It’s Monday!! You know what that means…it’s time for another Think Outside the Toy Box Summer Series challenge! This week…Kool-Aid. Last week, I thought I hit the bottom of the barrel as far as low cost, spending less than $6 on an afternoon of family fun with Paper Bag Maracas, but I blew it out of the water this week! Kool-Aid was on sale at Target for $2. I already had the rest of my supplies, so $2 and we were ready to go! Time to get messy and creative with Kool-Aid Sprinkle Art.

It was a beautiful sunny day and the kids were itching for some fun, so we stripped down for some messy art and took it outside to the back deck. A few pieces of construction paper, some Elmer’s glue and a tub of Kool-Aid and we were ready to play. 

 

I started by creating some pictures with the glue based on the kids’ requests (a sun, a tree, a snowman, a silly face). Then I handed them a paper cup filled with Kool-Aid and had them sprinkle away. The sprinkled (or dumped…ha!) the Kool-Aid along the glue around the edges of the picture, carefully spreading it as they went. 

 

Once they had it covered, I bent the paper gently in half to bring the excess Kool-Aid to the middle and dumped it out, shaking gently to remove and loose mix. In truth, the boys were already happy with seeing the light colored mix on their pictures…but the fun was still coming!

 

As the glue absorbed the Kool-Aid, it slowly turned to the actual color of the mix – red. They were shocked and super excited about this. “Mommy! My sun is turning red!!!” At that age, it was pure magic. 

I should note that this is not a forever project. Although I suspect the glue would have dried hard eventually, it stayed more like a gel when mixed with the Kool-Aid and never got much past the slimey, sticky phase, so I just tossed the remainders after the kids went to sleep. Our goal was to have fun using our hands to sprinkle and get messy, and to watch our pictures come to life with color. Next time we do this, I am definitely going to pick up several colors of Kool-Aid for even more fun! 

 

This activity was immediately followed with bath time! Kool-Aid gets EVERYWHERE. And you know after just a few short minutes, they found their fingers in their mouths. Sugar for the win! 

 

Be sure to check out what the other ladies did with Kool-Aid on their blogs today, and link up your Kool-Aid family friendly projects below and share the fun as we all head into summer months. 

 

From ABCs to ACTs

The Mad Mommy

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When J’s teacher told me he really enjoys math and that sorting toys would be a great idea for Christmas, I ran straight over to Amazon Prime and began the hunt for the perfect toy. I bought about a million puzzles, little projects and a whole slew of other games. But none so far can compare to these bad boys:

Before I get started, here is my only CON for this toy. These bears are a relatively good size and really hard, so they don’t scream “Put me in your mouth!” But, as all mothers know, this means nada. So…while they are awesome, this is a toy that requires some observation on the parent’s part. This is not the toy to busy your kid with while you hop in the shower or run the vacuum.

Now, the good stuff.

The opportunities are endless for free play with these little dudes. Here are the 10 sorting games I play with the boys (and they then play with each other – which is super cute):

1. What color is this? I have them identify the color and then place the bear in its matching cup.
2. Here are 3 bears (different colors). I have them identify each color and count them back to me as they place it in its matching cup.
3. Pick a “red” bear and give it to Mommy. I line up all of the bears (or even dump them in a big pile) and give them a color to pick out and give to me. This can be taken up a notch for more advanced kiddos, by asking them to give you a certain number of bears of certain colors.
4. Count our colors. We separate the bears into piles of their colors and then count them together back into the cups.
5. Clean up the bears. Seriously, they love this one. It’s like 52 pick up with animals instead of cards.
6. Line up your colors. Everybody loves to build a mini army of color-coordinated bear squadrons.
7. Stack and unstack the cups. Tower! When the bears get old, I swap to the cups. Some simple towers always bring a smile.
8. Flip cups – Bears on top. Instead of lining up the bears or grouping them in piles, we switch it up by using the upside down cups as platforms for whatever game we are playing.
9. Color patterns – What’s next? I set up simple patterns and ask them to pick the bear that fits next.
10. Give me “7” bears and count. I give them a number of bears that I want and they get to pick what colors they give back to get to that number.

One final twist that they love…turn the tables! They’re in control and get to ask me the questions. They LOVE to ask “Mommy, what’s this?” or order me to “give them a red bear.” Let them play teacher for a bit and you’ll keep them busy for hours!