Simple, cheap things to make and do with your toddlers

[redforever]

Ok, I am going to start a thread for some easy things to make for all of the toddlers out there who apparently need constant parental help to keep them stimulated and amused.

Now remember, I am the old dinosaur who used to let their kids play with darts and play unattended in swimming pools (not!!!), so use any of these at your own discretion)) Remember, you know your children best, so you are the one to decide at what age your child is ready for any of these. I will post about a dozen or so, you can add your own too.

Guys, have the little woman read some of these))

[redforever]

Bubbles

1 cup Joy or Dawn
2 cups WARM water
3 tablespoon Glycerin
1/2 teaspoon Sugar
Mix together and store in an air tight container. Item to use to "blow" bubbles: plastic strawberry basket, colander, platic six pack holder, funnel, plastic straw cut on a slant, tape several straws together, paper cup with a hole punched in the bottom will make giant bubbles. Or save your wand from some of the store bought bubbles.

[redforever]

Face Paint

1 tsp corn starch
1/2 tsp water
1/2 tsp cold cream
2 drops food coloring
Mix ingredients well.

[redforever]

Glook

1 cup Cornstarch
1/2 cup Water
Food Coloring
Mix all ingredients. Great for squeezing through your hands. You can change the consistency by adding more water, then more cornstarch.

[redforever]

Liquid Starch Finger paint

1/4 cup liquid laundry starch
Food coloring or One-teaspoon tempera paint
Mix the starch with a few drops food coloring or paint until blended thoroughly. Store this in an airtight container

[redforever]

Cornstarch Finger paint
3 Tbsp sugar
2 cups cold water
Food coloring
Soap flakes
One-Half cup cornstarch

Mix the sugar & cornstarch in over low heat. Add water and stir until mixture is thick. Remove from heat. Next divide the paint into several different containers. Add a few drops of food coloring and a pinch or two of soap flakes to each container. Stir well and let cool. Store this in an airtight container.

[redforever]

Flour Finger Paint

1 cup flour
1 1/4 cups hot water
1 1/2 cups cold water
2 Tbsp salt
Food coloring or tempera paint

Mix the flour, salt, and cold water in a saucepan. Beat the mixtures (with whisk or rotary beater) until smooth. Add the hot water and boil it until the mixture is thick. Beat until smooth. Add food coloring to add color. Store this in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

[redforever]

Laundry Starch Finger Paint


1 cup laundry starch
Cold water
One-quart boiling water
One-cup pure white soap flakes
Food coloring or paint
Dissolve the laundry starch in cold water (slowly add water until fully disolved, it will take a different amount each time). Next, add boiling water to the starch and cold water mixture and boil until thick. Remove from heat and stir in soap flakes. Divide into small containers and add food coloring as desired. Store this in an airtight container in the refrigerator

[redforever]

Homemade Playdough

1 c Flour
1 c Water
1/2 c Salt
2 tbsp Cream of tartar (found in spice section)
1 tbsp Oil
Cook until dough forms a mass in a pan. Turn it out, divide into portions if desired and add various food colors to each portion. Store playdough in the refrigerator. If just one large ball of playdough, put in a plastic bag and then into something like an icecream pail. If more than one color playdough, put each portion into a separate plastic bag and then into the icecream pail.

[Flash Walken]

Spray them with vinegar.

[redforever]

More Homemade Playdough-Cooked

In a pot, combine 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt and 4 tsp cream of tartar (found in spice aisle). Add 2 Tbsp oil, 2 cups water, mix well. Cook over medium heat until it leaves sides of the pot. Turn out, knead until smooth. If you wish, add various food colors to each portion. Store playdough in the refrigerator. If just one large ball of playdough, put in a plastic bag and then into something like an ice cream pail. If more than one color of playdough, put each portion into a separate plastic bag and then into the icecream pail.

[redforever]

Bakers' Salt Clay

4 cups flour, 1 cup salt, and 1 1/2 cup water

Mix flour and salt together. Then slowly add water, mixing as you pour and go along. The dough should be stiff. The process will take around 10 minutes.

Mould or roll into whatever shapes your child wants. Bake at 300F to 324F, never hotter, and allow around 1/2 hour per 1/4 inch of thickness. Upon complete drying, the finished product can be painted, glazed, etc.whatever, when

[redforever]

Sifto Salt Clay

Just mix one part salt, one part water and two parts flour into a pliable, mouldable dough. The dough can be formed into 3 dimensional objects, or rolled into flat objects. Ornaments, jewellery, models, fridge magnets, let your children choose and imagine what they want to make.

Prick the larger areas with a fork to let any air escape and then bake at about 275F for an hour, or until the pieces are hard and golden yellow.

The finished product can be painted with poster or water color paints after it is baked and dried. Shellac, and your kiddies work will last for years.

[redforever]

Now, if you wish to know my opinions about great toys to stimulate your children and get them to use their imagination.

Lego - for both sexes of course. For those young children who really like movement, you can get motorized pieces to add in I believe. My son made all the Star Wars fighter space ships etc.

Hand and finger puppets - siblings can put on their own little pretend shows, so can your child do so with other friends.

Interactive books - by this, I mean the type of books with say holes for your kiddies fingers etc. Or books that have perhaps houses with moveable windows, and when the window is moved and opened, another charcter of the story appears. These are great for both bedtime stories and for playing by themselves.

Puzzles - the pliable rubber types are great for toddlers. Or, the ones in a wooden sort of shadow box. Young toddlers will find it too hard to put pieces together in an open setting, they need something fixed around the edges to get them started.

Construction toys - Tonka or Fisher price trucks, bulldozers, anything along that line, to be used in sandboxes, but also open outdoor settings and pretend indoor settings. My daughter and son played for hours with these type of toys in their sandbox. One xmas, my daughter was given a doll by one set of her grandparents, one that looked a lot like my daughter, and one that could walk. My daughter looked at it and said, but Grandma, I really wanted a bulldozer. Try to find and buy toys that your child makes work, not that batteries make them work.

Get your son a real little hammer, like Daddy's, only smaller, with a metal head, not the plastic ones that they cant do anything with. Yes, you might have a few permanent indentations left around but at least they dont get frustrated from trying to build with a weak plastic toy. Once they have the small hammers etc, why not get a bird house kit and build a bird house? Younger children will need help of course. I mean, once you have the bird house, why not put it in a prime location, one that will actually get birds the next summer, and then your child will be able to watch the activity of birds, and hopefully see some young birds hatch. And why not put up some bird feeder to attract birds all year round.



Musical instruments - I am talking things like a xylophone, small keyboard, flute, tamborines, comb and paper etc. Who cares if your child has any musical talent.

Seeds - it is late in the year to start a lot of these right now but give it a go next year. Make sure for young children, you get seeds that germinate quickly. Their attention will soon be lost if you buy some seed that matures into a plant 120 days from the time you plant it. Try things like radish, lettuce, peas, beans. If you have a sunny outdoor area, even a small patio, put them outside next summer. If you have a hot sunny indoor area, plant them any time of the year. Now, they might not all bear fruit etc the size you would find in the store, but you should get something. You can grow lettuce all year round in front of a south sunny window. Plant some lettuce or mesculin mix in a flattish round container. When 3 or 4 inches high, snip with a scissor and let them make their own little salad. And if they dont snip right down to the ground, the lettuce will grow up again, and again, and again.

Dress up clothes - have your own little tickle trunk and put fun clothes and other things in that you know your child will like. And keep taking some out and putting new stuff in for surprises. They will find lots of things to do to tickle their fancy.

Board games - there are board games now for just about any age child. Of course, as the child matures, so can the type of game you buy for them. And try to buy a variety of games, some that are just plain fun and loud and silly and some that are serious and demand a mental challenge too.

Ok, now you are started, the rest is up to you. And dont worry, you dont have to be a perfect parent and amuse your child all day long. It is ok to be bored some of the time. Little Johnny or little Suzie will grow up just fine if you dont play with them all day long. Sure, play with them from time to time, and of course, younger children will demand more of your time, but you should not have to play with them all the time, especially as they get older.

[Reggie Dunlop]

FIRECRACKERS

A simple firecracker can be made from cardboard tubing and epoxy. The
instructions are below:

1) Cut a small piece of cardboard tubing from the tube you are using.
"Small" means anything less than 4 times the diameter of the tube.

2) Set the section of tubing down on a piece of wax paper, and fill it with
epoxy and the drying agent to a height of 3/4 the diameter of the tubing.
Allow the epoxy to dry to maximum hardness, as specified on the package.

3) When it is dry, put a small hole in the middle of the tube, and insert a
desired length of fuse.

4) Fill the tube with any type of flame-sensitive explosive. Flash powder,
pyrodex, black powder, potassium picrate, lead azide, nitrocellulose, or
any of the fast burning fuel-oxodizer mixtures will do nicely. Fill the
tube almost to the top.

5) Pack the explosive tightly in the tube with a wad of tissue paper and a
pencil or other suitable ramrod. Be sure to leave enough space for more
epoxy.

6) Fill the remainder of the tube with the epoxy and hardener, and allow it
to dry.

7) For those who wish to make spectacular firecrackers, always use flash
powder, mixed with a small amount of other material for colors. By crushing
the material on a sparkler, and adding it to the flash powder, the
explosion will be the same color as the sparkler. By adding small chunks
of sparkler material, the device will throw out colored burning sparks, of
the same color as the sparkler. By adding powdered iron, orange sparks
will be produced. White sparks can be produced from magnesium shavings, or
from small, LIGHTLY crumpled balls of aluminum foil.

[pepper24]

Mental note: hold off on kids

[V]

I thought these were supposed to be good things for your kid to play with unattended. I can only imagine the nightmare-ish mess I'd be facing if I let my kid play with homemade paint without supervision. Or with supervision, even.

One thing that really works for my daughter is chalk. Unbelievable how much time she can spend outside colouring up the patio. A quick spray-down, or rainshower and it's all gone. Perfect.

[redforever]

I thought these were supposed to be good things for your kid to play with unattended. I can only imagine the nightmare-ish mess I'd be facing if I let my kid play with homemade paint without supervision. Or with supervision, even.

Have you looked at any of the ingredients? Most call for pure soap flakes, flour, etc. making clean up very very easy. These are not commercial paints from Canadian Tire we are talking about.

Put newsprint or scrap paper over the kitchen table, better yet, get your child a little table and chair set of their own. Get a plastic tablecloth for the floor if you are that worried about mess and let them paint away. And the face and body paints wash off with water. Put them in the tub, let them paint away, they come out spic and span.

When your child is older and able to handle farther distances away from you as parents, if you are still worried about mess, set them up in the basement or garage, or your patio.

One thing that really works for my daughter is chalk. Unbelievable how much time she can spend outside colouring up the patio. A quick spray-down, or rainshower and it's all gone. Perfect.

Yup, chalk too is great for creativity.