Keeping Busy: Green Goo

     Horrible picture with my phone, but super fun and easy activity with the kiddos. All you need is 1 cup of cornstarch, 1/2 a cup of water, and a couple of drops of food coloring. Mix together and let your kids enjoy the fun. If it's a little stiff add water, but it should be able to form a ball then ooze out of their hands. Liam loved this!

Pirate's Treasure Hunt

Liam loves the show Jake and the Neverland Pirates. So, last week we did a treasure hunt. He loved it, and has asked to do one almost everyday since. It's a fun activity, and you can even do it indoors on a rainy day. We had some nice weather, so we did ours outside on our block, but you can even make it longer depending on how long you would like it to last.

                  First I painted a craft box from Michael's then once it was dried I glued the flag on top.

                                       Then I filled it with goodies. Gold coins and pirate suckers.

        I made a treasure map by just burning the edges of some construction paper, drawing a simple  map, and crinkling it. Liam napped that day, so I left it rolled up where I knew he would see it when he woke up and told him that the pirates must have lost it.

                                                                        His compass

                                   Halloween books that I hid along with the chest outside.

                                                                     Starting the hunt!

             Looking for treasure. We left gold coins along the way for him to find while looking for the treasure.

                        He found the X! I just used two sticks to make it, but if you want you can also use tape.

                                                Super excited he found the pirate chest.



Liam loved this activity and it was pretty cheap. Most of the stuff I got at the dollar store and probably spent about $6 total. If you have a girl not into pirates you can always change it up and have it as fairies leaving their pixie dust and treasures or anything else they are in to.  Hope you have as much fun as we did!

I think fall is back

     While the weather has been beautiful in Chicago, I know it won't last long, but we're enjoying it while it's here. Today was a rainy day though and it reminds me of the cold weather to come. In the back of my mind I am thinking about all the cold, rainy, and snowy days ahead. I read it's suppose to be the worst Chicago winter in a long time, so I need to do some preparing because unless we have some activities to do indoors, there's going to be 3 crazy kids and one crabby mommy.
     So I plan on making a trip to the store soon to buy some stuff and start getting some projects and activities ready. I'll be posting what I come up with, but I'd love to hear any of your ideas especially for toddlers since most of the stuff I'm familiar with is for preschool age kids.  What do use guys have planned for the winter months?

Before Dinner Distractions

  I told you how I always feel like while I'm cooking it's a disaster. Someone is always crying or hanging on me or all of a sudden they need something. So I have been trying to come up with some activities the kids can sit down and do, so things are not so chaotic.  I saw this on Pinterest with a strainer and pipe cleaners. We didn't have pipe cleaners so I used straws, which worked but I know pipe cleaners will work better. Liam loved doing this, it was a little too hard for Declan but he tried and watched Liam. I plan on getting some pipe cleaners next time I'm at the store since they liked it. I would love to hear if you have some ideas as well.