Play Doh Sea Snails

 Play doh is always a favorite play time tool at my house. There are just so many ways you can create with it! This play doh snail activity is so easy! Kids of all ages will love to grab a can of doh and a few favorite shells and get creating! 

Summer is near, and we are so glad. We have been virtually learning for about 15 months now and we are ready for a break. While the kids have less work to submit each day as the year dwindles down, we have more idle time than ever. I am NOT the mom who wants to entertain kids all day long (sorry guys!) so I turn to open ended creative ideas like this one a lot. It keeps the kids happy and gives me a chance to get some things done. 

Even my 11 year old had fun with this one. Rolf usually is too tween cool for any of my hands on play anymore, but this one was high interest and he got involved with his sister.

These play doh sea snails are awesome for rainy day play too. You only need 2 colors of play dough and a few shells to make the magic happen!

Supplies:

Sea shells 

2 or more colors of play dough

Instructions:

Invite the kids to roll out a color of doh for the body of the snail. Carefully insert one end of the rolled doh into the shell. Make sure the end is rolled thin, and don't force it too far into the shell.

Form some small antennae and attach to the head of the snail.

Add small details with a different color of play doh.

Repeat with more shells for a bunch of cute little friends!

This is such a fun activity for kids that requires so little in supplies. It is economical and easy, but can create more detailed creatures with a little patience and imagination.

You can find more fun play doh ideas here

Reader favorites 

Play Doh Food Puzzles for Toddlers

Play Doh Pie Counting

veggie garden sensory bin

This veggie garden sensory bin comes together so easily to give little ones a chance to play and get excited about their vegetables while working on fine motor skills.

We have a weekly routine in the summer; every Tuesday and Saturday we head to the farmers market. We buy all of the fresh food we will eat that week, plus a little extra to freeze. I love how the offerings change throughout the season. The kids love the sights, the smells and the baked goods. While they might spend most of their visit to the market pleading for cookies, they always jump in the line for our favorite farmer. Who gets to hold the basket and who gets to pick the produce? We always work it out.

Last week while we were in line for our peppers, onions and radishes, the kids were bickering about the basket and the picking job and inspiration hit. I knew right away that I was going to recreate a garden scene for their enjoyment. If they argued about who got to play first, I will never tell.

Supplies:

• Plastic box with clip lid
• One pound of dried black beans
• ½ cup of whole coffee beans
• Leaves from artificial flowers
• Assorted play food; tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, strawberries etc
• Plastic serving tongs
• Sandbox tools

Directions:

Layer the dry black beans in the box.

Add coffee beans to the mix for a fragrant experience.

Nestle the leaves into the beans (I simply removed the leaves from a few stems of
artificial flowers).

Place the fruits and vegetables in the beans and on the leaves.

Add plastic serving tongs and plastic shovels.

Invite your child to harvest the veggies, to explore the beans and to work on fine motor skills
by picking the veggies and beans up with the tools.

This was so much fun for the kids. Even too cool, 9 year old Rolf got involved and explored this veggie garden sensory bin.

This was fun to smell and touch and it gave Harp a chance to work on her fine motor skills.

When you are all finished playing, you can snap the lid on the bin and store it for playtime in the future.

You can find all of my sensory content here.
Birthday Cake Sensory Bin

Oil and Water Science for Kids

This easy science experiment for kids is so much fun! It produces visually stunning results with common pantry items.

I loved this experiment because we had everything on hand. Within a few moments I had the area ready and both kids were ready to get involved. If you don't have pipettes, you could use a medicine dropper, or even a straw.

Supplies:

Affiliate links are included, if you click and purchase I earn a small commission from the company.

Vegetable Oil

Food Coloring

Water

A Few Small Dishes

Pipettes

I added 3 drops of food coloring to each bowl of water. We decided to try green and blue.

I gave the kids a few pipettes. I asked them what they thought would happen if they added the color to the oil. Harp said it would be like paint. Rolf said it would turn the same color.

They began dropping the watercolor into the oil.

They discovered that the color didn't mix, it just formed little balls of color in the oil.

We added more food coloring to see if that affected it.

We added more water to the food coloring.

It still didn't change the way the oil and water color didn't mix.

This project was completely visually stunning. Both of the kids were hooked!

I was pretty impressed too. I thought this was a great experiment for the kids!

I am glad I got photos as it was basically a form of liquid art!

This is a great way to explore common household items with kids, and see how they react to each other. This is a very economical experiment too; only pennies to complete!

I loved that with this super easy project we could encourage the inner scientist that lives in every curious kid. 

Kid Made Straw Necklaces

Bling; made for kids, by kids!

My kids really like to get crafty. They also like to peek in my jewelry box and beg to wear all of the pretty things! So we set out to see what we could create with things we already had at home. This is what we came up with. Straw Necklaces!

You will need:

*Straws

*Bakers twine or yarn
*Glue
*Scissors

Rolf was kind enough to cut the straws for both of the necklaces we made.

We simply added a bead of glue to one side of a straw, then pressed it onto another. Repeat until you are out of straws.

Thread your string, twine or yarn through one straw and tie to make the necklace.

This was a fun craft for both kids. Harp was pleased to have her own "bling" that she made by herself.

Play Dough Multiplication Activity

This play doh multiplication activity is perfect for an introduction to multiplying for eager little mathematicians.

Rolf has been working really hard on his multiplication in the 3rd grade. During the 1st quarter of the year, he was struggling with the concepts. We tried flash cards, which are not at all fun. We tried making tables, which was also a snore. Then it dawned on me, why not true School House Rock?

That did the trick and made it a little more fun for him. Harp was learning too, so we decided to make the process a hands on fun way to learn to multiply. We do use affiliate links in this post. If you have a purchase I will earn an advertising fee.

We started with ones and twos to keep it simple; while Harp was only 5 at the time of this activity (yes! I sat on these photos for almost a year!) I knew that forming these math facts in her mind was a great way to start her off on the right foot.

Supplies:

Play Doh in Brown and Green

Pony Beads 

Wooden Numbers

Directions:
Roll the brown play doh to resemble a tree trunk
Flatten out a can of green play doh for the leaves
Select two wooden numbers and press them into the top.
Use the edge of a number to make the x symbol
Offer your child a selection of pony beads.
Have them press the correct number of pony beads into the dough.
To explain the concept to my girl I told her to count out the first number of the problem in beads, then to do it again and press them in.

Find more play doh activities here

Reader favorites include:

Play Doh Pre-Writing

Design Your Own Play Doh Ornaments

Easy Yoda Puppet

May the 4th is right around the corner and Star Wars fans will love this super easy and cute craft to add a little force fun to the special day!

                                        My son Rolf, is the biggest Star Wars fan ever.

He loves to play with Star Wars action figures after school! I wanted to add something fun to his daily Star Wars play and I made something cute and easy to delight him!

This is so easy, all you need are 2 ovals of green paper, a circle of green paper, a popsicle stick, 2 googly eyes and some glue.

Begin by gluing the oval ear shapes to the large circle of paper.

Next glue those onto the craft stick.

Add the eyes and draw on a smile.
There you have an easy Yoda craft puppet!

Saturday #173

Saturday #173 was our final summer Saturday for this year. We got up early and hit the road. We drove up to Port Clinton with the idea of a day at the beach. On the way there Rolfie told us he was hungry (because he wouldn't eat his breakfast at home) so we stopped off and fed him, he loved that we ate outside beside Lake Erie. We went to the spot we had in mind for swimming next only to find  the bacteria levels were unsafe.

We drove on to Catawba Island but we were unsure about the water quality and no one else was at that beach, rather than risk it we continued on in search of a place to swim. We dropped off at the Perch Festival and asked the locals where to go, they pointed us to East Harbor State Park. We found it with no issues.

Rolfie loves the water. He had a great time swimming with us. The beach was perfect for taking children to as the water was clear and not too deep. We spent a few hours there, everyone had fun! I loved seeing my brave little boy jumping and laughing in the small waves.

Rolfie was exhausted when we left, he took a short nap in the car and we stopped by at a Friendly's for dinner. The day in the sun and water helped him work up quite an appetite. He ate all of his cheeseburger and fries, then he ate half of his Daddy's fries, he still had room and ate an entire ice cream sundae. He left full and happy.

We headed home to start preparing for a visit from my mother in law the next day. Rolf dropped off to sleep later than usual, but quite happy. He dreamed of swimming that night, he was laughing and kicking in his sleep.

Now that the weekend has come and gone, I realize that next summer all of our adventures will be different, we will no longer be a little family of 3, we will have a baby along for the fun. A part of me is happy and excited about the change but there is a part of me that feels sad at the last chapters of this story. I have been so content with my son that I am not ready for all of that to change when I am honest with myself.

I have to say that while we really didn't do anything extraordinary other than drive to the Lake, it was the perfect end to our summer. The memories of my son splashing in the waves will hold me over until next summer when we create new summer memories together.

I hope you were able to enjoy your family over the weekend.