Projects!

Lately I have been trying to do things with Eddie while Edith sleeps in the morning. I used to let him sit in front of the tv while I would do some housework.  They are both napping at the same time in the afternoons, so I've decided to try and save the housework for during that time.  This way Eddie and I can spend some fun time together.  Sometimes we bake, but sometimes we do "projects" - that's what I call them.  They are nothing fancy, since I am hardly crafty. I have found some great ideas on Pinterest and other blogs.  Which of course leads to me wonder what did moms do before the internet?  I guess they must have looked up stuff in books . . .

Anyhow - one of the first things I tried doing with him was let him play with colored vinegar and a pan full of baking soda.  You are supposed to take droppers and drop the colored vinegar into the baking soda.  The droppers were tough for him and it took me a little bit to realize - hey, just give him some spoons.  He had a fun time watching the colors fizz and bubble. Of course by the end he just ended up dumping the little bowls of vinegar, but that's ok.

In beginning with dropper

Now using spoons

 One of the other things that I have done is made homemade playdough.  I found this recipe which is super easy.  I stocked up on salt and cream of tartar and we are good to go. It lasts forever in a plastic ziplock bag. I also have a bunch of a little toys from when I was a kid that are fun to use when playing with playdough.  We go in phases with the playdough, but now I try not to pull it out all the time, so it's fun and new when I do.

I also recently started stocking up on some cheap crafty supplies - like washable watercolors, glue, scissors that he can use etc. . .  it sort of snuck up on me that he is old enough to do stuff like this.  One thing that he also likes to do is color with markers and crayons and play with stickers, so some days, that is our "project".

Earlier this week I bought some cheap pasta and dyed it (you can find the instructions to do that here). I figured this would be good for stringing necklaces and other various projects.  Wednesday I set some pasta out with the glue.  I let him glue the pasta to some card stock. When that got old, I brought out some playdough and he played with the pasta and the playdough.

The set up

Dipping pasta into the glue

The finished project

Again - these are far from super clever, but it does help pass the time and it also provides some good one-on-one time. I look forward to when both kids can do stuff like this together, but right now Edith is at the EVERYTHING in her mouth phase, so that just wouldn't work!

What kinds of "projects" do you do with your kids?