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Vegetable Soup Water Table Play Activity

August 7, 2018 by Stacy Craft 3 Comments

You can create this vegetable soup water table play activity with things that you probably already have in your kid’s playroom and your kitchen for lots of summer fun.

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Playing with our water table is almost a daily activity during the spring and summer for us. My kids enjoy playing with it just as intended but I also like to occasionally provide themes to spice it up and keep it interesting.

We decided to be a pretend chef and cook up a vegetable soup water table play session this week.

If your kids love sensory activities, don’t miss the 10 Second Edible Baby Sensory Play Activity, Cookie Cereal Baking Bin and the Fall Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bin. And if you need a way to organize your kid’s dress up stuff, read this!

Vegetable Soup Water Table Play

Making vegetable soup in our water table entertained my 4 year old for about 30 minutes. My 9 month old even got in on the fun, although his attention span is not as long!

What You Need:

Water Table or even a plastic storage bin or a bowl could work.

Pretend Vegetables

Plastic Spoons/Bowls

Water

Vegetable Soup Water Table Play Set up

Reason #3849 that I love water table activities – it is so easy to set up. As a busy mama, things that take just a couple of minutes to set up are the best kind of activities!

I just gathered up our play vegetables, plastic bowls, and spoons. If you don’t have play bowls and spoons, just use some plastic ones from your real kitchen! My daughter decided to add in some fruit to our vegetable soup, so we went with it.

Once it was ready, she spent some time washing her fruits and veggies (it is amazing what our kids pick up on watching us in our daily lives).

Drop the veggies (and fruit if you are using it) into your water table and fill it with water. It seems like such a simple idea but just offering the simple task of “making soup” completely reinvigorated the water table for my little one.

She spent time creating different recipes. Of course we “tasted” each one. She even washed the dishes after we tried each new creation.

I love that she can be creative and practice life skills while playing pretend. Not to mention that we all got some nice outside time as well.

Don’t mind the little one. He is trying to make “bulldozer soup” a thing.

Here is a bowl of her delicious soup that she created. Seeing your kid’s imagination at work is a rewarding experience.

I also love that I can keep a toy that we have had for a while (note the baked on dirt that no amount of scrubbing will remove) fresh and fun.

This vegetable soup water table play activity is a simple water table idea to encourage creative play. Would your kids enjoy this cooking theme for the water table?

Pin this Vegetable Sensory Soup for Later!

Need more summer fun activities? Check out this list of the Best Water toys for toddlers!

Easy Dress Up Station

July 16, 2018 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

Are dress up clothes taking over your house?

I have enough issues with regular laundry to then pile on top a bunch of princess costumes, my house was becoming a wreck quickly.

I wanted to create an area in our play room that would be fun to play and use but that would also create some organization for all of the stuff! This easy dress up station was just the right fit for our little princess.

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By creating some order to our princess mess, I found that my daughter is actually playing with this stuff!

Before she either couldn’t find her stuff because it was wherever she dropped it or I had shoved it in the bottom of the closet in an attempt to clean up. Now that she can easily see her pretty dresses and jewels, she usually becomes Belle or Sophia once or twice a week!

And if LOL Surprise Dolls are also becoming tiny little residents in your home, check out this LOL Organizer.

What you Need for the Easy Dress Up Station:

Adjustable Garment Rack

Princess Wall Art

Wood Wall Clear Knob Organizer – I got mine at Hobby Lobby and can’t find the exact same thing. These are really pretty and these are reasonably priced and would be cute.

Lots of Princess dresses, play jewelry and little girl high heels.

Setting Up the Easy Dress Up Station

The adjustable garment rack took less than 15 minutes to put together and that was the first thing that I did. Once that was ready, my daughter helped me hang up all of her princess dresses.

The dress up area isn’t just limited to princess costumes. She can dress up as a chef, vet, or a girly super hero.

I stored extra dress up clothes and play shoes at the bottom of the rack. (Don’t mind that missing Elsa from the blue shoe! Hey, they still work!)

Next, I had my daughter stand in front of where the mirror would go. I did this because I wanted it to be a “kid friendly” mirror. (not hung so high that she wouldn’t even be able to see her face)!

We hung the mirror so that she could see her full princess ball gown in all it’s glory.

The princess wall art was hung level with the top of the mirror. The hooks went right under the art so that she could easily reach her purses and jewels.

I set our vanity next to the easy dress up station so that she can move right on to hair and make up once she gets dressed. I love that this area provides a fun play area for kids to use their imagination.

Plus it helps to get the princess dress mess off my floor.

If your pretend play costumes are causing chaos, I hope you try this super easy dress up station solution for your playroom!

Once your playroom is in order, check out this bathtub toy organizer hack so that you can see the bottom of your tub again!

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Sensory Bin

July 29, 2018 by Stacy Craft 3 Comments

It may still be 9,000 degrees outside, but that is not stopping me from dreaming of Fall. This fun apple cinnamon oatmeal sensory bin presents kids with an open invitation to play with Fall inspired items.

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Sensory bins are great for their educational benefits. But do you know why I really love them? They are usually very quick to set up (as a mom, you need that right?). The bins can usually be made with things you have on hand or with just a couple of small purchases. And the absolute best part is that they entertain! It will keep your little one busy while you do something on your long To Do List.

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Sensory Bin Contents

I found most of these things at home or at the Dollar Tree. Sensory bins are also great because you don’t have to have exactly what I used. Just use this as a guide and get creative with what you have at home.

In our apple cinnamon oatmeal sensory bin you will find:

Container – I use a dish bucket from the Dollar Tree for most of my sensory activities.

Oatmeal

Play Apples

Various measuring cups / funnels

Play spoon, bowl, skillet (From my daughter’s Play kitchen)

Shovel/Strainer/Rake (These were Dollar Tree sand toys that I threw in)

Apple Cutting board (from Dollar Tree)

Sprinkle of Cinnamon & Allspice

Magnet Letters

Plastic Tablecloth

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Sensory Bin Set Up

Setting up this sensory bin is as easy as (apple) pie. Forgive me, I hang out with a 4 year old and an 8 month old all day! It really is simple and will give you time to do some work or maybe relax for a few minutes. Of course, with all sensory bins, you should gauge your child’s maturity and provide proper supervision.

Spread out a big plastic tablecloth or towel if you are doing this inside. I love using plastic tablecloths for all types of messy play activities. Grab your bucket and dump some oatmeal in. If this is killing your OCD perfectionist self, I understand. I would rather someone tell me to add 57.2 ounces than to tell me to “dump” something. I promise, it will be fine. Just dump some in. It doesn’t need to be precise. We are going for quick and easy with this sensory bin.

Sprinkle a little cinnamon and allspice in with your oats. Just enough so that you can smell the spices which will add to the sensory experience for your kids. Mix the oats and spices together. Remember to have them smell and describe it while playing!

Stick the apples, measuring utensils, and other items in with the oatmeal and present it to your kids. My girl made apple pies, dug around in the mixture, and let the oatmeal fall through the funnel.

I also wrote out the word “apple” on a piece of paper. She then matched the magnet letters to the letters that I had written for some alphabet recognition practice.

I hope your toddler or preschooler will enjoy this fall inspired apple cinnamon oatmeal sensory play activity! If you have a baby, check out this 10 second setup baby sensory activity. Do your kids love sensory bins?

More Fun Apple Items:

LOL Doll Storage Solution

June 30, 2018 by Stacy Craft 2 Comments

Who would have thought that a tiny little doll with microscopic shoes and accessories would take the little girl world by storm? My 4 year old is completely obsessed with LOL dolls. She walks around with the collector’s guide telling anyone that will listen about all the dolls that she wants. As her collection grows, so does the mess. I wanted an easy LOL doll storage solution that would organize all those small pieces but still be easy for her to access.

(Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.)

LOL Doll Storage Solution

My first thought was to use a hanging toiletry bag with clear pockets. I still think it would be a good idea, especially to hold a lot of the dolls. I may end up trying it if our collection continues to grow. My daughter has requested “all the LOL dolls” for her birthday. I’m not facilitating that request but if I know her grandfather, I may have more LOL dolls than I want very soon!

We usually set the dolls up on her play table or the kitchen table for play time. When trying to come up with an LOL doll storage solution, I decided that we needed something that would work well on top of a table. Something with lots of compartments is important because of all the tiny pieces.

I spend what feels like hours per week looking for a lost LOL doll shoe that is smaller than my pinkie fingernail. Desperation was setting in for an LOL doll storage solution that would keep all of the stuff in one place.

LOL Dolls Tackle Box Style

I bought 2 different boxes to see what worked best for our stash of dolls. Here is how it went!

Larger Tackle Box Organizer

The larger box worked better with the regular size LOL dolls. I liked that the interior plastic inserts can be removed so you can make some larger compartments for the dolls and you can keep smaller ones available for shoes, clothes and accessories.

Smaller Tackle Box Organizer

The Smaller Tackle box came in a set of 3. These are a lot smaller than the larger ones and work best with the LOL little sisters and accessories.

Hope this helps you reclaim your house from the tiny army of LOL dolls that has overtaken it. If you have a ceramic tile tub that toys have also taken over, check out my post on how to fix that.

How do you organize your kid’s LOL doll stash?

Easy Set Up Edible Infant Sensory Play Activity

June 9, 2018 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

Edible Infant Sensory Play Activity

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Finding an edible infant sensory play activity can be a challenge. The attention span of your 6-24 month old is typically very short so you want something that is not going to take you forever to set up. The sensory activity also needs to be something that can go in those little mouths because let’s face it, everything they see goes in.

My son has attempted to eat a photo, many leaves, a raw carrot end and the good Lord only knows what else, and that was just this week! I have to watch him like a hawk. That is another reason why I loved this activity, it is literally meant to be eaten!

Easiest Edible Infant Sensory Play Activity Ever

Creating a stimulating environment for your baby is so simple to do. I was literally trying to figure out how to make a meal for my family and keep a fussy baby happy and it hit me. The most inexpensive, low set up edible infant sensory play activity formed in my mind. You seriously need only things that I bet as a parent of an infant that you have on hand!

What Do I Need For the Sensory Fun?

Highchair – this is a similar space saver seat like we use.

Baby Food Puree

Wipes or rag for after play clean up! It is a bit messy.

Baby Food Painting – Sensory Style

We are going to throw that old adage of “don’t play with your food” right out the window with this fun and messy activity that will delight your baby’s senses.

Place your baby in his or her highchair. I highly recommend that you do this in nothing but a diaper. We headed straight to the tub after this and I was glad there were no dirty clothes to deal with.

Squeeze some baby food onto a clean highchair tray.

I used about half of two different pouches to offer different visual colors and flavors. Since this edible infant sensory play activity will likely go straight into your sweet little ones mouth, it is fun to give them a variety of tastes to sample.

Once you squirt the baby food on the tray, your little one will likely start “painting” right away. It took my little guy about 2.5 seconds to start making a big finger painting mess.

Why I Loved This Sensory Mess

I love this project for so many reasons! I am a busy mom (who isn’t!?) so I need things that set up quickly. There is not much quicker than popping the top to a baby food pouch! Providing sensory play activities, even in infancy, is so important for baby development. Being able to make an educational activity so quickly and for less than $1 makes me happy.

He literally played and ate on this little project for almost 25 minutes before he got tired of it. While he did that, I was able to interact with him. Once he had the hang of painting with purees, I was able to grab my sack of potatoes and peel them for dinner while he played. WIN!

What To Do Different Next Time

You can learn from my mistakes! I really liked this playtime because it gave me time to prep dinner, entertained my baby and provided a stimulating experience for him. However, I did learn a couple of things. I probably should have known but you live and learn!

Put baby in only a diaper – I actually did this one but it is a must. The baby will be covered in baby food.
If your highchair cover is cloth, cover it with a towel. I had to wash ours because I didn’t do this.
Plan to do this activity when you have time for a bath immediately afterwards. It is definitely a messy sensory activity but I felt like it cleaned up quickly.

And if you are needing some activities for your bigger toddlers or preschoolers this summer check out this awesome slip n slide hack and 2 free activities that you should sign up for now!

Do you have a favorite easy edible infant sensory play activity that you love?