Dinosaurs and Frozen Sensory Snow

I saw this awesome recipe for Shivery Snow Dough from Learn with Play at Home a few months back and thought it was totally brilliant!  A freezing cold snow dough in the hot summer sounded just perfect.  I decided to make a different snow dough, but followed her add glitter and freeze steps.  :)  

I wanted to use something that crunched like snow, and I remembered the texture of slightly wet baking soda - the precursor to making  our baking soda shells in our Hidden Fizzing Ocean World (and also our Fizzing Treasure Rocks in Day 2 of our Leprechaun Treasure Hunt).

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So I took two boxes of baking soda and added just enough water that it looked like crumbly snow (I mixed by hand).  Then I added some glitter (of course) and popped it in the freezer.  S loved how cold it was, but it was pretty darn frozen.  We decided to add some water with our squeezy condiment bottlesto see if we could melt some of the "snow".

Adding the water started the melting process and you could break off little tiny melty snowballs.  It was then deemed ready for some dinosaurs!  Now these particular dinosaurs lead pretty adventurous lives.  If you are a regular reader, you'll recall they've been fossilized, caught in sticky mud, and frozen in gelatin.  Today was their first adventure in snow, though.  :)

Since the snow was made of baking soda, S wanted to try adding some vinegar (I know some of my readers have children who don't like the smell of vinegar - this play works perfectly well with water!  Vinegar is totally optional.)   We had fun watching the brief glittery burst of bubbles as the vinegar and baking soda reacted.

Then it was back to playing.  The vinegar/water made glittery lakes on either side of a frozen path.  The dinosaurs were taking many trips back and forth along the frozen path and sometimes falling into a lake on either side and needing S's assistance (apparently dinosaurs are not good swimmers)!

As the baking soda snow melted, it was so soft.  I was surprised to see how long the whole mixture stayed cold.  It was really quite cold even at two hours out (S REALLY liked this world and kept playing and playing and...you get the idea)!

The slurry that the melted baking soda made was reminiscent of cornstarch and water.  It was nice and goopy and drippy, which is extra fun for dramatic play.

As it melted, the frozen crumbles turned into more of a snowy sludge (it was still SO COLD!) and S could make patterns with her fingers and the dinosaurs could leave footprints (they quickly disappeared, but it was pretty cool).

So much fun - and baking soda is only 59 cents a box at the Dollar Tree!  What's not to love?  :)

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Please always supervise your infant/child at play.  Please stay within arms reach and never leave infants/children unattended.

Fizzing Watercolors

I think you will just love the beautiful colors and textures of our newest creation - fizzing watercolors!  This is running as a guest post over at Growing a Jeweled Rose.  Click here to read it!

Sensory Starter Kit for under $20 from the Dollar Tree

This is a post in our Play on a Budget series.  Other posts include:

Play on a Budget: Tips and Tricks

Our Favorite Free Sensory Materials

A Sensory Starter Kit for under $20 from Target

I thought I'd write a post on how to set up a starter kit of commonly used sensory/play materials for those of you who are just getting started.  Every person has their own preferences, of course, but here's a list of what I'd buy (and why!) if I had a budget of $20 and could only shop at one store - the Dollar Tree.  I picked the Dollar Tree because it seems to be everywhere in the US, and ought to be pretty easily accessible for most of you.  If you don't have one near you, but do have a Target - I've put together a Target sensory kit here.

I was able to come in under budget again because a few of the things on my list were actually less than a dollar (baking soda and salt!).  I have noticed a lot of variation in what is available at each Dollar Tree, so this is based off of the selection at mine - you may have more or less available at yours (hopefully more!).

First off, I had to include baking soda and vinegar because we SO love them.  Just plain baking soda and vinegar is so much fun.  We've also used them to make Fizzing Gelatin and our Fizzing Hidden Ocean World, and in Encouraging Little Scientists, to name a few. 

Funnels, a big scooping spoon, and a set of measuring cups are things we use all the time for simple sensory play.  Because they have such a wide application, I knew I wanted them in my kit.

Next from the food section, I grabbed oats because they are such a fun material to play with.  You could set up our Oatmeal Textures Sensory Bin with these.  I chose salt because it's a great material for dumping and scooping.  We like to color ours, and you can see us playing with it in our Funnels and Tubes post.  I bought flax seed because it would be a great substitution for birdseed - it's still a seed and would behave similarly - so you could do something like our Birdseed Sensory Play with the flax seeds.  I bought cooking oil for use in making baby safe Cloud Dough.  

I added Penne pasta for art, making necklaces, or doing a Dry Pasta sensory play; I added Linguine for making our Dirt and Worms sensory bin, or our Rainbow Spaghetti.  I included beans because they are fun to plant and grow and can also be used as a fill material in small worlds or as a standalone sensory material.  And finally I included rice because we love to play with rice by itself, as we did in our Rice Play and we also love to color it and add it to small worlds/sensory bins.  You can read how we make rainbow rice in our How To Color Rice post.

I grabbed shaving cream, which we've used in a Shaving Cream Search and in our Dragon World small world.  I also grabbed four sponges for use in a Washing Station.  And I've included a bag of cotton balls for the Wet Cotton Ball sensory play and/or for making Baked Cotton Balls.

Our Dollar Tree didn't have a great selection of miniatures when I was there, but these guys were pretty cute, so I added them as "guys" for small world play.

Play foam is fun for Window Art (we also used it to make our Recycled Car City) and we use pom poms frequently (though I don't have any posts up currently involving them, so you'll just have to trust me on that).

Here is the complete sensory kit I would put together for someone starting out if I had just $20:

Now, there are a few other fantastic things that I'd like to point out at the Dollar Tree:

These are FABULOUS art/craft supplies.  All of the above items are frequently utilized in our Art Room, so I figured I would point those out, since at $1 a piece, they are a great deal.  I joke not, the Dollar Tree is the BEST place to buy googly eyes!  They have the assorted sizes and the huge eyes are hilarious.

Recognize these from my small worlds?  Love all three of these.  We have several packs of the mixed gems.

And check these out!  These are officially "sound tubes" but they'd work great for our Funnels and Tubes.  Basically all you'd need to complete the set-up we had in that post is some suction cups, since the Dollar Tree also carries funnels and salt!

Our Dollar Tree had a lot of what I wanted, but there were a few items that I would still want to add to a kit if there was room in the budget/they were available in the store.  I'd love to add flour to complete the recipe for Cloud Dough.  I was also SO saddened by the lack of cornstarch since it's my personal favorite (you can see how we've played with it with Cornstarch and Water, to make Chilly Ice Cream Goo, and in my Dinosaurs and Sticky Mud world).  Finally, I would want to add some sort of coloring - be it food coloring, or our favorite - liquid watercolors.  Liquid watercolors last longer, are more vibrant, come in a wider variety of colors, and are completely washable (at least in our experience).  We buy our liquid watercolors from Discount School Supply.

To make things as easy as possible, I've also typed up a free printable shopping list, which you can access here:  Printable Dollar Tree Shopping List.

For further reading in the vein of Play on a Budget, check out:

100 Things You can Purchase from the Dollar Tree and Use in Play by Growing a Jeweled Rose

Sensory Materials that Last by Train Up a Child

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Please always supervise your infant/child at play.  Please stay within arms reach and never leave infants/children unattended.

Sensory Starter Kit for under $20 from Target

This is a post in our Play on a Budget series.  Other posts include:

Play on a Budget: Tips and Tricks
Our Favorite Free Sensory Materials

A Sensory Starter Kit for under $20 from The Dollar Tree

I thought I'd write a post on how to set up a starter kit of commonly used sensory/play materials for those of you who are just getting started.  Every person has their own preferences, of course, but here's a list of what I'd buy (and why!) if I had a budget of $20 and could only shop at one store - Target.  I picked Target because it seems to be everywhere in the US, and ought to be pretty easily accessible for most of you.  I'll be back in a few days with the Dollar Tree Sensory Starter Kit.

I was able to put together a pretty great kit and even came in under budget - $19.78!  :)

Now for the details - here's what I chose and why:

I found these two for one mesh sponges in the Dollar Section - since one of our favorite activities is setting up a Washing Station, I wanted to be sure to include these.  Next I grabbed shaving cream.  Shaving cream is such a fun sensory experience and we love it!  We've used it in a Shaving Cream Search and in our Dragon World small world.  We will be sharing even more ways that we use it as time goes on and I write up more of our activities.  It's a definite must-have.  Next I included salt.  Salt is so fun just by itself as a sensory item - you can draw in it, write in it, pour it, scoop it, etc.  We most notably use it with our Funnels and Tubes, but you will see more of it in future posts as well.  

Baking soda and vinegar are another favorite item around here.  Just by themselves they are loads of fun.  We've also used them to make Fizzing Gelatin and our Fizzing Hidden Ocean World, and in Encouraging Little Scientists, to name a few.  Cornstarch is my favorite sensory item, so I for sure had to include it!  You could use it plain, or add water for a super fun sensory exploration, or even make it into Chilly Ice Cream Goo.  It's also great in small world play, as in my Dinosaurs and Sticky Mud world.

Pasta and rice!  These are fun plain, or you can color them following either of the two methods I outline in this post on Coloring Rice (follow the same steps for pasta as you would rice).  You could use the fettuccine noodles to make my Dirt and Worms sensory bin, or you could use them to make Rainbow Spaghetti.  You could do a Dry Pasta sensory bin with the penne pasta, or you could string them and make a pasta necklace or bracelet.  You could use rice for Rice Play or for a Rainbow Rice Sensory Bin.

If you have a baby or toddler, you might want to substitute cooking oil for baby oil - because I'm including this with the flour to be able to make Cloud Dough.  And the gel colors were the only type of food coloring Target had - but they are included to be able to add color to your sensory bins (not necessary, of course, but for added fun).

With cotton balls, you could do the Wet Cotton Ball sensory play or you could make Baked Cotton Balls, either of which are so much fun.  And if you have some of the previously listed items, I included black beans and pinto beans (or dried oats - not pictured) as possible substitutions - they make a great sensory material as well as fill for small world play.

The whole kit together in all its glory:

Though I was able to find much of what I wanted to include, I was disappointed to find that there were no miniature plastic figurines, foam sheets, or glass decorative gems.  I use those three items all the time in our sensory and small world play and I would have liked to include them.  All three of those things can be purchased at Michaels or another craft store (or the Dollar Store) - if you're willing to make an extra stop.  

And lastly, if you have the budget and a child who is no longer tasting/putting things in their mouth - I would strongly recommend purchasing liquid watercolors over food coloring.  Liquid watercolors last longer, are more vibrant, come in a wider variety of colors, and are completely washable (at least in our experience).  We buy our liquid watercolors from Discount School Supply.

To make things as easy as possible, I've also typed up a free printable shopping list, which you can access here:  Printable Target Shopping List

Follow along with us on Facebook or Google+

Please always supervise your infant/child at play.  Please stay within arms reach and never leave infants/children unattended.

Encouraging Little Scientists

This is running as a guest post over at The Imagination Tree!  Please click here to read it.  Thank you!

Simple Small Worlds: Fizzing Hidden Ocean World

You can also read about our other Simple Small Worlds:

Insect World

Frog World

Farm World

Dinosaurs and Sticky Mud

Dragon World

Butterfly World

S and I are HUGE fans of Safari Ltd and all of their amazing models (both large and miniature), so when Safari Ltd asked if I would be interested in reviewing some of their products on my blog, I jumped at the opportunity!  Safari Ltd provided me with their Ocean TOOB free of charge, but all opinions expressed in this post are my own and were not influenced by the free product.

Though we have LOTS of miniature "guys", Safari Ltd's are our favorites.  Not only are they brightly colored (and hand painted!), but they are Phthalate and Lead-free.  They even list the names of the various animals on each model, which is SO handy...I have a hard time keeping all my dinos straight and S is always wanting to know the right names for them.  :)

Safari Ltd TOOBS are just perfect for small world imaginative play.  When I heard they were sending us an Ocean TOOB  I began to scheme.  When I think of oceans, I think of sand, shells, and beautiful blue water.  Rather than just fill a tub with blue water, though, I wanted to come up with something a little more creative.  To stay true to my goal with my Simple Small Worlds series, I wanted to keep prep and materials to a minimum.

We had SO much fun with our fizzing treasure rocks (which we learned about here) during our Find the Leprechaun's Gold Hunt - it gave me the idea to make some baking soda dough and shape it like shells around several of the Ocean TOOB creatures.  

I promise that this is SUPER easy.  Really.  In fact, I did it in less than five minutes as I was needing to pick S up from preschool!  You will need to make the dough/baking soda shells a day in advance, though, to give them time to dry and harden.  That's the only hard part!

To make baking soda dough, you just need baking soda and water.  I used two boxes of baking soda to make six shells.

Once you've emptied the baking soda into the bowl, add just enough water that the dough is crumbly.  Err on the side of too little water.  Here I could have actually done a little less - so think of the below picture as showing you the maximum amount of water to add.  :)

After that, I took six of the Ocean TOOB figures and using a shell as a reference point, made the general shape of a shell by hand (this took about 15 seconds per "shell") and then placed the shells on a sheet of wax paper.  After making the shape, I used the back of a real shell to make some grooves like the shells I was planning to use in the small world.  Like I said, the whole thing took less than five minutes - I happened to be watching a clock.  I hope a lot of you will give these a try because they are just so much fun.

One of my favorite things about the Safari Ltd TOOBS is that they have natural groupings that lend themselves to both cohesive small world play and to learning about different groups of animals.  I knew that the Ocean TOOB would include a sea lion, eagle ray, starfish, two turtles, penguin, octopus, moray eel, humpback whale, sperm whale, hammerhead shark, tiger shark, and a dolphin - so I headed to the library last weekend and picked up a variety of both fiction and non-fiction books on those animals.  When she saw the small world, S was able to identify a few of the animals because of the reading we'd done, which was pretty cool!

 So for the set-up, I set out our splat matand filled our plastic storage bin with the now dry baking soda shells, several different shells,the glass gemsI used in Frog World (we found ours at the Dollar Store), and the remaining Ocean TOOB animals.

S was already so excited that she sat down to play for a few minutes before she realized - "wait, Mama, where's the water?  Shouldn't there be water in the ocean?"

To get the "ocean" started, I provided her with four squeeze bottles full of blue vinegar.  I used four drops of blue food coloring per bottle, though you could absolutely use liquid watercolors.  In fact, I would have used liquid watercolors, only our blue (from the tropical series) is really more of a green-blue, and I had my heart set on a bright blue ocean.  :)  

I instructed her to use the squirt bottles on the white shells to see what happened.  She gleefully went to work dissolving the first shell...which revealed a turtle!

After removing each animal, she loved squirting more vinegar to watch them fizz and "to clean them off".  

Moving on to the next shell!

"A cute little penguin, Mama!"

This one had the best reveal!  The octopus' eyes peeking out as its shell dissolved were cracking me up.

"Ooh!  Mama!  A ray!"  Once S was finished finding all the hidden creatures, I added several containers of water from our sink to make the "ocean" a bit deeper.

After all the shells were dissolved, the baking soda doubled as "white sand" at the bottom of her ocean world.  She smoothed out the "sand" and kept commenting on how soft it was.  I couldn't resist playing in it myself, and she was right!  The baking soda is silky smooth at the bottom.  We could even write and make designs in it, which was fun.

S found out that adding some of the residual vinegar in the squeeze bottles would still make little foamy eruptions, so she used every last drop of the blue vinegar.  :)

Safari Ltd TOOB creatures are just the right size for little hands to maneuver and play with.  Here S was helping the whale swim over to his friends on the other side of the ocean. 

We had so much fun with this world!  S played with it for almost 3 hours and declared it "the best project you've ever thought of, Mama!"  The bright blue ocean was so beautiful paired with the vibrant colors of the hand-painted Ocean TOOB creatures.  They were the perfect addition to our Fizzing Hidden Ocean World!

CONTEST OVER AS OF 3/30/13 at 9am.  Winner has been selected - Thank you to all who entered!

And now for even more fun: 

A SAFARI LTD. GIVEAWAY

The Details:

Safari Ltd has graciously offered a free product to one lucky reader - their choice of one Safari Ltd TOOB or replica.  As an added bonus, if the selected winner is found to be following Safari Ltd on any of their social media sites, that winner will win an additional product!

So for your chance to win TWO products from Safari Ltd, follow them on any of the following:

Facebook

Google+

Pinterest
Twitter

The contest will run for one week and will end at 9am on Saturday, March 30th.  At that time, one winner will be chosen using a randomly generated number from Random.org.  The winner will be announced both on the blog and on Facebook (I will also email you if you leave your contact info in your comment) and will have 72 hours to get me their mailing address.  If the chosen winner has not responded in 72 hours, a new winner will be chosen.

Due to the high cost of international shipping, the contest is only open to US residents.

To enter, leave ONE comment below.

If you'd like to increase your chances of winning, you may add ONE additional entry (comment) for "liking" Fun At Home With Kids on Facebook.  Once you have "liked" us, come back and leave the comment - "Now Following Fun At Home With Kids on Facebook" (if you are currently following Fun At Home With Kids on Facebook, you may leave a comment stating that instead).

You may also add ONE more additional entry (comment) for "liking" Safari Ltd. on Facebook.  Once you have "liked" them, come back and leave the comment - "Now Following Safari Ltd on Facebook"  (if you are currently following Safari Ltd on Facebook, you may leave a comment stating that instead).

Good luck!

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Please always supervise your infant/child at play.  Please stay within arms reach and never leave infants/children unattended.