DIY colored sand

what you need

• Salt
• baggies
• food color
• vinegar 
• plates
• school glue
• paper
• plastic tub

What to do

1. pour salt into baggies 
2. and color
3. add a cap full off vinegar
4. zip and shake until salt is fully coated
5. pour out on to plates to dry over night
6. repeat for other colors.

To make sand art

1. make designs with school glue.
2. coat glue with colored sand
3. let dry

 Then you can just play in the left overs.

video

Melted bead wind chime

what you need
• beads
• muffin tin
• coil closures for bracelets or necklaces
• Clear string. We used bead n stretch
• nail polish or crazy glue to secure the knots
• and either nail clippers or wire cutters to cut off the excess coil after your beads are done melting.
• you're also going to need something to tie your finished melted beads to. We had an old winter time that I took part and just put back together with our new parts. You might be able to use a coke can or one of the wooden rings from needlepoint. Get creative.

What to do
1. First you can align the bottom of your muffin tin pan with the single layer of beads

2. Then you're going to add one of those little coils near the top but not too close to the top
3. Once you have all tins filled put them in the oven at 400 degrees leave in for 25 to 30 minutes 

4. Take out and let cool hang out and let cool the plastics released from the bottom of the pan on its own.

5. Once cool remove and cut off the excess coils. 

6. Assemble your wind chime reinforce your knots with crazy glue or nail polish.

Foam paint ( video included)

What you'll need:
•school glue
•shaving cream
•food coloring
• zip lock bag
• tiny rubber bands (optional)

Directions:
1. Mix equal parts glue and shaving cream in to zip lock bag.
2. Add food is coloring.
3. Let out air, close bag and smush around until fully mixed.
4. pull paint to one corner and tie as at rubber band above the paint to keep the paint at one corner to help little hands paint easier.
5. Snap the tip off and paste piping style

Our Experience:
Messy: yes, we did it in a kiddy pool to contain the mess.
Easy to make: yes. It's very quick to throw together.
Fun: absolutely.

It was near in doing it again over summer break because I know my daughter will love it.

Video

Dollar Ben Bargains - Building Blocks

Our Experience: 

I feel that all the best crafts and activities for toddlers come from the dollar section. After all the rip, break and lose soo much. Today we are busting out the dollar building blocks. 

We have not ourselves invested in Legos as of yet simply because the cost a pretty penny and my toddlers would lose them. We love the idea of Legos so when I spotted these at the bottom of a Target dollar section I had to have them.

The kids are definitely enjoying these blocks. I say money well spent.

Always take time to scan the dollar section anytime you're there you never know what neat things you'll come across.

Jack and the bean stalk activity (video included)

What you'll need:
• dry beans
•Paper towel
•Zip lock bag
•Tape
•water

Directions: 1. Fold paper towel in to small square about 2in x 2in (doesn't have to be exact)
2. We paper towel with water until nearly dripping.
3. Place bean on the center of the paper towel
4. Insert bean and wet pepper towel into the zip lock bag.
5. Press air out and steal bag
6. Tape bag in a window that gets morning sun if possible.

Our Experience: 

It was a smooth going activity. i already had a a sprouted bean to show them so the knew what we were trying to make happen. We planted that in soil after the the bean project.

We also watched Mickey and the Bean Stalk before jumping in to this activity, just to get everyone extra interested. Best part no clean up. yay for mommy!

Video

Neon Colored Rice (video included)

What You'll need:

• White rice
• vinegar
• food colors
• Rubbermaid container with lid
• baking pan

Directions: 

1. Feel you container with rice about half full.
2. Add 4-6 drops of food color
3. Put the lid on the container
4. and shake until rice is fully coated with color
5. pour rice on to the baking pan to dry.

Our Experience: We love Neon colored rice, like really. Its so simple to make and easy to store. we can dig in it, we can search for things in it and take our hot wheels off roading in it. Its our favorite.

video

Colored Rice Sensory Activity

You Need:

WE used this paint (Walmart)

• Rice (white rice will show the color better)
• paint
• Ziploc bag
• water (just a little to thin paint)
• Baking sheet
• A large Tupperware (or something similar)  
• Cups
• little toys (we used cars)

Directions:

1. Put rice in to Ziploc bag.
2. Add add. Just a squirt. you can add more if you want a darker color.
3. Add a little water, just a little you don't want to make it too water just thin it enough to coat all the rice.
4. Zip and shake and knead the bag until rice is fully coated. This is where you can decide if you want to add more paint or not.
5. Pour rice on to a baking sheet and let dry.
6. Once dry pour in to a lager Tupperware or something similar. We used the cover from a sheet birthday cake.
7. Add toys and cups and have fun.

This is brown minute rice.

This is white rice.

Our Experience:

It was supposed to be glow rice but it didn't glow very well. It might have glowed better if i added more paint but i wanted to save some paint for other projects. I added too much water in the first bag of white rice i made and i had to soak it out with a paper towel, so be careful with that part. Besides that Haven had a blast with it. He buried his cars, poured rice in and out of different containers, he added googly eyes and raced his cars in it. Nearing the end of the play session he thought he wanted  to out his feet inside it to see what it felt like. He liked the feeling and decided it would be a good idea to just sit in it. Made me wish i had a bigger container and more rice. Definitely going to that one days sounds fun. I saved the rice and put it up for another day because this activity was a success.

Glow Jar On A Cold And Gloomy Day

You need:

• Glow sticks (we used the bracelet ones but i think the thicker ones might be easier to pour) 
• Scissors
• A mason jar
• Glitter 

Directions:

1. Crack the glow sticks to make glow
2. Cut end off over jar and pour it in. ( If you use the thin ones like us, cut both ends and blow out the sticks contents in the jar. Try not to get it in your month it tastes so bad but its non-toxic if you do.
3. Add a pinch of glitter
4. Put the lid on tightly
5. SHAKE

Our Experience:

Glow stick guts splatted everywhere when i cut of the tips . First we tried to make cool glow effects in water with last Halloweens glow sticks. So much fail happened with that. We went in to the kids room to get some darkness and we sat on the floor and i started cutting. The carpet the sheets and us began to glow. Then just like any 2 year old would Haven wanted to put the glow stick in his mouth. Eww, so he started spitting every where.  To top it off the glow sticks didn't even glow that brightly because they were so old. It happens though projects fail. On the flip side I started painting on the baking pan with the grow sticks and it made pretty neat effects. I want to try this with Haydynn (6 Year Old) , outside at night some time.

 

 Back to the glow jar:

 I took the assembly of the jar to the kitchen. i should have went outside tho because now i have to rewash some dishes that got splattered. I let Havok pull up a chair and watch but i took over this one. Once i new what i was doing putting it all together to a matter of minutes.  It looks really neat. Just have to watch him with it because it is a glass jar. Its a cool thing to cuddle under a blanket on a cold gloomy day.

ATTENTION: Glow sticks have glass in them and the chemicals can burn eyes or mouth or throat if ingested. HANDLE WITH CARE. leave the handling part for the parents. 

Homemade Playdough

You'll need:

• 1 cup water
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1 Tbsp cream of tarter
• food coloring
• 1 cup flour 
• saucepan

Directions:

1. add: water, oil, cream of tartar & food coloring in saucepan. Heat until warm.
2. remove from heat, then add flour.
3. knead dough until smooth. 
4. *Optional: we kneaded in a little glitter after the dough was formed, just because.

Storage:

Store dough in a air tight container or Ziploc freezer bag. The cream of tartar makes the dough last six months or longer so don't leave it out.

Bingo Marker Art Activity

Super fun, super easy.  All you need are bingo markers and paper. I bought our bingo markers at the Dollar Tree, so that makes this activity super cheap also. Bonus.

We let free and got pretty in to our art making session and pretty messy. I'm a spotted multicolored Mama right now. We where doting pretty hard to make a splatting effect and we achieved that effect on paper as well as all over ourselves . So I'd say wear old clothes and do this activity out doors.

I think this activity is a keeper as long as you have some clean up time available, which is the case with most crafty activities, so no big deal.