ice boats

We celebrated the first day of summer today with ice boats in our kiddie pool.  This activity was a huge success with M and one that we will definitely do again.

Directions:
- Tape the short end of a flexi-straw to the bottom of a Solo cup so that the tall end stands up straight in the middle of the cup.
- Fill the cup 1/3 of the way with water and freeze (ours froze overnight).

- Once completely frozen cut the cup away from the straw.  I also read that you could loosen the ice by running warm water on the outside of the cup but I found it pretty easy to just cut the cup and slip it right off.
- Use a hole punch to make a sail for each boat.  We used construction paper.  After the fact I thought it would be cute to have had him decorate the sails but they get wet and ruined fairly quickly.

M was really excited to put them in the water and we liked sailing them back and forth and sending them down M's pool slide.  As I said, the sails were soaked within a minute or so and slumped but M didn't care and eventually just pulled them off.  The straw was great because he could use it to move the boat around without grabbing the ice every time.  

The weather wasn't overly hot today but warm enough for this activity.  That was probably in our favor because I could see these melting super fast on a very hot day.  Ours lasted maybe 10 minutes each today.  I made two and we played with one at a time because, of course, after the first melted M was asking for more.  M actually seemed to enjoy them most once they melted a bit and were smaller.  He's a big fan of throwing things (balls, rocks, etc.) into water so he had tons of fun throwing the smaller ice chunks into the water then finding them.  This was a great activity for summer and one that definitely gave me some ideas for other things to try this summer!

water painting

I was planning to save this idea for next week but with today's warm weather I decided we'd try it. We've painted a few different ways now. M has used a paintbrush before (see our garden pets entry). Water painting was a great way to let him practice more with a paintbrush and to cool off a little in the warm weather.
We used water, a few paintbrushes, and construction paper for this activity. Basically M "painted" the construction paper with the water instead of paint.  For the first 10 minutes M was happy to stir the water with his brush.

Once he got the hang of it he had fun.  We even made some hand prints after M stuck his hand in the cup.  He made a lot of dots and splatters.

The neat thing was the construction paper held up to a lot of water.  Even when the cup was dumped on one piece.

I'll admit I failed at this project in the beginning.  We first tried this on our porch (bad idea, wet carpet) with a rather full cup of water (um, not sure what I was thinking).  Much better out on the deck with a half-full cup.  It was plenty of water until it got dumped.  However, I think the dumping just made it more fun for M.  You can do this on pavement or wood surfaces too - basically anywhere that water will show up darker.  

ice cube painting

Today M and I tried painting with ice cubes.  It was a great activity for this week since the weather has been so hot.

To make the "paints" I mixed water with food coloring and then froze it in an ice cube tray.  Putting sticks into the cubes keeps the mess down (less on hands) and makes it easier to paint with the cubes because you don't need to hold them.  Popsicle sticks would be good.  I didn't have any so I broke wooden skewers in half and used those.

M loved this activity.  He had no problem holding onto the sticks and had good control over the cubes. He didn't want to stop and I had to pry them out of the hands when they had melted too much. 

When we do this again I'd do it outside in the shade.  Although with a younger toddler like M the high chair was great for containing the mess.  I'd also keep some of the cubes in the freezer and take them out as the others melted.  On a hot day they melt quick!

M's age when we played: 12 months, 1 week