored and added stickers for a minute. I was thinking about the best way to make them into a garden when Sammi held the two flowers up to her eyes.

I just knew we had to make glasses.

We taped two petals together while I tried to think of a way to make the sides to fit around her ears. I asked my dad if he had any bendy straws. He said no. I said, “So that probably means pipe cleaners are out of the question?” He replied, “Amber, our days of kids crafts are so far past I don’t think we have anything hanging around anymore.” Just then I remembered the big container of Q-tips in the closet upstairs. I ran up and got several. It took two and a half for each side to be long enough to reach Sammi’s ears.

Another impromptu craft we did used paper and some Easter stickers I picked up for $2 at Target. I found yellow scrap paper {again, we were at my dad’s and I had to search to find some paper to use!} and used a pen to draw baskets filled with eggs. Then I set out crayons and gave them each some stickers. This was a fun, easy craft because it was relevant to an upcoming holiday, didn’t take very much prep work or time and kept them entertained while I jumped in the shower. I think if I had sat with them while they did it, the activity would have lasted longer and they probably would have decorated all the eggs and the basket. But for an independent project, I think it turned out great!

Creative Crafting

It doesn’t take a lot of resources. It doesn’t take a lot of time or money. But with a little bit of creativity, you and your little ones can make some pretty creative crafts. If it weren’t for the forced need for creativity, I never would have drawn an Easter basket or used Q-tips to make flower glasses. I loved the challenge, though, and the outcome was fabulous!

I’d love to hear about your resourceful craft projects! Have you been creative in the materials you used in a craft project with your little ones?