The Mom I Want to Be

 

Make a Super-hero costume out of household items

 

This activity will work best for older toddlers. Outfitting your youngster won’t take a lot of time- I’ve found kitchen items work great with little trouble. Try the following items:

 

– For a shield, use a pizza pan or cookie sheet.

 

– For a cape, use a pillow case or towel safety-pinned to child’s shirt

 

– Aluminium foil makes a great super-hero accessory. Make a headband or wrist braces with it- put it on shoes to make them magic, make a utility belt, or handcuffs for catching bad guys.

 

– A light-weight pot makes a good helmet

 

– As for super-hero devices,  try looking in your kitchen cupboards. Strainers, basters, steamers, spoons, muffin or pie tins… anything you can find that doesn’t pose a health hazard can be great fun.

A page for an alphabet book

 

 

Hole punch

Green, black, yellow, and white construction paper

Scissors

Glue

Thin black marker

8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper

 

 

Draw some leave shapes and have your child cut them out. Cut out a ‘stem’ for your milkweed plant and some grass for the ground. Let your child use the hole punch to make circles from the black, yellow and white construction paper. Punching holes in the leaves to make them look ‘chewed on’ is fun too! Glue the milkweed plant and grass to the paper. Glue the black, white, and yellow hole pieces for caterpillars ~ try to make patterns with the colors! Add little eyes and antennae with a marker if you’d like.

A marble, some paper towel tubes and tape can be the basis for this fun game. Challenge your kids to move a marble from one spot to another through tube tunnels. Start easy (say, from a chair to the other side of the room), then get harder (around the corner and downstairs).

For older children, you can push the challenge even further.  Tell them that thier taskis to design a maze that makes a marble roll as slowly as possible through it.  This can even be a friendly competition if you have 2 or more older children.

 

Provide materials: 

 

flat box without lid

25 craft sticks

10 pipe cleaners

roll of masking tape

scissors (may not be part of the solution)

marble (may not be altered)  

Using the box and materials that are provided, create a maze that uses as much time as possible to roll a marble through it. Plan to have the box stand up on one of its sides. Put a hole for the marble in the upper left corner. You may practice with the marble and make changes as long as you do not destroy the box. Stand the box up on one of its sides. Insert the marble in the upper left corner to begin its journey. The marble needs to roll to the lower right corner as slowly as possible. Once the marble has begun its run, no touching!

 

If doing as a competition, you can score it to declare the winner:

 

10 points for rolling the marble successfully to the end of the maze

5 points for every 10 seconds (rounded to the nearest 5 sec.) that the marble continues to roll (60 points max.)

Up to 15 points for the creativity of your maze

 

 

 

 

0-3 months, Attachment, Bath Time, Water Play

 

Treat yourself to a soothing bath with your baby, making bath time a cozy, relaxing playtime instead of a chore.  Be sure the room is warm (run the shower hot a few moments if necessary before filling the tub).  Keep two large towels nearby, with one on the floor next to the tub so you have a place to set the baby a moment while you get in and out of the tub.  As the two of you enjoy the water together, sing to your baby.  Sing your favorite pop tunes or Sinatra classics – what you sing doesn’t matter as long as you enjoy it.  Music creates intimacy and connectedness.  Even in the bathtub you can rock your baby in your arms as you sing or hum.  Or you can nestle your infant on your legs on your lap and move with the music the two of you are making together.  Keep baby submerged in the warm bath water (or wrapped in a light cotton blanket while in the water if your baby prefers to be swaddled), as the air will feel cool to a wet baby and can cause discomfort and disrupt the soothing mood.

 

0-3 Months, Development, Water Play, Bath Time, Personal Care

 

Talk and sing while bathing your infant in a sink or molded tub.  Sing about the parts of the body you are washing.  The following can be sung to the tune “London Bridge is Falling Down”:

 

Head and shoulders, knees and toes,

Knees and toes, knees and toes.

Head and shoulders, knees and toes,

Eyes and ears and mouth and nose.

 

Sing this to the tune of “Here we go round the Mulberry Bush”, substituting each body part you wash in the place of “hair”:

 

This is the way we wash our hair,

Wash our hair, wash our hair.

This is the way we wash our hair

Baby (Name) and Mommy (or daddy)

 

 

These songs can go well beyond infancy and will take on many variations as your baby learns the parts of the body.

 

 

Ages: 9 months and up

Forget “Lather. Rinse. Repeat.” As every parent of a shampoo-phobe knows, it’s hard enough just to get a few suds into — and then back out of — that little tangle of hair. Make washing more fun and ease your child’s fears with one or more of these tried-and-true techniques.

 

Hello, Dolly! (12 months and up) Let your child shampoo her own baby’s hair (use an already-bedraggled doll or one made specifically for the bath) while you shampoo hers. It’ll both distract her and get her more comfortable with the hair-washing process in general.

 

Get in Gear (12 months and up) What kids hate about shampoo, of course, is that soapy water trickles into their eyes. That’s why child-size goggles, a swim mask, or a snug-fitting visor can take the sting out of the whole experience. (These are easiest to use when kids have short hair.)

 

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall (9 months and up) Putting up an unbreakable, bath-safe mirror lets your tot watch as you give him a unicorn’s horn, a pair of antlers, or even a spiked mohawk, the promise of which is sure to make those shampoo suds infinitely more appealing.

 

Eye Spy (12 months and up) One of the easiest ways to keep soap out of your child’s peepers? Have her look up during the rinse cycle. To ensure her cooperation, place an eye-catching poster on the ceiling and ask her if she sees, say, the dog by the tree. Or blow soap bubbles toward the ceiling for her to look at.

 

Control the Flow (9 months and up) A large plastic funnel or even a small watering can allows you to rinse with more precision — and doubles as a toy.

 

Your child’s likely got buckets of submersible plastic animals, figurines, and cars. But if your imagination feels waterlogged when it comes to fresh ways to play with them, we’ve got some ideas that are sure to float your little one’s boat.

 

Noah’s Ark It’s raining! Forty days and 40 long nights. Send a toy boat (or a shallow plastic container) on a rescue mission to save all the plastic animals from the watering-can downpour.

 

Ice Age Freeze Freeze a small bath toy or plastic figure inside a paper cup filled with water. Once it’s frozen, peel away the paper and float the ice in the tub. Your child will love discovering her friend as the “glacier” melts.

 

Undersea Explorer Voilà, the intrepid Jacques Cousteau figurine! How brave he is to examine that frightening sea monster! What are those? Giant toes? An enormous oceanic knee? And what is that strange giggling sound this monster makes?

 

Bathtime at the Zoo The animals are filthy. Never mind that they’re a motley assortment (Piglet finally meets his cousin from the Fisher-Price farm): Your child will love getting them all sudsy and clean.

 

All Aboard! Roll out a fleet of cars and that same shallow plastic container. It makes a terrific boat for ferrying vehicles across Bathtub Bay.

 

Swimming Lessons OK, all you plastic people and animals, grab your towels (a washcloth should fit just fine) and line up on the side of the tub for class. You’ll learn to swim, race, and dive — and be prepared to pass a test at the end.

Cardboard or card stock

Pencil

Scissors

2 new 1/2-inch-thick kitchen sponges, in different colors

Washable marker

 

Make a template. To do so, trace the perimeter of the sponge onto the cardboard, and then draw a simple shape in the center of that rectangle, leaving at least a 1/2-inch border between the sides of the rectangle and your shape.  To be sure that a hand-drawn shape is symmetrical (so it fits easily in the sponges), first fold the cardboard so that the rectangle is split in two, then draw half of your shape against the fold (the same technique you would use to make a heart-shaped valentine). Cut out the shape. Wash the sponges in soapy water, rinse them, and wring them out well.  Now center the template on one sponge and trace around it with the marker. Cut out the shape (fold the sponge to make the first snip).  Repeat with the second sponge, then switch the shapes for a pair of two-color puzzles. Make as many pairs as you like.