Easy clean-up toy ideas

One of the exciting events of this month was being able to take down the baby gate that has guarded the kitchen since Little Biscuit's birth. Now that he's just a few months shy of two, we figured he was old enough to learn to stay away from off-limits items without baby proofing every cabinet, appliance, and door. We put happy face stickers on kitchen areas he can play in (like the now you see it, now you don't pull-out train track and toy car drawer above); we put "no" symbol stickers on drawers and places we don't want him to touch. Overall he's done a really good job following the rules...with a few slip-ups of course!
Even though he sometimes makes a mess in the floor around his play drawer, I prefer frequent clean-ups to the previous dilemma - which was frequently listening to him yell because he wanted over the gate and I wouldn't let him in. It's nice to be able to pick it up and just close the drawer when he's done. And it doesn't hurt that overall it's been a lot quieter around here lately...
...unless you count the rattle of trains and hot wheels speeding down the track ;)
Then, when the kitchen work is done, it's time for laundry...so we found a fun "secret speedway" for that too ;) Just flipped over the empty basket and voila! Gentlemen, start your engines!It's great to find these kinds of hidden play spaces all around the house! Makes the toys seem almost invisible ;) I just hope he doesn't get so into discovering the possibilities that he uses the toilet rim as the location for his next matchbox race! That might not be so easy to clean up ;)

My First Pet - A Fish for a Train Lover

Well Little Biscuit got his Valentine's gift from Mommy a bit early today - a brand new aqua colored beta fish, complete with a tot-style train theme tank!Meet Donegan (named from railroad lingo for a train that has been turned into a house - since a toy train has become this guy's watery residence!)Little Biscuit had a great time feeding him, and standing in a chair to watch Donegan take a "ride" in the red caboose.Not to mention it makes a fun accessory for his choo-choo toddler room! And very easy to care for - he only needs to eat every few days, and ever-so-often water changes ;)

Books as Toys! (Building Blocks of a Toddler's Love for Reading)

Biscuit already loves books any way he can get them...he enjoys finding pictures of stars, dogs, balls and other familiar shapes in them, he likes touching and feeling texture books, opening and closing flaps on the lift-the-flap books and just snuggling up for a short story time. But we found out this week that books can be toys too! They make great blocks (especially board books, and puzzles too). They also work well as streets, ramps, bridges and obstacles for trucks, and are fun for balancing games (try to walk with a book on your head and see if your toddler will copy you - even if he can't, he'll sure think it's funny!) Books even work as push toys - Biscuit likes sliding them around the house, sometimes one under each hand! I'm hopeful that even though these aren't the "usual" uses for books, as long as he associates them with playtime fun, smiles and lots of mommy time, he'll be well on his way to thinking of books in a positive way later on when it's time to actually read them :D

Let's Dish! (Servin' up some indoor fun)

Biscuit had a rough night last night since he's still feeling yucky from his cold (or whatever it is), so we were both pretty tired this morning; we decided to entertain ourselves at home. We broke out some plastic containers with easy-snap tops and practiced putting lids on. He had fun trying to match the right lid with the right container (and just as much fun putting the wrong lid on, just to see the result!) :D He also liked seeing what would go inside the containers, and dumping them out.

Toddler-Style Game Cube ;)

A NOTE ABOUT SAFETY: this project contains small parts and sharp wire so if you make your own cube, make sure to take measures to keep the components securely fastened to the basket and fold down all sharp ends inside the basket; tightly tape small sections of plastic neon straw over any connecting ends of chenille stem on the tangle maze. A cardboard wipe box or other object can be fastened inside the basket to limit accessibility. Always supervise your child when using this toy.

The past few weeks Biscuit has been getting really impatient. Specifically, he cannot bear the idea of waiting for me to finish doing something in the kitchen. For instance, if I have to wash the dishes, warm up milk, make dinner or anything whatsoever in the kitchen, he stands behind the gate and pounds his head on the bar until I'm done. I really needed something special to let him play with to distract him ONLY when I have kitchen responsibilities to attend to - something he might actually look forward to using while I work. He really likes those little wooden play cubes they have at doctor's offices and the library, but they are super expensive. So I decided to try to improvise one out of a plastic storage bin I already had from the dollar store. First we went to Hobby Lobby for a few odds and ends to add to it and I worked on it while Biscuit took his nap. For part of the first side I made a mini-abbicus for learning to count one to five; on the other section of that side I tied on an old shoelace for him to maybe eventually learn to tie his shoes (I colored it with a marker for some visual interest). The next side was inspired by toddler book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar; I made it out of fuzzy bright pompoms strung onto bead wire with chenille-stem antennae so Biscuit can slide the pompoms up and down to make the caterpillar seem bigger or smaller. On the third side I made a yellow tangle maze from chenille stems with baseball beads and foam star beads to glide along. And the final side was an over-sized jingle bell (Biscuit's favorite part!) with some washers and nuts from Big Biscuit's tool box strung on for more fun sounds and movement.



















I realized it had something for all the senses except taste and smell, but then it hit me that the top of the cube can be used as a snack tray. So I guess it covers all those bases. He has really enjoyed it so far (particularly the bell). But now the real test is whether it'll work for those "waiting times" when I'm busy in the kitchen! I'll keep you posted ;)

Stone Soup! (and other fun folk-n-fairy-tale-inspired toddler activities)

Because of Biscuit's newly discovered love of rocks (which he tries to steal from around the neighbor's mailbox), this morning's adventures took us to our local water garden center. I was hoping they had a few river rocks I could buy for Biscuit to play with, but it ended up being so much more fun than I figured it'd be. The sweet lady at the store let us fill up Biscuit's backpack full of rocks from her giant display fountain bed for $1 - she actually offered them to us free but we insisted!)

For Biscuit, it was like stepping into another world! He saw fountains, ponds, ferns, fish, tadpoles and other great water displays everywhere. So many places to explore and new things to touch! Here are some of the storybook examples of "enchantment" we discovered there!

Biscuit at the Fountain of Youth!?
(I didn't even drink from it but I sure felt like a kid again!)





















Looking for the troll under the bridge (from The Three Billygoats Gruff)...uh-oh, I guess he found him! Run, Biscuit, run! ;)


Was that The Frog Prince on that lily pad?

Hmmm, I wonder if any of these koi know The Golden Fish?

Of course all Biscuit's discoveries went right along with his latest library book, Made By God. It's fun to enjoy imaginary stories but even more amazing to know there's a real Creator who gave us this world full of wonders!

When we got home I boiled the rocks in hopes of killing some of the algae or other goopies that might be lurking on them, since Biscuit insists on taste-testing each one of them (thus the Stone Soup!) Then we put them all into a little clear box just his size. He loved taking them in and out of the box, clapping them together, rolling them to Curious George and trying to shove them into his shape sorter. I'm sure he'll come up with some other creative uses for them in the days ahead. After that he had to change clothes; he was soaked from playing in the lily pads! :)

Toddler-friendly toy storage solution

Lately I've been getting kinda desperate for a more ideal storage place for Biscuit's toys. We've accumulated so many that we've actually been using his pack 'n play as a catch-all. I also had a few of his odds and ends on a small bookshelf in his playroom but it didn't hold many and I figured it'd be any day now that he'd start trying to climb it. So, since I was working on organizing yesterday in the basement anyway and getting rid of as many old boxes as possible and consolidating stuff into rubber storage tubs, I decided to try to come up with something more practical for the toys. Turns out the bookshelf was helpful after all - I ended up laying it flat on the floor to make a big open "chest" after removing most of the shelves. Then I used 4 more of those empty diaper boxes (the 124 count size, bless 'em!) to fill the space inside the bookshelf. I was so excited that they fit perfectly!! Now all his toys have a "home" - there's a box for balls, another for rolling cars/trucks/etc., and one for misc. small plastic toys. There's still one yet to fill which I'll probably use for soft toys (most of those are upstairs in his bedroom at the moment). Anyway, I didn't want anything heavy for a lid lest Biscuit squash his fingers but I didn't want all the toys always showing either. So I locked some of his extra foam floor mat pieces together and taped it to some pieces of old foam board I had laying around. Now I have a way to cover up the new toy box when it's not being used. Overall here's why I like it:


1. It's not so high anymore should Biscuit decide to climb it, and he can't pinch his fingers.
2. He can't pull out the boxes and dump things all over the floor very easily. (That's why I didn't want to spring for one of those bin organizer systems - I pictured him grabbing the bins and pouring them all over his own head. But with this floor setup he can still reach in to the boxes and get out what he wants.
3. It's too heavy for Biscuit to tip over onto himself, lift up or push around the room.
4. I didn't have to spend hours online searching for exactly what I wanted, on sale, or groaning about the shipping cost, or stressing over the gas prices if I went shopping for it, or trying to figure out how to have it delivered if I found something decent at a yard sale.
4. Since we had the components already around the house, I essentially didn't have to pay for it.
5. It was free!
6. Did I mention this project cost me nothing...as in nada, zilch, not a penny, zipporooney--0$??

Okay...so for toys too big to put into the box, I made several zones in his playroom (for instance, a sports zone for his soccer goal, basketball hoop, baseball toys, etc., and a music zone for his keyboard, xylophone and drum. And so he wouldn't feel like all his toys were banished to the toy box downstairs, I purchased six small stacking bins from Dollar Deals so I could put one "toy-or-book corner" in each room of the house (besides the bathrooms). I plan to rotate these with fresh toys from the box or simply switch the bins from room to room.

Easy-on-the-Budget Boredom Busters :)

Pampers Pegboard?

Yesterday I caught Little Biscuit pounding on a diaper box with one of his toys. So I cut a hole in the box and cut a paper towel tube into several short "pegs." I showed him how he could "hammer" the peg into the hole. He spent a long time working at it! And he already started playing with it again today. Sheesh, I really do think the cheapest and simplest toys are his favorite!

We also used the same diaper box to make an indoor wagon...the only other prop I needed was my red, long-sleeved shirt (tied the sleeves together to make the handle, and Biscuit's weight was enough to hold the shirt on the box without clips or tape).

Our Little Red Wagon

Old toys, new uses!

As I was considering options for what to do today, I first thought about taking some of Biscuit's old toys to Once Upon a Child (a resale store for anything re: kids) to see if I could get cash out of them. One of the items that I've been especially itching to get rid of is a secondhand exersaucer he's too big for (and it's missing the seat too). It's just been sitting in the basement taking up space. We also really wanted to go swimming today (and preferably not in the plastic bin downstairs collecting water from the a/c leak). We ended up not doing either one...at least, not exactly. I decided not to part with the saucer just yet. It hit me that it might be salvageable...as a makeshift water table! Biscuit's never played with a water table (neither have I for that matter) but I've heard of them from family and seen some at Amazon and Toys 'R Us - and they sounded like big fun. So me and my sis (who's staying with me till Big Biscuit gets home) and Little Biscuit headed to the dollar store for some cheap accessories. We found a big bowl to set up inside the saucer where the seat used to be, a splash disc, some of those "just add water" toys that expand when wet, and an assortment of little water-friendly balls. Back at home, after dinner when the temp cooled down some, we set up the whole ensemble, rigged up the garden hose as a fountain in the middle of it all...and voila! Biscuit had a blast and ended up MORE soaked than he probably would've been had we gone to the pool! He couldn't get enough of the hose spray ;) This activity was definitely the highlight of our day!

to blog or not to blog?

One part of me is totally thrilled to blog…another part (just an eensy part though!) feels kinda guilty that I could be using this time to do something more productive, say, wash dishes or fold clothes (since blog time is almost always aka Biscuit’s naptime). So because I’m not the kind of person to enjoy a lot of guilt hanging around, I want to make this blog time as useful as I can. So I’ll set myself a few ground rules: no blogging while Biscuit is awake and active, wanting my attention. I’ll blog only during naps or when he’s drinking his bottle or playing happily by himself. And I won’t spend copious amounts of time at it - the thirty-minute rule applies. Also: I won’t put the blog before quiet time w/ God. Period.

Another way I can make this blog helpful is: use it as my new motivation to think of fun activities to do with Biscuit and share with all you toddler mommies and daddies out there. So my goal (at least while he's a toddler) is to offer free toddler ideas - money-saving tips, toddler games, fun places to take your toddler, indoor playtime activities for toddlers, parenting advice and my day-to-day adventures in motherhood. (If you’re like me you’re constantly looking for creative ways to spend time with your kids besides playing the usual hide-n-seek, blocks and peek-a-boo. We’ll try to think up some fun ideas of our own and pass them on after we try them out. They’ll probably be biased toward ideas for boys since that’s the way it is, but feel free to adapt as needed for your own playtimes :) Alrighty, without further adieu, here is today’s contribution:

The Tickle Truck in TP Town
We constructed a network of toilet paper highways around the house today and I showed Biscuit how to drive a small toy truck around “town.” At the end of a “road” it was fun to drive the truck onto bumpier terrain up and down Biscuit’s legs, arms, back and tummy–tickling all the way!
oh, and TP by the way, crumpled up, also makes great loads of dirt for toy dump trucks!