Slime Pie ~ Invitation to Play

Slime, who doesn't like slime?? Little Bit LOVES slime! The slime I made will last for several months so we will use it in lots of ways but for now we are using it to bake. Using the slime for pretend baking was Little Bits idea. She started making pies so I ran with it and quickly pulled together a few play cooking items. She has not tired of slime pies yet.

 I made a batch using the recipe found on Growing a Jeweled Rose. The recipe is very simple but I do want to add a disclaimer: when I made the slime it DID NOT look right, it looked like a hot mess. I made it for a play date that we were having at my house. I let the kids play with the not so great slime because kids do not care it looks right or not they just like to play with yucky stuff ;) After about 5 minutes of play it was perfect! Do not give up on the slime if it does not mix together at first, just play with it to get it to the right consistently.

 Little Bit loved making the slime into eggs. Slime does not hold its form the way play-dough does but that doesn't matter to Little Bit. The slime is easy to move, cut and pull apart which is why I think she loves it so much. After making eggs she used the eggs to make pies and cookies.

We used several different baking accessories: 

• egg carton
• fork, knife, spatula
• play pie pans
• play cookie sheet
• real microwave (Little Bit pretends this is her oven)
• cookie cutters

Slime baking has been a hit at our house. When I am cooking she loves to play with her slime and bake. I love that the slime is easy to clean up and doesn't easily dry out. Do you play with slime? What are your favorite slime activities?

F is for Frog

Letter F Tub

We put together a tub with various items that start with F. Little Bit and Friend explored the bucket and talked about each word listening for the F sound.

 
Items in the F tub:

• frog
• feather
• flashlight
• firetruck
• flower
• flip-flop
• various size letter Fs
• fish
• fox
• four and five

Frog Pond Play

We played with pretend frogs in 4 different ways. Check out my post about our frog ponds. 

Frog Books and Activities

Hop Jump by Ellen Stoll Walsh

This is a fun book about a frog that wants to dance not jump and hop. After read we practiced our frog hop and checked to see who could jump the farthest. 

I found this fun game at the Dollar Store (sweet!) that is all about jumping frogs. Little Bit and Friend loved making the frogs jump. 

999 Frogs Wake Up

This is a cute book about a sleepy frog. The books does not include counting but you could create your own counting game with this book.

Frog and Fly by Jeff Mack

Frog and Fly is like a comic book split into six parts. After reading the story Little Bit tried her hand at eating like a frog. We used small toy insects and sticky slap toys. The sticky slap toys I found were in the shape of a lizard, I think the sticky hands would of words better but the lizard did the trick this time.

Little Bit loved pretending to be a frog with a sticky tongue.

Five Green and Speckled Frogs

Five Green and Speckled Frogs Song

*the words in this video are not the exact words from the book*

We read the book and then played the song from YouTube that is listed above. As the song played Little Bit used the frogs and log I made to act out the song. 

I created 5 frogs and placed them on popcycle sticks, then used a paper towel roll as a log. The frog fit into the small holes I cut until they were ready to jump into the pool. This was an easy and simple way to act out the game and very cute. 


I hope you enjoyed reading about the fun we had as we learned and played with frogs. There are so many great ideas for playing with frogs, below are a few sites that have great ideas for playing with frogs. 

Coffee Cups and Crayons has a great post about jumping like a frog. 

Walking By the Way has a great resource for counting with frogs. 

Activity Village has a printable available for Five Green and Speckled Frogs. 

There is are many different Frog Boards for Preschoolers on Pinterest. 

Frog Sensory Ponds

 

During our F is for Frog week we had Friend and Little Friend with us everyday to play. We played everyday with our frog pond. I decided to switch things up and present the pond in a different way each day. 

Day 1 - We played with the frog pond in a tub with water, rocks, foam lily pads and frogs. Friend said he was having fun several times. Since the bin was on the floor Little friend was able to play too.

Day 2 - The next day frog pond was in our water table. The rocks, lily pads and frogs were each in separate containers so that Little Bit and Friend could arrange them like they wanted. I only put water in to one section of the table. Little Bit and Friend used the dry area as land for the frogs to sit on.

Day 3 - On day three we talked about how frogs sometimes live in the mud. I set out a tub with dirt and water table with water. Friend and Little Bit quickly started adding the water to the dirt and making mud. Little Bit was the first one to touch the mud and not long after they were hiding the frogs in the mud then digging around trying to find them. The one word they used to describe the mud over, and over again was GROSS!! If they could of jumped in like the frogs they would have. :) The dirt came from our yard so it had leaves and sticks in it which added extra fun to the digging around.

I do believe this was their favorite frog pond :)

Day 4 - On the last day we played with our frogs in green goo (Obleck). Little Bit had never played with green goo so she enjoyed dipping, scooping and burying the frogs. We did not use the rocks for this bin, just the frogs and lily pads.

We had fun playing with the frogs in different ways. Very little changed with each of the bins but Little Bit and Friend enjoyed playing and exploring the different ponds.

Pretend Laundry Play

 

Pretend play has become a big part of Little Bit's world. Her imagination has opened up and she is always pretending. I came across a fun pretend laundry idea on the blog Sand and Water Tables.  First, I tied string to our back deck to create a clothesline, pulled out some clothes that Little Bit has out grown and setup the water table with soapy water.  

Once I explained what we were doing she quickly got to work, I mean play :) Little Bit is a BIG helper around the house and loved pretending to do laundry. The clothespins were a bit tricky but after a little practice she got it. This was a simple, easy and everyday play idea that we will use again soon. Now if Little Bit was tall enough to do the real laundry that would be awesome ;)

Red, White & Blue Shaving Cream

We today played with shaving cream, paint and glitter. I originally saw this idea on the blog No Time For Flash Cards through Pinterest. As you may have noticed from my other post I use a lot of ideas from so many fabulous bloggers. The internet is a wonderful way to share and learn about new ways to play.

I used shaving cream, red and blue paint and glitter. As I was setting up I found spice containers to use for the glitter, which let me control how much glitter was used and let Little Bit glitter al by herself. After adding the shaving cream to the container I added drops of paint then created a firework pattern with a stick. Little Bit became very curious and couldn't wait to dive in.

Little Bit spent a few minutes trying to figure out what it was and what to do with it. She was a bit hesitant but quickly was painting herself with shaving cream, mixing the paint and adding glitter. She kept saying it was sticky and was like play-dough. Next time we will do this outside so that she can sling her arms and clap. Little Bit was laughing hilariously when she clapped her hands and a big glob flew to the ground. This was a fun and messy activity.

Sensory Bin Link-Up

My daughter loves sensory bin; she pours, scoops, and digs for hours. Sensory bins are a great way to explore a theme such as a color, holiday or topic. There is no end to how you can use sensory bins.

CrayonFreckles is hosting a sensory bin link-up with tons of great ideas for sensory bins. Hope over to her page and checkout all the amazing ways that sensory bins can be used. Below are the bins I have blogged about and the link to my Pinterest sensory board.

• Easter Bin
• Pantry Bin
• Pinterest Sensory Board

Sensory Balloons

I made sensory balloons for my daughter that I found on Tot Treasures. They were easy to make and Little Bit loves them. As I was making them she would say 'More balloons mommy.' Each balloon has one of the items listed below inside and feels very different from the others.
We talked about bumpy and smooth and she would ask what was inside.

 Inside the balloons are: 
- rice
- large uncooked beans
- corn kernels
- flour
- small pom-poms
- coffee
- sand

Easy project and she has played for hours with the balloons. So far, they have not busted open.