When Desert Moms blog invited me to do a write up about our All About Cactus Week (coming soon!), I got excited about creating a playspace. Especially since I had already been thinking about doing Mabel’s first birthday party as a cactus theme – I figured anything I made/used for the theme week, I could … More DIY Light Up Cactus
I love sensory bottles. I think they are good at almost every age, but I especially love them for baby play. I’ve found it’s a way to include Mabel in our Theme Weeks that safely lets her explore the world. It gives her access to small items that I couldn’t otherwise give her. Sensory bottles are fun … More Cactus Sensory Bottle
This is one of the easiest, fastest ways to color rice and one of my favorites. HOWEVER – it’s not mouth-proof, so if you have a kiddo that likes to put stuff in their mouth, I recommend the food coloring + vinegar method. Then at least it’s all food-based ingredients. To use the paint method, … More Coloring Rice with Paint
So I wanted to start by saying that I can’t take credit for this idea (a lovely lady named Carsonna on the Making One Fun Facebook group inspired this project) but it’s been AWESOME. Ever since I saw the idea, I couldn’t stop thinking about doing it for Mabel, my 8 month old. I didn’t expect how … More Dollar Store Busy Board
Delightful. Magical. Simple. A plastic whisk (we used one similar to this) and some scarves led to dancing with rainbows at our house and it was gorgeous. All we did was tie the rainbow scarves to the whisk, then let Ava play. I did have to remind her a few times to lift the scarves … More Rainbow Whisk
I came across this idea during my random Instagram/Pinterest brainstorming session and knew I had to try it with Ava. Ava just turned two in June, but has always loved small motor activities, so I felt pretty confident that she would like it. Plus, it gives me happy flashbacks to summer camp and friendship bracelets, … More Fine Motor Bracelet Making
There is an amazing place near us called Butterfly Wonderland, so I knew that I wanted to do a Butterfly week. I find butterflies to be pretty fascinating anyway, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar is such a classic that I was excited about the chance to dive deeper into it. I picked up a butterfly puppet for … More Butterfly Week
Under the Sea Week has been so fun! The ocean has always fascinated me – in part because of the unending amount of creatures and colors, and in part because I think I may be part fish (I love swimming). This week had a lot of water play and it was delightful (and only required … More Under the Sea Week
There’s something about Under the Sea Week that makes me want to play in water all the time. We may not live by the ocean, but we can at least play with shells and beautiful blue water! So this was originally an idea that I found on Pinterest, and as with a lot of those, … More Sea Foam Bubbles
I had picked up a can of shaving cream awhile ago, but hadn’t gotten a chance to use it. Also, I wasn’t quite sure how I wanted to use it. Shaving cream had been a staple in the preschool classroom I worked in, but we used it a lot for letter practice and not necessarily in … More Shaving Cream Hide & Seek
Noticing the Happy 