12 Months of Sensory Dough: Foam Dough

I saw this link up on a blog that I follow.  I've never done a link up before, so I'm not even sure I'm going to do this right!
I've also never made homemade dough before, so that is why I was up for the challenge! I always see these recipes on pinterest but have never attempted them.  I thought one a month seemed like a great idea and I know the kids will love it. 

So each month there is a new dough recipe to try and then post about.  I will post the link where I got the recipe and then post about our outcome. 

January is: FOAM DOUGH

 

 

I liked this dough to begin with because we already had the supplies at home.

 

 

Shaving Cream + Cornstarch = Foam Dough

 

 

I searched a few blogs for recipes but they were all pretty much the same.  So I just went with the recipe and instructions from the blog I follow: Delightful Learning

(This blog is one of the featured bloggers with the 12 months of dough and was how I found out about the 12 months of dough idea.)

Another recipe for rainbow foam dough was linked up as well, and said it is a one to one ratio for the shaving cream and cornstarch

 

 

This proved to be messy! But messy is always fun for toddlers!

I didn't have much cornstarch, so I was a little stingy at first. 

After putting cornstarch in the bowl, we headed outside. I added the shaving cream (equal to cornstarch) and food coloring

The kids had so much fun mixing and playing with the colors!

But it just wasn't getting 'doughy' at all.  So I added the rest of the cornstarch that we had and we tried to put it on the cookie sheet to form it more into a dough

It never did get to a consistency that they could really form anything. BUT, even though I thought it was a fail--they knew no different and had a BLAST! They were 'making it snow' and throwing it around in the grass.  It was great fun and an easy clean up.
 

Looking forward to next month's dough and I will be a little more prepared this time so we have enough of all the ingredients to fully experiment.

 

February is: Cloud Dough

So find a recipe and join in the fun!



BFIAR: Corduroy

Book: Corduroy  By: Don Freeman

 

Verse: Proverbs 17:17 "A friend loves at all times"

 

Age: 35 months, 17 months

 

 

This book has been so fun! We owned this book, so that is why I chose this one to row next.  I also wanted to continue with the 'bear' theme we had been doing.

We spread the activities over two weeks because we had some things going on and I was also late getting the print outs ready this week.  There are just so many fun things to do that it is hard to choose some to only fit into 5 days!

 

Day 1:

Read the book. Colored "Corduroy"

Patterns with Corduroy:

I couldn't find anything online like this that I wanted, so I created this in Word. :) I was impressed with her patterning skills! They have come a long way in a short time.

And of course Declan wanted in on the action too.

Listening to Corduroy on the ipad:

As they finished their snack I put the video of a read-aloud on.  Raelynn followed along in the book. 

Day 2:
Read book and made Corduroy Puppet

 Sensory Bins: Button Search

When Raelynn found the buttons she put them in a container

 Day 3:
Read the book and "sewed" (laced) buttons on a string

 

 Printables from Homeschool Creations (and there are A LOT more-some that we did do as well as some that I didn't print because they were a bit too advanced)

patterns

sorting

 Day 3:

Button Snake:

This is a huge hit with Raelynn! I made it to practice her buttoning skills, but it doubled as an activity to go with the book!

 

 Button scavenger hunt and sorting:

I hid buttons around the house and Declan and Raelynn went looking for them.  After that, Daddy thought it would be fun to hide popcorn and raisins around the house---guess which one they found faster??

Day 4:
Read the book and made our own rhyming book:
Printable from Homeschool Share

coloring, cutting and pasting her book

 A few things we did all week:
Felt bears, Teddy Graham snacks, sing and dance to "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear", and a teddy bear hunt

Photo courtesy of Raelynn! She wanted to take a picture of her bears.  Was going to make these a little more elaborate, but the kids loved them the way they were and enjoyed playing with them

Day 5:
I really think this was the highlight of the week!! Creating a fun memory is the best part of creating fun activities with literature.  In Corduroy, the bear rides up an escalator---so that is what we got to do at the airport!! So double the fun-we got to pick up Mimi AND ride the escalator! :)

 

 

 Day 6:
We also own this book so we read it

 

Project 52: week thirty-one

January 11-18

Yes, this was happening.  Ah, sweet bliss.  Have I mentioned how much I love blanket time? :)  (but don't let the picture fool you....after this Elliana and Declan gave me plenty of opportunities to continue to train them in blanket time and obeying my directions)

On a blog I follow, I saw something called 12 months of sensory dough.  Each month they challenge you to make a new dough with your kids and then blog about it.  I have never made a homemade dough before, so I thought it would be fun to try and the blogging would keep me accountable!

Ally, you should probably join in:)  I will post more pictures about this on a separate post...

This month we made "foam dough"

cornstarch and shaving cream

but I would say it was a fail in my eyes when compared to the other blogs I looked at.  It didn't turn 'dough' like at all. But something messy, hands on, and new--that equaled a huge hit with the kids! It was fun to pretend it was snow!

The bike carrier came this week! They all loved it. 

Have I mentioned what a great daddy my children have? 

Sensory bins!

My window washers:) I told Brent--now that I have the kids helping me...some things are probably not going to look very clean even though they were just 'cleaned' :)

      

 

We found a nice toddler bed on craig's list for Raelynn.  We want to get her used to it for a little while before we move Elliana into her room.  Once Colt is sleeping through the night we'll move him into his own room and Elliana will have Raelynn's old crib.  Not sure how that will go! Our two chatter boxes in the same room!! Raelynn was WAY more excited that Elliana will be coming into her room than she was about the new bed.

 

 

I found both of these cuties like this! Declan in his little reading corner:)  And Elliana has turned into a little climber! She climbs on everything, but isn't quite walking yet. 

 

 

 

 

 

On Friday, Mimi arrived!  We are excited to have her here for a few weeks!!

 

1 month!

Colt was 1 month on January 10.  He had his well visit with the doctor on the 2nd and was 11.5 pounds and 22.5 inches long.  He is 95% for both.

Not too much exciting to report this month.  Colt is doing great and is well loved by his brother and sisters.  He is sleeping in 4-5 hours stretches some nights.  He of course still has his up-every-two-hour nights as well, but on average he is a great sleeper.  He wakes, eats, and goes back to sleep which is great.  He is pretty content to just hang out in his bouncer--loves the vibrations! He is starting to be alert more and awake during the day.  He isn't a big fan of tummy time quite yet.

I was excited to begin the 'watch me grow' milestone photos with Colt. Hopefully I can keep up with it each month!
(thank you Ally and Pinterest for the idea of the calendar page!)

We'll watch how he grows on the bench each month!

 

Project 52: week thirty

January 5-10


We have been continuing to adjust to the new normal and Daddy is back to work full time-two days from home and three at the office.  We are so thankful for the schedule he has been blessed with!
We received some meals this week from friends.  Let me tell you--if it is on your heart to bless someone with a meal--DO IT! It is the biggest blessing to a busy mom! Not only do I not have to think about what is for dinner or preparing it, but I get to spend that time in other ways.  During such a time of transition, it is such a blessing to be able to fully concentrate on my children and playing with them. 
Here is a peek into our week and some updates:

Elliana is doing great! She is pulling herself up, as you can see here:)  She is SO close to walking, but just isn't quite there yet.  Here is a picture where you can see her braids:)

Declan sure loves his little bro! It was finally (what I thought would be) a chilly day so they could wear their matching hoodies---but no surprise, as soon as we got outside we took them off!

Tuesday my sweet sis Kacia offered to come bring me lunch and hang out for a bit.  It's possible, but a big challenge for me to take all 4 to the park, so it was great to have Kacia here to help! And it sure was fun for me to not have a baby strapped to my chest or inside my belly so I could play along with my kiddos!!

She got up and did the first monkey bar all by herself!  Cute story--when a friend brought dinner Tuesday evening, Raelynn told her she was going to have a birthday soon.  The friend asked how old she will be.  Raelynn said "I'm going to be 3. I'm older now and can go on the monkey bars all by myself!"

Elliana crawled in the tunnel for the first time today!



Declan wants to do everything his big sister does.  So as she was counting with bears, he wanted to join too:)

This big guy is one month old this week on January 10! (more on that in another post!)

We were all excited that new helmets came for Elliana and Declan.  Daddy bought a bike trailer for the back of the bike so he can take 3 kids now!

I had two helpers this time when baking cookies! Declan is at that fun age that he is so interested and can do a little bit to help.