Halloween fun

3 of my former daycare kids came to visit today so I had lots of fun things planned.

First, we made Pumpkin Rice Krispie treats. It actually went much smoother than I thought it would. We ran our hands under very cold water, dried them well and formed the pumpkin shaped balls. If thins got sticky we just used more cold water. The little kids helped with the tootsie rolls. 

After that we did a Pumpkin STEM challenge. I gave the kids toothpicks and pumpkin candies and let them build towers.

My two kids didn't build long, but the 3 older kids seemed to enjoy it.

In the afternoon we made Paper Plate Ghosts. The little kids needed constant help, but the big kids were able to get more creative with theirs.

Af snack time we played the kids favorite version of holiday bingo. I fill their cards with various snacks and then when I call the "number" they eat what is in that square. It's reverse black-out. The first kid to clear their card, wins! I started this version to help my three year old try new foods. He has an oral and food aversion that severely limits his diet.

Cookie day

I had planned to make sugar cookies (cut out cookies) with the kids earlier in the week, but kept pushing it back until today. They are my least favorite kind to make, but the kids love to help make the dough and use the cookie cutters.

We always use the Betty Crocker Traditional Sugar Cookie recipe for our cut-out cookies in a very old cookbook with an orange cover. My mom has a similar cookbook at her house that brings bake fun memories of holiday baking. Sticking with our Halloween theme, we used ghost and pumpkin cookie cutters.

Candy corn

This morning we tried painting with Pom-poms. While the actual painting itself went fine, keeping the correct color of paint in each section proved to be a bit more difficult for these kids.

Candy Corn painting with Pom Poms

I think we need to find a new yellow paint. The yellow doesn't seem to show up well, even on other colors of paper.

These plastic art trays are amazing. They wash up so easily, and help keep paint, glue, and water off my table. You can pick up your own set on Amazon by following the link above.

Boo!

This week's theme is Halloween. Yesterday, Lucian (who's 3.5) and I did a Color-By Number Halloween Sheet while Sutton (2) and B (daycare kid who is 1.5) colored pumpkin pictures. L likes to only color the number with the correct color, not the whole space.

 Today we tried something a little more adventurous and we did hand & footprint art. I found this cute idea for Halloween Handprint Tree and Footprint Ghosts.

It was a little tricky to get everyone to sit still while we got the paint properly applied, but I think the finished project turned out really cute!

Coming soon!

I'm excited to start sharing our (almost) daily Pinterest adventures. As a mom to a 2 and 3 year old, and as an in-home childcare provider I find myself using Pinterest for everything. We do art projects, we do worksheets, try recipes, look for ideas for fun activities and more. I'd like to use this blog to showcase some of those ideas and keep my friends and family updated on what we've been up to.