So I was thinking, when was the last time I let my kids go outside and just have fun playing with things that were not store bought? I mean when I was young the highlight of my week was gathering up cardboard boxes from anything and everything and uses those to make toys. Yeah, cheap thrills! Hehehe!

Here are some fun and purposely messy crafts for toddlers and kids. Oh yeah – and a lot of this stuff is pocket friendly!

Sheet Painting – ages 4+

We all have old mangy looking bed sheets, admit it– time to finally drag one out and let the kids use it for some fun. Grab some spray bottles and fill them with acrylic or tempera paint diluted with water.

Lay the sheet on the ground or grass. If you are able to hang it on a clothesline it could even bring a bit more fun spraying a moving sheet. Let them spray that sheet until their hearts are content!

Once completed the kids can turn this huge art piece into a tent for camping or whatever kids want to use it for. Try not to limit their imaginations or give them instruction on how to express themselves. When it comes to art especially messy projects like this the less direction the better!

Drop-and-Splat Painting – ages 2+

This is an incredibly messy but fun and easy outdoor activity for kids. This is a project for a warm summer day when you can put those little ones in an old bathing suit or clothes that are OK to get messy.

Items:

• Plastic cups
• Water
• Food coloring
• Old clothes to wear (staining WILL happen!)
• Newspaper>
• Paper
• Rocks
• Straws

Fill old yogurt cups with water (or plastic cups) and set them outside.

Add a few drops of food coloring to each cup to make different colors.

Lay out a sheet of newspaper or paper on the ground. Idea: add rocks to the corners of the newspaper/paper to keep it from flying away!

Put a straw in a cup of colored water, and show your kiddies how to place a thumb or finger over the top end of the straw. This will keep water inside the straw when you remove it from the cup.

Next, lift the straw out of the cup and over the paper and uncover the straw end so the colored water drops onto the paper.

Try experimenting by raising straws full of water to different heights and observing how the height of the drop changes the resulting splat.

Variations: Try soaking cotton balls in the mixture and letting the kids splat them on the paper. You can also experiment with foil balls, rubber band balls, pinecones, and whatever else you can think of.

Some more quick and easy ideas:

Got Extra Kool-Aid?

Painting with Golf Balls

Cut out a large piece of paper and put it in the bottom of a plastic pool. Place golf balls dipped in different paint colors on the paper. Together the children can hold the edges of the pool and roll the golf balls around. This makes a great design when you are done.

Bored with the sandbox?

Give the children spray bottles with colored water. When the children spray the sand it will change color until they shovel it up.

Look for more fun kid crafts ideas at Crafts for Kidlets!

Outdoor Toddler Child Craft Ideas is a post from: Play-Activities.com

Welcome KMGH-TV Channel 7 Denver viewers! Thanks for watching this morning and stopping by for more information about the products I featured on TV.

While you’re here, you can learn more about me and my work on my profile page.

Featured products

Sport Brella

At the park, beach, pool or campsite, the SKLZ Sport-Brella gives you instant protection from the sun, rain, and wind with its domed shape, side flaps and 125 SPF. Its umbrella action open mechanism allows it to be set up in just three seconds and fits the whole family. Includes top wind vents, side zippered windows for efficient airflow and additional visibility, internal pockets for gear and valuables, convenient carry bag and tethers/ground stakes for use when necessary for additional stability. $69.99, sklz.com

Thermacell Outdoor Lantern

The ThermaCELL Outdoor Insect-Repellent Lantern is the best option for keeping mosquitoes and other insects in any outdoor setting. The Patio Lantern is both a powerful insect repellent device and a functional and portable, long-lasting outdoor LED lantern, with both functions being usable separately or together. Providing a 15×15 ft mosquito-free zone, it is 98% effective (tested and used by the Department of Defense and the United States Army), making it the most effective insect repellent device on the market. It is also non-toxic, safe and non-intrusive, being DEET-free, silent, portable and odor free. Rather than a harmful toxin, ThermaCELL utilizes allethrin, an artificial version of a natural insecticide found in chrysanthemum flowers. Weighs only 13 ounces. $31.99, mosquitorepellent.com

Pottyflip

Pottyflip is a full size, clean, safe, portable, disposable and biodegradable child potty that folds out from a palm-sized package. Easy to carry several in any purse or handbag, it is also easy to use. Just unwrap, flip open and it is ready to go. After use, fold it back up and dispose of the whole potty. No mess, no fuss. No more dirty public restroom seats or trying to find some hidden corner for a child to go to the bathroom. Also environmentally-friendly, it is fully and rapidly biodegradable. $24 for a pack of 12, pottyflipusa.com or at stores throughout North America.

Snack-Trap

The Snack-Trap is a child feeding product (designed for toddlers/kids ages 1-5) that minimizes wasted snacks and saves associated clean up time while promoting the development of self-feeding skills among infants. Consists of an attractive, colorfully imprinted, tip-resistant, handled cup that allows toddlers to grasp and hold the cup themselves with a unique, patent-pending lid with slits that allow toddlers to see and retrieve food with ease themselves but automatically closes when the toddlers remove their hand. 4.99, snacktrap.com, or at retailers throughout North America.

I’m giving away these 4 items. All as seen in the TV segment.

• Green Sport Brilla
• ThermaCELL Outdoor Insect-Repellent Lantern
• Potty Flip (2) unopened.
• Green snack trap with a dinosaur.

Four winners will be randomly chosen, each person winning one item.

To enter, leave a comment and tell me which two of these products you’d most like to win and why.

Please leave your e-mail address so I can reach you easily if you win.

For bonus entries, you can do one or more of the following – be sure to leave a separate comment for each extra entry:

• Follow me on twitter at @playactivities and tweet “@playactivities is giving away awesome outdoor products at http://tinyurl.com/2wqqazq . Enter today! “
• Subscribe to the RSS feed for play-activities.com
• Subscribe to the Play-Activities newsletter
• Subscribe to the Raising Playful Tots newsletter found here
• Post an entry on your own blog about this giveaway and link back ( trackback)
• Subscribe to Raising Playful Tots, the play activities podcast through iTunes. Come back and leave a comment here.

Contest details ( closed)

The contest will close at 11:59 p.m., MST, Friday 2nd July 2010. Four winners will be chosen using random.org. I will do my best to match the item to the person’s first or second choice, however I cannot guarantee that. If a winner does not want the assigned item, another item will not be offered, they will forfeit their win and another person will be chosen. After e-mailing the winners, they will have 48 hours to respond before I draw another name. I will publish the winners first names on my site after they have confirmed. Continental U.S. Entries only.

Disclosure: I was not paid to appear on TV or review these products. I did receive free products so I could show them during the segment. I was given the option to keep all of the products, however, I am choosing to share the love and give them away to readers. I will personally pay shipping fees to mail products to the winners.

Good luck

Outdoor products for the summer is a post from: Play-Activities.com

Before summer driving season kicks off I wanted to share how we roll.

We’re going on a [tag}road trip[/tag] but what do you bring?

This is a recurring theme with us because we’re a Military family. Currently we live in the US but with family all around the world and tours lasting  three or so years we’re used to travelling by plane, train or car to move our family.

Just when I think we’ve got it down the ages and expectations of the children change so we end up tweaking our list. This year will be no exception.

Here are our top ways to keep sane and limit the boredom blues.

8 things to do when stuck in traffic with the kids

Going on a car trip?

5 fun ways to make it through a road trip

What’s in the bag?

Check out the comments for some more suggestions.

Audio and Video

Since we’re all in the car together you want something that will have universal appeal or everyone has separate sets.  I know I’ll have to endure Superheroes as we travel but everyone gets a vote on what to bring and there will be Science is real by They might be giants because we all love to sing a long.

We have some chill out music that will be great during the hyper times or just to change the atmosphere in the car.

How about buying the soundtrack to a recent movie release? The kids will relive the movie and soundtracks are full of differing tempos and styles. There’s likely to be something for everyone.

Listen to your favourite stories by downloading an audiobook or making your own.

Try Smories for iphone, ipod touch and soon to be ipad users.

During all the times we’ve traveled  I’ve found that have a variety of things work the best. Also not showing all your hand. Keeping things secret and bringing out surprises.

We search for parks and the Frisbee isn’t far. We limit the DVD player and ration out the content. It was only a few years ago we first had a DVD player in the car and unlucky for us we bought a few DVDs without appreciating the FAST play option. Those kids were wired and they were just overtired. We learnt our lesson and like all new things we learned that for us we need to mix up the media.

• Outdoor play
• Seeing new places
• Imaginary play
• Art and crafts
• Reading
• DVD
• Music and singing
• Food

Works well in the house and in the car.

The question now must be……………. What audiobook will we listen to on the journey? Please leave suggestions of books that kept you hanging that you could have read in one session if you had the chance.

Play Activities for road trips is a post from: Play-Activities.com

Can’t beat it!

With the forecast of a Winter storm warning in effect for the next 24 hours with snow estimated to be 18+ inches to the North West of us. I thought these winter play pictures would be appropriate for May in Colorado! ( Just a hint of sarcasm there!)

It may take 30minutes to get on all the gear and the same to drag it all off and put it somewhere other than in a steaming heap on the floor afterwards…..but boy do they love to go outside in the snow!

I think the biggest surprise for the MO was falling backwards to make a snow angel and not realising the snow was so wet and the sides caving in on him. That was the last picture I took. Shortly after this shot I had to wade over and recover a very wet surprised MO.

Unexpected snow fall + ample playtime outside = unstructured play and deliriously happy children.

Hot chocolates all round today!

Thanks for stopping by.

This post is part of Childhood 101 ” We Play” Please visit the others and find out what they were playing this week.

Unstructured play in snow is a post from: Play-Activities.com

Last week was a big week of play in our family.

Screen free week, Earth day and St George’s day.

Last week I confessed that the previous year due to poor planning on my part the results were pretty bad. No one was happy. This year I’m happy to report that Screen Free week went well.

We started the seeded paper project the Friday before on family night. It was a lovely change to board games or DVDs which we have been doing a lot. Everyone was enthusiastic. We used music as our background. I talked more about our experiences in the Podcast: Earth day and projects over at Raising Playful Tots.

Monday was a lovely day in Colorado so we were out on playdates in the park and out walking. No one asked for a screen. The kids were all happy and tired that night. One of those days when the stars are aligned and all is happy in the house. Toys were played and everyone went to bed on time.

We skipped Tuesday for screen time week. With the MO watching Caliou.

During the week life is so busy that there are only a few times we really have to watch out that screen time doesn’t sneak in. On Wednesday we went to a Michael’s the local craft store to pick up a few things and look around. The youngest boys love to look at all the things they have there and there is a bargain bin of activities or numbers/letters they like to paint. With the extra walking around and the cereal play they both were asleep for the school pick up that afternoon.

The LO emptied the cereal on the table, over his high chair and littered the floor. So instead of throwing it all away we played with it outside in the empty sand and water tray. Driving cars up and down. Then we threw it away.

Thursday was quite hectic for the BG with a school function. We had to bring in something that was traditional for our family to share with the rest of the school. Naturally we brought Tea and biscuits. The weather had turned into rain, thunder and tornado warnings and so did the mood of everyone. Dad was home so the younger boys got to hang out with him and I was at school serving Tea.

Friday  we celebrated St George’s day and Friday is also traditionally family night. However the boys had got into a big epic play of Superheroes so entertained themselves most of the evening.

Saturday afternoon we watched Night at the museum together.

Sunday the boys played the Wii and learnt a few lessons in anger management.

Today I have requests for Tom and Jerry already!

We usually do a lot of play activities during the week. You see them highlighted here on this blog.  We did some new activities that you’ll see in the upcoming weeks and prepared for Earth day and St George’s day.

We didn’t do Screen free week every day and we had a good experience this year. I wish that the schools had done something or the local media to encourage some participation. Everyone was all about Earth day. Can’t see why you can’t do both?

The kids did ask to use the screens and in general the response from them was good. I tried not to say next week or maybe tomorrow. Just, why not try this instead or have you used this recently.

Dinner times wasn’t a big battle for us. We’ve worked hard at having lots of ideas to do around this time. The kids helped a few times this week with dinner. They were particularly nervous with a vegetable they didn’t like, the way I  have cooked it in the past, and seeing it out knew it was going to be for dinner. I cooked it differently and they loved it. They helped cook it

Photo credit: Prozac74

How were your experiences during Screen free week? What did you do instead?

What happened in Screen free week 2010 is a post from: Play-Activities.com

Happy Earth day!

We’ve been working on a project all week with the extra time.  Something that we’ve all been able to do together.

It’s been a great lead up to Earth day.

Here’s how we made seeded paper.

Gather the materials together

Day one

Tear paper into the smallest pieces to great music.

Tearing is better than cutting or shredded paper as the rough tear works better with absorbing the water. It was also a great family night activity sitting around talking and tearing.

We had quite a few times when the LO decided that shredded paper was a lot more fun if it was floating. I think he wanted to rescue the paper.
Here’s our torn paper pile

Cover with warm water and allow to stand for 24 hours. Stirring every now and then. You want very wet paper.

24 hours later……..

Scoop paper and a little water into a blender and pulp in batches by pulsing. ( The kids loved this part- machines, water, pouring)

Tip into a colander so the pulp can drain while you’re batching the next set.

Use a bowl that fits inside of your colander to squeeze further water out of the draining pulp. We had strong man contests to see who could squeeze the most.
This is what we had left after tearing, soaking, blending, squeezing and draining- Paper pulp.

Empty the pulp back into the bowl and add seeds liberally. ( We used one packet per child.)

With the seeds mixed in now it was time to make the homemade paper press.
Living in a dry climate has it’s advantages. We could do this outside.
Everything was in a layer.

I cut a bin ( trash) bag in half then added a tea towel. Bag was to protect the bottom surface from water. It was our patio table so it was fine but if you’re inside then I can see how this would be important.

Place the pulp and mixed in seeds on top of the tea towel and spread around in a rough rectangle.

We all took turns smoothing and moving the pulp into place with a spoon and our fingers.

Cover wet pulpy seed paper with a second tea towel and finish with the other half of the bin ( trash) bag.

Weigh the layers down with books, rocks and whatever you have to squeeze the water out and produce a homemade press.

We left ours in a sunny spot. Each day we peered at it. I changed the top tea towel once and we let the sun in for a couple of hours. I also added a few rocks to the top. It dried flat in 3 days outside for us.

4 days later………..

Seeded paper

With the seeds in the pulp and now the paper has dried. The seeds are inside the paper. If you plant this paper the paper should biodegrade and with sun and water we should see flowers.

Both boys are excited to share their project with their teachers and we get to plant seeded paper too. Flat enough to go in the mail.
They were pretty amazed that the seeds were inside the paper. Even though they did the work and saw it every day they are convinced of magic

This post is part of the monthly unplugged project at unplug your kids

Thanks for visiting!

What are you doing for Earth day? Do you have any projects? This was our longest project what’s your experience of longer projects?

Earth day family project is a post from: Play-Activities.com

Technorati Tags: Earth day

Drowning in empty Plastic Easter Eggs? Don’t throw them away. Recycle them into part of an imaginary show.

As we they sat eating Easter Eggs today. We were making funny faces with them  a bit like the Muppets and trying to make them talk. ( Too much chocolate)

We had altogether too much fun. Since we had a few this is what we made

Tried to convince the boys they had their own Loch Ness but they decided they have some new dinosaurs instead. I need to tell them the Nelly story.

Imaginary play- can’t beat it!

For more play activities with empty egg containers

• Adventures of a flake | Eggcellent Eggs!
• Pocketful–of–posies | E is for Egg
• United teaching |Sorting Plastic Easter Eggs
• No time for flashcards |Preschool Science – Sink or Float?
• Lets-Explore |Fun With Plastic Eggs

What do you do with your empty egg containers?

Play Activities with plastic Easter Eggs is a post from: Play-Activities.com

Technorati Tags: Plastic Easter Eggs, play activities

This week on the Raising Playful Tots podcast join Allie from NoTimeForFlashcards.com and I as we talk about Christmas Play Activities.

There will be three interviews this week all short ones because we’re all so busy.

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We are coming up to the end of the year. So do you think we managed more outdoor play?

I have mentioned here before during this year about my struggle with getting enough outdoor play in with all the children. It was on our must improve list this year. Anyone I saw who was doing this I was always asking, ‘How do you get them ( the kids) outside and staying outside?”.

I looked for blogs to follow and connected with a lot of people via #playoutdoors on Twitter. They inspire me and never once judged me for my failings as a mum. Maybe they are commonsense notions for many but previously it just didn’t happen on anything like a regular basis.

Over the year slowly we have been going out more and if you compare my posts this year to last year you’ll have seen a big increase in the outdoor activities we have tried.I have enjoyed the focus on this area. It has been hard for me too to get the right frame of mind to be outside. We have a small garden that slopes, a dog and no space to do much. I have had to adjust my thinking and use what we have more effectively.  It’s not been easy but the children really love it.

Connecting with all those talented people and surrounding myself with their ideas rubs off.

When you write about play activities you can give the impression that you know everything but I don’t. I’m a mum who likes to try a variety of play activities with her children that are fun, engaging and have many outcomes. I make mistakes, pick myself up and try again in a different way.

As we close out this year, I know that 2010 will bring some unique challenges with three children and being a married military spouse. I don’t claim to know or do it all. But what I do do I share freely with you all, warts and all.

I know we all have our hang ups about play somewhere, something we don’t do or find hard to do with or for our kids.

How do you overcome? Where did/do you go for support?

Do you think we did it? is a post from: Play-Activities.com