Pin-Tastic Fun!

 If you have a toddler, or if you've spent five minutes with one, you realize the importance of keeping him or her busy. Woe be unto the person who allows a toddler to get bored. Because bored equals destruction...as in empty all the cabinets, silverware in the toilet, pull all the books off the bookshelf, and empty the cereal onto the floor and top it with syrup kind of destruction.

And now that I have another little one to care for, keeping MJ occupied is even more important - and even more challenging.

That's where creativity comes into play. Because unless you're going to buy a new gadget every day, you're going to have to think outside the toy box.

Inspiration can come from anywhere –other Moms, your child, your own childhood, magazines, toy stores, books. But, being the millennial gal that I am, one of my favorite sources for new play ideas is the internet.

And it doesn't get any better than Pinterest.  A virtual pin board of sorts, Pinterest lets you capture and store anything on the internet. It's freakin' awesome. I've got a huge board of ideas in my arsenal, appropriately titled "Things to Keep My Kid from Wrecking the House...Maybe".

There are 166 pins on that board and many of them link to multiple ideas. That's a LOT of protection against the forces of toddler destruction.

That is, if you actually do any of the ideas. Pinterest is notorious for being a place where people go to collect tips, activities, and projects that never see life beyond the laptop. I am determined that my activity board will not meet such a fate.

And, now that we're stuck inside the house all day with a newborn, it seems like the perfect time to start! So, the other day, I fired up the internet and browsed my idea board. I wasn't up for anything with clean up involved like making cloud dough or anything that required cooking like baked cotton balls.

Hmm...painting with water. That sounds like fun! All we need is water, sun, a paintbrush, and a place to paint.

Here we go:

Here's MJ exploring the water in the bowl with his trusty paint brush.

At first, MJ just splashed the water on the patio and watched it dry. That was great fun. But I knew we could do better. So, I showed him how to "paint" shapes and designs with the brush like he was drawing.

Here he is admiring my handy work.

He gave it a whirl, but his favorite part was just splashing away whatever I drew. :) Little destructer!

Paint, Mommy! Paint, please! 

I painted circles, squares, triangles, and rectangles on request. And MJ was quite the art critic. When I painted a circle for him, he looked at it and said, "It's an obal", which is MJ speak for "oval".

After a while, I decided we might as well squeeze in some learning while we were having fun. So, I started painting letters and asking MJ to identify them and name their sound. Then, once he got it right, he could splash them away. He blows me away with how much phonics he knows!

Then, when that got boring I asked him to name letters for me to write. And I showed him how we could put letters together to make words. We wrote his name, my name, and baby brother's name.

It was great fun!

E says "Eh"! E is for Evan!

Next we decided to move to a new implement. An old paper towel roll could make an interesting paint brush!

MJ liked to dip it into the water and see that it changed colors when it was wet, just like the patio. We also noticed that if we left it in the water too long, it got soggy and soft.

We made circle prints with the end of the paper towel roll and we dribbled water on to the patio in fun patterns.

Then we decided to to try rolling the tube to make prints. It wasn't much of a paintbrush that way, but it was fun anyway. 

MJ enjoyed getting it wet, rolling it, and even throwing it. We counted how many times we could roll it and sang "Roll, roll, roll your brush" to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat."

After about twenty minutes, the tube was totally soggy and starting to disintegrate. No worries! I told MJ he could tear it apart and throw it in the trash can. I think that was his favorite part.

Once the water was all gone and about an hour (yes, a WHOLE hour!!) had passed, we decided to join Grandma and Daddy in their yard work. 

Just look at my adorable gardener!

All in all, it was a successful morning of fun in the sun. I'm so pleased that I just might break out some more Pinterest activities this week!