Field Trip Number 2--to the ZOO

We decided last minute to make a Zoo trip Monday!  It was super fun and we invited a few cousins.  Everyone had a blast.  Little guy actually rode the ponies and loved it which kinda surprised me!  The older two have always been leery of stuff like that.  My princess won't even let me push the stroller NEAR the ponies or goats and was even scared of the elephants.  My eldest rode the ponies AFTER he saw how much fun his baby brother had!  lol  My princess got much braver in the bird house after she saw the Scarlet Macaws.  She loves them thanks to seeing them on Diego.  The boys both rode the carousel as well which she refused but everyone had fun on the train at the end of the day.

Oatmeal Playdough--Sensory Play

This was our Sensory Therapy activity of the day.  We made oatmeal play-dough and had tons of fun!  Bonus was this activity Little Guy even got in on, although he didn't want to help with the mixing.  He loves play-dough, so we are trying to add more textures to the experience.  This play-dough had a slightly dry scratchy texture.  Extra water makes it more on the sticky side.

1.  Mix 2 parts oatmeal with 1 part flour in a large bowl.

2. Mix measure out one part water and mix food coloring into the water.  The color mixes in easier this way.  Kneed with hands

until it forms a ball. 

 

 

We repeated steps one and two for more colors!

3. Play!!!

UPDATE::  We unfortunately discovered the hard way that this playdough recipe should be refrigerated for storage.  After a few days, it has started to get kinda smelly, so awesome playdough recipe though!  We will have to make it again and refrigerate! 

First field Trip of the year, clean mud update

Well, last week was super nice weather at least early in the week, so we spent some time outside in the pool.  We kinda slacked on school a tad, so we could spend more time outside for a couple of days.  They still got plenty of work done though.

Then last Friday we decide to dig out our semi-forgotten tub of clean mud since we had a cousin over and needed something extra special fun to do!  An entire week after we made it, it was still very fresh!  All we had to do was add a glass of water to make it more squishy again and the boys of course had a blast.  My two very sensitive ones weren't interested in having another go at it, but Little Guy at least watched this time instead of hiding under the table!  :)

Today, we had speech therapy an hour away for Little Guy, so we thought why not throw in a field trip with it to make it double worth the gas money.  We hit the Putnam Museum and had a blast!  Unfortunately my camera lost it's charge shortly after getting there.  I should be getting more pics that my mom took since she decided to go with us.  I will have to add more later.  Anyways, we of course had a blast and the kids' cousin joined us as well.  They had added a lot of very kid friendly rooms to explore which was great.  My Princess just wanted to stay in the discovery area and play with a fawn puppet that she found in there last year.  She loves that puppet!  There was also a play submarine to explore, a treehouse, a Native American hut to play in, a play "trading post", and a play colonial house area, not to mention all the usual museum exhibits.  My eldest loves reading about and looking at all the different exhibits.  The younger two just like the more play areas for the most part but they are still learning bunches while they play.  They had a medical area set up with real equipment.  They even had an ultrasound machine and we took a peek at the new baby.  Unfortunately I didn't have a clue what I was doing and we didn't get a very good peek but we thought we saw a head and some hands.  The kids got to look at all the high-tech stuff and really liked that room too.  Then when it was time to leave we hit the gift shop.  We bought some fun science kits to try out which I am sure I will be posting about later.  Little guy bought and airplane and a ball of course (he has to buy balls everywhere if he gets to pick something), and my Princess got a fawn finger puppet that looked kind of like the big one she is in love with.  :)

I promised more pics!  Here's what my mom took.  Next time I will be sure to charge my camera!

Clean Mud--Good squishy sensory therapy fun!

I know I have seen this on a few other blogs by several different names but when we made this at the daycare I used to work at, we called it clean mud so that is the name I am sticking with.  This is an awesome sensory therapy activity and is super fun.

Supplies:  Two bars of dove soap, one large roll of toilet paper, water (a glass more or less depending on consistency)

First, you tear up all the toilet paper into small pieces and put in a large container or tub.  We used an under the bed box like we do for many of our sensory activities.  The kids loved tearing up the toilet paper.

Then we melted the soap in the microwave one bar at a time.  I should have taken a picture of this step but I forgot.  It's kinda funny because it puff up super huge.  Then you mix the soap along with water into the toilet paper.  Mix the water in a little bit at a time so it doesn't end up too soupy.  Be careful with the soap when you first put it in, because it is kinda hot.  Once you put the water in with it, the kids can help mix with their hands.

 My big guy helped me mix, but the other two weren't big fans.

 My princess said it felt too weird but she did play for a few minutes.

 Little Guy had an extreme sensory related meltdown and hid under the table.

So this might be a bit too much for kids with more extreme sensory issues.

 I liked it though, it feels cool and squishy and it smells good.

 At least someone loved it!  I couldn't drag my eldest out of it for about an hour!

Good clean fun and our hands have never been cleaner!  I've been told it keeps for a few days when sealed so we will see what it is like tomorrow.  It makes a good science project for preschoolers too!