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I’ve discussed my love of cardboard before – here are a few links to fantastic cardboard projects.
LiEr at Ikat Bag really knows how to get the most out of a cardboard box! This post documents how she has transformed boxes into mailboxes, a dog kennel, a guitar, a boat, an oven, a puppet stage, a castle, a donut shop/candy emporium/general store…
Filth Wizardry is another great resource for cardboard box activities. Check out the cardboard barbie house, cardboard easels, cardboard pizza, and giant cardboard rocket ship!
Maya Made shares a tutorial on how to make a portable art studio out of cardboard. This project is taken from a vintage McCall’s Make-It Book that Maya’s grandmother used in her nursery school!
Since I started this blog, we’ve used cardboard boxes to build a washer/dryer and a no-frills cardboard box car. Shoeboxes are great for organizing drawers, and for making simple doll beds.
Do you know of any other great cardboard projects? If so, I’d love to hear about them!
We had our ultrasound this morning, and it looks like we’re having a girl! I’m very excited to have another little girl to dress up in pink, purple, and frilly things. I think Emma will enjoy having a baby sister. I’m also glad that Johnny gets to stay my baby boy, I wasn’t quite ready for him to grow up that much so soon…
Got any favorite names for a girl? We’re still stuck…
With baby #3 on the way and a very interested three-year-old in the house, we’ve been reading a lot of “baby on the way” picture books. Here are some of our favorites:
It seems like there are many, many more books about biological than adopted babies. I love the impatience and love of big brother Arun in Bringing Asha Home, written by Uma Krishnaswami and illustrated by Jamel Akib, as he waits for his adopted sister to arrive from India. This book does a wonderful job of portraying the bond and love that exists between adopted siblings and their parents just as it does between biological ones – even before the child arrives.
Baby on the Way, written by Martha Sears, William Sears, and Christie Watts Kelly and illustrated by Renee Andriani, feels like a “What to Expect when Mama’s Expecting” book for toddlers. I don’t read the book word-for-word, and my daughter isn’t old/curious enough to care about the “answers for the very curious” sections, but I do think this book has helped Emma gain a better understanding of what pregnancy is, and this is a book that she definitely enjoys reading and discussing.
Newborn, written by Kathy Henderson and illustrated by Caroline Binch, is a book that I love for its illustrations. The words come across as a bit clunky and somewhat abstract for children, but the pictures are exquisite – expressive, warm, and loving.
Are there any other “baby on the way” type books that you recommend?
An old photo that I love
I got some small stickers and sticker books as favors for Emma’s birthday party. The sticker books are just small sheets of waxy paper stapled together with a cute cover. I never would have considered them toys in their own right, but Emma has had a blast with Johnny’s sticker book. She spends hours “reading” it, pointing out illustrations and telling story after story. It just goes to show that you can never get too simple with toys.
Here is Emma, showing off her magical book:
And reading the book to her (newly finished this morning) amigurumi monkey. This monkey is much smaller than the other one, and so took less time to make. I also think it’s cuter – but I find that I always consider smaller cuter.
Here are both kids playing with their monkeys. I’m so glad I discovered this book of amigurumi patterns – these toys are cute, cuddly, and easy to make.
Emma had her birthday party Saturday. I can’t believe how quickly she is growing up!
We invited three friends of Emma’s choosing. She invited the three girls she talks about daily, and although none of them knew each other before the party and they have three very different personalities, I think it worked out well.
Mike was out of town all week (he got back just in time for the party), so preparing for the birthday party was a nice distraction for my little Daddy’s Girl. We hung streamers from our chandeliers and got some princess plates and napkins, but didn’t decorate otherwise. I was going to put up some balloons, but my kids popped the ones I had within minutes of my experimenting with that, so we decided to save those for another time. We made a chocolate cake and decorated it with buttercream frosting. I bought a basic Wilton cake decorating kit from a local craft store using a 50% off coupon. I think it cost $5 (after the coupon), and I’ll be able to use it for future cakes (This way I can practice my cake decorating skills before the kids realize how rudimentary they are!) I was pretty pleased with the results, especially considering that I hadn’t tried to decorate a cake since I was 17 years old or so AND I had Emma and Johnny helping… The main layer of frosting cracked when I pulled it out of the fridge for this picture, though, because the board I had the cake on wasn’t stiff enough.
The colors Emma chose remind me of a 70s wedding cake…
Behold the Birthday Princess:
This is an activity from Emma’s low-key birthday party yesterday. It was very simple to set up, and everyone seemed to enjoy it.
We covered our children’s table with butcher paper, set out some crayons, and let the kids draw whatever they wanted. Emma, Johnny, and Emma’s friends seemed to enjoy themselves, and this is an activity I plan to do again – for play dates as well as just for my own two kids.
Emma and Johnny got started before anyone else arrived. They really enjoyed having such a big piece of paper to color together.
Here is the finished product. I think it’s fun to see the personalities of the different kids reflected in the different sections of paper.
 I’ll put up a post about the actual party tomorrow…
Recent favorites from the blogosphere before I run off to prepare for Emma’s birthday party today…
If you love Eric Carle’s "The Very Hungry Caterpillar as much as we do, be sure to check out this cute Construction Paper Caterpillar from Her Cup Overfloweth.
Feeling crafty? Dress up your baby wipes container with this no-sew wipes clutch tutorial from homemade by jill.
For goofy fun, check out these Funny Feet from Lucky Me!
I love this simple Shape Find learning game from Katey at Having Fun at Home.
Make some noise with recycled music instruments from the Frugal Family Fun Blog.
Want to add a starch to your child’s stash of play food? Check out this tutorial for Pantyhose Potatoes from ikat bag.
Sandy from Just For Fun very kindly gave me this award earlier this month, and I’ve finally got my act together enough to pass it on. Drop by Sandy’s blog if you haven’t already – she’s a mother of five who posts tons of fun and exciting ideas of things to do with your kids. Thanks, Sandy!
Here are the rules for the award:
Thank the person who gave the award to you, post the award on you blog or on a post, nominate 10 blogs which show great attitude/gratitude, link to the people you chose on your post,and comment on their blogs to tell them about the award!
I’m passing this award onto these blogs:
It’s warmer here than it was earlier in the month (34F this morning and set to go up into the low 40s, hooray!), but still not the kind of weather where we can spend a lot of time outside. This post got me thinking about some of the ways we stay active indoors.
- Dancing: I love this one because it’s simple and easy. Put on some fun music and improvise. I’m a terrible dancer, but my kids are too young to know it.
- Hide and seek: Neither one of my kids gets the concept of hiding and then waiting to be found, so if I count to ten they run and hide (nearly always in the same place) and then come running out when I say “Ready or not, here I come!” I actually love this version of the game, since I can play it with Emma while making dinner, emptying the dishwasher, etc. Johnny just runs and hides wherever Emma is.
- Rolling and throwing balls: Kids get a workout with this one, especially when their coordination isn’t good enough to catch the balls. This is probably Johnny’s favorite game (he loves balls). You can have them roll/throw the balls to you or have them throw the balls into box or roll/kick them into a large bag (or a box on its side). Oballs make fantastic indoor balls because you can’t throw or kick them far enough/fast enough to do any real damage. We also have a cool soft rubber spiky ball I picked up in the “Beyond” section of a Bed Bath and Beyond store once that has similar benefits. Unfortunately, I don’t know what it’s called.
- Activity songs: Both kids love these. When I don’t know or don’t like the words/actions I just change them/make them up.
- Balance challenge: Put masking tape on the floor and challenge your child to walk along it. Johnny’s too young for this one, but Emma loves it.
- Different modes of transportation: Practice walking on tiptoes, jumping, skipping, standing on one foot.
- Red light, green light: The goal is to get from one end of the room to the other. They can move forward when the person in charge (who typically stands at the end of the room everyone else is trying to reach) says “green light” and stop when they say “red light”. This works best if you have a large room (we don’t), but we use our long-ish hallway.
- Simon Says: My kids don’t get they they aren’t supposed to do it if it isn’t prefaced by “Simon Says”, but they will eventually and it’s still good practice in listening to and following directions.
How do you keep your toddlers active indoors?
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