Easy Toddler Activity Inspired by The Cat in the Hat

This activity is incredibly simple, which for an active toddler, is perfect.  All you need is:

• White paper
• Red paper cut into strips
• Glue (glue sticks are the easiest but white glue works fine too)
• Q-tips (if using white glue)

You can easily use this activity as an invitation to create.  Place paper, strips, and glue on a table.  Invite your little one over and let them explore the materials.  I did show my daughter how to use the Q-tip to spread the glue on the strips because she's never experienced that direction before, but feel free to see what your child will do on their own.

That's it!  Simple and toddler friendly.  Plus it's an invitation to read The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss (or at least part of it because it's a long story).

Happy Birthday Theodore Geisel!

Fun on the 4th with It's Playtime

Happy Birthday America.  Tomorrow is your birthday.  Now some of you readers may be enjoying a quite day at home, like I am, but still need to entertain your children (or at least get them away from the TV for 5 min).  Or maybe you are in charge of the neighborhood BBQ.  Either way, here are some ideas to engage your children this Independence Day.

What could be more exciting then Exploding Fireworks Paintings from Inspiration Laboratories?  Art, science and exploding baggies....AWESOME!  They also have links to other firework art/play ideas.

 This 4th of July Sensory Bin from Gift of Curiosity will keep your toddler scooping, mixing, and pouring using mostly items from around the house.

JDaniel4's Mom shared 10 4th of July Books to read with your kids.  

If you were featured this week, don't forget to grab your special "featured button."

<a href="http://messypreschoolers.blogspot.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeEYKQj4S7oHoLKfsA3PoeXgaNMJ5dxkdUxIphbmwXOlbFg78Gwl73-rT8AdMTgmqYmIJZrkJRYOqOEItkCbR_exui4YhZqLlwZaBHXhC5slGyqPScnxvq-zrQezw9-MdIUiecgW3fxKg/s1600/featured-messykids.jpg" width="150/" /></a>

These activities plus more can be found over on the It's Playtime Pinterest Board.  Happy Pinning! 

Now, on to this weeks play date! 

It's Playtime is a community and Thursday link-up hosted by:

* Rachele : Messy Kids (That's me!)

* Rachel & Holly : Quirky Momma

* Jillian: A Mom With a Lesson Plan

How to Play :

* Link up a post about a playful learning experience enjoyed by kids.

* Give us love and pop a button into your post/blog. Invite your readers to the weekly play date!

<a href="http://messypreschoolers.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VWLA7lm_Fqc/TaNHGpGSuVI/AAAAAAAAEX0/DGSvqIT7fyU/s320/RED-itplaytime.jpg" width="150" /></a>

* Stop by one of our blogs every Thursday and add your link about play. Your link will show up on each of the blogs in the It's Playtime community.

* Each week the playtime hosts will choose favorite posts to feature. (By linking you are giving us permission to use an image and link to you, if featured.)

* Be sure to visit some of the links that catch your eye. Commenting on posts that you find interesting or inspiring is a wonderful way to develop your own playful community.

By linking up you give us permission to grab a picture and feature you here, on a site we write for, on FB or Pinterest.   If we share your link, we will always credit you, send people to your original post and use only ONE photo.

It's Raining on It's Playtime

Some of you have snow right now but here on It's Playtime, we have rain.  This weeks features were both inspired by the book The Rain Came Down by David Shannon.

Inspiration Laboratories created and shared Drip Paintings.  

Train Up a Child was inspired to create some bathtub Wash and Learn games.  

If you were featured this week, don't forget to grab your special "featured button."

<a href="http://messypreschoolers.blogspot.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeEYKQj4S7oHoLKfsA3PoeXgaNMJ5dxkdUxIphbmwXOlbFg78Gwl73-rT8AdMTgmqYmIJZrkJRYOqOEItkCbR_exui4YhZqLlwZaBHXhC5slGyqPScnxvq-zrQezw9-MdIUiecgW3fxKg/s1600/featured-messykids.jpg" width="150/" /></a>

These activities plus more can be found over on the It's Playtime Pinterest Board.  Happy Pinning! 

Now, on to this weeks play date! 
It's Playtime is a community and Thursday link-up hosted by:

* Rachele : Messy Kids (That's me!)
* Rachel & Holly : Quirky Momma
* Jillian: A Mom With a Lesson Plan

How to Play :

* Link up a post about a playful learning experience enjoyed by kids.

* Give us love and pop a button into your post/blog. Invite your readers to the weekly play date!

<a href="http://messypreschoolers.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VWLA7lm_Fqc/TaNHGpGSuVI/AAAAAAAAEX0/DGSvqIT7fyU/s320/RED-itplaytime.jpg" width="150" /></a>

* Stop by one of our blogs every Thursday and add your link about play. Your link will show up on each of the blogs in the It's Playtime community.

* Each week the playtime hosts will choose favorite posts to feature. (By linking you are giving us permission to use an image and link to you, if featured.)

* Be sure to visit some of the links that catch your eye. Commenting on posts that you find interesting or inspiring is a wonderful way to develop your own playful community.

By linking up you give us permission to grab a picture and feature you here, on a site we write for, on FB or Pinterest.   If we share your link, we will always credit you, send people to your original post and use only ONE photo.

Mommy & Me Book Club: Valentine's Day

*This post contains affiliate links

Last year I started a Mommy & Me Book Club for the moms in my Meetup group.  Shortly after, I found out I was pregnant and was extremely tired (for months and months and months and....).  So while I continued to host for a few months, I never shared the activities we enjoyed.  Lucky for me, one of them was a Valentine's Day themed play date and what do you know...it's almost Valentine's Day!

Reading List: 

Activities:

I made some terrific no cook play dough (Thank you The Imagination Tree!), colored it pink, and added glitter and Rose Oil .  It was smellerific!  I provided the kids with diamond beads, red stones, heart cupcake decorations, silk roses, and these pink hearts on a stick.  All of which I purchased at the dollar store, except the cupcake decorations which my grandmother gave me.

For art, I folded a TP roll in half, which creates a heart shape and gave the kids red paint.  The TP roll is long enough that this project can be fairly mess less.  Unless you have boys...or little ones that like sticking their fingers into the paint...or boys....did I mention boys?  We were lucky on this day though, the boys were occupied with wrestling.

Snack:

  For snack I made Glitter Grapes.  Aren't they pretty?  And no added sugar!  Warning: this snack is as addictive as it is beautiful.    

Would you like to start a Mommy & Me Book Club with your friends?  Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.

It's Playtime: Reading Fun

School is right around the corner.  Some of you may homeschool while others are preparing to send their kids to preschool or elementary school for the first time.  It's been proven that reading starts at home.  I myself have been reading to my kids since birth....and I mean birth.  As soon as I was able to balance my newborn and a book, I read to them.  With my daughter, it helped to develop her verbal skills early on; she began talking around 9 months (I'm sure it helped that I talk constantly, even to my newborns).  With my son, he has a dedicated love for reading...even if it's the same book over and over.  In my own life, some of my earliest memories of my dad are of him reading to me.  He loved Bill Peet, so we read books like The Wump World and The Whingdingdilly.  We didn't have a TV so that was our special time.  As I grew older, I would read to my step-mom as she brushed and styled my hair.  We read classics such as Little Women and The Secret Garden.  This was our special time.  Reading brings us together and teaches us to fly.  We can learn something new or get lost in our imagination.

This week on It's Playtime, let's read!

Books on CD are fun but also expensive.  Why not create your own?  Raising the Cameron Clan shares how you can create your own Books on CD.

Lego Duplo has been promoting their new Read and Build sets like crazy.  Head over to The Educators' Spin On It and check out their Tips and Printables for the Lego Duplo Busy Farm Set.

B-Inspired Mama.com shows us how to create a Simple Grocery Game turning shopping into a fun and educational activity.  Not only does it keep the kids entertained but matching labels promotes basic reading skills.

If you were featured this week, don't forget to grab your special "featured button."

<a href="http://messypreschoolers.blogspot.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeEYKQj4S7oHoLKfsA3PoeXgaNMJ5dxkdUxIphbmwXOlbFg78Gwl73-rT8AdMTgmqYmIJZrkJRYOqOEItkCbR_exui4YhZqLlwZaBHXhC5slGyqPScnxvq-zrQezw9-MdIUiecgW3fxKg/s1600/featured-messykids.jpg" width="150/" /></a>

These activities plus more can be found over on the It's Playtime Pinterest Board.  Happy Pinning! 

Now, on to this weeks play date! 

It's Playtime is a community and Thursday link-up hosted by:

* Rachele : Messy Kids (That's me!)
* Anna : The Imagination Tree
* Rachel : Quirky Momma
* Jamie : hands on : as we grow
* Jenny : Let the Children Play

How to Play :

* Link up a post about a playful learning experience enjoyed by kids.

* Give us love and pop a button into your post/blog. Invite your readers to the weekly play date!

<a href="http://messypreschoolers.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VWLA7lm_Fqc/TaNHGpGSuVI/AAAAAAAAEX0/DGSvqIT7fyU/s320/RED-itplaytime.jpg" width="150" /></a>

* Stop by one of our blogs every Thursday and add your link about play. Your link will show up on each of the blogs in the It's Playtime community.

* Each week the playtime hosts will choose favorite posts to feature. (By linking you are giving us permission to use an image and link to you, if featured.)

* Be sure to visit some of the links that catch your eye. Commenting on posts that you find interesting or inspiring is a wonderful way to develop your own playful community.

Mommy and Me Book Club: Ocean Theme

It's been a long while since I've posted something other then It's Playtime.  It's not that we haven't done anything, but between preschool, being pregnant, and the other things that life tends to throw at me, I've  been a bit absent.  So I'm going to try and go back to some of our favorite activities over the past couple of months and blog about them.  Then, hopefully, I can start working on some newer ideas.

Last month (June) we had our monthly Mommy & Me Book Club at the house.  It seems to be a popular activity with my regular moms which pleases me.  The theme in June was The Ocean.  Here are the activities I made available.

  I made some Sand Playdough inspired by Timeless Adventures.  I provided some shells and floral stones (both purchased at the dollar store) along with some ocean characters.  The kids enjoyed creating different scenes and and experiencing the variety of textures.

We also created Octopuses from T.P. tubes like those found at Mommy with Selective Memory.  All you do is cut 8 strips, leaving room at the top for the "head".  I'm running low on paint, plus I have a lot of little guys, so we used markers to decorate the tubes.  Then the kids glued on google eyes.

For snack I used the recipe for Cinnamon Snowflakes I found on Come Together Kids but made a slight variation.  I used a fish cookie cutter create little tortilla fish.  Then I followed the directions on the original recipe, creating crispy, yummy, cinnamon fish.  These went fast!  


And what's a book club without books?!  We all came together and read:
  

Would you like to start a Mommy & Me Book Club with your friends?  Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.