Time to Get Creative!

I'm not a preschool teacher. I'm not incredibly gifted at knowing what to do with Lucy to keep her occupied. But...it's looking like she's gonna be here with me for the upcoming school year and so I've decided that I need to do some research to get some ideas to keep her from being bored and staying right underfoot. Oh my, it's gonna be a L O N G year! 

I'm not quite ready for the straight-up educational things yet, and I'm not sure Lucy is, either. But, we're mixing education and FUN! And I'm all about that! 

So, I joined Pinterest. Yikes. It's super overwhelming and I'm still not really sure what to do with it. BUT, I have found some cute ideas for things to do with her. And improvised some, too! 

We also bought a used sand/water table for only $12! What a Bargain! I've wanted one of these for her for years! She has a great time playing with this when it's cool enough outside (only twice so far...) I can see Lucy and Will having a great time with this in the future! 

1. We made a Lava Lamp! I don't have any pictures of it. It's a water bottle, food coloring, and vegetable oil. I gave her sequins and glitter to decorate the water and then she put stickers all over the outside. Very cool. Although, you should be careful when adding your blue food coloring! Makes the water so dark that it's hard to see everything! (Food colors here come in small glass bottles that just pour out instead of droppers...)

2. Clear contact paper, with sticky side OUT, and different shapes to stick on! She loved this and did a great job with it! 

 The final product! I put another piece of clear over the top to seal it all in.

3. Pasta and Beans! (And Lentils, too!) 

We sorted. We separated. We counted. We even did the most basic subtraction! 

4. (My most adventurous so far!) Rainbow Rice! This one took some advance planning. The recipe I found is 1 cup of rice, 1 tsp vinegar, and a glob of gel food coloring. BIG glob. Put it in a container and shake, shake, shake! 

 Then put it out to dry for a time. I made 6 colors.

And as I type this, Lucy is loving some rainbow rice play! Like I said, she might be a little old for this in terms of "sensory" play...but she is having a great time - making cakes, filling up the dolphin ice tray,  treasure hunting. I think we'll be able to use this rice for some time!

 And it's even really pretty when it's all mixed together!

Other ideas for me? I've got 365+ days to fill with fun times!