Crafty Morning

We had plans today to babysit a friend's son while she taught Music Play (oh, wait, I've written about Heather and Music Play before). In any case, Heather had to cancel class because her daughter is sick, so, our morning opened up. I thought of a few options for us, including a MOMS Club playgroup or perhaps At Play Cafe. But James really didn't want to do anything but stay home. We have had a busy week. Also, James slept late as he didn't nap yesterday.

So, after Nate went down for his nap at 8 a.m. (he was up at 6 a.m.), I decided that James shouldn't play a lot of computer games (this is his new thing, playing Thomas and George and other games on line). So we played two Thomas "emotions" games, which are fun and educational (more educational than the Roary the Race Car racing), and I opened up the 365 Toddler Busy Book I got from Linda (Thanks!). First we colored water with food coloring. Then, we poured it into ice cube trays (with grapes in each, working on tactile function!) and mixed colors to make new ones. Put all those in the freezer. Then, Nate woke up, so I had to juggle the two boys. I decided that we would do "fishing" in the bathtub. I dyed the water blue and James hopped in. He "fished" using a slotted kitchen spoon, which was fun. Nate enjoyed jumping on his jumperoo in the hallway (inevitably, and this is TMI, he always poops when he's in there. I suppose it's the gravity?).

When fishing was over, we moved back to the dining room/craft table. I used a few more ideas from the book. First we put baby oil on foil and tore up tissue paper to make a "moveable" few pictures. Then we put on glue and did a real picture. Then we put paint in a bowl and James drove a plastic fire engine through it and on cardstock like we did at Wee Play.

I also pulled out all the old buttons I'd saved for years for clothes I'll never wear again, and let James glue those on another piece of cardstock. He called it his snowman picture. It was quite creative. :) Finally, he also drove his paint/firetruck on more foil, which has dried very nicely.

We then had some more computer play time, then Nate began nap # 2. James and I made cookies for our trip to Richmond this weekend, and James watched as I prepped for our stir fry tonight. He ate lunch on the counter as I chopped and prepped and we talked about the veggies and shrimp.

So it's now 1:15. I highly doubt James will nap today, but he will soon have quiet time before our afternoon playdate. I feel like we kept nicely busy here at home this morning and enjoyed ourselves. I'm not super crafty, but, it was fun to do some things out of the box. The book is handy and very helpful and has GREAT ideas. I'm excited to try some new things with it and James. Especially when we can finally get outside and play more.

Please share any fun, easy, inexpensive and "easy to find stuff around the house" crafts you may do with your kids.