The Christmas stuff is mostly put away and even though the kids are asking for Valentine’s Day decorations (they are always looking forward to the next holiday), I am squeezing in a bit of winter appreciation. Although it feels as if winter has just started, I have found over the past few years that January is really the best time to do winter theme activities. December is dominated by Christmas, February is Valentine’s Day, then we are planning for Easter and after Easter we are thinking “spring”. We mostly appreciate winter outdoors – we live in a great area for outdoor winter sports and especially love downhill skiing. However, we can’t be outside all the time and I like to bring a little winter joy inside too. Here are a couple of the things we’re up to this week.
Winter Book Rotation
I keep some seasonal books put away and bring them out at the relevant time of year. This way, the books seem fresh and new to the kids. New books on the shelf will spark my kids interest and get them asking for story time. Here are some winter books I put out.
Winter Book Rotation
EasyWinter Sensory Activity
I have a few activities in mind for this month, but I don’t quite have them ready yet. Yesterday, I had promised my daughter that I would have an activity ready for her when she came home from school. I think it’s important to keep my promises to my kids, so when the activity I had planned wasn’t ready, I scrambled to find something else quickly. Fortunately, I had bought a Pour and Play jar of sensory rice from Eye Spy Club about a month ago. It was the perfect quick and easy activity for a school night. My daughter rushed in the door after school and was so excited to see her activity. I was really glad I had managed to set something up for her.
Our playroom is in the space where our dining room should be. We are grateful for the house we live in, but it is not huge and we have to make space decisions based on our needs. Our kids are 3 and 5 and when we moved into the house 2.5 years ago, the epidemic was nearing its end. The idea of having guests over for dinner parties seemed way less important, or probable, than needing a play space for our energetic kids.
The main floor has an open plan layout and the dining room is in-between the kitchen and the living room. So, when toys and mess get out of control, it is impossible to ignore. After a hectic December, a manic Christmas morning and a family trip to Vancouver for two weeks after Christmas – we had some serious cleaning up to do.
Excess doesn’t bother me in December, but all of a sudden becomes stressful in January. The addition of the Christmas toys pushed me past a tipping point and the clutter felt overwhelming. The playroom was the first space in the house I started organizing after returning from our trip. I started by removing the Maileg ski chalet “island” and then rotating the toys in the IKEA Kallax cubes.
Our January toy rotation
The toys on the left side of the shelf haven’t rotated in a while. The top left basket holds the Grapat masala loose parts and the kids use them in the kitchen and for all types of things. My 3 year old loves farms and farm animals, so his barn, farm items and Schleich figures stay out and get played with daily. If we go away for a few days, my son will talk about how much he misses his red barn. He is obsessed, so it hasn’t been out of rotation in a long time. The lego barn set was a Christmas present and is new to the shelf.
The rest of the cubes hold a mix of Christmas gifts, winter themed toys, puzzles and games that are either new or have been out of rotation for a while. The bottom baskets hold toys that stay out all the time – magnetic tiles, magnetic tile ball run pieces, wooden roads, wooden train tracks, wooden train track special pieces (e.g., bridges, stations, etc.), a variety of soft balls, and vehicles.
Next in my clean-up, I switched the kitchen and building areas so there would be more room for all the building materials and new Ostheimer castle and Drewart Pirate Island pieces along the staircase wall. Sometimes moving the location of toys can make them feel new and interesting to the kids.
We’re ready for a fresh start to our play in 2024. The house won’t be featured in any home decor magazines anytime soon, but it feels more simplified and organized and we’re very happy with it. Now onto the rest of the house. If you look closely below, you can see I still have a wreath up on the door outside. Lots of work left to do.
Entertaining kids while traveling is a marathon. Just when you think you have them settled, another challenge presents itself – someone is hungry, someone needs to go to the bathroom, someone is overtired. I feel I am constantly pivoting between our most effective strategies.
What works best for our family, may not be the solution for others, but here are some of our favourites. We have a 3 year old boy and a 5 year old girl. Both are very energetic and excitable, especially when in new experiences.
Get them moving – whether it’s an airport, or a rest stop along the highway, there is really no substitute for letting the kids run and free play. At the airport, we now make the kids walk and run as much as possible on the way to the gate. Once at the gate, we try to sit away from the concentration of people close to the gate, so the kids can run and play without disturbing too many people. They will usually run in laps without much encouragement from me. Most airports also have kid play zones now, so if we have enough time we will take the kids over to check it out.
Keep the snacks coming – a fairly constant stream of snack is our next go-to strategy. We will pack at least a small cooler bag full of snacks and meals. It’s an extra bag to carry-on on the plane or takes up space in the car, but it’s always worth it. Our kids are picky about what they like, so we bring their favourite things.
a tupperware box with a meal – this tends to be what we need to use up in the fridge before our trip – a sandwich, their favourite veggies (tomatoes and cucumbers), fruit (berries, apple slices, whatever we have), cooked pasta, cheese slices, cooked chicken nuggets
bananas
granola bars and other packaged snacks
small bags of Goldfish or Veggie Straws
fruit gummies
nuts
water bottles
Once the kids have gotten some energy out and filled their tummies, it’s usually time to bring out the activity kits. When it comes to travel activities, I’m influenced and inspired by Mini Jetsetter and her instagram account. She has wonderful ideas and tips for traveling with children. I highly recommend her content.
When gathering activities and toys to pack, I try to cover 7 main themes: art, fidget toys, sensory materials, building, small world play, puzzles & games and stories. Variety and novelty can be the key here. I keep most of these items separate from their regular toys, so they only see them while traveling, I will also rotate items and activities within each category, so they are not the same activity every time.
Here are the kits I brought with us on our recent flight just after Christmas. Most items are from Dollarama unless otherwise listed.
Travel Activities for 5 year old girl
Art
small blank sketch pad
stickers
stencil
small spirograph (Aliexpress)
Ooly Switcheroo markers (Amazon)
washi tape
pens, crayons, pencils (from our art supplies at home)
glue, scissors (not pictured, added after)
self inking stamp
spy pen (Zellers)
Fidget Toys
squishamallow (Costco)
stretchy, rhinestone bracelets (They were gifts, I think from Joe Fresh)
mini Etch-a-Sketch (Chapters)
Sensory Materials
bead bracelet and necklace kit (Michaels)
playdough and tools – plastic knife and roller
small box of add-in charms for playdough (Michaels)
Building
mini magnetic tiles (Aliexpress)
suction toys
Puzzles & Games
Go Fish cards
magnetic puzzles
On-the-go activity tin with tic-tac-toe and other games
Small World Play
My Little Pony figurine and hairbrush
Stories
Yoto mini player (Yoto Store)
headphones (not pictured) (Amazon)
Frozen Yoto card and Brain Bots Yoto cards (Yoto Store)
Travel Activities for 3 year old boy
Art
small blank sketch pad
stickers
stencil
washi tape
markers, crayons, pencil crayons, pencils (from our art supplies)
glue, scissors
self inking stamp
spy pen (Zellers)
Fidget Toys
squishamallow (Costco)
mini Etch-a-Sketch (not pictured) (Chapters)
Sensory Materials
bead bracelet and necklace kit (Michaels)
playdough and tools – plastic knife and roller
small box of add-in charms for playdough (Michaels)
Building
mini magnetic tiles (Aliexpress)
suction toys
Puzzles & Games
Matching card game
On-the-go activity tin with tic-tac-toe and other games
Small World Play
Small construction vehicles (these were a gift)
mini monster truck (my son got it as a gift after getting a vaccine shot)
Stories
Mini Yoto player (Yoto store)
headphones (Amazon)
Make Your Own Yoto card with music, Funny Stories for 4 Year Olds Yoto card (Yoto Store)
Kits to carry the activities
I have 2 different toiletry bags I use as kits for the kids activities. The purple stripe bag is an old Venus razor bonus bag that I must have received as part of a promotion many years ago. It is my favourite for its ability to hold lots of stuff and fold up into a more narrow bag. The second, blue and white stripe bag is from Amazon. Because I shove so much stuff in the kit, I find it folds up into a bulky bag. I also find the zipper to be of cheaper quality than I would like for something a child is going to zip and unzip often.
Playing with Activities in Transit
We use these car travel trays both for the car and on the plane. I like that they have a stiff bottom that is also a dry erase board because the kids can draw, colour and play on them without it moving around too much. It can also hold up a water bottle in the car and on the airplane tray. The sides stay up with velcro and keep toys and activity pieces, especially small ones, from falling on the floor.
The trays are bulkier than I would prefer, but just like the snacks cooler, well worth hauling with us. We use also use them as a “clean-er” surface to eat on. The flight attendant on our most recent flight had never seen this type of tray and couldn’t get over what a brilliant idea they were for kids.
A Word on Screen Time
When all else fails, we give the kids screen time. We have one ipad that we bring with us on trips. It has some downloaded shows and movies that the kids like. Usually my husband and I use screens as a way to preserve our own sanity. To us, screens are preferable to losing our tempers. Screens and screen time are a controversial topic among parents, so obviously do what works best for you. Happy Traveling!
It’s the day before Christmas – Merry Christmas Eve! We are all still working on getting healthy here and have a fairly low-key day planned.
This morning the elf put a star on the top of the tree. I thought the kids would find this funny. They keep asking me where the tree topper star is, and the truth is – I have no idea. It’s deep in a box somewhere and I tried to find it, but there is only so much time I’m going to dedicate to finding a tree ornament. So my husband moved one of the existing start ornaments to the top of the tree with the elf. It will work for this year.
Tonight the grandparents will come over, we will make hot chocolate and go outside for a walk around the neighbourhood. Everyone in the neighbourhood will light candles and place them in white paper bags outside their houses. The community all comes out to walk around and enjoy the lights. It’s a beautiful, peaceful way to celebrate Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas!
It’s the weekend before Christmas and we are all struggling to stay healthy. We’re trying to make it along the final stretch with our Christmas Spirit in tact.
I was feeling terrible last night so I went with a very simple elf set-up: the elf sitting on Santa’s knee for a little pre-Christmas chat. Next year I will definitely have a few of these simple ideas in my back pocket, just in case.
Today’s activity was to go to the grandparents for Christmas dinner and then all go to a drive-through Christmas lights show. It was my first time going to see this kind of event and it was fantastic! We went to the Magic of Lights in Ottawa and there was about a 20 minute line up to get through the gate and then the lights drive took about 20-40 minutes. A perfect activity for a drizzly night with kids not feeling their best.
I don’t always have the budget to buy fancy sensory mixes, but I love the look of them and my daughter loves the variety of shapes, colours and textures in the more complicated mixes. She likes to make patterns and art with them. I have been learning to make sensory mixes myself and I am sharing what I’ve learned so far.
There are 2 ways I know of to colour pasta, rice, lentils and other dried goods: dying and painting.
Dying Pasta (also works for rice and other dry goods)
Dying pasta is an easy was to colour pasta or other dry goods. I choose dying as my method is the pasta is fine or fragile and I’m concerned about it sticking together.
Materials
food dye (gel or liquid)
vinegar
pasta (or other dry good)
bowl with a secure lid
parchment paper
baking sheet
Step 1: Add dye to bowl
Add a glob of dye to the bowl. The more dye used, the more saturated the colour will be.
Step 2: Add a splash of vinegar
The measurement doesn’t need to be exact, but add about a tbsp or two of vinegar. Mix the vinegar and dye together.
Step 3: Add pasta
Add around 2- 3 cups of pasta to the bowl. Do not overfill the bowl with pasta as it will be more difficult to mix with the dye.
Step 4: Shake
Secure the lid on the bowl and shake until the dye covers the pasta. If the dye looks uneven, add another tbsp of vinegar.
Step 5: Dry pasta on parchment paper
Empty the bowl onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spread the pasta out on the paper. Dry overnight.
Painting Pasta (or other dry good)
Painting pasta is the other method for colouring dry goods. There are many, many paint colours available and I tend to choose this method if I’m hoping for a specific colour, or a colour that is not easily achieved with food dye. I find the drawback to this method to be that the paint can make the pasta, rice, etc. can stick together and sometimes break when trying to separate it. I am still searching for the trick to avoid this.
Materials
acrylic paint (I used paint from Michaels or Dollarama)
pasta, rice or other dry good
ziplock bag (or bowl with a lid)
parchment paper
baking pan
Step 1: Place pasta in ziplock bag
Place 2-3 cups of pasta in a ziplock bag.
Step 2: Add paint
Add a squirt of paint. The more paint, the more saturated the colour, but also the higher the risk of the pasta sticking together. I like to add a little paint at a time to make sure I don’t add too much.
Step 3: Shake
Seal the bag and shake, shake, shake until the paint is evenly spread around. Check the colour and add more paint as required.
Step 4: Dry
Once the desired colour and coverage is achieved, empty the bag onto a baking pan lined with parchment, spread out as much as possible and leave to dry overnight.
The green fine egg noodles, green penne pasta and brown pasta were dyed. The white pasta and red chick peas were painted.
So that’s all it takes to colour pasta and other dry goods. Once everything is dry, you can mix it together and add any other embellishments or extras that you wish.
I like to minimize my waste in the process, so I wash the bowl and ziplock bags for future use. Both the food dye and the paint come off easily if washed soon after colouring. I keep the washed and dried ziplocks with my sensory mixes ingredients so i can remember to use them next time.
My son loves Blippi, so when I saw a little elf Blippi costume for sale at a second-hand toy shop (Wonder + Kind), I had to get it. The elf dressed as Blippi made his own mini indoor play gym to enjoy. My son thought it was hilarious.
Day 22’s activity is to make some reindeer food. In keeping with the reindeer theme, 2 Schleich reindeer (special editions 2022 and 2023) were gifts in the Maileg Santa Advent Calendar.
We’ve never made reindeer food before, but I always thought it looked like a cute, sensory idea for the kids. I didn’t buy anything special. I knew I had rolled oats in the cupboard and I just scrounged around for anything else Christmas-y in the baking cupboard. I found some green sugar sprinkles and some old candy canes that I crushed up. Hopefully none of the ingredients are too offensive to our wildlife.
I gave the kids small spoons to scoop the ingredients into their bowls. It’s a Friday afternoon after a very busy week and I wasn’t feeling overly enthusiastic about doing an activity, but I was pleasantly surprised. The whole activity took 5 minutes, max. It was easy, fairly mess free and the kids enjoyed it. I stored the reindeer food in ziplock bags until the kids can sprinkle it outside on Christmas Eve.
It’s time for a Christmas sensory activity today. We have been so busy with Christmas outings and activities we haven’t done a lot of sensory play this month.
The table was all set up and ready to go this morning, so the kids could start playing as soon as they came downstairs.
Homemade sensory mix, green tree board from Birch and Bark Natural Wood, tree plate from The Creative Mix Shop, gem block light bulbs from Highway to Railway, acrylic light bulbs and ornaments from Eye Spy Club, bells from Dollarama
I didn’t have the budget for a fancy Christmas sensory mix this year, so I made one using food dye, acrylic paint, pasta and chick peas. See here for more information on how I made it.
The elf was also waiting with his own tiny sensory set-up.
Both kids had a wonderful time tinkering with this set up today. We will leave it out for a few more days or until too much of the sensory mix ends up on the floor.
Today’s activity is also a gift to my husband and I. Tonight the kids are going to have a Christmas Cheer Bath. Anything that gets the kids excited about going upstairs and getting in the bath at the end of the day is a win for us. Our kids usually love being in the bath, but never want to get in it. A new and exciting bath surprise helps make the transition easier. With emotions running high the week before Christmas, we could use a little “easier” tonight.
The elf is is also getting into a Christmas spa mood and will be waiting for the kids in the bathroom tonight.
The Christmas Cheer bath will include something new we’re trying: Crackle Play Colours (purchased from Sewing Seeds play). It’s a package you empty into the bath and it’s supposed to have a variety of colours and make crackling sounds. There will also be some plastic light bulbs to scoop water and light sticks and light pucks to add a little extra excitement. It looks like lots of fun.
We had a dance party this morning with some new Christmas music. The elf was all ready for a party in the morning and the gift in the Maileg Santa Advent Calendar was a new yoto card: Disney Junior Holiday Party! The Album.
The party started off a little rough, with lots of fighting over who the new yoto card belongs to, but thankfully became more cheery after some breakfast. The kids enjoyed the new music card and wanted to listen to it on repeat this morning. I think it will add some fun Christmas spirit to the house this week.
