MONDAY INVITATION - DRAWING or WRITING PROMPT
{Eye Sticker Drawing Prompt}
I just came across this idea from The Artful Parent, and thought it would be a perfect activity to add to my creative table arsenal. During my recent trip to Michaels, I found a roll of eye stickers for just $1.99 each, so I purchased one black/white roll and one colorful one. These are so much fun! Here is the invitation that I left out on our table for the kids:
Little M&M and Honey Pot came up with some really great ideas!
By the end of our drawing session, here is what they came up with. Honey Pot's are on the left; Little M&M's are on the right. Notice on Honey Pot's first page, she stuck with a Monster's Inc. theme, complete with Mike Wazowski, Sully and Randall inside the Monster's Inc factory!
WEDNESDAY INVITATION - ART or CRAFT
{Simple Painting on Scrap Paper}
Little M&M actually chose today's art project. He often goes to my craft closet and sets an activity up for himself on the days he is home from school (sorting loose parts, playing with the geoboard, making cards, etc.) Today he asked to use some leftover paints that came in a decorate-your-own-horse kit from over a year ago. I didn't even remember that we had these paints! So I set the kids up with this simple invitation:
Sometimes I get so carried away on Pinterest, looking for an awesome craft, that I forget the simplest offerings usually are the most fun! And when Sweet E arrives, the simple activities will be the ones I'll look for! Little M&M used some pieces of scrap paper from our bin of partially used papers. He loves going in there to use up little pieces of paper! He made a house and an apple tree, a pretty page where he worked on color mixing...
And then this beautiful mess! Process art. So fun!
Then later Honey Pot had a go at the paints.
This is what she came up with: a flower, clouds, a bird and a person. So cute.
FRIDAY INVITATION - SENSORY or STEM
{Magnetic Water Play + Whisking Bubbles}
This initial idea comes from And Next Comes L. Today was a warm, early Spring day so I wanted something the kids could do outside on the deck. I pulled out two clear buckets, magnetic counters and wands, bowls, scoopers and pipettes:
Little M&M was especially interested in playing with this!
He and Honey Pot quickly used their wands to gather all their magnetic chips.
They used their bowls, scoopers...
and pipettes right away!
Then I asked them if there was anything they wished they could add to their bins. Together they decided upon silicone cupcake liners (which they also favor when playing with playdough) and "something to mix it up with." I decided if I was going to get a whisk, then we were also adding some dish soap to make this extra exciting! They LOVED this!
Soon their bins were super bubbly, which definitely extended their playtime.
Eventually it led to "science experiments" on the deck. In other words...
soap EVERYWHERE!
It was a great way to end the week. Definitely a sensory activity we'll be returning to on a hot summer day, in bathing suits! Maybe I'll even give them each a sponge and put them to work!
