Contact Paper Masterpiece

Pin It

Last week, I found cheap contact paper at our local hardware store. I was waiting for a rainy day to bust this out, but I get impatient when I'm excited.

So I did this today, instead of catching up on any one of the 10 or so saved blogs I need to polish write in front of this one. Just don't be surprised if in 12 years you see posts featuring a craft I did with 19-month-old V. "just yesterday!" ... it will happen.

Contact paper is cool. I also envisioned this being done on a window, but we have screens in the doors right now and my child likes to dump things. Instead, I taped the contact paper sticky-side-up to our "learning table" and let her at it.

First she just stuck her hand to it. Then she compared the sticky paper to the table, which is not (usually) sticky.

After she had a good time with that, I gave her little applesauce containers with tissue paper squares, colored rice, cut-up pipe cleaners, a cotton ball, and a little glitter. Thankfully she dumped the glitter right out onto the contact paper, where it stayed.

 Once she was done sticking and resticking everything, I folded her masterpiece in half, taped around the edges (because honestly, it had lost most of its stick by then and I didn't want glitter and rice everywhere) and we hung it in the window.

V. also hung a piece of paper under it, to finish off the look.

Floam!

Pin It

Remember the HUGE success that was homemade gak?

Well, after that, I went out and bought up a whole bunch of white glue when it went on sale.

I adored all those Nickelodeon slime, gak, moonsand products as a kid. (And, oh yes, I rocked the moon shoes.)

Floam was no acception and it is, for all intensive purposes, gak with foam balls. I was in need of making something fast to keep the Toddler busy for a while. Perfect.

So here is what you will need:

2tsp (ish) of Borax
1 small container of white glue (6oz? I should buy this stuff in a bigger container.)
water
foam balls... I stole about 1/4c from the beanbag chair and nobody is none the wiser.

First, pour the glue in a jar, bowl, or baggie. If you want to add color, put some food coloring in now. I was really pleased that the finished Floam didn't leak color (even though I did strip my daughter, just incase), so don't be afraid of adding a good deal of it! 

Next, pour in the foam balls. I didn't do this at this point, but we kneaded them in later and it was fine.

Add 1/4c water to the glue. (I'm not sure why this is necessary, or if it even is, really.)

Then, dissolve the Borax in 1/2c. water.

Slowly add the Borax to the glue. The Borax is what stops the glue from being runny and sticky, so the more you add, the stiffer the Floam will become. Keep adding it until you are happy with the consistency, being sure to mix them well. (Glue Pockets will spring up on you! Don't get yourself all gluey.)

Like before, it weirded her out at first. She wanted nothing to do with this.

Then she decided it was awesome, and played with it for 45 minutes!

Just like the gak, the floam is great for practicing toddler knife skills (we have those Gerber sets - she loves using the knife on this!), cutting with cookie cutters, pressing into molds, and bouncing! It may be tough to knead back together at first, but we store ours in a baggie (any air-tight container will do) and it always "self-heals" into a huge blob within minutes, so don't worry about chopping it into a million pieces.

Enjoy!

Sensory bins: Ice, ice, baby.

Pin It

I planned on making the Glory, Glory, Hallelujah dessert durring nap time.

Of course, nap time did not go as planned that day, and I had a toddler who wanted nothing more than to hang off my bones.  I had just removed the beans sensory bin, and needed something for her - fast.

It was 90 degrees out.  I dumped half the ice we had in the freezer into the bin and called it a day.

She LOVED it.  The puppy was also very appreciative when I took the used bin and put it in her bowl - puppy loves ice cubes.  This turned out to be perfect for a hot day and a great solution to a quick bin.  (I'll post what is in our bin now, soon, and you'll see why I didn't want to mix it before making dessert. The "kiddie" corner of the kitchen is a hot mess currently.)

Ice was so popular, I thought about turning it into art.  (I keep meaning to make colored ice cubes for her kiddie pool or the tub... I just never get to it.)

This was fast and fun.  Take any ice cube tray (the puzzle pieces are from Ikea) and put a dollop of paint into each.  

 Mix with water and freeze.

I love that they link together.  At this point I wished I had made both trays, just so I could play with a puzzle set. (I know.  My inner nerd is showing.)

And she painted.  Wouldn't you know, it came out looking just like a water color painting!