Other stuff we do

I was recently trying to think of things we do around here to give a friend some ideas for fairly stationary activities for her daughter to do while she's on bedrest with baby #2.  It got me thinking I should put some of that stuff up here.

We do loads of craft stuff.  We have 2 of those itso boxes from target that have shelves and trays of different things.  It's stacked and on wheels next to the children's table in the living room and the girls have access to it anytime.  It's a great self-occupier when I need to get dinner ready or something.  Plus they love it.
*Stuff that stays all the time:  plain paper, dabbo markers, play dough, watercolor paints, dry erase letter/ number practice tracing books.
*Stuff that rotates: stamps, stickers, glue/ collage work, special projects (like the Valentine cards)

Probably my favorite "toy" I've made was out of a desire to have one of these object permanence boxes but being unwilling to spend that kind of $$ on a box.  C'mon people.  When this box came into our house the yankee in me knew it had another purpose I just needed to come up with it.  It landed in the office until it hit me one day.  I simply closed the box, wrapped it in white contact paper then used my exacto knife to cut a door and a circle hole on top.  The door was going to get a fancy adorable handle, but has a little loop of ribbon instead.

Emma uses it fairly regularly and it's actually nice that the handle is so little because it helps her strengthen her little pincer grasp.

And sometimes you just need to take a break and kiss your big sister.

Another nice activity that I put together after going to a "Montessori at home" night at Ada's school is a leaf polishing tray.  It used to live in a tray, but after getting a card from a dear friend that had a cute little plant on it I decided to put it in a box with that label on it.  It's a pretty common Montessori activity and I like it because the plants need to get cleaned off and it gives them practice on being gentle with plants.

In the box is a small pitcher (so you can control how much water they are using).  This one has a little chip in it, but I bought it in Sicily and it makes me happy that it gets used rather than just sitting somewhere.  There's a small sponge and 2 little dishes.  One for pouring the water in and one for squeezing the sponge into.

I just fill up the little pitcher and give it all the girl who is using it and give them a plant that needs some attention.  Then they pour the water, wet the sponge, squeeze it our and start wiping the leaves.  Good stuff.

So far Emma mostly just goes through the motions, but she enjoys doing this work.