Creative Family Fun

Your one-stop shop for kids activities and family fun

Terri Thompson

Butterfly Color Match

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After we packed away all the contents of our space basket, I started working on filling it with butterfly-related games and books.One activity I decided to make myself was a butterfly color match game.

My first stop was our local home improvement store for paint swatches. I picked some of the brightest colors I could find and made sure I had two each of the ten colors.

You could have as many or as few different colors as you want, as long as you have two of each color.

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I kept one swatch of each color whole and used the other to cut a butterfly shape.Then, I showed the girls the cards and how they match. But, other than that, I have no actual rules to this game.I tend to let them use the cards as they want.

There are times when they make up a game that I never would have even thought of. Usually, though, they do play a match game with this set.

I had my 2-year-old in mind when I made this game. I knew this would be something she would be able to do and it would allow her to participate and play with the butterfly basket.It’s so easy to find activities at my 4-year-old’s level and much, much harder to find easier, toddler-friendly activities.

I added several other activities, games and books in the basket, all with the butterfly theme. Don’t worry! I’ll share them all here soon!

Pond in a Box

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To go along with our pond theme this week, I decided to make a pretend play opportunity for the girls, a pond in a box.It can fold up and fit nicely in a shoe box, hence the “in the box” part, so it’s not out cluttering our floors all the time.

I was able to make the entire pond with items I found around the house. Nothing too difficult!

It’s been fun to experience a bit of pond life here in our own home.

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To make the actual pond, I cut up an old blue pillowcase that was in the recycling pile.I used pinking shears to cut so I wouldn’t have to sew anything or worry about it unraveling.

The frogs were living in our water table, so I just borrowed them for awhile. I cut the lily pads and flowers out of pieces of foam we had in our craft supplies.

The log was created from a toilet paper roll. I cut a strip off the bottom, folded and glued it on top, to make a little branch. Easy-peasy.

The turtle was made from an egg carton and scraps of foam from the lily pads. I cut individual pieces from the egg carton, then cut the head, legs & tail from the foam scraps. I had to use hot glue to get the foam to stick to the egg carton.

I then added several rocks and voila, a pond! It didn’t even take too much time to pull this together.You could also add sticks, pine cones or any other fun nature finds to make it seem even more like a pond.

I did make all the pieces myself, due to the ages of my girls, but an older child would be able to easily make all the pieces of the pond.

It’s been fun to see what stories develop. We discovered that frog love the inside of toilet paper logs and also that frogs do not like to let turtles sit on their beloved lily pads!

Make your own pond and have fun!

LEGO Washing

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Sometimes all it takes is something simple. I need to remind myself of this often especially when my mind is full of activities and projects I want to plan for the girls.

The other night I needed something for the girls to do while I was cooking. They have a tendency to get directly underfoot while I’m prepping dinner, so on nights when having their help would less than helpful, I need something to keep them occupied.

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This is how LEGO washing was created. I set up a tray with a dish towel and gave each girl a washcloth and small bowl of water. They got right to work and loved every second of it. They washed up all the LEGOs they had in front of them and went back for more.

See how proud she looks! Needless to say, the mission was accomplished. I was able to cook in peace, the girls had fun and now all our LEGOs are squeaky clean. Sometimes simple really is better.

Space Basket

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After we retired our Hawaii basket, we replaced it with all sorts of fun things about space.The space basket was quite popular with the girls, so I kept it around longer than I planned.

I also discovered a very helpful side benefit to these theme baskets. It’s very easy to just grab it and go when I needed entertainment for the girls while we were waiting around for things like oil changes. We had a very pleasant waiting room time thanks to the space basket!

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I scoured some of my favorite blogs for fun stuff to put in the basket.Here’s what I came up with: space flashcards from the Target dollar aisle held together with a binder ring, planet/not planet sorting game from the Solar System preschool pack at 1+1+1=1, and rocket size sorting from the Astronaut preschool pack at 1+1+1=1.

I also made some simple counting cards. I wrote the numbers 1-10 on index cards and paired them with a pile of stars. The girls would take a card and count out the correct number of stars.

As always, I included a file folder with several space-themed coloring pages (not pictured).

And finally, for fun, we added our 4th of July headbands after determining that they looked like alien headbands.

I found so many great space books at our library, but finally narrowed it down to these five:

Floating Home by David Getz

The Planets by Gail Gibbons

The Magic School Bus Lost In The Solar System by Joanna Cole

If I Were an Alien by Vivan French(this was a favorite)

Shooting Stars by Franklyn M. Branley (which unfortunately appears to be out of print)

When it’s time to pack away the contents of our theme baskets, we usually have a day devoted to it’s contents. This time, we decided to celebrate with Galaxy play dough! Now we’re working on putting together a butterfly basket – should be fun!

I Love Dirt: Zoom In and Get Up Close

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After hearing so many good things about I Love Dirt!: 52 Activities to Help You and Your Kids Discover the Wonders of Nature by Jennifer Ward, I knew I had to track down a copy.The book promises 52 activities to help you and your kids discover the wonders of nature.

The activities are divided by season and are simple and effective. I found several ideas for the girls and I to do and was very interested in the winter section since that’s the time of year I avoid being outside as much as possible. I need all the help I can get when it comes to outdoor play in wintertime!

We took a cue from chapter 29, Zoom In, and took our magnifying glass outside. We headed to our sunflowers to take a look around.

I encouraged Lizzie to look all around to see if she discovered anything. I had also given her a small notebook and crayons so she could draw some of the different things she found.

She had a lot of fun looking at everything up close and was quite excited when she discovered a group of tiny ants crawling up the stalk.It was wonderful to see her excitement since she’s always been terrified of insects!

Whenever she found something that really interested her, she sat down and tried her hand at drawing it. She was quite the little explorer and moved on to other areas of our yard once she was finished with the sunflowers.

If you need a push outside or just some new ideas for studying nature, pick up a copy of I Love Dirt!: 52 Activities to Help You and Your Kids Discover the Wonders of Nature. It’s a wonderful book of ideas.