toddler

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!

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:

Red, White And Blue Toddler Trail Mix

July 4, 2018 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

Looking for a healthy treat for your toddler on this 4th of July? I love trail mix snacks because they are super easy to put together and very versatile. It is a great way to use up things in your pantry.

This red, white and blue toddler trail mix is a cute way to celebrate patriotic holidays with your little one!

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Another fun 4th of July Snack – USA Graham Cracker Flag

Red, White and Blue Toddler Trail Mix

For this red, white and blue toddler trail mix , I used some of our favorite snacks that are always in our pantry. My 4 year old even joined in to help me put it all together. It is a great activity for a younger child to help with because you don’t even need to measure.

Ingredients

Since it is July 4th, a patriotic theme was on my mind. I wanted to select red, white and blue things for this mix that would be appealing to young kids.

The Red

Dried Strawberries

Dried Cranberries

The White

Greek Yogurt Covered Craisins

Cheerios (Frosted Cheerios would be even more fun!)

The Blue

Dried Blueberries

Star Shaped Blueberry Puffs (I didn’t have these but they would be a great addition since they are in a fun Star Shape)

Of course use your judgement and don’t feed your babies something that they are not ready for at the stage that they are in. I picked out select things that my 8 month old could safely eat and allowed my 4 year old to eat as she pleased.

Red, White & Blue Toddler Trail Mix Assembly

Trail mix is the best to make because you literally just dump everything together. I used about 1 cup of cereal and about a 1/2 a cup of the other items. To be honest, I didn’t measure. I just grabbed handfuls of things but if you want to measure, that is the ratio that I would use.

My little helper assisting in the process. Check out the cute little photo bomb. He was wanting to help but was satisfied by a few Cheerios instead.

Here she is snacking on her red, white and blue toddler trail mix.

If you are looking for other healthy ideas for your kids, check out this No Sugar Added Georgia Peach Oatmeal. It has a great texture for kids that hate mushy oats and is naturally sweet.

What is your favorite, healthy 4th of July snack?