This cute sandwich was a breeze to make using a Lunch Punch sandwich cutter. We had a couple of types of bread on hand and the contrasting colors add to the beauty. The puppy dog has a dried blueberry eye, and the meal is completed with an orange and some sweet bell peppers.
One tip is to push the cutter through the top layer of bread before placing it on the sandwich and continuing to press through. This reduces the possibility of smooshing all of the filling out!
The toys:
Believe it or not, fans of science, the bowl in the middle was 100% empty just moments before I captured this photograph.
Using paper towel as ladders, we watched capillary action in real time as the colored water climbed and then mixed in the empty bowls to give us new colors! Capillary action and color mixing all in one fun experiment!
You can find a photo tutorial for this experiment at We-Made-That.com.
Linked up with other fun activities for kids at: It’s Playtime and The Kid’s Co-op.
I found these wooden eggs, dishes and trays at Hobby Lobby the other day. I painted them and set out this little activity tray. The idea is to use the tongs to line up the eggs on their discs. Trickier than it looks!
Linked up at: It’s Playtime and Montessori Monday and Full Hands, Full Hearts
See more from Tinkerbean here!
The other day, we went on a hunt through the house to find all of our easter related toys… bunnies, eggs, chicks, etc. That night, I stuck those items, along with some new tactile letter discs (B for bunny, C for Chick, D for duck, and E for egg), into some eggs and buried them in a sensory bin for the bean to discover anew the next day. He really enjoyed this activity and spent a good long time digging for treasure!
Linked up at: It’s Playtime and Full Hands, Full Hearts
See more from Tinkerbean here!
The Toys:
 Ikea Storage Box  |
 Wooden Matching Game  |
The bean and his friends have been enjoying Arctic Ice sensory play regularly since Allison McDonald shared her idea for this bin on her popular kid’s activity blog No Time for Flashcards.
Our simple set up included an Ikea toy storage bin and part of a bento container. I filled it halfway with water and froze. When you pop out the smaller container, it leaves a nice pool for the swimmers.
Sometimes the penguins populate Antarctica, even the ones that usually live in other regions.
An old shower curtain laid on the bedroom floor comes in handy for easy clean up.
We kept a reference book “Arctic & Antarctic” handy to learn a bit as we played!
This is linked up with other fun activities at It’s Playtime!
The Toys:
 Arctic Toob  |
 Penguins Toob  |
 Zoo Babies Toob  |
 Ikea bin (X4)  |
 Oval Bento |
 Arctic and Antarctic  |
This bento lunch features green grapes on top, and a shamrock sandwich made of 4 hearts with cucumbers on the bottom for St. Patrick’s day! The stem is just a bit of bread that I cut from the scraps.
The natural beauty of food is evident in this pepper shamrock! This was totally and completely by accident, and yet so perfect!
Getting in the spirit for St. Patricks day can be as simple as inviting a little rainbow into your day.
I set up a little activity on our felt board for the bean: one 4-leaf clover assembled, and the peices available for a second one.
Same game with a leprechaun!
Linked up with other St. Patrick’s day fun food ideas on BentoUSA and Bento for Kidlet, and other activities at Living Montessori Now.
The Toys:
 Square Silicone Cups  |
 Bento Cutters  |
|
 2 Tier Bento |
 Elastic Bento Box Strap |
These forest children are adorable and a lovely toy for the children in your life.
The bright rainbow theme make them a cute contender for a St. Patricks day surprise!
My inspiration came from seeing them at Dream Child Studio on etsy. I don’t see them for sale anymore, but if you’d rather buy than make, you may get lucky if you contact her! [Update: Amanda of Dream Child Studio let us know that she is planning to make more!)
This photo depicts how to make these dolls stepwise from the red doll to the purple. Draw up a pattern for the cloak and hat and cut the felt using sharp fabric scissors. Hot glue the cloaks onto the dolls, then the star sequin “buttons.” Sew the hat. An optional step is to flip the hats inside out to reveal a cleaner seam (dark blue). Hot glue on the hats and they’re ready to play!
The Toys:
 Maxim TreeHouse  |
 Wood Doll Pins  |
 100% Pure Wool Felt  |
 Mini Thread  |
 Star Sequins  |
My inspiration for these delicious laced pancakes came from BiteDelite via recipe by photo. Aren’t they beautiful!? And they were a lot easier than I anticipated, totally doable for a special occasion.
And Pink!? That delicious color comes from beets! I added just enough pureed beet to add some excitement to my beloved family recipe for whole wheat pancakes.
Whole Wheat Pancakes:
1 egg, beaten
2 Tablespoons melted butter, plus some for the pan
1 cups buttermilk
1 cups whole wheat pastry flour (plus up to 1/3cup more to thicken mixture for lace pancakes)
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-2 Tablespoon pureed beets, strained to remove chunks (optional for pink color)
Mix together egg, butter and buttermilk. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix together. If you’re going for pink pancakes, add beets until desired shade is achieved. Butter your skillet and heat on low. Fill a pastry bag with the mixture and start drawing! Use a thin spatula and flip early to maintain a light color. Makes 2-3 servings.
The whole wheat pastry flour is a key ingredient, as it offers a lighter, more mild flavor than whole wheat flour. We make pancakes pretty regularly, and being the morning person that I am not, it helps to have a few batches of the dry ingredients pre-mixed and ready to go in pyrex containers. Lastly, making pancake lace that is no bigger than your spatula will be most likely to come off the pan in one piece!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
The Toys:
 Organic Pastry Flour  |
 Pastry Bag  |
 Cast Iron Griddle  |
 Spatula  |
Valentine’s day is but a few days away and this easy do-it-yourself stamp simply requires a pipe cleaner and some twisting!
This post is linked up at JDaniel4’s Mom: Valentine’s Day Traditions link up
The Toys:
 Washable Paint  |
 Chenille Stems  |
We’ve had a few days stuck in the house lately. Faced with the challenge of warding off cabin fever, I tinkered with the idea of bringing new life to an old toy by hiding the letter pieces from a word puzzle in a pom-pom filled sensory bin. It is great to experience a toy once again in a new exciting way.
But what is even better is when the activity I think I’ve provided goes in another direction altogether, inspired by a child’s creativity and joy. The spontaneous discovery that a face was emerging as two tiny white poms stuck to a huge turquoise pom pom led to a day-long project of creating characters, learning how to operate a hot glue gun, and estimating by eye where to thread a needle through the character to hang him at just the right angle for display.
It is not every day that we have the time and resources to follow a new idea through to a level of completion that we can be proud of, so it is extra special what it does work out this way.
The Toys:
 Pom Poms  |
 Puzzle  |
Toy Storage |
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