New Ways to Play

So Tylee and I have been coming up with new ways to play lately to break up the monotony of playing with the same toys everyday.  I have gotten a lot of ideas off of Pinterest and have more to try, but here is what we have done so far:

Moon Sand:  This was just a simple mixture of 8 parts flour to 1 part oil.  It imitates the texture of damp sand, but never dries out.  Tylee loved squishing it in her fingers and smashing down any "sand castles" that I molded up.  I also gave her some cookie cutters that she loved using to push around the sand.  We will definitely do this again, but outside next time...she made quite the mess when she saw how fun it was to push the sand off her high chair tray.



Rice:  This was kind of an accident, but I had seen different sensory boxes on Pinterest with dry rice in them, so I would have eventually gotten to it.  So Tylee has discovered how to open cabinets...and I USED TO keep my rice on the bottom shelf.  Ya, rice all over the kitchen floor.  She loved how the rice "jumped" when I dropped handfuls of it onto the hard wood floors.  Pushing it around with both her hands and feet was also really fun.  And bonus...this was really easy clean up with the vacuum!

Bubbles:  The weather has been so nice lately that we have gone outside a couple of days and played with bubbles.  Tylee does like them, but loses interest pretty quickly since she isn't quite mobile enough to chase them down and pop them.  Maybe they will be more fun when she is walking.  Reese on the other hand loves them and Tylee is quite entertained watching Reese chase the bubbles all over the yard.

Finger Paint:  Since Tylee puts everything in her mouth, I had to find paint that was "edible".  Pinterest came through again with a simple flour, jell-o, and water recipe.  We took this activity to the bathtub because I knew it would get messy.  Tylee was hesitant with the paint at first, but once she tested it out, she was red from head to toe...and smelled like strawberries!

 And just for good measure...here is a picture of the usual everyday toys.  I love that she can just stand up and get all her own toys out of the drawer.  Of course, just like any kid, one toy is never enough and if I start playing with something, that's the one she wants no matter what else she has.  Love this little monkey!