Sheila Ellison
Page 5
2 teaspoons baking powder
Oil or butter for frying
Put the ingredients in a bowl and mix. Heat a skillet over medium heat, and add two tablespoons of oil. When a drop of water dances on the surface of the skillet, you are ready to begin your art! Using a large spoon, dribble the pancake mix into the skillet, making a design. Make your designs small enough to fit inside a pancake. Cook the design for thirty seconds. Pour one-fourth cup of the remaining batter on top of the design and wait until the pancake has bubbles on it before turning it over (one to two minutes). Turn the pancake and brown other side. Cover with syrup or jam and eat! Kids may also like to make pancake people with fat arms and legs, and raisins, blueberries, or chocolate-chip eyes.
* Words of Wisdom *
To keep my daughter from eating too many snacks between meals, I made some snack coupons. I gave her four a day. Three were to use during the day between meals and the last before bed.
—Amanda, Omaha, Nebraska
Bath and Water Play
57
Playing the Water Game
Age Range: 15 months and up
Water safety is a major concern for parents of toddlers. A toddler’s curious nature and lack of fear might lead him to walk directly into a creek or reach for a toy floating in a pool without thinking about the consequences of falling in. Here are some tips to keep your child safe:
Never leave a child alone around water. It is possible to drown in a few inches. Don’t be fooled into thinking blow up flotation devices will keep your child safe. Assign one parent to lifeguard duty at all times.
Before taking kids near water, make sure one supervising adult knows how to swim.
Learn CPR.
If you have children of different ages, bring a blow-up pool to place away from the lake or ocean so that older kids who are ready to play in the ocean or lake have the opportunity to play while infants have their own water fun in the baby pool.
Establish clear rules to be followed regarding water play. No turning bath water on without a parent in attendance, and no getting into the baby pool or bathtub without a parent.
Teach kids to appreciate that water is fun but can also be dangerous.
58
Bubbles Away
Age Range: 15 months and up
Bubble Recipe
1 cup green dishwashing detergent
1⁄2 cup glycerine, available at drug stores
1⁄2 cup water
Bubble fun will keep toddlers busy for hours. There are all sorts of things around the house that can be used as bubble wands: a wooden spoon with a hole in it, a length of wire curved into whatever shape, or a pair of old glasses with the lenses removed. There are also a variety of bubble wands of all shapes and sizes available in stores. Blow a bubble high in the air and try to catch it with your hands or with one of the bubble wands. Let bubbles float to the ground then try to stomp on them. Count how many bubbles you can blow before one doesn’t turn out. Use a bubble wand that blows consecutive bubbles. Run with it as you blow and watch the bubble stream left in your wake.
59
Rock Waves
Age Range: 15 to 18 months
Toddlers are fascinated by cause-and-effect reactions. Collect a small pile of rocks of various sizes. Make sure to check the rocks for choking hazards and take the small ones out of the pile. Fill a tub or bucket with water. Let your child drop one rock at a time into the tub and watch what kind of splash it creates. Lift the rock high in the air and then drop it. Take that same rock and hold it just inches from the water before letting it go. Try dropping a really big rock and see what kind of splash it makes. Once the rocks are in the tub, point out all the different colors that show up when the rocks are wet and shiny.
* Words of Wisdom *
Whenever I was out in the yard gardening, I’d give my son his own sprinkler. Take a plastic milk bottle and poke holes in the bottom with a hammer and nail. Fill it with water and let your child water plants.
—Jill, Fort Drum, New York
60
Fun with Ice
Age Range: 18 to 21 months
Ice in all forms interests toddlers: the way it melts, how an object gets stuck inside of it, or the way it slides all over the place, sometimes eluding a toddler’s hands.
Add food coloring to a cup of water. Pour the colored water into ice cube trays. Make many different-colored ice cubes. Once frozen, put two different-colored cubes into a plastic bag and watch them melt. Notice what color the two different-colored ice cubes create when mixed together.
Cut an old paper milk carton in half. Fill it with water and put a plastic toy inside of it. Freeze. Put the frozen block into the bathtub and watch it melt until the frozen toy emerges. (Be sure the toy passes the choke test.)
Make a block of ice in a milk carton as above. Gather coins, rocks, silverware, or other objects that warm up in the sun and place them outside until warm. Set the warm objects on the block of ice until the ice melts, leaving an indentation of the object.
61
Tub-Time Games
Age Range: 18 months and up
Bath time ballads: Turn on a radio to a fun station or play a cassette your child likes and sing into the shampoo bottle. If you have a hard time getting your child out of the bath, try using the length of a song as the time limit.
Kitchen arsenal: Go through the kitchen and gather funnels, a turkey baster, squeeze bottles, wire whisks, measuring cups, colanders, and any other plastic supplies that could be used in the bath. Hold the colander up and pour water through it to create rain, use the turkey baster to take water from the tub and squeeze it into various cups, or use a wire whisk to stir up the fading bath bubbles.
Tub bubbles: Go to the hardware store and buy a few different sizes of soft plastic tubing. Use it to blow bubbles into the bath. Make sure one piece of tubing is long enough so you can sit outside the bath with the tube under the water and surprise your child with blasts of bubbles rising to the surface.
* Words of Wisdom *
Words of Wisdom: In my son’s bathroom, we hung a pulley over the bathtub that holds a basket of bath toys. When bath time is over, we simply hoist it up and out of the way and let the toys drip dry.
—Sally, Belleville, Michigan
62
Water Band
Age Range: 18 to 21 months
A stream of water hitting large objects makes a lovely and varied sound. Collect old pots, buckets, garbage-can lids, recycling bins, cookie trays, and anything else you can find that might make a cool sound. Lean the items up against a fence, house, wall, or garage door. Attach a spray nozzle to the hose. Spray each item high, low, hard, and soft to see what kind of sounds you can make. Compose a melody as you adjust the spray to vary the sound.
* Words of Wisdom *
I bought a gardener’s pad to put on the floor next to the bath. Now I can kneel on the floor for as long as my baby wants to splash and gurgle.
—Linda, Overland Park, Kansas
63
Wading-Pool Basketball
Age Range: 18 to 21 months
Fill a child’s wading pool with a few inches of water. Put all sizes of floating balls into the pool. Tape a plastic colander to the side of the pool, or set a laundry basket on the grass next to the pool. Show your child how to throw the balls into the basket. Collect all the balls, put them in the laundry basket, and step outside of the pool, turning the wading pool into one big basket. See how far away you can stand from the pool and still make your shots.
* Words of Wisdom *
When visiting the beach, bring an inflatable baby pool and fill it with buckets of ocean water. Keep it next to your beach chair so your toddler can play in it when you need to take breaks from supervising ocean play.
64
Rainbow Surprise
Age Range: 21 to 24 months
When the sun shines after a rain shower, our eyes are sometimes treated to a beautiful rainbow. Seven colors appear
in every rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Most of the time only four or five colors can be seen clearly. An enjoyable wet activity to do on a sunny day is to create your own rainbow. If the weather is very warm, bathing suits are a must. Turn on the garden hose, adjust the nozzle to the fine spray setting, then arch the water high into the air. Watch as the rays of the sun hit the water and create a rainbow. Talk about the different colors you see as you experiment moving the hose around. This can also be done with a sprinkler if it is put in the right spot. Find a rainbow story from the library and share it with your toddler. If a hose is not available, try using a plastic squeeze bottle filled with water.
65
Rain Games
Age Range: 21 to 24 months
Too often when the rain begins to fall, children are ushered indoors. Playing outside in the rain can be the highlight of a spring or summer day. So the next time it rains, put on your raincoats, boots, or bathing suits and splash in the puddles, make mud pies, and squish wet grass between your toes. Set containers around the outside of your house to measure the rain, make up a tribal rain dance, or move to the beat of the rain as it falls softly or pounds the ground. Don’t forget to look straight up to the sky and watch it as it falls on your face, then open your mouth to taste the drops.
66
Sponge Tag
Age Range: 24 to 30 months
Materials
Buckets and Sponges
Nothing thrills a toddler quite as much as participating in a Get Mommy or Daddy game. Fill two buckets with warm water. Put three or four sponges in each bucket. To begin the game, stand about ten feet apart with each person standing next to his or her own bucket, or if more than two people are playing, divide up into equal teams and have each team stand next to a bucket. Say, “Ready, set, go!” and start throwing the sponges at each other. Once your child gets the hang of the game, you can play tag with the sponges. The person who is “it” gets the sponges soaked and ready for throwing, and everyone else runs. When someone is hit by a sponge, they become the next “it.” Toddlers also like to try to hit a sitting target, so if you’re game, sit on the ground and let your child throw the sponges at you.
* Words of Wisdom *
My son loves to take an outdoor foot bath. I fill a wash pan with soapy water, ask him to take off his shoes and socks, then massage his foot while I name all the parts of his foot.
—John, Peru, Indiana
67
Squirt Away
Age Range: 24 to 30 months
Materials
Plastic soda bottles
Water squirt gun
Ping-pong balls
Fill the plastic soda bottles with water or sand so they won’t fall over when squirted. Place the ping-pong balls on top of the water bottles. Stand back two feet and try to knock the ping-pong balls off the bottles by shooting the squirt gun. Or have a contest to see who can knock the balls off first. Divide the bottles in half, so each person gets the same amount of balls to aim at, then squirt away until all the balls are knocked off. Another fun contest is to work together against the clock. Set the timer for one minute and see how many balls the two of you can squirt off.
68
Wiggle Slide
Age Range: 30 to 36 months
Materials
Plastic sheet at least 12 feet long (can use cut plastic garbage bag)
Hose with a sprinkler
Grass to put plastic sheet on
Put the plastic sheet outside on the grass and turn on the hose or sprinkler. Get your bathing suit on and join your child for a wet, wiggling experience. Younger children might crawl as they enjoy this slippery experience. Lie on your backs and squirm, or move your arms up and down like you are making a snow angel. Older toddlers will run and slide on the plastic. On a hot day, nothing beats sprinkler fun.
* Words of Wisdom *
When my two-year-old started slamming doors, I would jump out of my chair in fright. Another mother suggested I put towels over the top of the door. Now I don’t worry about little fingers…or noise.
—Liza, Chesterland, Ohio
69
Bottled Fun
Age Range: 30 to 36 months
Toddlers are often mesmerized with the many things water can do. Give them their first taste of science with these two bottle experiments. Ocean waves: Fill a clean sixteen-ounce plastic soda bottle one-third full with water. Add a few drops of food coloring, glitter, or beads. Fill the rest of the bottle with baby oil. Glue the cap securely onto the bottle. Gently rock the bottle to create ocean waves. Shake it up when you are done, then watch as the water and oil separate as the mixture settles. Tornado in a bottle: Use two large, clear, plastic soda bottles. Fill one two-thirds full with water and add a few drops of food coloring. Invert the other bottle so that it sits on top of the first bottle with the openings together. Wind tape lightly around the necks of the bottles so that no water can leak out. The top bottle should be securely balanced on top of the bottom bottle. Hold the bottles with two hands and swirl the water around, then turn it upside down and see what happens.
Bedtime
70
Bedtime Safari
Age Range: 15 months and up
Once your child is all ready for bed, play this fun-in-the-dark game. Hide stuffed animals around the house or bedroom. Turn off all the lights and use a flashlight to hunt for the animals that are hiding. Even if your child helps you hide the animals, the hiding places look different and more exciting in the dark. Hold hands as you go from place to place, letting your child hold the flashlight as you follow along.
* Words of Wisdom *
Encourage quiet mornings by filling a basket in your child’s room with books, crayons, puzzles, or other quiet games each bedtime. This independent play allows you a few hours of sleep.
—Carrie Jo, Raleigh, North Carolina
71
Sleep Mobile
Age Range: 15 months and up
Materials
Small wooden dowels (from a craft or hardware store)
Toys, stuffed animals, ornaments
String
Make a peaceful mobile with favorite toys or stuffed animals to lull your child to sleep. Cut the wooden dowels to various lengths. Tie the string to the end of each dowel and then attach a toy, wooden airplane, small stuffed animal, or ornament to the end of the string. Attach each of these individual dowels to a center string that will hang from the ceiling. Make a small notch in the center or balance point of each dowel so the string won’t slide. Tie the first dowel to the center string, followed by the next dowel five to eight inches below. Your child will enjoy looking up to see her favorite toys as she falls asleep.
72
Bedtime Chart
Age Range: 18 months and up
Going to sleep and leaving the excitement and action of family life is not always easy for children. It helps if they can see all the steps that actually lead up to going to bed. Make a chart with drawn pictures of what your child does each night that lead up to bedtime. You may even want to take real pictures and put them up on the chart. It’s fun for him to go up to the pictures and know what to do next without being told. This is especially evident around two years old, when he wants to be more independent. Make sure to give lots of smiles and hugs as each step is completed.
* Words of Wisdom *
We make up songs all the time at our house. One of James’s favorites when he was just getting used to his big-boy bed was this: “Close the door, turn off the lights, turn on the music, and say night-night.” It made lying down for naps much easier. We later added the verse, “Let’s read a story, just Mommy and me. James loves Mommy and Mommy loves me.”
—Leigh Ann, Jacksonville, Florida
73
Flashlight Fun
Age Range: 18 months and up
Take turns moving the light beam all around the room while the other person chases it—leaping around, crouching down low, rolling
on the floor, and so forth.
Arm both yourself and your child with flashlights and play dueling flashlights—chase the other’s beams with your own. Take turns being the leader.
Tape dark cut-outs of simple shapes over the lens of the flashlight. Watch how the shape is distorted by moving the flashlight around the room.
* Words of Wisdom *
We keep my son’s bedtime rituals like reading, rubbing his back, and singing confined to his bed. If he gets up in the night, we repeat some of the rituals only after he’s back in his own bed.
—Dean, Billings, Montana
74
Dream Time
Age Range: 18 months and up
When kids are scared to go to sleep or complain of bad dreams, it helps to make up a dream together. Before your child falls asleep, make up the dream that she wants to have that night. Get her involved in all the details, making sure she has a guardian or helper in the story. Send her off to sleep with the positive thought that she will dream her own dream instead of a scary one.