Melon Boats

An Awesome Book

My oldest was "reading" this book this AM.  There is a page (see below) that has Magic Watermelon Boats.  

"Mommy, can we make these?"

Since I had everything on hand we would need this was an easy YES moment. 

"YES- We can make watermelon boats!"

Magic Watermelon Boats

This activity was all set up and thought out by my oldest.  

"We need watermelon.  Do we have a watermelon?  We could use sticks and paper to make the flags.  Then we can fill up a baby pool and see if they float!!  Oh wait, we don't have a baby pool.  Do we?  That's OK, we can just put them in the bathtub.  That will work.  That will tell us if they sink or float."  

My oldest (4.5) making her "flag".

"I need to tape them together... like that one there in the book."

My oldest was making the boat with the blue sail.

My 3 year old decorating her sail.

It's finished!

Using a melon baller to clean out the inside.

For a fun edible sensory bin using melon balls click on the post below...

http://www.playathomemomllc.com/2013/03/melon-balls-edible-sensory-bin.html

Sticking the sail in.

Yes, you may suck out all the juice with your straw.

"Look, look!!!  They float!!!  It worked, they float!!"

We only had half a watermelon so my 3 year old compromised and used a cantaloupe.  :-) 

The girls added playmobil people and got in the bath with their "boats".  

Melon season is here, and we are looking forward to recreating these often!  It was such a fun project from start to finish.  

RL  

Pipes and Gutters

Both RL and I have a set of these WATERWAY PIPES.  RL told me she wanted to let the girls play with pipes in the bath.  So she purchased some suction cups (they have them at the Dollar Tree) and adhered them to her waterway pipes.....

Suction cups glued on to pipe

Let dry

Colorful and FUN!!

The girls LOVED it!!

Pretty awesome, huh??

Its all fun and games until the glue is an epic FAIL!!

Well, that stinks!!  Take note:  hot glue, super glue, epoxy glue.....NONE of those work.  RL told me about the mishap and we brainstormed together.  I was initially under the impression that she used PVC pipes for this and my first thought was - my little man would LOVE that.  So, I started searching for ways to attach suction cups to PVC pipes - gotta love google!  I stumbled upon this post on THE BROODING HEN.  Ah-ha!!  So, we followed her advice.....

I used PVC pipes and a piece of rain gutter - huge hit!

We also love using these BATH TABLETS for an added element of color.

The great thing about these pipes if that we can use them on the PAHM EASEL or on outdoor windows/doors.

- AK & RL

Red Bath (Infant Play)

I'm just apologizing in advance for my upcoming blog posts.  Most of the pictures were taken with my cell phone.  Now that my youngest is movin' and groovin' my time is extremely limited!  

Creating a colored bath is a fun way to introduce colors to your infant.  You can do this a couple different ways....

1.  Using dyes (please see picture below).  

You can use natural dyes... please see THIS post.  You can use a couple drops of food coloring or liquid watercolors.  Lastly, you can purchase bath tablets such as these seen HERE.  

Here is a picture of my oldest daughter in her colored bath.  She was 9 Months here.  See any resemblance to my youngest??  :-P  

2.  Placing different objects all of the same color in the bath.  This is a great alternative for those of you who had concerns with the dyes.  

I set this up for my youngest (10 months).   I don't have a picture of everything I put in (uh duh)... but it's pretty much just a bunch of random stuff we had around the playroom.  I threw in some washcloths, silk tie, water balloons, etc. to give her different textures.  There are maybe about 10 objects in this tub...and even that is a lot.  I would recommend not putting to many things in the bath.  It can be very overstimulating to your infant to have a bunch of different things going on at once... especially if bath time is typically a relaxing/calming time for him/her.  I would also suggest that if you do a colored bath with dyes to leave it at just that.  Talk with your infant on how you can pour/dump/splash/fill up etc. the colored water.  When you use objects, as seen below, keep the water clear so it is more visibly appealing to them.  

"You're squeezing the red balloon.  That must feel squishy and cold."

"You have two red cups!  Let's see if we can stack them."

"We made a red tower!"

"You have a red towel on you.  That's so silly!!  Where did ______ go?"  There she is under the red towel"

"You have a red hat on your head.  Whoa, that was a big splash.  Look, your red hat is floating in the water now." 

I see you!!!  

For more fun things to do with infants please see our section here on the blog as well as our FACEBOOK ALBUM

For more water play for infants click HERE

RL  

I-Spy Bath Time Style

We are always excited when we find a new bath "toy."  The other day we were at Staples and saw these submergible flashlights on the end cap.  How fun!   My girls have a blast with these in the tub.  They are always shining them all around searching for things so I thought I would set an I-spy invitation up for them.  This was a last minute decision so the pictures are not the best.  

Materials:

Submergible flashlight

Things to "spy"

Something to hang them (I used both sticky putty and suction cups with hooks... Dollar Tree)

Checking things out.

This is with my flash on.  I hung various bath toys and animals.  I also did a few floating/sinking objects.  I didn't get any naked-free pictures, though. 

Flash on.

"I spy something orange!" 

Looking around

She was so excited when she found something (24 Months)

"I spy a monkey!!!!"

Something Red

My 3 year old loved this as well.  

She's pointing at the shower head here saying "I found something round"  :-)  

"I spy something blue.... and fluffy."  

RL 

Water Bead Bath Surprise

The girls absolutely loved their water balloon bath with color tablets a few months ago.  For our original post click HERE.  

Tonight we decided to have some fun with water beads!  This was so much fun I wanted to jump in there with them!  My girls have a choice to take a bath together or separately.  I can't even remember the last time they took one together.  My 22M old heard my oldest laughing hysterically and came running in the bathroom. She couldn't wait to get in with her older sister!  

I took a bunch of balloons and filled some with just water and some with water beads and water.  I threw them in the bath and watched the fun!  :-)  

My oldest was so surprised when water beads popped out instead of color.  I wish I could have caught her facial expression.  

It was fun to squirt the water in your mouth, too.

And your sister's mouth.  She had pretty good aim!  

<3

"Whoa... there is something in there!  It feels squishy.  Do you want to feel?"

"I think there is something in this one, too!!  I need to cut a bigger hole.  It's not coming out."

"Here they come!!!  It's more water beads!!!!"  

This was soooo fun.  She had cut little slits in the balloon.  When she squeezed it, the water beads came flying out!  

"Here it comes"

Water bead flying out!

My camera died after this shot.  

After they popped all the balloons they had fun finding them in the water.  Make sure you get them all and they don't go down the drain.  

RL  

Water Balloon Bath

My oldest asked to play with water balloons today.  Since it was a little bit on the chilly side I told her we could make some for bath time tonight.  She LOVED this!  I filled most of them with water and a few with just air.  I also placed some color bath tablets in a couple white balloons.  

She loved floating on these.  The bath water was pretty warm and the balloons were filled with cold water.  Great sensory play!   

White balloons with color in them.  

You do not have to add this element in.  My daughter completely enjoyed just having the balloons in the bath.  

She chose to use scissors to pop the balloons, but you can use whatever.  I also have COMPLETE TRUST in my daughter with the scissors.  Only do what you are comfortable with.  

When the balloon popped it was a big explosion of color!  :-)  

"Let's see if this one has color in it!  It does!!!!  It's blue!!!"

"Whooooaaaaa, look at that one!  There wasn't any color."

"Look, the water is purple now!"

"Let's pop some more!  I wonder if this one has color??"

This will probably be my last blog post for awhile.  I will continue to check up on Facebook, but probably won't have time for blog posts.  I am scheduled to have my C-Section next week!  Looking forward to adding some infant fun to the mix.  :-)   Happy playing!  

My youngest (20 Months) enjoying her bath the next night.  She did not want to have anything to do with it the first night!  

RL