Simple Fun With Pom-poms

We've been playing with our pom-poms a lot lately. A couple of years ago an educational supply store in my city was closing and I took the opportunity to get lots of great stuff for really low prices. One thing I got was a bag that had pounds of pom-poms. That is a lot of pom-poms! We've used them, and used them, and I still have lots left.

The other morning, I grabbed a couple of handfuls of them and an empty egg carton and gave them to my two year old for a little play time.

First he dumped them out and put them back in, with one pom-pom being assigned to each spot - no doubling up.

Then he began sorting them by colour. He did really well at this. After he had them all into piles, I started asking him questions. "How many purple ones?" "Can you find me a small blue and a big blue?" etc. He is really into colours right now, so he loved this part.

And he put them into the egg carton in pairs by their colours.

Then he began playing with their sizes. In this picture he is putting a small one on top of a large one and calling it a 'snowman.' So cute.

Then he lined them up by colour AND size. No, I didn't prompt this. I was so impressed. He had finished off the oranges and was just starting the purples in this picture.

Anyway, it was a super easy little activity that took no prep, and he played with them for fifteen or twenty minutes for sure.

Felt Gumball Machine

I made this felt gumball machine a few weeks ago for my middle son's fifth birthday. We used it as a game and played Pin the Gumball in the Machine, as pictured above. But since then, my two year old and I have had a good time with it as a learning game. (That is my two-year-old in the picture. So cute!)

We have used it for colour recognition: "Let's put all the green gumballs on."

Counting: "How many gumballs are there?"

We've combined both concepts: "How many orange gumballs are there?"

We've done simple math: "Three gumballs in the machine, now we'll put on two more. How many do we have? What if we take off a gumball?"

We've made comparisons: "Are there more red gumballs or more yellow gumballs?"

We've also made patterns with the gumballs as we put them on. "First blue then green, then blue, then green..."

Who knew there were so many ways to learn and play with a felt gumball machine?

*PS: his favourite is when we play with it, and then gets a real gumball when we are done!*

Simple Heart Puzzles

I made a very quick and simple game for us to play on Valentine's Day.

I just made some hearts of different sizes from pink and red paper, then cut each in half. Done.

My two-year-old did really well finding the pairs that went together.

Sometimes it was tricky to get the cut sections to line-up,

But when he got it, he was so proud! (and so was I!)

Big and Little Game

This is an easy one. I bet you can throw it together and have it ready to go in 5 minutes. Less even.

All you need for this game are two boxes (one big, one little) and a selection of items that you have in a big version and a little version.

My items: a big ball, a little ball, a big spoon, a little spoon, a big Cookie Monster, a little Cookie Monster, a big toy car, a little toy car, a big crocodile figurine, and a little crocodile figurine.

Oh, and you'll need a toddler to play with!

Here we are, ready to play.

To play, all you do is take turns sorting the items. The big ones into the big box,

And the little ones into the little box.

He had a great time with this today, and kept dumping out the boxes over and over to play it again. Later, when I went to clean it up, he caught me and insisted on a few more rounds with mommy. Ha. You gotta love when the easy, quick, and free things are their favourites!

Flannel Board Tree

This is so great, and so easy! My two-year-old is pretty good about leaving the ornaments on our family tree, but it is a bit of a temptation for him.

Solution? Give him his own tree!

To make a flannel board Christmas tree, all you need is felt and fabric scissors. NO SEWING!, and almost no time to make, either! Just cut out a basic green tree, and then some simple ornaments from different colours. Easy-peesy!

I set this up for him while he was napping today, and when he woke up, he was so excited. It may as well have been Christmas morning.

He picked off ornaments, and switched them around, and held them up for me to see for half and hour straight. It was so great. And it was an unexpected way for him to review his colours too. He kept choosing an ornament and asking me, "purple?" "green?" and I'd tell him which colour he was holding. It was so fun and so cute.

Muffin Pan Puzzle

Who knew you could have so much fun with a muffin pan and a few tennis balls? My little guy played with this for about 30 minutes this morning.

I don't have 12 tennis balls, but I wouldn't even recommend that you had one for each hole. He had lots of fun moving balls from one space to the next and applauding himself after each.

I think that if I had a ball for each space, he would fill them all up and then think the game was 'done' and leave it.

But it was a simple activity we did with materials on hand, and he had a great time. Alternatively, you could use a mini muffin pan, and those tiny little balls from the dollar store if that is what you have around your place.

Indoor Water Fun

With the cooler weather arriving, it has meant a lot less water play for my kids; A big disappointment to a certain little toddler I know! He spent the entire summer in the back yard getting wet to his heart's content, but now that is over for months and months to come.

The other day I had filled up the sink for something, and my water-lover instantly pulled over a chair and helped himself. My project had to be put on hold, but what does that matter when you have a happy little man playing in your kitchen?

It really is great, because most of the mess stayed in the spot it was supposed to, and he just had a ball for ages. And it is such a quick and easy, (and free!) thing to let him do. Plus, it is available all year long - not just warm summer months.

Just about anything can be used as a toy in our homemade water table. Cooking utensils are great (measuring cups, basters, colanders, funnels...) but all kinds of little kid toys are great too since they are plastic and can't get hurt by the water. On this day I just threw a few shapes from his shape sorter toy in there, but we've also done animal figurines, Little People, toy boats, plastic balls.... really the list is almost endless.

When he was finally done, we just pulled the plug, tossed the toys in the dish rack to dry off, and put on a dry shirt.

Water and Sponges

You don't need to have a wading pool, slip n' slide, or even a sprinkler, for a good and wet afternoon in the summer. We found that we can have lots of fun with just a big bucket and a new package of sponges.

Here are some ways we had a blast.


1. Free-for-all Water Fight. Soak the sponges in the tub, grab them and fling the water from them at your friends, or throw the whole sponge.

2. Sponge Dodge-Ball. Divide the yard in two, and have the teams throw the sponges at each other. If you get hit, you're out. Be sure to have a big bucket on each side to re-soak the sponges during the game.

3. Sponge Tag. For this one, only one player gets a sponge. They have to chase down the other kids, just like regular tag, but when they are close enough to get a good shot, they throw the sponge to catch their opponent.

4. Painting the Fence/House. Use the wet sponges to paint the fence, draw a picture, or sign your name. Give it a few minutes in the hot sun, and it will be dried up and gone, and you'll have a fresh canvas to start all over!

5. Water Table. For the smaller crowd, a big bucket and a handful of sponges provides entertainment in and of itself, no games required. Plus an advantage to the big bucket vs an actual water table is that if your toddler wants to, he can climb right on in!

So there are a few ways we've been staying cool around here! Hope you like them!

Crackers and Crumbs

I set out a fun snack with a few different kinds of crackers for the kids on this day, and tried to snag a picture. The light from the window behind was too bright and this was as good as I got. But you get the idea.
This is the last of the new rhymes I had learned that I wanted to pass on:

Crackers and crumbs,
Crackers and crumbs.
These are my fingers, (wiggle your fingers, or grab onto theirs)
And these are my thumbs. (wiggle your thumbs, or grab theirs)
These are my eyes, (point to yours or theirs)
These are my ears, (point to yours or theirs)
They'll grow big in about 10 years. (hold out both hands to show the number ten)

Pickles and Cheese

Before we did the rhyme, I served my little guy the foods in the song. Cheese was no big deal; he'd had that a lot. But I'd never given him a pickle. I was sure I'd get a great picture of him making a sour yucky face and had the camera ready to catch it, but to my surprise, he loved it and gobbled it right down.Here is the little rhyme I promised to share:

Pickles and Cheese,
Pickles and Cheese.
These are my elbows, (tickle their elbows)
And these are my knees. (tickle their knees)
These are my eyes, (point to your eyes, or theirs)
These are my ears, (point to your ears or theirs)
They'll grow big in about 10 years. (hold out both hands with fingers stretched out)

Bacon And Eggs

I recently learned a few new rhymes to do with my littlest fella. He really likes action songs and rhymes right now, so I was glad to learn some new ones and expand our repertoire. I'll pass the others along soon, but for today, I give you Bacon And Eggs. Bacon and eggs. acon and eggs. These are my arms, (gesture to arms, or rub your toddler's arms) And these are my legs. (same deal, but with legs) These are my eyes, (point to yours or his) These are my ears, (point to yours or his) They'll grow big in about ten years (hold up all ten fingers) He loves it and will rub his arms and tug his ears to ask me to do it with him. I thought it would be fun to cook the foods that are in each of my new little songs, (they all have food in them) for him to taste, and then do the rhymes together. I already knew he liked eggs, but it turns out he is a big fan of bacon too.

Indoor Snow Play

It is always lots of fun to take the kids out in the yard and play in the snow, but it is hard for my littlest man to participate. He can still be a little wobbly walking, especially in big clunky boots on uneven terrain, and so he spends most of the time sitting in the cold, frustrated that he can't get around.

Which really just means that I don't take him out to play in the snow because it is so miserable for him.

Enter this brilliant idea:


Snow Play in the kitchen sink!


I'd brought snow inside in buckets before and let the kids play with it on the kitchen floor, although admittedly, I haven't even done that once all winter. It was kind of a pain, since you had to spread out towels all over the floor, which made more laundry....


But then I saw this idea over on a friend's blog!


It is so much easier, since sinks are designed to take the mess down the drain for you. No more towels all over the floor.

I put a few of his stacking cups in the sink for him to fill and play around with, and a serving spoon made a fine shovel.

It was great! As soon as I set him up on a chair, he was quick to dive right on in.

I kid you not, he stood there for half and hour straight, digging, scooping, and dumping.

And it turns out that even my bigger kids thought it was a great idea. As soon as I packed my little guy off for his nap, they jumped right in!