Cardboard Box Car

Activity completed March 2016.

 I was about to break down a box to add it to our recycling pile when I realized it was the perfect size to become a cardboard box car. It took a little bit of work to show Tripp how a box can become a car, but we worked together to transform it with Sharpie and black construction paper. He plays with it every day!

Train... Going Fast (Laminated Train Printable)

Activity completed January 2016.

Tripp loves the book Freight Train by Donald Crews. The book is very simple, following a freight train on its path through the mountains. Each train car is a different color and the illustrations are bright and bold.

Through the blog Mama's Happy Hive, I found this PDF which had very similar train cars to the cars in the book. We have a home laminator so I printed them out, cut each train and then we laminated them. Now Tripp can set up his own freight train however he likes, or follow the train from the book.

Black Light Alice in Wonderland Fun

We visited the IDEA Museum on New Year's Day 2016.

This isn't a project we made, but something I saw at our local children's museum that I think was really cool! It would be a fun birthday party idea or rainy day activity.

At the museum, they have a room that is completely black lit. It used to be set up like a campground at night with glowing stars on the ceiling, a picnic table, and tent.

Now the room is Alice in Wonderland themed with awesome glowing tableware, plates, bowls, and food. They painted Alice in Wonderland murals on all of the walls and painted toy food in paint that would react to the black light. It is really something magical and very fun to see!

Four Seasons Hand and Fingerprint Tree

This past Christmas I wanted to do as many homemade or handcrafted presents as I could. Handmade gifts are my favorite to receive and I want to nurture a spirit of giving of yourself in my kiddo so it was a natural fit this year. For my grandmother, I decided to try this project: DIY All Season Hand and Fingerprint Tree from Rhythms of Play.

The limitation here is how old your kiddo is and the size of their hand. We ended up going with small 4x4 canvas squares. We had a lot of fun with this project - so many colors of paint to choose from!  I was able to get it done in just a couple of days and I think it's adorable.