A Sense of Wonder: Our Top 10 Sensory Play Items

Earlier this week, we posted our top 10 arts and crafts supplies (and projects using them) and we promised to post our favorite sensory play items.  There are actually a ton of legit reasons to engage your kiddos in sensory play, but we do it because we like to get messy and use our imaginations.  And mom has certainly found it to be a helpful way to keep us cool during the late afternoons this summer.

*     *     *

(1)  Water Beads -- By far our most favorite sensory play item, water beads are actually used commercially by the floral industry.  Involve your kiddos in soaking them and watching them grow.  We like to sort and pour them, but cutting and squishing them is really tops.  Kane used them recently in his imaginary kitchen to make "fruit salad" by cutting up "the fruit."  We've purchased them from several different stores on Amazon.com, including this set.

(2)  Water Table -- Cami received a super awesome sand/water table for her birthday this year and we use it almost every day.  We love to use ours for playing with water beads and ice, but some days all we do is play with water.  We've set up pretend kitchens, zoos, and pirate battles.  And, a tropical water table never hurt anybody.

(3)  Light Box -- Mom made us small lightboxes for Christmas last year and although we generally use them more during the winter (it's just easier when it's darker outside), they've seen their fair share of playtime this summer.  Two of the sensory ideas we request most for the light box are baggie painting and water beads.

(4)  Textured or Scented Playdough --  Plain old playdough is a pretty good sensory experience all on its own, but we like to mix it up and add texture and scents.  We had a ton of fun making applesauce  cinnamon dough and you can't go wrong with chocolate.  We love to pretend we are running a restaurant or bakeshop with our scented dough and use cookie or pastry cutters, serving dishes, and birthday candles to do it up right.  And, while it's not technically playdough, we had a real blast with the cloud dough we made.

(5)  Colored Rice --  This isn't mom's most favorite, because it inevitably gets everywhere and tracked throughout the house, but we both will spend a lot of time playing with it.  Mom usually puts it in a large plastic container and adds some different kitchen accessories or toys for us to use -- like this or this.

(6)  Colored Spaghetti -- We've colored spaghetti to use in a sensory bin and used plain spaghetti for painting as well.  It can be a little difficult with little toddlers who inevitably try to eat it (it IS food), but they also love the squishy, slippery feel of it.  Give it a try!

(7)  Ice -- For some reason we are fascinated with ice and both crowd the ice maker fort the shot to snag a runaway cube.  Our favorite ice activities include watching the reaction between ice, salt, and water colors and playing with colored ice shapes in our water table.

(8)  Jello --  Mom cannot figure out why kids love jello so much.  She recalls begging her mom to get her one of those grocery store jello molds when she was a little girl and then being totally grossed out by it.  So now we use it for all kinds of things other than eating it, including our recent attempt at jello sculptures.  But wouldn't it be fun to fill up a bathtub or small pool with jello?  Hm....

(9)  Shaving Cream -- We love to make bathtub paint out of shaving cream and our attempts at shaving cream marbling usually turn into a shaving cream free-for-all.  But mom also frequently just fills up a few small buckets with the stuff and lets us have at it.  But, keep in mind, the stuff cheap enough to use nilly willy, smells, well, cheap.  And, we haven't tried it yet, but have heard that shaving cream and some water beads in a bin make for some super sensory fun.

(10)  Giant Squish Bag --  The least easy to make sensory supply on our list, the giant squish bag was loved by all who played on it (for the 20 minutes it lasted).  Giant squish bag, we will make you again and we will kick your A the next time.  And if you don't want to try and make one, but have a back yard you're willing to lend, let us know.  We'll be there with plastic sheeting and bells on.

Blame it on the Alcohol: Tie Dyed Coffee Filters

It may have had us feeling a little dizzy (not really), but the rubbing alcohol we used to "tie dye" the coffee filters we colored with permanent markers wasn't wowing any of us.  We've seen lots of sharpie tie dye this summer (like this) and thought we'd give it a go with coffee filters (as we didn't have any spare t-shirts, but we have plenty of coffee filters).  Mom tried it first by rubber banding it on to a yogurt cup, but the alcohol saturated quickly and fell into the cup instead of spreading out through the filters.  So we tried it by just putting the filter on the table and it worked, but it wasn't anything spectacular.  We did find that it worked best when we covered most of the space with marker, but that only lasted the first or second coffee filter (we are king and queen of the "one mark on a page").  HOWEVER, mom refuses to call this a FAIL because we both spent a lot of time doing it (which these days is prime criteria for a successful project).  I'm sure we'll give t-shirts a go soon because mom can't stand not getting things to work the way she wants (which is likely why she spent almost 48 hours in labor with Kane until the dr. ordered an emergency c-section.  funny thing, she scheduled her c-section of me almost immediately after seeing that + sign).

Pretty in Pink: Watermelon Blueberry Popsicles

Cam and I are on a real fruit strike, which mom says makes no sense given how much summer fruit rocks right now.  But when do we ever have a rational explanation for one of our campaigns?  In any event, we do like watermelon and mom and I looked through some recipes to make watermelon popsicles.  I picked out one that used blueberries to look like the seeds, which mom was slightly worried about since neither one of us eats blueberries.  Correction, we actually do like frozen blueberries, but she was skeptical.  Turns out we do like frozen blueberries, but not when they are in popsicles.  Obvi.  So we ate these, but spit out the blueberries, which mom thought was just fantastic.

Saw You in a Park of a Courtyard: Kogod Courtyard and National Portrait Gallery

We have been trying to fit in a visit to the National Portrait Gallery for some time, but have a hard time because it doesn't open until 11:30 a.m.  During the week, that runs pretty close to the time we have to get Kane from school and on the weekend, 11:30 is a late start for us.  Mom and I popped in yesterday to take a look and ended up spending most of our time in the Kogod Courtyard eating lunch (after spending most of the morning "shopping" in the nearby Forever 21 store waiting for the Portrait Gallery to open).  As far as we're concerned, the Kogod Courtyard and the Courtyard Cafe are a destination in and of themselves.  It's cool, it's quiet, and they serve up grilled cheese and tomato soup.  And there is a pretty neat water feature running the length of the courtyard, too.

We did take a few minutes to check out some of the Portrait Gallery and to run up to the American Art Museum's exhibit on video games (the American Art Museum and the Portrait Gallery share space), which mom wanted to check out for Kane.  She seemed pretty psyched that they had giant Pac-Man and Super Mario Bros. games, but I wasn't interested.  We don't have any video games (although at one point we also didn't used to watch t.v., so there's hope yet), but older kids would probably like this exhibit and parents who grew up in the 80s would get a kick out of it, too.

If you are looking for other activities in the area, the Martin Luther King public library is right across the street and has Baby/Toddler storytime Fridays at 10:30 a.m. and Tales for Twos and Threes Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m.  The Spy Museum is also a stone's throw away if you have older kids and want to spend some dough.  And the Gallery Place/Chinatown metro stop (green/yellow/red lines) is literally right outside the building.

accessories shopping at Forever 21 --  i was pretty psyched about the hot pink 

rubber coin purse and lip chaps i got

waiting for Portrait Gallery to open

How Do You Like Your Eggs in the Morning: Baked Prosciutto and Egg Cups

Around our house, we'll take eggs any way, any time of the day.  We heart eggs.  And because our mornings are usually a bit rushed, we frequently eat them for dinner.  Brinner is hands down everyone's favorite meal in Casa Green.  One of our most favorite egg dishes, and if you've ever brunched at our house you already know this, is Rachael Ray's prosciutto egg cups.  It's stupid simple, but tastes amahhhhzing.  And a great brunch dish because you can easily make a whole bunch at once in a muffin tin (or in ramekins if you want to be shmancy about it).  Here's what you'll need:

cooking spray
6 thin slices prosciutto
2 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, torn into small pieces
3 large basil leaves, torn (we've used TJ's frozen basil cubes before, too)
6 eggs
freshly ground pepper

Then: coat 6 cups of muffin tin with cooking spray; fit each with a prosciutto slice.  Divide half the cheese and basil among cups.  Crack an egg into each and nestle remaining mozzarella and basil around the eggs.

Bake at 375 degrees until set, about 15 minutes; let rest for 5 minutes.  Season with pepper.  Run knife around cups to unmold.

We had ours the other night with peanut butter bagels and some fresh fruit.  YUM.

Because I'm a Joyful Girl: National Museum of Women in the Arts

We often hear people express reservation about taking small children to art galleries or museums for fear that they won't behave or won't "get anything" out of it.  Our lack of behavior generally doesn't stop us from doing things (although mom does actually try to get us to behave) and we definitely understand the feeling of being discouraged from partaking in the arts (ahem, our visit to the Textile Museum).  But mom and I had the total opposite experience recently on our first visit to the National Museum of Women in the Arts.  It feels like it has the potential to be a little "stuffy" when you first enter, but the docents at the desk were immediately helpful -- giving us maps, guides, and pointing out the exhibits that might interest children (and little girls more specifically) the most.  They highlighted the book exhibit, which has many 3D and almost sculptural pieces, the section of the museum that has many paintings of babies and mommies, and the tea sets.  Yeah, it was a little stereotypical genderwise (which seems to contradict the meaning behind the whole museum itself), but all of those things are right in my wheelhouse, so I was psyched.

Mom and I started at the top of the museum and worked our way down.  As expected, the paintings of babies held my interest the most and I sang goodnight lullabies to all of them.  I spent a fair bit of time picking out who was who in family portraits (mommy, daddy, baby, sister, etc.).  I also really liked finding kitty cats and the color purple (DORA PURPLE).  Mom's favorite exhibit, which is now gone, was R(ad)ical Love: Sister Mary Corita -- super cool pop art.  Of course that was the point in our visit at which I chose to act up.  But that's just to be expected.

We stuck around and had lunch at the very ladylike cafe on the mezzanine level -- overlooking the grand lobby.  I sat right down in my seat and spread my napkin out in my lap.  Mom's jaw might have dropped open.  Then I poured salt on the table and licked it right up.  That's more like it.

If you get a chance to go, don't forget to pick up a free set of interactive art cards from the front desk that functions as a cool guide to the museum.  We didn't check it until after we left, but front and center are some neat ideas to use when visiting with children, including:

  1.  Go on a colors quest.  What colors did the artist choose?  How do they make you feel?

  2.  Hunt for shapes -- geometric, organic, and fantastic!
 
  3.  Try a senses walk.  Imagine you could take a step into the work of art.  What would you see, hear, feel, smell, and taste?

  4.  Tell a story.  What happened just before this scene?  What happened just after?

  5.  Look at the figures.  Imagine you are one of the people represented in the artwork.  What's on your mind?  How do you feel?

We tend to do similar things when visiting art museums already, but we'll definitely put these set of ideas to use in the future.

The museum is open Monday - Saturday, 10 am - 5 pm and Sunday, 12 pm - 5pm.  Admission is $10/adult ($8/student) and kids under 18 are FREE.  And FREE community days the first Sunday of every month.  The adjacent gift shop also has some different and super cool items for sale (you know we had to go shopping, too).

99 Luftballons: Water Balloon Ice Shapes

We are protesting the heat in every way possible and this water balloon ice was a big hit with both of us (less of a big hit with daddy who opened the freezer mid-freeze and had nice bright green one explode everywhere).  Mom squirted a few drops of food color into regular balloons (water balloons break too easily), filled them up with water, tied them, shook them up to mix the color, and then froze a whole bunch for 24 hours (and it took a full 24 hours -- the ones she checked prematurely exploded, so just sit tight).  I was so excited that I wanted at them before Cami woke up from nap (and I gave up my precious "show time" to do so).  Mom put them in our water table with some water beads, but I turned the whole thing into a kitchen and decided to make several varieties of "soup" for mom to taste test. "Orange bottomed carrot soup" was mom's favorite.  Then I used the melting ones to make sculptures by boring holes into them and filling them with squished up water beads.

Cam woke up cranky and threw a fit about the purple ice not being purpley enough.  And then she mostly terrorized me by moving the ice out of my soup.  We reconciled the following day (we had enough ice balloons to last two days) and turned our party tubs turned soup pots into bath tubs (don't worry - we'll wash them before the next bday bash!).  These kept us busy for several hours two days in a row.  And if we had an extra freezer (that wasn't crammed full of Trader Joe's), we'd make them every day!

p.s. one would think the amount of nakedness going on at our house this summer would mean a significant decrease in laundry and yet, miraculously, it has not.

not purpley enough.

no soup for you!

bathtime!