The Wife Mumma Life Activity & Photo Challenge - May 2014

may

Bring creative play to each day

1. Crayons - the good old black crayon scratch drawings from Primary School days. Last time I did this was just a few years ago with a prep class, and they loved it, so I knew my boy would enjoy discovering the rainbow colors as he scratched the black away...and he did! 

2. Alphabet fun - we searched high and low for items to represent each letter of the alphabet, as we recited it over and over. Although he knows the letters, he can't read, so I sounded out each letter and gave him options to choose from.

3. The weather today - Dressing to suit the weather was our take on today's prompt. It's sunny but cool and breezy today. Not quite jumper weather, but long sleeves for sure. So, we traced around my son's body and we then glued fabric to our new little friend to dress him to suit the weather today. It was a big project but he mostly stayed interested.

4. Tape resist painting - we've done this activity a few times before but with much more simple tape designs, so I decided to put a little more effort into this one. He was excited when he saw it was a robot...and even more excited as we removed the tape to reveal the end product.

5. Bubbles - We played with bubbles as he had an early dinner picnic on the driveway after Kindy. (Mumma made soup, but accidentally added too much hot pepper for him too eat it.....so, he got hot chips!)

6. Fabric fun - I purchased some fabric pens and we've been itching to use them. On the way to Kindy I reminded him to have a think today about what he wanted to draw on his t-shirt. On the way home from Kindy he told me he wanted draw a picture of me, daddy and himself at the beach....but once he started it turned into a snowman....Olaf, of course!! ....and some rainbow snow.

7. Shaving cream - Last night while I was trying to sleep I was thinking about today's activity and 'cupcakes' popped into my head. I knew my boy would love my idea! He sees his Mumma making real cupcakes all the time. I colored half the shaving cream green (for frosting) and left the other half white (for batter) and popped them into piping bags. I then got a cupcake tray out and put a variety of sprinkles in it for him to use to decorate...and on a tray I set out a collection of cupcake cups. He then filled the cups with the 'batter' and then 'frosted' the cupcakes. Next came the most exciting part to him, eating the sprinkles....I mean decorating with the sprinkles!!! He was however, a little disappointed he couldn't eat the resulting shaving cream cupcakes! At bath time he's going to smash them in the tub, just for fun!!! 

8. Cardboard rolls - I asked him what he wanted to make and he decided on a dinosaur. Green, of course!! I used the hot glue gun and he told me what to glue where. We painted it all white and then green, then added the eyes. He did an amazing job with the painting, was very careful and patient. He loves his new dino, and took it with him to Kindy for Show and Share. 

9. {Color Hunt} Orange - Collecting all things orange, always a fun activity in this house!

10. Sunshine - we sang the song "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey..." He painted a sun on his bread with a milk and food coloring mix, before we toasted it and he ate it. He played in the sunshine at a friend's birthday party, and made a paper plate sun as we talked about all the things we need sunshine for.

11. Paper flowers - we sat on the floor and created the paper flowers as we sing along to the songs from Frozen.

12. Shapes - he had a fun time painting these wooden animal shapes. I love these! 

13. Ice play - although the ice melted way too fast on this occasion, we tried to balance the penguin on the it. We tried big bits of ice and little bits of ice, but they were all too unstable. He had fun trying though. But then, apparently, the polar bear ate the poor penguin. Sorry penguin.

14. Bottle caps - yesterday's activity finally completed today. A rattle stick!...well, that's what we're calling it! I did the tricky bits, but he flattened the bottle caps. Boy + hammer.....what could go wrong???!!! Fortunately, nothing! He actually did very well.

15. Sock Puppet. he wanted to make a puppy so along the way i asked if he wanted short ears or long ears and what color etc, until we got the finished product, this cute little fella. 

16. Glue - watercolors + glue + salt. The photo was taken before the glue dried clear. He enjoyed the painting as always but adding the glue and salt added something different to experiment with. To be honest this didn't work quite as i imagined, however it was still fun to do.

17. {feature creature} zebra - I did the basic outline of the zebra and my clever little boy added the stripes. Turned out pretty cute if you asked me?! We also watched a movie about a zebra.  

18. Playdough - he made some playdough cupcakes, "See the red cherry Mummy?" he always loves a playdough activity.

19. Bubble wrap - we created the patterned paper by rolling paint onto the bubble wrap and pressing it onto the paper, then we realised the pattern resembled fish scales so we made a fish with the paper! We filled the fish with stuffing to puff it out and stapled around the edges, then added the tail and fins with more of the paper.

20. Sticks and Stones - some free play with sticks and stones. It was great to leave him be and let his imagination run free. He built towers and knocked them down, set up a campfire with felt fire and felt sticks and stones and listened to the sounds different rocks made as they clashed together. 

21. Footprints - although technically pawprints, we went searching in the bushland for wild animal tracks. We found kangaroo tracks, a variety of dog prints and bird prints, however none were very clear so we ended up casting a fresh print that our dog Shiloh left. 

22. Paint with water - he was not well today and not much into this activity, I sat with him and encouraged him, but it didn't really help, so I painted a little as he circled me on his scooter and watched. 

23. Feathers - it was a big ask with him still not 100% well, but I thought it would be fun to make a headdress. I made the band and he picked out the little bear for the front, glued the side decorations down and then sorted through the feathers and stuck them on. It took a lot of encouragement and patience, but we got it done! He looks so adorable in it!

24. Paper cups - we made a fire breathing dragon!!! paper cup with the bottom of it cut our and thin strips of crepe paper attached. a couple of eyes, some nostrils and a handle to hold it by as he blows the fire through it.    

25. Body tracing - we didn't spend as much time on this activity as I had planned, but he still enjoyed himself. he decided on a pose for me to trace around and then traced around his Daddy who joined us for this activity. 

26. {Sensory Play} Textures - I filled a cupcake pan with different textured edibles, flour, rice, popcorn, bran, sugar, corn, rock salt, cornflakes, couscous, coconut, lsa, semolina and got my little boy to feel each one and describe the feeling to me...and tasting and/or eating everything!! 

27. Chalk - we decided to do some indoor chalk drawing on colored paper today. I encouraged him to draw a picture but he decided that random lines where his thing today. What can you do?!

28. Nature Collage - we went for a walk in the bushland behind our house to collect sticks, bark, dirt and leaves for our picture. He decided where everything went in the collage and I helped out with the glue. He then added the plaster cast dog and cat paw prints. 

29. Clothes peg craft - we made beautiful butterflies with clothes peg bodies. This was so simple and the end result is just gorgeous!! The wings are a single sheet each of paper towel/kitchen roll and the antennae are small pipe cleaners. I pre-dampened the paper towel and using wet watercolor paint or you could use food coloring, he dotted and swiped the paint all over the paper. We then used a hairdryer to speed up the drying process, (we were too impatient to wait for it to dry naturally) we folded the paper like you would a paper fan and pegged the body on also pegging the curled antennae. A simple spreading of the wings and your done! He's been flying them around the house since....and landing them on my nose as I've been trying to type this!! Hehe

30. Pet rock - it's amazing how a bit of glue, googly eyes, a shell hat and a chalk smile can transform a rock into a new pet! I love that he chose to chalk the smile, we can use this pet rock to talk about emotions and change the expression to suit! 

31. Moon sand - I discovered this morning that the little bag of sand I had stashed away was gone...probably emptied into the sandpit months ago...and since spread throughout the backyard by the child who for some reason cannot keep sand in a sandpit! (it's not just mine that does that, right?? Hehe.)
So, I had to come up with a new plan, fast!!! Semolina? Sure, why not? I used the recipe below (at half amounts) with some small changes....

MOON SAND (1/2 mix)
2 cups of Sand (in my case Semolina)
1 cup corn flour/corn starch
1/2 water
2 tbsp colored powder paint (I didn't add any color, didn't need to)
And a whole lot of glitter!!

I had to add an extra 1/4 cup of water as the Semolina soaked up some water, where sand wouldn't do that.
It worked!!!!!! And would be a great mix for babies as it's entirely safe WITHOUT THE GLITTER OR PAINT!!!
My son loved it, played in it for quite a while, making Olafs, and melting (smashing) them over and over. 

          

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The Wife Mumma Life Activity & Photo Challenge - March 2014

march

 Bring creative play to each day.

1. paint My little man is a big fan of the Transformers! He had just watched the movie earlier in the day and was pleading with me to watch it again, so I directed his attention to the table I had set with paint and paper and thankfully he went with it! Of course he chose to paint his two favorites, Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. 

2. wool/string This is not what we originally planned to do, but he loved it!! It was pretty difficult to keep the tension as the string was wrapped around each nail, so I did that, and he chose which nail was to be wrapped next. He then did the weaving of the odd bits of wool and ribbon (not pictured here) through the wool.  

3. water play I spent the morning creating this board out of bits and pieces around the place plus a couple of things like the hose and clamps that we got from the hardware store. Although it turned out pretty well, I would like to try again with a little more planning. Mind you, the little man just loved coming home from Kindy to find this activity. I think we'll get many hours of play out of this!

4. in the kitchen After a pretty big day at Kindy I decided to keep it simple for my boy, so pancakes it was! He loves them, so I knew he'd be fine with it. 

5. chalk We always enjoy chalk play!!...and discovered that if we wet the concrete first the chalk becomes much bolder in color and gets a paint-like quality to it. I always draw with him, I just can't help myself! I drew a little patch of mushrooms which inspired him to create some mushrooms of his own, some very, very, very long, brightly colored mushrooms!

6. explore Originally I thought we'd just venture in to the bushland behind our house, but I changed my mind and we went exploring atop the hill that overlooks our little town, however as we drove back home we passed these murals, that we pass all of the time and often glance as we do, but I had an urge to stop and explore them. So we did...and he loved posing in front of them and pointing out his favorite animals. As I read the stories posted in front of each mural he would discover the details. It was a lovely little adventure.

7. cardboard rolls Inspired a little by the rainbow serpent we discovered in yesterdays murals, we painted each cardboard tube and once dry tied them together with wool. He was very proud of the finished product and played with it for quite a while outside, pulling it along behind him and chasing me with it (of course, like a good mummy, I was terribly afraid which had him in fits of laughter!) He was very excited to show Daddy once he got home from work. 
8. playdough Who doesn't love to play with play dough?.....well, on this particular day my little boy didn't!! So he just poked and prodded his glitter filled black playdough. Better luck next time!
9. animals We had an animal parade. We carried our bucket of animals across to the driveway of the empty house next door (because it's really long) He lined all the animals up, there was singing, dancing, jumping, laughter and a little rain.
10. build a cubby  ...or just fall asleep straight after a big day at Kindy! At least he's using the blankets we were going to build the cubby with!
11. messy play Years ago I had a crazy idea to have chocolate syrup fight, but at that point I had no children and so I tucked it away in my mind for another day. That day was finally here! I excitedly collected my little boy from Kindy and as soon as we got home it was on! Daddy joined in on the fun, and it really was fun!!! Squeals of laughter and sticky syrup all over us.  
12. sticker fun We made a sticker rainbow. I hand drew the arches of the rainbow and we searched through our sticker collection to fill in the rainbow colors.
13. felt I prepared for this activity by cutting out a variety of felt shapes in all sorts of colors. We had no game plan other than to just play and let imagination run wild, and it did. He created this gorgeous little horse!
14. shadow play This activity has always captured my son's attention and imagination. He decided on using the animals and so he played for a while with them and then I suggested a 'Guess the animal' game, which was a fun extension of what he was already doing. I light up a hidden animal and he'd shout out it's name when he recognized the shillouette.
15. oobleck Always so much fun!!! A mixture of cornflour, water and food coloring, oobleck is mentioned in a Dr Seuss book, Bartholomew and the Oobleck. Liquid when left to flow and solid when force is put upon it.
16. sensory play - rice My little man really enjoyed this sensory play! He spent the best part of an hour filling different containers and pouring rice from varying heights. He loved the feeling of the rice as he pushed his fingers through it.
17. paper plates We searched through some images online until he found an activity he wanted to do. I drew an outline for the legs, arms and tongue as he painted the frogs body green. He used his safety scissors to cut the pieces out and glued them and the eyes in place. Turned out pretty cute!
18. buttons We played a few different games with buttons and drew a tree and decorated the branches with the buttons, but my favorite thing was when he decided to create his own game and threw the buttons onto circles to score points.
19. ice play I crushed the ice wih our snow cone maker and he used an eyedropper to decorate with watered down food coloring, he enjoyed getting his little hands into the ice and sloshing it around...and we made a snowman...that melted in seconds.
20. faces Ever since he saw chin people on a tv ad he's been asking to try to make some of his own...so we did! It was difficult and a little bit frustrating for us both but it was also heaps of fun!! The photos make us laugh every time we look at them.
21. color hunt - yellow My son enjoyed hunting throughout the house for yellow items. It's quite amazing how much you can find when you start looking.
22. contact collage We ripped pictured out of magazines and used scrappy bits and pieces. Although he enjoyed himslef, it didn't hold his attention for as long as this Mumma had hoped! I tried to steer him in the direction of creating a scene, (e.g. a park) but he was only interested in random placement of the items. 
23. make a mask It started as a superhero type mask and then he decided to add feathers and pom poms! Things got especially crazy when it slipped down his face while we were taking photos of it.
24. treasure We followed a treasure map and traveled all over town (not that impressive when you know how tiny our town is!!) he loved searching for the clues and working them out. The treasure of choice?.....Ice cream!
25. around the world Today we spent 11 hours in the car....yes, 11 HOURS!!!! It was a huge day for all of us. I set up some coloring pages for the little man. A paper doll boy and girl with several national costumes to cut out and dress them in.
26. rocks We made rock sentences. The little man really enjoyed searching through the picture rocks to make different word combinations. I can't wait to expand on this activity the next time we play.
27. finger painting He decorated a wooden place-mat cutout that I will cover with a protective seal. If you're wondering, it's a rainbow cake with lots of candles.
28. blocks I surprised my son with his first Lego blocks. He had free play to create whatever he wanted. It was wonderful to join him as his little imagination ran wild.
29. glitter You might have guessed by now that my little boy is a big fan of rainbows. (Which is pretty cool considering he's our rainbow baby) He used his glitter pens to create a lovely glitter rainbow.
30. clay creations I have always loved using clay, so I was excited to see if my son would enjoy the activity, fortunately he did and he created a cat, a mug and a heart.  
31. my family He decorated cardboard rolls to look like family members. We intended to add woolen hair and fabric clothing, but that didn't end up happening.

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WML Activity & Photo Challenge List - It's here!!!!

*This was meant to posted yesterday, but for some reason the computer wasn't willing to play along. Thankfully today I have it sorted! Here is my post intended for yesterday*

I did something brave today.
I posted my very first Wife Mumma Life Activity & Photo Challenge List!!!!
I'm really quite the newbie at this blogging thing so I may have just thrown myself into the deep end, without floaties!!! I guess we'll see if I sink or swim?

If you want to play along, it's quite simple. All you have to do is find the prompt for the day
(1^st of March = 1. paint) take a photo of the activity and then post it on Instagram with the hashtag #wmlplayeachday
Feel free to check out the other photos posted by myself and anyone else who decides to play along. It'll be fun!
I've joined other photo challenges before and I really enjoyed being a part of the experience and the push-along to be creative with my son was also very helpful. I hope that this activity and photo challenge does the same for you. I hope that you create valuable memories with your kids, laugh and get messy....well, as messy as you choose, when it calls for it.
Most of the prompts leave the actual activity to you....I say 'paint', and you can do what you want involving paint. I'll even try to help out by posting more ideas for you, when I can, but for now here is the list!