Felt and Boats

Maddie wanted to get out the felt board and felt bags today, which is kind of rare for her. But, she was so excited to drag the big board out and we spent foreeeeeever going through each bag.

The first one we did were the people pieces. If you look at the picture closely, this is how she assembled the little boy and little girl (or, "goil" as Maddie says). She was concentrating so hard, and I loved watching where she thought each body part/clothing belonged.

Then, we made a snowman. I helped her a lot with this one, since she hasn't seen too many snowmen (and I could not find a snowman book anywhere and going to the garage to get a Christmas book seemed like a gigantic job).

This was from our nature bag, which is filled with pieces to make trees, flowers and bushes. When I asked her if I could take a picture of the flowers we made, she pointed to her flower and said, "K, listen guys." Ha! She's a little Jill... :)

After our felt play (this was, by the way, during our no-TV time), we decided to make a boat. I guess it wasn't entirely random; she found a boat from her bucket of bath tub toys and I thought it'd be fun to have her make one.

We started out by coloring the water on the paper. I like how she double fists the markers.

Then, we glued on the shapes, talking about what they were and what colors each piece was. Instead of her using the glue (which always results in meltdowns when her fingers get gluey), I glued and she put the pieces down. It worked out great.

We also did a color sorting activity, but when we started working, I realized that my camera was on the counter. She was so into it that I hated to break her focus, so we'll have to play again later and take pics.

*Quick funny story: I asked Maddie if she needed a, um, new diaper. She said, "Yeah, poopy." Since that's what I'd been thinking, I grabbed some wipes and a clean diaper. I laid her down, only to realize that she was totally clean. I told her that no, she wasn't poopy and she smiled and said, "Mama silly." About two minutes later she pooped. Maddie silly. :)

Tuesday Morning Activities

I made this new felt board set for Maddie last night. Itsy Bitsy Spider is one of her favorite songs (mine too-ha!) and I thought she'd love acting it out with the pieces. And, after seeing a similar set on Etsy for $12, I was inspired to do a much cheaper version. We've played with it off and on all morning!

While Mason napped, we worked on threading spools and noodles onto pipe cleaners. It was tricky because if she used too much force, the pipe cleaner would bend. So mostly, I'd hold it and she'd thread them on. It was very entertaining.

Two things about this picture: One, introducing the Easter egg hunt was a terrible, wait, I meant, wonderful idea. She woke up wanting me to hide the eggs (and we’ve done so over and over and over…). Secondly, she’s bouncing on her knees. This is something many of you have seen; she has done for months, but it is so curious to me. She does it across the carpet, the cement, anywhere… Ouch!

Sick Sunday :(

Seeing as we were both house-bound with colds today, I decided to break out the felt and get started on her board. I've been wanting to make some pieces and today was the perfect day. These are some of the things I made.
She liked it, but I don't think she was in the best mood. We'll be trying it again in a day or two.

I picked up some Dot Art things yesterday (because Annie and Megan LOVED them when they were little) and Maddie went nuts. She had so much fun and kept her hands relatively clean (a big plus, since she hates getting her fingers dirty)! This was the perfect activity for today (so we did it over and over and over...). :)