"Exploding" Tie-Dye Milk

This is a super cool science activity that's sure to impress your little and have them wanting to try it over and over again! We were at our local OEYC (Ontario Early Years Center) this morning and they were having a "Science" themed morning. They had a lady come in to do some simple activities with the kids, which the boy-o of course loved, so we decided to keep the science fun going when we got home!

This activity is called many different things, and so you might have heard it referred to as Tie-Dye Milk, Colour Milk, Exploding Milk, etc. but it all boils down to the same awesome activity no matter what you call it. I've decide to take the best of all worlds and call it "Exploding" Tie-Dye Milk.

All you need for this activity is some milk (the higher the fat the better--we used 2% and it worked ok, but homo would be better!), a container to put the milk in, some food colouring, dish soap, and some Q-Tips. Poor a thin layer of milk into the bottom of your container and then put in a few drops of each colour food-colouring.

Now the fun part!! Dip your Q-Tip into the dish soap and then touch the Q-Tip in the center of one of the colour drops and watch the colour shoot away from the Q-Tip making cool swirling patterns in the milk. You can re-dip in the dish soap and keep touching the Q-Tip all over your container to watch the awesome patterns that emerge.

You can also swirl the Q-Tip around in the container and watch the colours run away as well! The boy-o was totally fascinated by this activity, and loved watching the colour spread out across the container. Once it started to get a little murky we added a few more drops of colour to brighten it back up a bit and started over again with making the colours run.

The reason that this activity works is the dish soap interacts with the fat molecules in the milk, which is why using a fuller fat milk makes for a better experience. The activity is another great one for some quiet toddler play or a rainy day. 

To make the activity last longer simply dump out the coloured milk and put a fresh new layer in the container. It requires very little milk, so even repeating the activity a few times is still a very cost effective science exploration. (especially if your milk is getting to the end of its shelf life and you don't know how to use it up!)

We'll definitely be filing this one away for use another day and I hope you and your little enjoy it as much as we did!

Popsicle Stick Builders

Here's another simple and inexpensive quiet toddler activity that's super portable and now lives in our diaper bag all the time for restaurant trips or visiting family/friend's who don't have kids where it's necessary to bring our own entertainment. These popsicle stick builders can easily be adapted to grow as your little does to include some flash cards with photos on them which your little has to copy. For example, a square made with a red, blue, orange and yellow popsicle stick, or a triangle made with all blue popsicle sticks etc.

All that was required for this one was some coloured popsicle sticks, and self adhesive velcro dots. I cut the dots in half since the popsicle sticks aren't very wide and then stuck them right to the sticks. I put dots on both sides of the sticks and both ends to maximize building possibilities.

At the moment the boy-o is more interested in attaching them all end to end like a train than he is with making shapes out of them, but that will come in time, and in the end it doesn't really matter how he plays with them--they're keeping him busy and he's learning either way!

Homemade Slime: AKA Gak to Some

I've been wanting to try out a slime recipe for a while now, but this was proving to be much more difficult than I thought. There are ALL KINDS of recipes floating around on the web about how to make Borax-Free slime, and I can tell you from personal experience that they were disasters.

We tried making it with liquid starch, we tried making it with laundry detergent, and it was all epic fail. EPIC. So I gave in and tried making it with Borax and we all lived to tell the tale. The boy-o didn't even attempt to put it near his mouth, and since I was the one making it, he was never near the original Borax powder, and the amount that goes into the slime is so minimal that I'm not going to worry about it.

I used regular white glue when I made it and didn't have any food colouring on hand the first time I tried making it, but I did add some blue sparkles to it. This gave it a fun sheen, but the sparkles definitely come out, and I've been picking them off him for days--consider yourself warned!

At first he really wasn't too sure about the slime since it was cold and a really different texture than anything else he's used to. He soon got over his hesitation though and started pulling and pushing it around the table. It was a great sensory experience for him. Our slime was quite thick and rubbery, and not particularly "slimy" so the next time I try it I'll add less Borax. (And some food colouring!)

So after a quick trip to the store to pick up some food colouring after the boy-o went to bed tonight, I decided to try making some more slime now that I've got some food-colouring. I made a pink and green one. All of the slimes are simply stored in their own Ziploc Baggies until we want to take them out and play again!

Here's the recipe that we used to make our slime:

Slime:

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup Elmer's Glue

- 1 TSP Borax

-  1 and 1/2 cup Water

- Food Colouring (optional)

Directions:

1. In one bowl mix 1/2 cup (4 oz) glue and 1/2 cup water. Add food coloring if you want colored slime.

2. In the other bowl, mix 1 teaspoon borax with 1 cup water until the borax is dissolved.

3. Add the borax mixture to the glue solution, stirring slowly. You may not need to add it all!

4. The slime will begin to form immediately; stir as much as you can, then dig in and knead it with your hands until it gets less sticky. (No one makes slime without getting a little messy!) Don't worry about any leftover water in the bowl; just pour it out.

Pink and Green Slime

The pink one is a pretty similar consistency to the original white one with the blue sparkles, but the green one is suuuuper slimy, which is fitting I supposed since it's green and all! 

The new colours have been stored away in some baggies too and I can't wait to see how the boy-o reacts to the new slimes and the texture of the green one.

Slime with Borax

Simple Toddler Activity- Q Tip Drop

Having a toddler can be tough sometimes--they don't seem to have an "off" switch, unless they're asleep. This has made it more important than ever to have some "quiet time" activities the boy-o can work on while I'm trying to get jobs done around the house, like making dinner in particular.

This is a bit of a throwback to the Ice Cream Bucket and Popsicle Stick idea, except it's much more compact which is great for travelling and even simpler to make. Basically all you need is an empty Parmesan Cheese container and some Q-Tips. I purposely bought a small clear container of Parm Cheese to make it suit the purpose more, but any of them will do just fine!

The concept is pretty simple.... give them the container with the flap open that has the small holes for shaking (not the large spoon one) and a pile of Q-Tips. Show them how to drop the Q-Tips in the holes and then let them have at it! This is a fantastic activity for working on fine motor control, not only for picking up and holding the Q-Tips, but also getting them into the little holes.

To take it up a notch, we also practiced our counting each time we put one in which is a great way to reinforce numbers while playing. The boy-o had a great time putting all the Q-tips in, and then unscrewed the lid himself to dump them out and started over again!

Because we used the small container size, it'll be really easy to toss in a carry-on or diaper bag for travelling purposes, and when not actively in use, you can just store the Q-Tips right inside the container. Since the Q-Tips aren't actually being used for their intended purpose, I'd definitely just recommend buying them from a dollar store making this simple little activity incredibly inexpensive as well.

Reading Together: Sharing Together

I'm a huge fan of reading and so is my Hubby. We've both loved books for as long as we can remember and so we hope to pass on that love of reading to the boy-o. I still remember many of my childhood favourite books like "Coral Island" and "Goblins in the Castle." The fact that we love to read is certainly no secret to our family and friends, and I'm very proud to admit that the boy-o already has almost an entire two shelf bookcase in his room full of wonderful books! Some are pre-loved, some are new, some are for when he's a little older and some are in a second language.

Books: Not just for reading! Om nom nom....

I try to read with him everyday (or ever other day at least!) and so far it seems like he's got some personal favourites too. At the moment we're mostly reading board books because he's at the stage where he wants to grab and pull everything into his mouth, and a regular book would run the risk of giving him a paper cut as well as getting ripped. So it'll be board books for a while yet!

 Some of our current favourites are:

1. The Barnyard Dance: This book is a silly rhyming story about a group of farm animals doing a country dance. The images are really cute and the rhyming simple. The boy-o loves the sound of this story and we read this one every time we sit down together to do some reading. Boynton has a bunch of really great books, but this one is our favourite.

2. Noisy Farm: This book is a super simple one, but the boy-o loves when I make the noises and he likes looking at the bright colours. He also really likes trying to lift up the flaps, although he doesn't really have the dexterity yet to manage that!

 

 

 

3. B is for Bear: We read this one so often that the boy-o has started to learn which pages have something to touch and will start to reach for it before I even bring his hand to it! The letters are large and clear and the book has a nice rhyming scheme. The pictures are large as well, and there's a lot of different textured spots for baby to touch and feel. The boy-o also gets really excited by all the large human faces in the book.

 



 

 

 

4. The Very Hungry Caterpillar: This one is a classic favourite, and is a frequent read in our house! The pictures are simple but lovely, the story a beautiful one of transformation, and it provides some opportunities for basic counting and "name that object" style playing.

 

 

 

 

 

5. Grumpy Bird: This is an excellent book that talks about feelings and friends. It's a nice repetitive story that allows your little one to anticipate what's coming next and it provides an opportunity to practice counting by keeping track of how many friends Bird has. It has a good message at the end and the pictures are very cute.

 







 

All of these books are available through Amazon or Chapters in board book format!

 

 

We actually like the idea of reading to the boy-o so much that we had bought a book that was meant to be read to him in utero! We decorated his nursery in Dr. Seuss theme, so when we stumbled upon this book we just couldn't resist! It's an adapted story from various Dr. Seuss books and it's really super cute with all the rhyming tongue twisters you'd expect to find in any other Dr. Seuss book!

 

 

 

Reading with your child is a great way to bond and spend some quiet time together. And the best part is, it's never too early or too late to start! If you don't already read with your little one pick up some books today and get started! It's a life-long love that you'll be passing on.