Toddlers + playdough

I have been a slacker blogger. To all of my followers, I am sorry. I haven't posted since August, but I do have a good excuse!

At the end of August, I began working part-time at Touchstone Community School , ignoring the blog world to put all of my energy into this elementary school's new Preschool classroom. This has been a vessel for all of my creative energy. And the best part is that my daughter  joins me every morning for preschool, so we still get to participate together in fun activities!

Such as . . . (Note how easy it is to do these simple activities at home too )

Propping a pipe found in the back of a storage room on a stool and 'racing' balls, cars, playdough and water

Practicing our fine motor skills with poker chips and a baby formula can with a hole cut in the top

More fine motor with chop sticks and pom poms

Making shadows with an 'old-fashioned' overhead that none of the teachers use because the other classes have smart boards!

Then in the afternoon, I get to be at home with both Rachel and my son Micah.

Micah has recently discovered the joys of playdough. Some would be reluctant to let their 17 month old play with playdough, but, you know me (plus, it helps that he's not the type of kid that's very interested in putting much in his mouth). What he's been enjoying the most, since he's obsessed with balls, is rolling playdough balls of random sizes that I've made, off the table.

Recently, he discovered the simple joy of sticking pencils in the playdough, taking them out, putting them back in, etc. etc. ! Who needs fancy playdough toys??????

This is an activity that required intense concentration (as can be seen by the tongue at the tip of his lips)

and created happy results!

Scrap Wood and Rock People

Remember when we did this to my deck?

My husband tore it down this summer (a day after we painted it actually), and is now in the process of creating a new one. What do we do without a deck in our backyard? Build with all the scrap wood of course! All the little pieces are great for making towers and houses, and even for pretending they're pieces of bread (Rachel came up with that on her own). We built a house yesterday, and it was immediately apparent that we needed people for our house. So, we dug out the hot glue gun, googly eyes, and a sharpie to make a rock family.

Mommy Rock

Rachel Rock

Micah Rock

Daddy Rock, snoozin' on the bed (he lost his eyes early on). 

Sitting together on the couch, watching the giant. . . 

...TV!

Painting with cars

Nothin' like another 'classic'! Even the baby can do this one. This is definitely an outdoor activity *grin*

Basket sleeping?

I went to wake Rachel up from her nap and found her like this:

I have no idea why, but one can never understand the mind of a 3 year old!

Snake day!

We made a couple of snakes simply by chance when we had some snipped straws as well as some corrugated cardboard from a fan box. 

When I saw the cardboard 2 weeks prior come out of the box I knew we would be able to use it for something, so I put it on the counter and just waited for the perfect opportunity. When Rachel started snipping a green straw I had visions of a green snake, and I knew we could turn the cardboard into another snake!

He even has a little smile!! Hee Hee!

Here's our straw snake:

And a green necklace:

Bowls on our Head

It doesn't get better than a bowl for a hat, right?

When in doubt, grab a bowl and have fun!

Mommy maybe had a little too much fun . . . 

Drawing on Kitchen Tiles!

I bought Rachel Crayola Whiteboard Crayons this May for her birthday (I got them at Michaels). They're this new thing, and I loved the concept because no matter how hard I try, she always forgets to put the caps on her whiteboard markers and they quickly dry out and it's hard to keep them on hand.


We've been enjoying them on her whiteboard,

but one day Micah discovered that they also worked on the kitchen tiles, so we had fun drawing on the floor (Rachel made the above picture, not my one year old. Ha ha)!

They cleaned up easily with a damp cloth with no residue behind! Now Rachel has been asking me if she can draw on the floor :o)