Boredom Buster!- Sidewalk Chalk City

Our on-the-go challenge continues....

This activity was more a product of necessity than anything else. I'll be honest (and a little whiny). I miss my backyard! That wonderful fenced in space where my kids can play, explore, get dirty, & run from me but never really get away.......

But enough with the whiny stuff. Today Dude & Spudder were still enjoying their outdoor play time right outside our door. The problem I was having, however, was keeping both boys in the same area. I'm sure most parents with multiple small children are familiar with this dilemma, when one goes one way and one goes another. Spudder was just...well wondering around, being one, and generally looking for trouble. Dude was driving cars, flying planes, and having a tough time remembering the imaginary boundaries I'd given him. It was then that brilliance struck. Ok, not brilliance, but definitely a good idea!

We created our own sidewalk chalk city.

Some roads, some familiar buildings, some trees, and some other essential toddler doodles, nothing too fancy needed here!

This kept Dude entertained until dinnertime :)

This activity would be especially great to keep in mind for any time you're away from home. You don't need many materials to do it, it leads to independent play, and you can do it anywhere there's concrete! So if you're ever visiting someone who doesn't have the most child friendly house, this might be a perfect activity to help keep your little one entertained.


Note from the trenches: If your 1 year old seems to be acting particularly good, it may be because he's actually feeding sidewalk chalk into the hole in a manhole cover. I guess we'll file that under fine motor skills practice?


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Boredom Buster! - Pretend Shampoo

I started thinking about this idea around April Fool's Day when I was trying to think of a toddler appropriate gag, but I never got around to actually doing it then. However when I recently found myself with an empty shampoo bottle I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. I just LOVE reusing household materials! I couldn't let a perfectly good bottle go into the recycling bin just yet. So I decided to make the boys a prank/gag/pretend shampoo bottle instead.

Here's what you'll need to do the same:

1. An empty and well rinsed out shampoo bottle

2. Tape

3. String (Yarn would probably work well, but I didn't have any so I just used a string from a mop head.)

First tear off small pieces of tape and wrap it around sections of the string. Leave about 1 1/2 inches uncovered at one end of the string and gaps roughly one centimeter between each piece of tape along the rest of the string. 

Thread the tape free end of the string through the bottle cap and secure it on the top side with tape. Make sure not to get the tape too close to the hole. It'll just work better if the tape is a bit further back.

Snap the lid on, give the bottle a firm quick squeeze and watch the string (shampoo) come flying out! You may need to trim your string down shorter for better results. I imagine the best length will vary depending on what kind of string & bottle you use. We found that just slightly longer than our bottle seemed to work the best.

 

Dude did have a somewhat difficult time squeezing the bottle fast enough to get the string to fly out, so for now I would sometimes pull the string out a little bit to make it easier for him. He also had just as much fun bringing me the bottle, holding out his hand, and requesting "Shampoo PLEEEASE!"   

Why the tape down the length of the string, you ask?

Well, it allowed Dude to thread the string back into the bottle by HIMSELF. I dreaded the thought of having him ask me to do this every 10 seconds, but with the tape he didn't need my help.

And as with most other toys, little brothers apparently make the best targets.

(Spudder actually thought this toy was hilarious!)

This would be a great thing to whip up on a rainy day when you're just trying to keep little ones occupied!

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