Monday, February 25, 2013

Sticker Activities

So its still February..the month of love:)
We didn't do any special activities for valentines day which was all my fault(had planned a lot of activities but didn't get around doing any of those) which was bad..so i thought i should not leave the love theme all together and gave this little activity to my DD who loves stickers like any other toddler. So i gave her a piece of paper with hearts drawn all over it, gave her some heart shaped stickers and told her to put stickers and cover the hearts on paper.





































A small but fun activity..something that can keep your toddler busy when you just need those 5 minutes to finish something you started...:)

Imagine Nation Museum

Connecticut has so many great museums for kids and Imagine Nation Museum in Bristol,CT is one of them. Last weekend we decided to try it out with our daughter.
It was a nice bright space with loads of things to do. There was a kitchen play space and a market place with shopping carts and groceries. Usually my DD always wants to spend a lot of time in these places but that day was different..she just wasn't interested in it. She ran across to play on the Rubber band Wall..something she hadn't seen before:)

 
 We then went over to the little corner with puzzles and books. There was a little mail box in that room and all she wanted to do was take out mail from behind and put it back in the mail box.
 


 
After this we went into the Construction Room which had big building blocks and nuts and screws and DD spent a good amount of time playing with those.
 



 
 
There were two levels in the museum so after playing with nuts and screws we went upstairs to check out the next level.
 
 

Now this level had a Water Room where you could make giant bubbles or catch fish or paint with water.





Couldn't get pictures for the other stuff:(
Anyways, the next room had some live creatures for the kids to see like a turtle, a snake and they also had a new addition..a cute white bunny named Thumper but he was kept separately.


Outside the room there was a Magnet Go Round with different activities on each side. Kids could exercise their sequencing skills or complete a giant puzzle or build their own invention on the magnetic wall and see if they can get balls to roll all the way through. This thing was a bit advanced for my DD but she loved sticking the magnetic pieces on the wall:)



What she liked was a picture book which was printed on the wall and she could walk with me and read it:)

 
 
There was a craft room where kids could color and play with play dough and make crafts. The day we went they were making snakes out of paper chains for the Chinese new year.
 
There were many more things to explore but our little explorer wasn't up for it that day(we later found out that she had a low grade fever) so we went downstairs and made our last stop inside the museum..The Harmonograph. Now this was something cool.
 



I  actually don't know much about the science behind it (something about pendulum and symmetry) but it made a great souvenir for our visit.

 
 
DD realized that she had missed an important play spot near the harmonograph which was the Colored Sand Station.
 
She played there for a while and then we had a little scoop of ice cream from their special 1940's old fashioned Soda Fountain and we headed back home.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Where Are You Beads?

So what do you do when you have loads of snow in your patio from a previous storm?? Use it for some game time with your toddler:)
I got inspired for this particular activity from Rainydaymum  but then changed it a little bit.
I used a cake baking pan and filled it up with snow from outside, added a few beads that i had from some project i did earlier and gave my DD a spoon and a cup and she was all set to play Find the Beads Game.

She first explored all the things..played with the cold snow for a while using her fingers and a spoon. then she played with the beads a little.



 And then later i hid those beads under the snow for her to find. She kept saying where are you beads while doing it:)



And she didn't want to stop..she kept putting the beads back into the snow so that she could find them again.

We have played this game quite a few times within the last week and she loved it every single time.
Try it with your little one..they might like it too:)

~Aarushi



Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Small Kids and Big Canvas

Snow Days or Winter Break..we all know that its hard to keep the kids occupied for a long time with any one single activity at home. Your certainly have to be creative to keep their attention.I knew i would be needing some of those activities during the huge storm so i went online and found some very interesting ones on Pinterest(i love this thing).
The one i tried here with my DD kept her busy for almost 2 hours!! I couldn't have asked for anything more:)

If your kid loves paint or just loves to get messy..this is what you should do on a long winter day:)



I gave her some washable paint in 2 throwaway bowls, a little paint brush and our very special paint shirt that has her hand prints on it..she loves the shirt. Whenever i ask her if she wants to paint..she will say YES and will run to fetch her paint shirt:)
Anyway..after tiles and bathtub..she wanted to color her nesting cups.


 
After that she wanted me to paint with her so i did a little artwork myself. How can  you resist such a big canvas? This is what we did:)
 
 
 
 
 
 
Later on..she body painted herself in primary colors which led to a long bath time and an even longer nap..Perfect snow day:)








Thursday, February 7, 2013

Men and Airplanes

So it was DH's birthday and I had to think of something that he could do on that special day..something that he would enjoy.. and he is a  How its made? How do they do it? kind of guy.. if you know what i mean. Always tries to know how it was built or why or by whom..tries to know the science or sense behind every little thing. So this year to make his day a little special..we went to the New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks,CT(Boys ..BIG or small..they all love airplanes!!)

The moment we entered both DH and DD were equally excited when they saw the roof covered with all sorts of hanging planes and gliders..It was a good start. You pay the fee you get a little aeroplane stamp on your hand which made my DD so happy..she kept checking it to make sure that it doesn't smudge:)



We were now ready to go inside the hanger..it was cold in there but it didn't matter to my DH because he was busy now..busy reading all the history about the vintage planes..engines..flights..sitting in the cockpits..trying to fly a plane in the flight simulator and much more.




There was a little kids area too where she could sit in these small gliders but papa had to push her around because her legs were too small to reach the paddle. There was even a little coloring station for the kids with cute printables and a basket full of colored pencils.It didn't hold her attention much because there were planes everywhere and there was so much place to run around!











We were there for almost 3 hours..I know it because i was looking at the time while trying to run after my daughter but not the birthday boy..he was enjoying in his own world:)





There was a little gift shop also called Wings and Things but it got closed before we could check it out. It didn't matter because the birthday boy isn't into gift shops anyway but it was a great outing..Big boys or small..they will all enjoy airplanes any day!!


~Aarushi








Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Fine Motor Skills

 In the last few weeks while i was searching the web for some toddler activities i found that a lot of them involved working on fine motor skills..so i tried them with my daughter.To my surprise..she took interest and spent a good amount of time completing the activities. Usually she is the kind who moves from one activity to another pretty quickly..but this time she wanted to do these Games(as we call it) again and again!
Here are a few that we did..
    Putting spaghetti in an empty oregano leaves jar.You could use any jar with slightly large holes.




After the game she was trying to help papa fix the chair(look at the screwdriver in her hands):)





Putting pebbles using a spoon in an empty milk carton.

 



 Putting cheerios down a Spaghetti tower.
 
 




     
 Me and Aarini had lots of fun doing all these activities.Hope you all have the same with your little ones.

P.S I have to say thank you to all those blog moms from whose blogs i took inspiration for these activities..from the next post i will make sure to mention the blog names or attach their links.


~Aarushi