Ghost Shrinky Dinks

Burgin is currently 26 months old

When I come across #6 plastic I save it to make Shrinky Dinks. Burgin colors them with a permanent marker and then I cook it in our little toaster oven on parchment paper for 30 seconds to 1 min. It curled up a bit, so I used my oven mitts to squish it flat. It dries fast so the flattening must be done quickly. Wah-lah, the end result is very cute! We added some googly eyes and a string to hang Mr. Ghost up.

Pumpkin Seed Craft

Burgin is currently 26 months old

Draw a pumpkin on orange paper. Have the child glue the toasted pumpkin seeds to the pumpkin. Cut back into the shape of a pumpkin, if necessary, and hang up!

Happy Hallloween Card

I took what we made from the Ghost Footprint activity. Folded it in half and on the front posted the photo I took from the Hide and Seek activity. I printed the photo out, glued it to a card and added the words, "Peek-a-", so the card reads "Boo" when opened up. I also added the words "Happy Halloween to the inside of the card!

Trunk-or-Treat

Trunk-or-Treat was a big hit with the little and big kids in our family!! This year our theme was It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. We had a photo cut-out section, a bean bag toss, pumpkin clothes pin drop, a movie viewing area and of course, lots of treats!

Ghost Footprints

Burgin is currently 26 months old

So quick and easy to do and they come out so cute!
1. Brush white paint on your child's foot. Put enough so that the footprint will come out very white with little to no black showing through.
2. Stamp it on black paper.
3. Add the word "Boo" or something else with a cute-tip

Zen Garden

Burgin is currently 26 months

OK, so not everything that I envision in my mind turns out how I expect....actually rarely it does! I saw this Zen Garden in the Dollar Store and thought it might be fun for Burgin to get his Zen on. Well, he did the exact opposite. By the end, the sand was all over the patio, but the rake and stones did survive. Maybe for another day or for another project...I have a few possible ideas.

Hide and Seek Clean Up Time

Burgin is currently 26 months

Another one of Burgin's favorite games. I actually love it too because I am able to get stuff done while he hides. For example, while he is hiding, I pretend to look for him and I put away laundry, pick up dishes, etc. I go room to room doing little things. I will call outloud so he hears me, "Where could Burgin be? I just don't know, maybe under the covers, maybe in this drawer, etc." It results in lots of smiles when I do "find" him because he thinks it was a challenge for me. In which he then hides again in the same spot - LOL!

Trunk or Treat Preparation

I love Halloween - the whole crafty, creative part of it, not the scary stuff! After years of traveling and always living in places where we didn't get any trick-or-treaters, I was so happy with the invention of Trunk-or-Treat.

Last year we did the theme of Willy Wonka at our church, but a lot of kids had no clue what it was.

So this year, I am preparing for "The Great Pumpkin - Charlie Brown" theme. This year, I had great plans, but with all our recent travels, I only had time to make a couple costumes, a large pumkin and a cutout to do photographs with. Burgin loved helping color the pumpkin and paint the Linus Cutout scene!

Fuzzy Stick Fishing

Burgin is currently 26 months

Take Fuzzy Sticks and bend them in the shape of a fish. If your magnetic fishing pole isn't strong enough, add a paperclip to the fish. Quick and easy fishing game to practice colors and counting!

Tower of Babel

For next week's Religious Ed class, we will be doing the story about the Tower of Babel. For one of the activities, each group will get to try and build a tower as high as possible using recycled objects. The one rule is that each student must have a turn before the student can have another turn. This encourages teamwork and communication.

Noah's Ark I-Spy Game

Burgin is currently 26 months

This is one of Burgin's favorite things to do. I put a bunch of objects in a container and then pour rice over them to cover them. Burgin digs through the rice to find the objects.

I was able to extend this idea to be used in our Religious Ed Class. I made a sheet with photos of different animals that I had miniatures (old Strawberry Shortcake doll animals). The students then had to find an animal and match it with it's pair to help Noah prepare the Ark.

Laminated Coloring Pages

Burgin is currently 26 months

A big pack of Dry Erase Markers from Sam's Club, Laminated Coloring Pages, and a Miracle Cleaning Eraser is turning out to be one of Burgin's favorite things to do. I plan on putting these sheets on a book ring and I figure when he gets a little older I can make some great reusable maze books for him to play with. His Grampy and Grammy gave him a Melissa and Doug Jumbo coloring book which worked great since there was such a variety. I put two pages back to back and laminated them with the larger size laminator pages.

Rubber Band Marble Pinball Game

Burgin is currently 26 months

OK, this one might not be the safest, but Burgin sure enjoys it, so I figure this is my test run version. I measured and drew lines, putting nails at various crosspoints in a board I wasn't using (as many as he let me...he desperately wanted to play before I was finished) and connected them in various ways with rubber bands (or elastics as us Northerners say). I lay the board at an angle and Burgin rolls the marbles down. It acts like a semi-Pinball Game.

For the safer version that I hope to get to do is one with removable Golf Tees.

Water Coloring Books

Burgin is currently 26 months

One of the gifts he received from his Grammy from the Thomas the Train day was a water coloring book. He really enjoys it but I found that he would squeeze all the water out of the pen at once. I originally had hoped he could use it traveling but because of the "squeezing" problem, we have to resort to dipping (another favorite Burgin pasttime) the brush in a small cup of water.

Science Center

Burgin is currently 26 months

We were fortunate to get to spend a day at Raleigh's Museum of Natural Sciences. The museum was wonderful with such a variety of things to do and see. What's even better is that the cost was FREE! Also, another great thing is that any proceeds spent in the museum store go toward the museum and are tax free!

Burgin really like pretending he was an owl and playing with the dinosaurs!

Time with Grandparents

There is nothing like time spent with the Grandparents. Burgin enjoyed a whole week of it and was all smiles.

Golf Balls and a Pizza Box

Travel Bag

Burgin is currently 26 months

This may look like a big bag of trash, but it actually helped greatly on a long 17 hour trip. I went to the dollar store and picked up a bunch of items, put them in managable containers for a two year old, and wrapped them in packing paper (no professional job needed). I wrapped a bunch of items that he already had. Items that were to big to reasonably wrap, I put in mesh laundry bags that I got for $1 at Walmart. In the end about 20 something containers for the trip and back. So between watching movies, eating, sleeping and getting a special "toy" to play with, Burgin did amazing on the trip.

Sensory Balloons

Thank you Mama Jenn's Blog for this idea. This is one of Burgin's favorite things...I just have to watch him to make sure he doesn't put them in his mouth. I used different colors to help teach colors too. Here are some of the fillings: salt, flour, water, air, and beans. Just be creative.

A Day Out with Thomas the Train

Burgin is currently 26 months

Burgin LOVES trains and we were fortunate on our trip to North Carolina to catch "A Day Out with Thomas the Train" in Spencer, NC at the North Carolina Transportation Museum. There was so many things to do and see.

A Hay Maze

From Burgin's Block

Chalk Drawing

Bubble Blowing

Temporary Tattoos

Minature Trains

Ride on the Round About

Thomas Bounce House

Minature Golf

Photo Opportunity

Big Thomas Gift Store

Transportation Museum

Climb into a variety of Trains

Lego Area

StoryTelling

A visit with Sir Topham Hat

and of course, a ride on Thomas himself!

We spent 4 hours and still didn't do all these things, and exhausted as Burgin was, he didn't want to leave, but they were closing up and we had to go!