Last Week- Part 2 Owl Pillows

DAG and I enjoy owls. I have read him the book Can I Have A Hug? since he was about 6 months old and we have 2 copies. Inspired by our mutual like of something I decided to make him some no sew pillows for his bed. I also did a star pillow.

In order to finish the pillows I had to have him engaged in his own task. In the past I have had him wash all of his dishes, pots, pans and measuring cups from his kitchen. This time I thought he could do all the food. This has become a very useful way to clean his toys and I don't feel guilty about him using water since he is not wasting it. 

After he was done I still needed a few more minutes. I gave him this tray I found at Ikea for under $3 and gave him 9 frogs to but in each tin. I did not even need to tell him what to do. He counted the frogs aloud and he asked to do it again. He repeated the process several times. Just enough time for me to finish his pillows. We have since done this with snacks and other animals.

It looks as though I should make him a tool belt.

Beating the Heat Wave with Turtles and Insects

On Sunday DAG and I needed to do something outside that involved cooling off. The weather had been in the 90's for the past 5 days and although we enjoy being outside it can get very hot. On Saturday I had decided to come up with something that involved ice so I froze insects and grass in a bowl and turtles and lily pads (leaves) in another. I placed the insects and turtles upside down on top of the grass and leaves. 

     

I placed 12 insects and 9 turtles in the bowls and I told DAG that we had to find them. I wish I had made him a chart with numbers so he knew when he found them all. He can count to 15 and sometimes 20 and recognizes the numbers as well. He did not get wet because the table was tilted and I placed a piece of paper under each piece so they would not slide off. I did have 2 big buckets of warm water underneath the table for him to use and he used a plastic pitcher for maximum coverage. He really enjoyed it and I will do it again and maybe do dinosaurs and rocks or snakes and grass or fruit or  ............................................

DAG as a robot.

We also played with the peg board I had painted with chalkboard paint. He can do connect the dots and I thought that this would be a great idea to reinforce that concept as well as have a new chalkboard for outside. He does enjoy using chalk on his blue water table- race and train tracks especially. I purchased the pegboard to make a board for rubber bands and I think I like the idea of the board being black.