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No Cooking After the First Day Of School Teacher Gift

August 12, 2020 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

Send a no cooking pass for a back to school teacher gift this year to give your favorite educator a much needed break after the chaos of a brand new school year.

Back to school already! But this year I think everyone is ready for a little normalcy after the 2020 quarantine.

Whether you are sending your kids back to the classroom or have chosen a virtual option, you will want to remember your teacher on the first day back to school! And what better way than a pass for no cooking after a long day of teaching.

I don’t know about you but after a long and stressful day (hello trying to social distance & keep masks on a bunch of 6 year olds – bless them all!) I just don’t feel like cooking. So that is where this idea came from to give a simple meal to our new teacher to give her a break on that first day back to school.

(Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.)

No Cooking After the First Day Of School Teacher Gift

This teacher gift has all of my favorite qualities.

You can grab it at a grocery store or a drug store.
The Free Printable tag is just print & trim.
Can be any value that you choose! You grab any value pizza gift card. ($5 Little Caesars Hot N Ready or more depending on your budget)
It is practical – everyone has to eat!

So if you want to make a no cooking after the first day of school teacher gift, head to your local drug store and grab these items that you need.

What You Need:

Small Gift Bag & Tissue Paper
Pizza Delivery Gift Card
Free Printable Tag (see below)
Twine, Ribbon or Tape

Making the Back to School Teacher Present

To treat your new favorite teacher to a relaxing evening off from cooking, first print the free printable gift tag.

Click Here For Free Printable

Next, attach the tag to the gift card with your ribbon or tape & sign the card (or have your child do it).

Place the gift in your gift bag & have your child deliver it to their hard working teacher.

It is such a simple way to say thank you but one that will be so appreciated.

Need Teacher Gift Ideas?

Back to School would be NUTS Without You

Back to the Grind – Teacher Coffee Gift

8 Best Outdoor Water Toys for Toddlers

May 26, 2019 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

The 8 best outdoor water toys for toddlers to keep your active kids cool and entertained all summer long.

Even though I thought winter might never end, summer is about to creep right up. I know summer doesn’t technically hit until mid-June but it usually feels like summer in May here.

So that means ideas for outside play that also keep the kids cool are a must.

Water really makes everything more fun! We have always spent a lot of time outside but with our newest babe, outside time is no longer an option, it is a requirement. That new baby is 18 months old and he is so active.

Out of his few words, his favorite to say is outside! He loves it and wants to go out constantly.

And you know what? His behavior is better when we are outdoors. I’m not sure what that is. Maybe he feels like he has more freedom?

Maybe he just likes fresh air. But I like the ability for the kids to play together with less fighting. Plus it is good for them to spend their summer days outside. I know I sure did.

Here are several of the best outdoor water toys for toddlers that we own or have played with before over the past few years. I think they will be a hit with the toddler and even the preschoolers and early Elementary kids in your family.

Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.

Best Outdoor Water Toys for Toddlers

These toys span all different price ranges. I usually buy a couple of inexpensive items at the beginning of every season and then many of our bigger items are still around from when my 5 year old was a toddler (and by the way she still eagerly plays with all these too)!

So if you are looking for some of the best outdoor water toys for toddlers this year, check out the list!

Water Table

My kids love water tables. The 18 month old loves to splash and pour into the different containers. The 5 year old will add in pretend games where she uses her imagination to create different scenarios in the table.

We have actually owned several different water tables over the years (one at our house and one at Grandma’s house). We needed a new one this year and went with the Step 2 Rain Showers table. We are only about a month in with using it but so far the kids really love it and I am typically really pleased with the quality of Step 2 products.

I will also sometimes help them with variety buy adding new or different items to the water table to make it new again. One of our favorite activities has been to make vegetable soup in the water table. Adding something new to an existing toy often revives it and makes it fun again.

Splish Splash Water Park

My kids love going to the neighborhood splash pad but this toy brings that to your own backyard. I bought this a couple of years ago for my daughter and used it last year as well when my baby was about 9-10 months old.

He could sit up unassisted so that would be my criteria for if this would be good for your child.

I love this because although it does collect a few inches of water, it isn’t like a blow up pool that can hold a couple of feet of water. Of course you always have to keep a close eye on kids around any amount of water, but I do really like the splash pad concept.

My daughter still liked playing on this at four years old so it was great to be able to pull out one toy to please both kids.

You can control the amount of “splash” that comes out of the toy by simply turning your water flow up or down. I would do it low while the baby was playing and then crank it up for more fun when it was just the preschooler.

The one thing that was kind of a dud with this was the slide. I guess we could have used it with the baby but he didn’t really care. It wasn’t really tall enough to work like a real slide even when our daughter was using it at age 3.

That didn’t bother me because everything else was fun and entertaining. Definitely not a deal killer for us (we loved it for 3 years) but worth mentioning.

Slide & Slip N Slide Combo

I wrote an entire post about this combo last year. You can read how fun it is by clicking here.

It simply takes one of those plastic toddler slides that you probably already have with an inexpensive slip n slide. The result is a fun way to get the kids active and keep them cool. And it is perfect for little ones that don’t really have the coordination to run and slide on the slip n slide.

Little Tikes Slam N’ Curve Slide

I have had this boxed up in my living room for a week now. My BFF (AKA the Amazon delivery driver) dropped it off on Saturday but my teething 18 month old has prevented us from testing it out yet.

While this was a larger purchase, I am anticipating that it will last us at least several years. We bought the Little Tikes bounce house almost 3 years ago and it is still in perfect shape (and we use it often). Definitely worth the money.

Once we pull this awesome looking water slide out, I will come back and update you with my thoughts!

UPDATE:

My kids absolutely adore this toy. We have played with it every day since they got it for hours at a time. My fairly coordinated 18 month old can even do the rock wall by himself and my 5 year old thinks it is amazing.

Check Out a full review of the product here to answer all your questions.

Insider Mom Tip: It will automatically drain most of the water in the pool when you turn the air blower off. Let it drain and then manually drain off the little bit that won’t drain automatically.

Then turn the blower back on. Let it stay inflated with no running water for a few minutes to air dry any remaining water before you deflate it to store. I even take a dry towel and mop up any droplets that I see.

Deflate it. Then I stretch it out as much as I can and elevate it so that the bottom of it can dry. I use some patio chairs and stretch it out over the top of those and allow to air dry overnight before storing. This is an abundance of caution but I don’t want it to get moldy and gross.

It sounds like a lot of work but it only takes me about 10 minutes of active work to get it cleaned up. Since I am planing to use this year after year, it is worth it to me to keep it in good shape.

Water Toys Under $20 For Toddlers

So the four toys above are some of the best outdoor water toys for toddlers and preschoolers in my opinion. But you can still find quality and entertaining toys for your kids without spending a bunch of money upfront.

Here are some of my favorite toys that won’t break the bank but still make a splash!

Kid Sprinkler

Playing in a sprinkler is basically a happy childhood requirement.

When I was growing up we didn’t have a cutesy kid sprinkler to play in. We just ran through the normal sprinkler while Mom was watering the grass. And that still works today! But if you want a cute little kid sprinkler, Amazon of course has all the cute sprinklers that you you could think up.

Play Sink With Running Water

A couple of years ago this thing was flying off the shelf at Christmas time. I saw moms in some of my BST groups paying more than triple the regular retail price for one of these little sinks. While I would not do that, they are really cute.

The sink comes with lots of dishes, play cutlery and even a little bottle of pretend dish soap. You fill the sink with water and then the faucet will actually turn off and on to produce running water. My kids go bananas over this!

It could be played with inside I guess. If you are into water all over your own kitchen floor. I’m not so we like to play with it outside!

Basic Inflatable Swimming Pool

Yes, they make all kinds of adorable inflatable pools for kids now. But you know what? Your kiddo is going to have a blast splashing around in the water. Period. End of Story.

They will not care if they have a $60 Candy land inspired pool or a plain swimming pool. Add in some inflatable balls, water toys or even some plastic kitchen utensils for them to pour with and make pretend soup. They will have a blast.

Water Squirters

Water squirters are fun to play with in the backyard or even in the inflatable swimming pool. I like the squirters vs. a traditional water gun for a couple of reasons.

One, they are cute! The second reason is that they are easier for little hands to fill themselves. I even have trouble sometimes getting the small valves on regular water guns closed and this eliminates that issue.

I hope you find a favorite from this list of the best outdoor water toys for toddlers this summer.

If you are headed to the beach this year with your little ones make sure to check out these tips and tricks for having a successful trip!

Sandy Beach and Ocean Sensory Bin

June 25, 2020 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

Bring a day at the beach home with this fun play theme.

A sandy beach and ocean sensory bin is great for toddlers and preschool aged children.

This time last year we were enjoying a week on the beach for a family vacation. But since COVID cancelled our vacation this year, we have all been dreaming of the beach.

So we brought the beach to our backyard with this sandy beach and ocean sensory bin. This small world brings all your favorite parts of the beach to your home. Dig in the sand, let your dolls lay out and get some sun, and watch dolphins swim in the deep blue sea!

Your kids will love this activity that transports them to a virtual vacation.

(Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.)

Sandy Beach and Ocean Sensory Bin

My kids love sensory bins. They are a great way to get the kids to step away from electronics and play the old fashioned way.

Over the years, we have created lots of easy activities for toddlers and preschoolers to play with like a Vegetable Soup water table activity, cookie cereal no bake kit, and planting flowers and seeds.

So they totally knew what to expect when I said we were going to play with a sensory bin.

But this sandy beach and ocean sensory bin actually uses two different bins so that was a little different. One bin is for the beach and the other is for the ocean.

I separated them for a couple of reasons but the main reason was just to protect the sand from possibly breaking down from the water.

Here is what you need to do to create this day at the beach play activity.

Creating The Beach Play Scene

Sandy Beach Sensory Bin Materials:

Kinetic Beach Sand
Bouncy Ball
Small Dolls (Mini Barbies or even Wooden Dolls)
Paper Umbrellas
Tin Beach Bucket
Wooden Scoop Shovel
A couple of Pieces of Fabric for Beach Towels

Most of these items you probably have at home or can find something similar.

I had to buy the beach Kinetic sand but everything else we already had from other toys or past sensory bins that we have done.

The bouncy balls make great doll sized beach balls!

Some of our Paw Patrol figurines even came along because Marshall wanted to go on our beach trip too!

Blue Ocean Foam Bin

The DIY ocean foam bin is made with just a couple of items that you probably have in your cleaning closet or pantry.

To Make the Foam:

Add the following to a medium plastic mixing bowl:

1/3 cup of water
1/3 cup of Blue Dawn Dish Soap
1 Tablespoon Corn Starch
A few drops of blue or teal food coloring

Using a hand mixer, mix, mix, mix until the foam is thick and foamy and large in volume.

You can transfer the DIY ocean foam to a flatter sensory bin or just serve it up for play in the mixing bowl.

If you have some ocean animal figurines or boats, those are fun to add to the sea.

Playing With The Activity

The best thing about an invitation to play activity is that you put it together and give it to the kids.

There is virtually no instruction needed. I typically just tell them what it is (here is a beach and an ocean) and then tell them that they can start playing.

If the kids get stuck, I will try and give them an idea to get the creative juices flowing.

Some example for play prompts with this bin might be:

Take the dolls for a swim
Build the biggest sand castle
Bury treasure in the Sand

Digging In the Sand

Using the shovel and bucket was a big portion of what my kids enjoyed. They dug in the sand, filled the bucket and tried to make sand castles.

My 6 year old also spent some time playing pretend with the dolls on the beach.

What Is Hiding in the Ocean

The 2 year old really enjoyed the ocean foam bin. Probably because that was the messier of his two options!

I prompted him to hide some of the objects in the ocean. He then used his shovel to find and fish out the items.

An extra bin or bowl of fresh water is helpful to have around for this side of the bin. We used it to wash off toys and hands before going back to the sand side.

Playing Together

If you have 2 kids, you will like the sandy beach and ocean sensory bin because it encourages play time jointly but there are 2 separate bins.

So the kids can play pretend together but they both have their own space to engage with the different materials.

Helping to eliminate disagreements! We all need that right?

Do your kids talk about their birthday year round? Celebrate their un-birthday with this idea.

Easy Dress Up Station

July 16, 2018 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

Are dress up clothes taking over your house?

I have enough issues with regular laundry to then pile on top a bunch of princess costumes, my house was becoming a wreck quickly.

I wanted to create an area in our play room that would be fun to play and use but that would also create some organization for all of the stuff! This easy dress up station was just the right fit for our little princess.

(Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.)

By creating some order to our princess mess, I found that my daughter is actually playing with this stuff!

Before she either couldn’t find her stuff because it was wherever she dropped it or I had shoved it in the bottom of the closet in an attempt to clean up. Now that she can easily see her pretty dresses and jewels, she usually becomes Belle or Sophia once or twice a week!

And if LOL Surprise Dolls are also becoming tiny little residents in your home, check out this LOL Organizer.

What you Need for the Easy Dress Up Station:

Adjustable Garment Rack

Princess Wall Art

Wood Wall Clear Knob Organizer – I got mine at Hobby Lobby and can’t find the exact same thing. These are really pretty and these are reasonably priced and would be cute.

Lots of Princess dresses, play jewelry and little girl high heels.

Setting Up the Easy Dress Up Station

The adjustable garment rack took less than 15 minutes to put together and that was the first thing that I did. Once that was ready, my daughter helped me hang up all of her princess dresses.

The dress up area isn’t just limited to princess costumes. She can dress up as a chef, vet, or a girly super hero.

I stored extra dress up clothes and play shoes at the bottom of the rack. (Don’t mind that missing Elsa from the blue shoe! Hey, they still work!)

Next, I had my daughter stand in front of where the mirror would go. I did this because I wanted it to be a “kid friendly” mirror. (not hung so high that she wouldn’t even be able to see her face)!

We hung the mirror so that she could see her full princess ball gown in all it’s glory.

The princess wall art was hung level with the top of the mirror. The hooks went right under the art so that she could easily reach her purses and jewels.

I set our vanity next to the easy dress up station so that she can move right on to hair and make up once she gets dressed. I love that this area provides a fun play area for kids to use their imagination.

Plus it helps to get the princess dress mess off my floor.

If your pretend play costumes are causing chaos, I hope you try this super easy dress up station solution for your playroom!

Once your playroom is in order, check out this bathtub toy organizer hack so that you can see the bottom of your tub again!

Stimulate Your Baby’s Brain (With Things You’re Already Doing)

July 29, 2018 by Stacy Craft 5 Comments

You want to make sure your baby is given all the opportunities to learn and develop to their best, right? But if you spend 30 seconds on Pinterest looking at baby sensory play ideas you may quickly realize that you should have started on this project long before you were pregnant.

It is overwhelming and HELLO, you have an infant to care for, who has time for that!

Here you will find 8 ways to simulate your baby that won’t require days of prep. In fact, you are probably already doing all of these.

You just need to capitalize on those activities.

(Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.)

My baby is 8 months old and I was thinking of sensory activities that would stimulate him the other day. I quickly pushed all the elaborate thoughts away when I considered that:

A. my sink was full of dishes and that needed to change quickly
B. I needed to shower
C. reminded myself that I am a good mom and deserve some grace (and don’t need some fancy sensory activity for an infant).

When I got to “C” it made me think about all the things that we are doing every day with our kids that our actually sensory activities. We just need to utilize the opportunity and focus on it.

BINGO! So now I don’t have to whip out the paint in a gallon ziplock bag and pray it doesn’t pop open anytime soon. I will just focus on the baby sensory play activities that we do in our daily routine and ensure that we are getting the most out of our day.

Stimulate Your Baby With Activities in Your Daily Routine

Just by being aware and focused, you can stimulate your baby throughout the day without fancy toys or over the top set ups.

You will still catch me creating an activity for my little one to occupy his time on a lazy Sunday.I just wanted to remind myself that you can be in the moment and engaging with your baby without being elaborate.

Meal Time

Meals and snacks are a great time to engage with your baby. I particularly like meal time because typically I sit down for a meal at the same time which means that I can really focus on the time together.

Here are some things to do during meal time to enhance the sensory experience and stimulate your baby:

How does the food taste? Does it taste sweet? Salty? Savory? (even if they can’t answer, still ask the question. You can provide an answer afterwards)
How does the food feel? Fruit is soft, Cheerios are crunchy and hard, pasta with sauce is kind of slimy. You get the idea!
What colors do you see? Use this opportunity to not only discuss the colors of the food but also name the item that they are eating. Red Strawberry, brown toast, green beans, white egg.
Here is a 10 second Prep Infant Finger Paint that is edible and you can incorporate during meal time.

Reading

Of course books are a great way to get your child ahead in education. Is is consistently proven that children that are regularly read to perform better (I’m not going to find a study but ya’ll know..).

Did you ever think of other sensory related engagement that you are providing when you read to your baby?

Baby in lap – If you are holding your little one while you read, you are providing a warm touch. Providing comfort and a sense of protection is a great way to stimulate your baby.
Touch & Feel Books – Some of our favorite books are the touch and feel board books. These are great ways to provide sensory engagement while reading to your child. Sandra Boynton is one of our favorite baby and kid book authors!

Outdoor Time

Spending time outside is so good for the soul. I really believe that babies can get “stir crazy” just like we do.

The change of scenery always seems to cheer my baby up if he is having a rough day. So break out the stroller and start your outdoor sensory expedition to stimulate your baby.

Take a Walk – Talk about the things that you see and tell your baby about them. Do you see the big tree with green leaves? Look at the duck swimming on the pond. Ducks make a noise like this, quack quack. The sun is really bright today. I’m glad I brought my sunglasses. Just talking to your kids using real words helps to improve their vocabulary.
Outdoor “feels” – Wind, Cold, Heat are all things that your little ones can feel when outdoors. Of course you will use caution to not expose them to extreme temperatures. I love to take our jumper outside and let our baby get some fresh air. He feels the breeze on his face, watches the trees sway, leaves float by, hears the birds singing.
Park Or Swingset – Once they can sit up, they can use the baby swing, both of my little ones have loved that. Depending on the type of “flooring” at the playground (assuming it isn’t something that could be a choking hazard), I will let a crawler move around the area.

Getting Ready for the Day/Baby Care

Clothing – Your blue jeans are stiff. Your PJ’s are very soft. Let’s put some socks on your feet to keep them warm.
Diaper Changes – I mean this one is kind of weird but it is an opportunity to engage the senses. You may even wish your nose couldn’t sense during this time! The wipes are cold (or if you are a good mom they might be warm.. haha I skipped on the warmer the second time around). The wipes package makes a crinkle sound. I usually say “Shoo Wee” when I take the diaper off and we both giggle. Talk about getting clean and ready to do your next activity.

Bath Time

Taking a bath could go under self care but it is such an awesome baby sensory play opportunity, I had to give it a little spotlight.

All the Feels – Warm water, soft washcloth, hands massaging shampoo in hair. It is a tub full of sensory experiences to stimulate your baby!
Splashing – Babies love splashing in the tub. Talk about the size of the splash. Did the splash make a sound? Did you get mommy all wet?
Introduce Toys – squirt toys are fun to use and you can help if your little one doesn’t have the hang of it yet. I also like alphabet foam letters to spell out words, teach letter recognition (when they are older).

Playtime with Toys

Thankfully the toy manufacturers have come up with plenty of toys to help teach our kids and keep them engaged in something (so that we might have time to shower or make a meal in semi-peace).

You don’t have to make your own playdough from organic figs or use a blade of grass to paint a replica of Eiffel Tower.

Just playing with your kids is a great way to help to stimulate your baby and their little brains.

Toys that Make Noise – Let me introduce you to Elmo in a Box. I have had this song in my head consistently for 4 years and counting. My son now absolutely adores it too, so it looks like I may end up with a decade of “Elmo’s got 5 crayons in a box” running through my head. It really is cute. I promise! Whatever toy you choose, those that make sounds are always a favorite.
Age appropriate baby puzzles – You may end up completing the puzzles for a while but you are introducing the ability to think critically and solve puzzles. Shape Sorters and bead mazes are good starter toys.

Car Rides

My little one usually rides with me to take his sister to school. The car is yet another spot that we can interact together.

Music – My 4 year old loves for us to sing in the car. Of course the baby can’t participate yet but hearing the music and instruments is just fine for now (I’m hoping he can drown out my voice and focus on the professional).
Discussion – I have a lot of one way discussions with the baby during car trips. Something that I heard a lot when my daughter was young from others was that I “spoke to her like an adult.” That doesn’t mean I am not nurturing or even silly at times, but I do typically speak to her in an adult manner. The same goes for this new little one. I detail out our plans for the day or really whatever is on my mind. I really believe that just talking to your kids enhances their future performance.
Windows Down – If you are lucky enough to live somewhere with nice weather, cracking the window in the car can be a nice sensory experience. The heat index has been >100 for the last week so we are currently enjoying the sensory activity of not melting by using the AC!

Playdates

Socialization – playing with other littles is great for kids of all ages. If you don’t have other kids or friends with kids of similar age, check to see what Mommy & Me activities your town offers. I have found great mommy and me activities at local libraries that are for kids as young as 6 months.

I hope this list helps to remind you of all the good things you are doing to stimulate your baby! Just remember to focus on the activity at hand and that baby sensory play doesn’t have to be fancy or formal.