I Heart You!

Weeeelllll, another week shut in due to the lovely winter weather! This time we have been plagued by ice. No fluffy snow to sled and play in, just cold dreary sleet and ice. Thankfully we had the luxury of power, heat, food, and all of our family under one roof; as many Georgians weren’t as fortunate to have during this storm.

So how to pass the day with a 3 year old, teething 10 month old, and a husband who’s working from home????? Lots, and Lots, and Lots of activities. Since Valentine’s Day is on the horizon I decided to dedicate the day to hearts and crafts for loved ones.

We started the day reading some favorite Valentine’s stories we checked out from the library: The Day it Rained Hearts, The Biggest Valentine Ever, and Happy Valentine’s Day Mouse (If you give a…).

 

 

Next Sean was given a handful of conversation hearts in the lid of an egg carton cut in half. On the inside of the holes I colored the bottom the same colors as the candy. I free handed a graph and supplied him with some magnetic numbers. First Sean sorted the colors in the egg carton; next he transferred each pile of colors onto the graph. Then he counted the number of each color from the graph and placed the appropriate number in the egg carton. We talked about which color had the most (longest line) and the least.

 

 

I whipped up a bowl of cloud dough. Just mix 2 and half cups of flour with half a cup of oil ( I used baby oil which made the dough soft and lightly scented). You could always add food coloring, glitter, or essential oils. The cloud dough is different from play dough in that it crumbles like dirt but molds together when firmly pressed. It’s a great texture to explore. I added some measuring cups, heart molds, pom poms, and leftover heart candies. Sean spent a long time scooping, sorting, counting, mixing, and stacking. This was a hit. I placed some saran wrap over the top to keep it fresh for tomorrow.

Last we spent hours painting and crafting Valentine cards and prints for our loved ones.

I used contact paper to make heart collages. Cut contact paper into desired shape/size, peel the paper backing off, tape it sticky side up, tear/cut tissue paper (Sean is working on cutting so this was great practice for him), and stick all over the contact paper.

 

 

Check out the cute handprint art. I stalk Pinterest for handprint art every holiday and make one for our scrapbook and one for each set of grandparents. They are cute personal ways to remember how tiny your babies are and how fast they grow.

 

Olivia got in on the craft action by crumpling tissue paper and finger painting. She also had 2 busy baskets today. One was filled with random items: a block, board book, 2 teething rings, balls, and scrap material. The other was filled with musical instruments. She loved pulling out each item, exploring (ie. eating, sucking, chewing, throwing) and placing them back in.

We survived the boredom, kept the noise level down for daddy to work, did a little learning, and had lots of fun. Now off to plan for tomorrow as we will be home yet again! Stay warm!