Life with Emily

11/14/2024

Fun and easy holiday craft: wrapping paper!!

For around $15, you can get a huge roll of butcher paper from Amazon. Get out crayons, markers, paint, whatever and go nuts with drawings, designs, patterns, words, stamps, handprints, doodles, anything!

It’s been a great way to keep Emily occupied with minimal supervision while I get the trees *just right* and she can’t wait to use it to wrap her presents! It’s also been good for giving her an opportunity to practice drawing and writing in a very “low stakes” environment.

09/16/2021

Making goofy puppets with this very goofy girl today!! I made the Oscar the Grouch inspired one and did the hot gluing.

We used paint sticks from Lowe’s (the ones they give you for free) and a wooden spoon from the $1 store. I sanded the spoon first and then we painted them with acrylic craft paint and let them dry for a long time. We have a very large collection of random craft supplies we dove into for the rest.

I originally saw this idea as a set of characters from The Gruffalo and that was really cute, but we like making our own crazy monsters instead.

04/05/2021

Happy everything from us to you!

01/29/2021

Emily and I got out our Picasso Tiles (magnet tiles) and studied physics and geometry tonight. 🤓 We built a maze on our auto drip tray ($10 at any auto supply store; or, use a cookie sheet - we like the drip tray because it’s big). Then, we put a foam block under it and found a ball. We tilted the tray to make the ball move through our maze, like a labyrinth game. It was so cool to watch Emily figure out how to make it work - I could just see the gears turning in her head! After that, we built a parking garage and put all the cars to bed and built a tower to protect them. 😊

09/30/2020

This is a great idea for winter!

DOES PAINTING INSIDE SCARE YOU?

I hear you. Giving your toddler a paintbrush inside can feel like a frightening game of herding cats- when the cats are covered in paint and headed straight for your sofa 🥴😲. Check out this trick to keep the art contained, fun and safe! BONUS, fill up the tub with sudsy water when you're done for a mid-day bath and clean up!

CHECK OUT HOW I SET THIS ONE UP HERE -> https://busytoddler.com/2019/02/bath-tub-art/

09/17/2020

We rediscovered our Picasso Tiles (magnet tiles) today! I always forget how cool these things are. Lots of great problem solving practice while learning about geometry, colors, light, magnetism...and they are just a lot of fun.

08/30/2020

Since our painting activity yesterday was so much fun, we tried again today with some finger paint soap we had around the house. I’ve found these for $1 at Target and also at Dollar Tree. They worked ok, but the colors are not very bold/saturated. It was also harder to clean up than the tempera paint - I had to scrub Emily in the tub and still missed a few spots. The washable tempera paint rinses right off. We will probably keep these paints for bathtub play and stick to tempera paint outside.

08/29/2020

It’s a lovely summer day in Minnesota so I set up a project I’ve been thinking about for a while: a colorful car wash! I gave Emily washable tempera paint from Michaels and a variety of brushes and rollers and let her go to town. A lot of paint ended up on her (which I totally expected and do not discourage) and the deck, in addition to the car, but it all washed off with regular soap and water (and a rinse from the hose).

08/03/2020

Novel Effect is a very cool, totally FREE app that listens and adds sound effects as you read children’s books! It includes tons of books: Llama Llama Red Pajamas, Green Eggs and Ham, Where the Wild Things Are, Dragons Love Tacos, the Gruffalo, etc etc etc!! It’s also available in the Google Play store.