Cheap, under 1hr, under $30, sensory table

I went ot the Goodwill and picked up an end table with a window in the middle.
Just popped it out and found a bin that fit in there perfectly (at the Goodwill too)
I got a spray of Watermelon spray paint which dried in 10mn. I 'faux painted' it, pressing up a plastic bag to keep some of the brown as my playroom is hot pink and brown...Super easy!

Castalia will love it!

The Very Hungry Caterpilar

We recreated the book, looking at it, page by page.
We broke down the shapes, the colors, talked about how to mix the colors, how dark and light they were. We talked about the different stages of the life of a butterfly.

We also made a little finger puppet out of pompom and again talked about colors and copying the same pattern as drawn on the book.

This activity can be changed depending on the age of the child. They could write texts if they are older, color in the lines of your own drawings. etc.

Outdoor painting

I took this idea from Play at Home mom, I made this outdoor easel myself with a sheet of plexiglass and a few screws/planks. It was pretty easy to make.
that was Castalia's first time on it. You can either paint on it directly or clip a paper to paint on that.
She likes painting so much i knew this would be a hit :)

All mixed up!

We did this a few weeks ago, we were simply mixing colors. This can be done with a lot of media but we used water and food coloring. It always turns brown at the end, I guarantee you that!

So, we experimented with secondary paint colors.
red + blue = violet
blue + yellow = green
yellow + red = orange

I started with empty clear glasses and a container with water. We used a medecine dropper (get it a walgreens or any pharmacy really), water and food coloring.

We started by practicing using the dropper (it was her first time) and transfer water into the cups.

It is a great way to include counting, fine motor skills and maths even for older children.

I showed her the numbers on the dropper and how it was in ML. Each time she would get water in, I would ask her how many ML she had. She got it right away. As a matter of fact, a few days later, for another activity I gave her a turkey baster and she made the connection. She pointed to the numbers and was like "10 ML, 15ML, 20 ML!!!" All excited. For older children you could have them "chart" on a paper how many ML they have transferred from one glass to the other.

Then, I showed her  and explained to her how we had to GENTLY press on the flat part of the coloring bottles in order to extract ONLY a few drops. When she saw too much came out, she would notice it and say how dark it was.

We started with one cup of blue, one of yellow and one with red.

Then, using the dropper we mixed: Blue and yellow= green, Blue and REd=Purple and the Yellow and red=Orange.

We also talked (and experiment) about dark vs light colors. How using MORE blue, makes the green/prurple darker for instance. Older children could chart it too.

Then, as I said, it ALWAYS turns into brown :)

Habitats

We gathered her little animals and put them into HABITAT groups. So, I explained to her that some lived at the farm, some liked the hot weather and lived in the Savannah, some liked the water and lived in the ocean.

We started with the farm, the pigpen, she wanted a butterfly farm, a chicken coop. We added some fun stickers, colored in a pond for the ducks and the frogs. Drew in a few flowers (we always do the pollen first then the lines for the petals). she had fun.

We wrote "The animals at the farm" with stickers and then she asked me to write it in French too (she is bilingual) which suprised me as I have not taught her written French yet and we always write in English.

We made habitat accordingly and then she played with them. We also talked about the different things that animals ate and drew some hay and some meat too (there was a bear roaming around the farm so...)

Having fun with nature....

Castalia is very interested in nature. She loves the "Very Hungry Caterpillar," which has great lessons in colors, science and counting. we got it at the library once and she was hooked. I got her this sticker book which she LOVED:
http://www.amazon.com/Count-Hungry-Caterpillar-World-Carle/dp/0448444208

Actually, on our staircase going down to the playroom I have clings on the wall retracing the story. She loves telling it. Got it at Target for $20, basically it is this (ecxept they charge $100 for it!)
http://www.luxurylamb.com/prod/the_very_hungry_caterpillar_wall_decal_17506-cat-484_tr-fglel.html?utm_source=fglel1&utm_medium=fr&utm_campaign=datafeed

We were outside and she started to run after a butterfly saying "catch it." Perfect! I had bought a "insect catching kit" for when she would be ready ($ bin at Target and TJmaxx). The end of the summer is a great time to get those, they will probably be cheaper.

We went to a patch of flowers in front of her house and talked again about the different stages in the life of a butterfly. we talked about colors, about the way they ate, about flowers and the pollen. So many lessons.

Living in a bubble...

This was another fun activity taken form the Play at home mom blog.
A giant bubble! A dream come true for a kid! any kid, Any age!
It is easy and cheap to do.
Get 2 otr 3 of the painter's plastic "dropcloth". They have them at Home Depot, got mine at the Dollar Tree for a buck a piece and used two.
1) I laid one on top of the other and went around with duct tap to tape them together.
2) Cut a hole for my fan and ran tape all around that openign so that the plastic will not tear further.
3) Did the same for the opening "door."

4) I had a few large bag clips around to "close" the door so that the bubble would get bigger.


TIPS: I had an extension cord so that I could bring the bubble in a shadded, grassy (read safe and padded) area.
Whenever there was a small tear I just 'patched it' with a small pc of duct tape.

This activity could be done inside in a carpeted area. There are many variations do it and the bubble can be tucked away and reused many times. You could have tea time in there, or bring Thomas and his friends, whatever really! You can bring balls, we even had potty time in there :)

Explain to your child what is happening, when the fan is turned on, the air is filling the bubble and making it bigger . But if there is a hole (open the "door") the air comes out and the bubbles get smaller. Repeat the experiment several time. they might be into it!

Fun day at the beach...in the backyard ;)

We had a blast and this might be the best $2 you've ever spent on an activity :) These are reusable too (just take the water out and let them dry out to their original size. You can get them cheaper online, which makes sense if you are going to buy more than 4-5 packs.
http://www.crystalwaterbeads.com/apps/webstore/products/category/450053

They are called water beads and are these tiny colored dots, drop them in the water for a while (the longer, the bigger they become as they suck in up to 100 x there weight in water) and the magic begins.

They are non-toxic and safe to play with but of course this is an activity to supervise your child over.

So, I started by showing her how tiny annd hard the beads were then added water. They quickly get a bit bigger and bouncier. I used today to talk about elasticity and bounciness. At first I let her use the dropper to extract water (I had shown her the ML markings last week) and handed her the turkey baster and on her own figured the correct markings in ML. It was so cute.

Later during the day, we went on a "ocean hunt." We looked for items that belonged in the sea: shells, stars, lobster, seal, octopus, pebbles, etc.

I set up the bin filled with waterbeads. The bin is from Walmart, paid $7.XX for it, 34Q capacity I think. Filled it with 4 packets of beads (green, blue, turquoise and purple) and  they were probably only 1/3 of the size they will be so if you soak them overnight you might not need so many.

She played pretend game for a while, eating Goldfish snacks (of course!), making up stories, singing songs, talking and experementing with the balls' bounciness.

Then of course she got naked and got in it. It feels SO good on your body. She kept saying, "It feels good, like a massage!"

Then, after dinner I got out some LED color changing ball I got at walmart (2 for $5) which lasts 16hrs and we turned off the light and put it in the bins. It was SO cool looking (pics didnt come out nice).

She is now having a bath with daddy and took the ball with her to try in the water :)

Doing it again tomorrow with larger beads FOR SURE!

If you can't do it outside, lay a blanket inside or do it in a CLOSED bathtub (you don't want your drain to get clogged).