Preschool Paintball!

Lil Bisuit has had a busy summer--he just turned three years old, so we've had lots of family in town for the celebrating, then his aunt was here for a few weeks and kept us entertained, and, in between, we've been working hard on preparations for Baby Biscuit who's due to arrive in August...so, we just haven't had a lot of time to blog. Now that things are settling down some, we needed some summer fun outside today...MESSY fun, of course...but since real paintball was out of the question for either of us, we decided to make our own game of it!

First we had to gather our supplies...water guns and squirters, splash bombs (those soft, foamie water balls for the pool), bowls, washable poster paint in various colors, and good ole' H20...

We filled up the bowls and blasters with a mix of water and paints, and we were ready for pint-sized paint wars!

 He thinks he can avoid my expert, precision shots with his impressive ninja dodging skills...

OHHH! I gotcha!! Mommy 1, Biscuit - 0!! :D

Just wait...there's more where THAT came from :D

Hee hee...I think I'm still winning, but now it's payback time!

Uh-oh...he's gettin' serious now!

Time for Mommy to go on the offensive again!

 Let's re-load...

Hey...cheater! You can't just smear me with it! ;)

Umm...I guess maybe me and Baby Biscuit didn't win after all?

The proud champion...:D

 Oh well...there's always a rematch right? And clean-up is just as fun--especially with colored bathwater!!

Pet Caterpillars?

A few weeks ago we had a TON of those tent caterpillars in trees around our house, and crawling all over the sidewalk. The first time we came across one, Lil Biscuit was so excited by it that I put it in a jar with some leaves and sticks and dirt so he could see it more up close at home.
Here's what transpired:

So as soon as we got him inside, he laid down on his tummy and started talking to the "worm" (I have a video of the conversation which was adorable but it is taking too long to upload so you'll have to trust me, it was cute!) anyway he kept asking me to get him out, so he could "pet it like a doggy"...so I let the fuzzy footed thing out of the jar to crawl around the kitchen floor.

Biscuit thought he was awesome!

He wasn't content just to watch him and pet him...

 ...he wanted to HOLD the caterpillar in his hand! He kept giggling and saying, "He tickle, mommy!"

He was pretty thrilled when I told him we could "keep" the critter overnight. We did let it go in a tree the next day, in case you were wondering ;)

Driveway Sponge Stamp Splash Art!

Today we skipped spring and went straight to SUMMER! It was HOT...close to 85 degrees, so we had to do something outside and WET! I found some sponge stamps that I originally bought for less than a dollar at Hobby Lobby to use for crafts and painting (they didn't work so well for that) and figured they'd be more fun in a sand bucket full of water. I told Lil Bisucit the plan to stamp some shapes on the driveway with bubble water and sponge stamps...he thought it sounded like a good time!

 First he had to pick out what stamps he wanted to use...

Then wring out some of the extra water....

Then he had to find a nice dry spot on the driveway to work. The stamps could make big blobs with too much water in them (or not much of anything without enough), but if you're really careful the prints turn out nice!

 When he got bored with that, we moved on to stamping with Biscuit ... first, he put a foot in the water bucket...

and ran all over the driveway making footprints!

 Here's one he made...

He made handprints too...

And splashed around with a soccer ball...

Then he washed rocks.

Finally it was time to clean up...he loved dumping out all the water!

 He was a good helper...

 He was all smiles after a good time - in a good mood, tuckered out and ready for a nap!

The Search for Signs of Spring!

With Daylight Savings this week, we couldn't resist getting outside and scoping out the spring scene in our yard. Little Biscuit is really eager to get out and play in the parks soon so he's as excited as I am to find some "signs of life" out there! First we checked out the little tree out our front window...

Sure enough, some cute little buds have already popped out!

And look what we found in the flower bed...

A bunch, actually!

Is the yellow grass turning green yet?

 Ah, yeah! Even some fresh clover has cropped in too.

And the grand finale...even the rose bush has hints of beautiful blooms to come soon!

Hooray for spring! Happy hunting at your house with your toddler too :D

Cup Concentration: A Textures Matching Game for Toddlers

We had Little Biscuit's final visit from our Parents as Teachers rep this week and she had a great idea for a game we had to try. We collected some random odds and ends from around the house that were 2 of a kind - two craft pompoms, 2 mini cars, 2 little wood men, 2 marbles, 2 hair ties, 2 Cars dominoes, 2 bendy straw ends, 2 foam circles, and 2 q-tips (the objects can be anything as long as they match, have different textures, are safe for toddler hands and are small enough to fit in a cup). Before we played the game, I let Little Biscuit hold, touch and handle the gizmos for a few minutes so he'd know the differences and how they felt.

Then, we dumped them all into an 8-oz cup...

 I put the cup inside one of his daddy's (clean!) tube socks so he couldn't see inside. We shook it up and, without looking, I pulled out one of the objects (a little orange wooden man). So it was his turn ...I let him put his hand down inside the sock...his challenge was to find the other orange man without peeking. He could only feel around for it...

Yay!! He did it :D

 He was quite proud of himself :)

 His first cup concentration match of the day...

 Mommy's turn...can she find the hair tie Little  Biscuit pulled out? If she does, she wins a BIG kiss, just like he did!! (Yippee, I won a big one!!! Here it comes...)

 Another turn for Little Biscuit...can he find the other foamie circle?

 Of course he can :D

 We had a lot of fun - what a great learning game...thanks, PAT!