Activity Challenge Days 2-6

Day 2 we did the "Un-Toy Basket." I got this idea from allfortheboys.com; essentially I filled a box with several household items (muffin tin, whisk, wooden spoon, marshmallows, scarves, a tin of buttons, bells, etc.) and let them explore. This kept them occupied for a solid half-hour - we will definitely be pulling this one back out! They had such fun, especially with the marshmallows, poking them and squeezing them and even tasting them. I didn't think about how sticky they would get though, so half-way through the marshmallows all "disappeared" and hands were washed. Jack was having a blast moving the marshmallows from the bin to the muffin pan to the floor. He likes dropping things and putting things different places. Ben was all about the wire whisk - I think it's because he's teething, but he really seemed to like chewing it and hitting with it. They also loved the button tin for shaking! This was all sensory; sight, taste, texture, sound - what a great activity!

Day 3 we finger painted with colored yogurt! This one is from playathomemom3.blogspot.com One word: M-E-S-S-Y. Probably good for 15 minutes of play, with almost double the clean-up time, not counting baths! They had a lot of fun, though, and it was neat watching them feel it and look at their hands. Jack dove right in, and spattered it around by hitting his hand on the tray. Ben may be more like his mama (the little girl who sat on the edge of the sandbox and wore gloves to make mudpies) because he was just not sure about getting into the yogurt. He eventually did, though, and enjoyed clapping his hands together once he was good and messy! I "refilled" Jack about half-way through. I love his expression in one of the last pictures (bottom, below) - it was sort of like, "That's it? Any more? Unimpressed."

Day 4 was the hair gel in a bag - a sort of mess-free finger painting and sensory activity - idea from mamasmiles.com. We started out with the bag taped to the back door but gravity wasn't helping us out, so we moved to the floor, which worked much better. I love watching them figure out something new - their concentration is so intense as they figure it all out. This was a fun activity, but I will say I left it out and they weren't really very interested in going back to it. It was almost like, "been there, done that." :)

Day 5 we just did old fashioned drumming on pots, but with breadsticks! Jack was definitely more into using the breadsticks to drum than Ben was - Ben was sort of all over the place, standing over his pot, throwing his breadsticks and retrieving them, moving in on Jack's territory and trying to use his pot. He would use his hands more than the breadsticks. Jack knows a good thing when he sees it, though, and after a while he started munching on one of his breadsticks. Silly boys!

Day 6 we tore construction paper. This was our Little Gym homework for this week :) I knew the boys would love this one, given their penchant for tearing up perfectly good magazines, but they really had a blast. It actually took them a while to start tearing; they just shook the paper around at first and slid it around with their hands on the floor. Ben, especially was a little wild man, moving all around the room shaking his paper. Jack liked to clap with a piece of paper in his hands. Good experimenting - Ben shook his paper and slid it around on one of his toys, and Jack dropped his paper in the laundry basket. I also love to watch them examine the small pieces with their pointer finger. They are so slow and careful, since they're trying to put their finger on such a small area. Good activity - great first week!