Rainy Day Fun

Last night and early this morning we got lots of rain and some thunderstorms in our area. You remember rain, right? It has been a while. So when we got up this morning I decided that we could embrace this cloudy, cozy day by having a relaxing day. Eva and I stayed in our jammies for quite a while. We snuggled in her glider and read stories. We skipped out on our usual baby library time. And I got creative with some fun rainy day activities. My photos aren't that amazing because I was mostly enjoying playing with her and also because she wasn't too interested in getting her picture taken. I just took quick shots so that I could look back and remember having a great day at home with my sweet girl :)

Our first activity was pulling silky scarfs out of an old Kleenex box. Eva is an expert at pulling tissues out of the kleenex box so I figured she would enjoy this game. I found a suggestion for this online that involved using fabric squares but I didn't have those and scarfs were just as fun.

Then we played with an old muffin pan. I found an idea that involved putting cut up paper towel rolls inside of the muffins cups but Eva was pretty quick to put those in her mouth. I wasn't sure about the chemicals in the glue that they use to hold the roll together so I tossed those out and we used colorful plastic balls instead. I would put the balls in the pan, she would take them out. Repeat a hundred times. I also got out an old oatmeal container that I've cleaned out and decorated with scrapbook paper and we played "basketball" (she dropped the balls in the container). It was neat to see that she caught on that it was funny to drop the ball inside of the container. 

 And then we tried this painting activity. I have wanted to paint with her for a while but go back and forth about using actual paint. I would of course use the non-toxic, washable kind, but right now everything goes in her mouth so I'm just not sure about that. Instead I took vanilla pudding, mixed parts with different colors of food coloring and froze it in ice cube trays so that I can store it for a while and just get out a few cubes at a time. I defrosted a red and green cube and put them inside of a ziplock bag. I taped the ziplock bag on a piece of butcher paper. The point of this is for her to get to squish the pudding and mix the colors together inside the bag without it getting all over everything. Older kids can also create pictures in the paint but I wasn't expecting her to do that. Note: I try to remember to focus on the actual fun-ness of watching Eva decide what to do with an activity. Her getting to play is way more important than her doing something a specific way. With that in mind, I will admit that she squished the paint in the ziplock bag for about a second and then was way more fascinated with ripping the big piece of paper behind it. She also figured out how to rip the pieces of paper that were taped down to the floor and was very proud of herself for that.

Since we still had some pudding paint left I put that baby in the tub and let her smash it all over herself and the tub. If you look closely you can see where she wrote her name in the paint. What a genius!!!! (Okay, I did that part).  When she realized that this paint was actually sweet pudding she became more determined so eat it than paint with it. Therefore it was time for..... a bath!!!

All smiles here! Eva loves to splash in the tub and play with bath toy! Bonus, the soap and hot water made all that sticky pudding wash right off.

Below are a few other creative things Eva and I have done lately. Part of  my college degree is in early childhood education so I'm super excited to teach Eva all about everything! Plus it's way more fun for me to come up with new things to do than to play with the same toys every day. (Sometimes you need a break from stacking blocks and singing Fisher Price songs).  Keep in mind that Eva's attention span is very short so instead of doing these activities for a long period of time we repeat them over a few days. And I'm always right there to supervise anything that has small pieces :)  For cooler blogs, better photos, and more activities check out my Pinterest Board.

Science Bottles: I made these using things I already had in a craft box. They sort of represent different things in nature. For example, the bottle of rice makes a rain sound. One bottle has blue water and oil on top that makes waves when you roll it. One bottle has the ingredients to make a tornado inside of it.

Eva really likes to shake all of the bottles. And when I get one bottle down for her she immediately wants all of them. Be sure to glue on the lids if you try this!

Pasta Play: I had a big bag of egg noodles that I wasn't planning on using anytime soon so I made it Eva's play pasta. I dump it into some mixing bowls and let her do whatever she wants with it. We scoop it with measuring cups or take handfuls of it and put it into other bowls. And sometimes we spill it all over the floor! Good thing we have tile floor so it wipes right up. I keep it in a big ziplock bag in the closet so that it doesn't get mixed up with the rest of the pantry food.

Water Play: For the days when you don't have time to go to the pool, some outdoor water play is the next best thing. Our patio is in the shade in the morning so it's not too hot even in August. I'll take a big pitcher of water out on the porch with her and let her get crazy. I also bring along whatever plastic, washable kitchen items seem like they would be fun. Measuring cups, spatulas, bowls, anything works!