Shaving Cream, Bubbles, and Paint

I've been desperately trying to find things for Madeline and I to do this summer. Playing with toys is just not fun anymore unles they're someone else's toys, or someone else wants to play with her toys. While I was bored at work the other night I spent some time online searching for activities to do with toddlers. I found a lot of great ideas and decided to try a few of them out.

Our first activity was shaving cream on her high chair tray. She liked it until she decided that she didn't like her hands getting dirty and wanted me to clean them off every 30 seconds. The fun didn't last as long as I thought it would.

The next day I took her crib matress out of her crib and put it against the couch as a slide. Madeline climbed up it a couple of times, but really didn't think it was that big of a deal. Fun time = 5 minutes. A little disappointing.

The next day we (meaning I) made a Fruity Cheerios (if you haven't tried them, they're awesome, but highly addictive) necklace. The holes are a lot smaller than Fruit Loops, so I guess it was way too advanced for her. The eating part was right up her alley, though.

I bought her a bubble wand that we tried out yesterday. She decideded that she was a big girl and needed to hold the wand and blow the bubbles herself, which led to frustration because she wasn't able to dip the wand back in the bubbles. The whole experience ended in a tantrum. We'll have to keep practicing.

We also got an awsome package in the mail yesterday from my mom. We've both been searching for "paint with water" books for a few weeks now, and she finally found a couple at a random dollar store in Logan. Did anyone else grow up doing those? They're great - the paint is already on the paper and you just paint with a wet brush. This was probably the favorite activity. She was so proud of herself, and the only mess to clean up was a puddle of water on the table.

It's been so fun to watch her learn how to do new things, and I'm glad we've found more things to do. I think playdough is next...