Children's Museum of Pittsburgh Review: Field Trip Friday

We can't wait for it to warm up here in Pittsburgh, but we won't let the weather stop us from having fun!  This past week, we took a really fun trip to the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh and can't wait to show you around!

We started our trip in the Studio, where the kids painted, molded and pressed.  Fun easels for painting with tempra, and water color painting platforms provide the perfect palate.

St. Patrick's Day Toddler Play Date

Last year, we celebrated St. Patrick's Day with a Toddler Play Date with a bunch of our favorite friends.  While we may have missed the opportunity to post last year, it's so nice to catch up and share all of our activity ideas with you this year as the season of green has again rolled around.

We always try to keep things short and sweet, so we had some free play time, music, craft and snack.  I had a story ready and waiting - but the kids seemed a little too busy this time!  Our kids were all around 12-18 month toddlers for this play date but I think they'd even still enjoy most of the activities.  

We started with a sensory bin filled with lots of green things - blocks, shapes from our shape sorter, balls, glitter shamrocks and gold coins from the craft store.  We also included shamrock shaped Mardi Gras beads which the kids loved finding.  To make our sensory bin nice and green, we filled it with green split peas which were absolutely perfect!

While we played, we put on some good uptempo Irish music to keep things lively.  If you don't have any already, iheartradio offers a free Shamrock Radio station that would work very well!

We worked on our St. Patrick's Day craft, which was really simple to bring together.  We started with a piece of blue paper and cut a wide U shape from the center.  Folding the paper lightly in half makes this very easy.  We cut a matching sized piece of contact paper, peeled the backing, and applied it to the paper - leaving the adhesive "sticky" through the rainbow shaped window. 

We had cups of tissue paper squares in all of the colors.  Some kids needed some assistance, but for the most part, everyone had a good handle on this simple St. Patty's Day project.

Even a year later, our finished product still hangs on the white board in our kitchen.  This would also look great in front of a window giving a sun-catcher effect!

We finished our play date off with the traditional snack of leprechauns - Lucky Charms.  We're not one for formalities.  We pretty much pour it on the table and let them graze for the marshmallows. 

   

And while our kids were pretty played out, we had a great little story picked out to finish out the event.  Perfect for toddlers just learning their numbers, this festive book will have them counting along!

What other ideas for St. Patrick's Day play dates have you used in the past?  We'd love to hear from you!

Mix'n Match Pumpkin Magnets: Toddler Busy Bag Ideas

As I may have mentioned previously, I've been keepin' busy building a super fun "busy bag" for the kids.  It's a challenge finding ideas that are developmentally on target for our now 21 month olds, but I am glad to share with you some of my fabulous finds!

When I first saw these adorable little pumpkins from MamaMiss.com I fell in love.  What a fun, seasonal (yet not too spooky) idea for our bags.

Supplies Needed: 
Printable Pumpkin Faces from the amazing Melissa over at MamaMiss.com
Scissors
Contact Paper
Magnet Sheet (got mine from walmart)
Pie Pan or Cookie Sheet

What I did: This one was pretty easy-peasy... I downloaded, saved and printed the pumpkin face document, and then covered the whole sheet (front and back) with clear contact paper.  Next, I cut around the circles and across the dotted lines creating 12 pieces.  Finally I cut pieces of magnet from my adhesive sheets (about 1/2 inch by 1 inch) and stuck them to the back of the pieces.  SO easy!

Pros: Simple, inexpensive, seasonal and enough pieces for twins to share!

Cons: None that I can see!

Take a second and vote for me!  You know you want to ;-)

Most Magical Homemade Toy for Toddlers

We took a visit to Ikea today, and it was there in the aisle that inspiration hit.

If your toddlers are like mine, they are absolutely fascinated with pulling out and putting back the straw in the top of their "take out" cups.  While this can be a bit frustrating as milk drips down your arm as you wrestle the cup from said toddler in the middle of the restaurant, properly redirected this fascination can make for an awesome fine motor practice.  And who am I kidding - something great to keep them occupied for a while.

Loosely inspired by an idea I saw at Full Hands Full Hearts, when I saw the ORDNING Kitchen Utensil Holder at Ikea I knew it would be perfect for practicing dexterity. 

We added a pair of SNÄRTIG Silk Flowers and a pack of SODA Drinking Straws  and we had something that kept their busy hands and minds occupied throughout our trip, and well into our afternoon at home.  What I really appreciated about these flowers is that while they are bendable, they have an excellent coating preventing sharp ends from becoming dangerous.  

And while it may look a little less glamorous in normal lighting, the true magic is that a few random items thrown together can occupy two toddlers for literally hours - all for around $10.  That's definitely magical in my book!

We'd love it if you'd take just a quick second to vote!