Our Adventures with a Recycled Tuff Tray

I love this Tuff Tray. Like, properly love. It saved my poor, abused carpet from more spills. It kept my crazy toddler's mess contained. Plus, it's made out of recycled plastic. SWOON.

We used it near-enough constantly. Indy is getting to the fiercely independent stage of wanting to feed himself. With the tray, no problem! Any spills were easily wipe-uppable, and no damage to my carpet.

Finger painting had always terrified me. We attempted it a couple of times on our dining room table, but things invariably got covered in the thick, staining goop. I was more than happy to strip Indy off and let him prod and poke the paint to his hearts content. I was able to just peeeeel it off the tray when it was dry. Obviously, after this activity, Indy himself was covered. I contemplated trying to take him upstairs and to stand perfectly still in the bathroom while I ran a bath, but realised that was silly talk. Find me a toddler who can stand still while covered in muck. (tip, you can't.) A flannel just wouldn't cut it, a baby wipe wouldn't cut it, visions of looping the hose into the house did flash across my mind (albeit very briefly) and then I had a flash of genius. Our old washing up bowl! It would fit into the tray, it would get him clean, he could play with the water and it would be fine! So, voila. A mini bath/water play.

Butter. Wouldn't. Melt.

I looked around for more ideas on what I could do with this magical tray. Then my mind flashed back to the kinetic play sand I had picked up at the pound shop. Indy had the HappyLands zoo set, and I thought it would be a great activity, to have the animals trampling in sand, mark making. I set up the blue and the stone coloured sand, and let him have at it. No sand got smooshed into my carpet, and it was so easy to put it all away afterwards!

In short, I really really recommend getting a tray. We used it in the garden when the grass was damp, we used it in the kitchen, we used it everywhere. It's perfect for when little hands get the colouring bug but can't quite stay on the pages. It's ideal for Play Doh and other slightly mucky activities. And snack times are super easy when you've got a lipped container for your child. Ha! The tray can be found here. Go get one!

Rainbow Rice is Ever So Nice!

We made some rainbow rice! Doesn't it look pretty? This is a really easy, straight-forward activity that engages sight, touch, and sound, plus it only costs a few pennies. I'm going to give a step-by-step with pictures to show you how to make your own edible rainbow rice.

This is all I used, some vinegar from the cupboard, some gel food colouring also from the cupboard, and a pack of value rice. Some people use liquid food colouring, some people use gel, there isn't a massive difference although liquid will make a slightly stronger colour. Vinegar acts as a thinner for the gel, and also helps the colour stick to the uncooked rice. Brown rice also works, but the colour will be a little duller (but it's super handy to use up the brown rice that has been lurking at the back of the cupboard for ever.)

I poured a good quantity of rice into a sandwich bag, I didn't measure, just estimated roughly on how much rice I'd like. Then I added the entire tube of food colouring as I wanted a nice vibrant colour. Then a few drops of vinegar were added, and then the mixing began. I rolled the bag between my hands, jiggled it, bounced it, you name it, I got that baby mixed. I lined a tray with cling film and poured each bag out onto it in a thin layer, then I left them to dry for 24 hours, being sure to mix them about every now and then.

picture from http://www.faspaints.com/face-paint.html

Pretty! These colours weren't exactly what I had in mind, but I liked them just the same. I mixed a couple of the gels to get the lovely darker blue colour, something to bear in mind if you want to save some money on buying lots of different colours. Don't forget your colour mixing!

For ease of clean-up, I used the PVC mat that we got from Dunelm, and a cutlery tray from Ikea to keep the colours separate (for now!). I placed the tray inside our paddling pool, and let Indy have at it!

I placed a selection of child-sized utensils inside the pool (utensils from Ikea) and gave Indy minimal direction. I gave him a few ideas, such as scooping the rice with a pot, but let him explore the texture and the sounds himself. After he finished, I poured all the rice into a jar ready for next time. As the rice is still uncooked it lasts indefinitely, but I will replace it when it's past its best and has been played with several times. Instead of throwing the coloured rice away, I'll make a treasure bottle with it (a future blog post to come). If you try rainbow rice, be sure to show me a picture!

Gelli-Baff

Yesterday, me and my mum (Indy's nanna) went out to do some lovely sunny bank holiday shopping, mostly for wedding things. We went to Dunelm to get some fabric for table cloths, and my mum spotted this awesome PVC!
http://www.dunelm-mill.com/shop/roadmap-pvc-fabric-453377

So naturally we bought a metre of it to use as a messy play mat. I had itchy fingers, so had to try it out this morning with the Gelli-Baff I've been hoarding since I found it in Pound World.

This is all you need to make this wonderfully gloopy stuff;  a nice big bowl, a litre of warm water, and the two packets in the box.

It tells you to add a little at a time as it all of a sudden thickens, and you have to keep stirring. It's a lot like jelly mix (hence Gelli...)

Luuuvly. Looks like a slush puppy. Then the fun begins!

Indy decided this wasn't enough goop and muck for one day, so wanted the Play Sand involved as well. Lots of 'wow' noises and squelching occured! He scooped and plopped and whisked.

All finished off with a great big cheesy grin, and a nap on the sofa :) A successful morning's play I think. Next time, I think I'll go for the green or the blue, and hide things in there like shells, toy animals, and foam letters.

Daddy is sometimes a genius...

...don't tell him I said that. He's been off this week for my birthday, and he's come up with some properly good ideas for play. First up! Indy has been showing some real interest for percussion, only encouraged by us receiving a Rock Band drum kit off my brother. Whilst we're not quite at full drum set just yet for him, a shoe-box drum kit sates his drum lust for now.

Daddy stuck  some brown packing paper on a shoe-box (I think we have a packing paper problem. Say that quickly 3 times) and some scrunched up survival blanket. Both make really different sounds, and the box itself makes a lovely noise. Survival blankets are crazy versatile, as shown in my next picture-

I finally got round to making Indy a busy board! It's not got all the latches and catches of others I've seen, but the day was thoroughly miserable and I had the crafting itch, so I made do with things I found around the house. A cut up sponge, a door catch, some artificial grass, a jar lid, a bag clip, a hair bobble, a silk scarf, and some of the infamous survival blanket. I ordered my survival blanket off eBay for pennies, it's absolutely ginormous and has been used for loads of different activities. Peepo, in his little tent, on the ceiling, so many possibilities from something so cheap and easily obtained.

Tomorrow will be Easter-themed activities, chick hunting (little yellow toy ducks in a huge cardboard box with shredded brown packing paper as the 'nest') and an Easter garden with different types of artificial grass, toy bunnies and more.

A Lovely Birthday Weekend

It was my Birthday yesterday, I turned a grand old 26 years. On Saturday we did our usual Saturday thing of popping to the local farmers market, a cheeky stroll round some charity shops, and then popping into a cafe near us that offers people with various learning disabilities the opportunity to gain experience in the working environment. We like supporting local businesses as much as possible, so try to visit whenever we can afford it. My mum came with us as we were searching for things we can use for our impending wedding! She finally caved and had a go at babywearing, I think she loved it a bit.

On Sunday, we gave the hall we're getting married in a fresh lick of paint. Safe to say, I was thoroughly exhausted and looking forward to a nice quiet birthday.

Monday rolled around, and I had a deliciously quiet birthday. I was greeted with cards, and daffodils, and coffee (yesss), and a really cool Batman tshirt off my boys. I had a lovely long bath with a Terry Pratchett book, and that evening we went out for an Indian (Indy ate loads, as always)

Today we went into Cardiff to spend some birthday money! We popped to Lush as Indy suffers with eczema, so got him a couple of Ickle Baby Bots and a pot of Dream Cream, as they work wonders on his dry patches. We also got him some Burt's Bees shampoo, as his hair has been looking dry. I'd heard a rumour that Pound World had gelli baff and Play Sand in stock so on the off-chance we went in. We found some! I'm so excited to try the gelli baff with Indy. We couldn't resist opening the sand, as Daddy was itching to have a go.

All of this was topped off nicely with a bath. Indy was so knackered that a bit of boob and he was fast asleep by 7! Bless him. We're hopefully finally getting round to our Easter themed 'treasure hunt' with the packaging paper tomorrow, so I'll be sure to post!

The rest of this week!

Looking back this week, considering we haven't been out much we've still managed to cram loads in.

I made Indy a little book nook! (Complete with his DVDs) Indy is a proper little book-worm, he loves nothing more than snuggling up and 'reading'. He reads out loud to himself in his own little language, it's amazing how they pick up the tone of spoken word.

We also tried some colouring again, but this mostly involved Indy attempting to eat crayons (everything. Everything in his mouth.) so didn't last for very long.

We had a really lovely day today, we spent the morning together, and then met up with Indy's friend Sioned and her mum Jo for a coffee at a lovely coffee house around the corner from me. They obviously had missed each other and spent a while shouting 'hiyaa!' and giving each other slobbery kisses.

After biscuits had been eaten, we strolled over to the charity shop a few doors down. I am in love with this charity shop, it's run by the community for the community, so we try to support it every way we can (this normally involves us coming home with piles of books and DVDs and tablecloths and records etc). Today was a real winner, we found a wooden train, a Stephen King book (for me), and a toy shopping basket complete with contents, still in it's wrapping! I think Indy is still a little young to understand it though, as he kept handing me the cardboard boxes asking for food.

We also popped into possibly the best bookshop I've ever been in (but I may be biased). They'd posted on Facebook earlier saying they had a cardboard box and a load of brown packaging paper going free, so naturally I jumped on it and had ideas flooding through my head already. Whilst we were there we also picked up a Thomas the Tank Engine book, as Indy is choo-chooing constantly.

I think we'll have a play with the packaging paper this weekend, I have visions of making nests and Indy has to discover the eggs inside, or possibly using it as mud in a farmyard, I'll be sure to show you what we get up to with it!

The week so far

This week has been a fairly quiet week in our household. Both of Indy's friends have been poorly, so we've had none of the usual playdates. Instead I've been inspired to try and find some fun new ways to engage with him at home, and to prevent the usual cabin fever!

I had a quick rummage in the cupboards, and found some lovely thick zip-lock bags we'd picked up at the farmers market. Inspired by other posts I've seen, I filled one bag with fingerpaint, and stuck it to our glass dining table with sellotape. Indy loved it, and it was nice and easy, mess-free fun (hurrah!).

He loved it so much, I wanted it to continue, so I found another zip-lock bag and filled it with glitter and water, and taped them to a tray so he could play with them in the living room. He was captivated! He loved squidging the two bags at the same time, feeling the contrast between them, and seeing the colours mix. This is a definite one to repeat, he loved it so much he tried biting them both several times (do they ever get over the 'putting everything in their mouth' stage?).

I wanted to keep up the DIY sensory play, so the next day we had some fun with posting pasta. As I previously mentioned, Indy still puts absolutely everything in his mouth, so pasta is the perfect play item. I had an old coffee tub (definitely not a caffeine addict...) and carefully cut holes in the lid. I snapped a handful of spaghetti in half, and demonstrated to Indy how they slotted into the holes.This activity is great for hand-eye coordination, and the spaghetti made a really satisfying noise when it was dropped in. Again, this activity kept Indy focused for so long I was amazed. I'd never seen something grasp his attention for quite so long. Please excuse my unhoovered carpet, Indy chases me when I hoover and attempts to sit on it, so it's a task I manage only a couple of times a week. Landlords really love putting beige carpets into houses, eh?