Rainbow Water Table Update by Tomato Mama

   Yesterday I posted about our Rainbow Water Table Activity. It was fun, but the ice cubes I made with one drop of food coloring were not as colorful as I hoped. Pickle and I made some "new and improved" colorful cubes last night and used about 3-4 drops of food coloring this time. 

    The result was definitely more vibrant. Messier too! (Which makes it more fun in my opinion.) We still ended up with a decidedly green result, but it was lots of fun and a great way to cool down and learn at the same time on a hot day. 

Water Table Rainbow by Tomato Mama Teachable Moments Tuesday

     Around here we love our water table. I bought this Step2 WaterWheel  play table 2 summers ago and I have to say that it was money well spent. We play with it in lots of different ways including with the toys it came with ( boats, spinner funnel, and cup) as a toy car wash, we've rolled balls down the slope and shot golf balls into it with his toy golf clubs ( water hazard!) It's a great way to cool down, but it also a great learning experience.

      Last night I filled up an ice cube tray and put a little food coloring in each section to make colored ice cubes and put them in the freezer. Today we had a rainbow of ice cubes waiting for us. We filled up the water table and I let Pickle decide what color cubes to put in.

     We watched them melt and guessed what color the different cubes would combine to make. I gave him a spoon and he stirred them up. 

     When we ran out of colorful ice cubes we dumped in all the melted water that was left in the tray and got this cool swirl that Pickle stirred up.

      Pickle wanted more ice cubes. I was out of colorful ones so I pulled out some regular ones and let him get some small motor practice putting them in the water one by one with some tongs. I love how this 

activity evolved and that he had so much fun that he didn't want to stop. I'm going to make some more cubes tonight with more food coloring and see if we get a more vibrant result. I will post an update tomorrow! 

    Tonight at bedtime we will read WartHogs Paint: A Messy Color Book. By the way, this was not as messy of an activity as it might seem! I have one blue fingernail, but the rest of it washed off. I dressed Pickle in dark clothes that would not stain just in case. 

     

      Happy Mother's Day! The road to motherhood was not an easy one for me. It took some time and a lot of prayers before I got to hold Pickle in my arms. There are also 2 little ones that I will never get to hold in my arms. I look at his sweet face and marvel at my blessings that I get to be his Mama. It is the best job in the universe. 

     Happy Mother's Day to Duck Momma on her first Mother's Day! I'm so lucky to have you for a friend! You are a fabulous Mommy and friend!

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to all the mommas out there. Its a very special thing to be a mom. And to Tomato Mama's mom and Duck Momma's mom, we love you! Thank you for being you!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

Wordless Wednseday. . . Playtime by Duck Momma

Teachable Moments Tuesday: Library Day!

       As a teacher I know the importance of a print-rich environment for a child learning to read. A child who grows up in a house that has lots of books, magazines, newspapers, lists, and comics ( that's for Tomato Papa) is more likely to be a reader. Pickle is definitely growing up in a print-rich environment. I love books and read every single day of my life. We get the newspaper. We read online. We read together before every nap and every bedtime. We even have toy books that he can take in his bath! 

       On top of all that reading at home we also visit our local library every week. We actually had not been to the library in 2 weeks this time because of all the beautiful weather we have been having so we were very excited to get new books! 

     We have a really cute library near us. It is adorable inside and out and the people who work there are always so nice. It is a treat to get to go there, especially with Pickle. We really look forward to our trips there together and fill up a big bag full of books every time we go.  We always stop at the bridge to look for froggies and fish on our way in. 

        Pickle is really into Clifford books these days but we got a good variety of choices. Have you read the Karma Wilson Bear books? Love! They are so adorable! It's so much fun to stumble across new books to love!

      Our library has a fun coloring table with windows to the beautiful courtyard. We colored and bird watched for awhile.

      Pickle was so excited about this book that he had to stop and read it right then and there! Then we went to check out our giant stack of books. Our library has self-scanners so I have my assistant help me. He does a great job! 

The stack was pretty big today!

       

Imperfectly Perfect by Tomato Mama

        I love 3 year old art. 3 year olds don't care about "perfect." They don't care about "getting it right." They are enjoying the experience. They are experimenting. They are learning about color, texture, materials, and creativity. Pickle loves to paint. He has been on a big painting kick lately. We have painted little dog and cat statues, Lightning McQueen everything, and paper. Most of the time he starts out strong painting the object in front of him, then gets distracted by seeing what happens to the colors in the water jar when you mix them and swirl them. He becomes obsessed with that and the original object is forgotten.

       Everything usually ends up black or gray. No matter what colors we start out with, it is so much fun to mix and swirl that we get a dark end result. Do I mind? No! I would rather have these messy, unfinished, black blobs than some perfect piece of work that is not really his. I'm not a mom that feels like my kid needs to "color inside the lines." There is plenty of time for that later in life. 

      When I look back at the pictures and objects that I keep from this age, I want to see what he was interested in and loved to do.. He will never be this age again. Pickle at 3 is adorable, creative, willful, energetic and beginning to be independent. He is sweet, funny and silly! When I look at these items, that is what I will see. Time letting little ones learn about creativity is always time well spent!