{Simple Gifts}

A couple of weeks ago I shared an article from one of my favorite blogs, on Heuristic Play. Basically, Heuristic Play is a fun way of saying "kids like to investigate the objects around them using their senses[" What amazed me was all the friends that shared their photos and comments about their babies playing with a whisk for hours.  

Since we celebrate the "Winter Trifecta" in my household (Chanukah, Christmas, Birthdays), I am frequently asked "What does Chuck want?"  First of all, Chuck has no idea what she wants.  She's two. Aside from that, she literally has fun playing with a paper bag.  This got me thinking . . . 

Since this is the season, these are some  Simple Gifts that have been Chuck approved! 

The Plastic Bottle 

This has been a long time favorite of Chuck's.  I noticed her affinity for an empty plastic bottle at a very young age.  In fact, I remember being rather humbled by the fact that she pretty much ignored all those clip on toys I bought for her car seat/stroller. All she wanted was a plastic bottle.  She wanted to nom on the top.  She wanted to squish it and make it change shapes.  She wanted to roll it on the floor. 

Now that she's a bit older, I notice that she enjoys filling the bottles with items found around the house and makes them into shakers.  Over the summer, we spent hours filling them with water and emptying them.  

Simply said: Chuck loves herself a plastic bottle

The teacher part of me loves watching how she can spend hours exploring the plastic bottle.  When she fills it with little things found around the house, she is working on her fine motor skills.  When she's rolling it around, she's working on her gross motor skills.  This is really a win/win toy for everyone! 

The Cardboard Box

One day, last winter, I cut a hole in a cardboard box[,] and made it into a tunnel for Chuck. That box survived many, many snow days last year.  For a while it was a tunnel.  When it was turned over, it was a boat.  Cardboard boxes are great for imaginative play -- because they let your child IMAGINE!  Cardboard boxes give her a blank canvas to construct whatever she wants. Watching Chuck build and construct the world around her is amazing! 

The Blankie 

Now, this one's not a freebie.  However, if you are anything like me, you were given a thousand blankets to welcome your little one into the world.  The first couple of months, you probably wrapped up your baby burrito style.  During the summer months, I would drape them over the stroller to protect Chuck from the sun.  

They are also great for fort building, peek-a-boo, hiding things . . . I can go on, and on, and on.  Building a blanket fort is one of our favorite go to activities.

While these suggestions may seem all too simple, we know them to be true. We have all seen our children, and everyone else's children, play with the box and ignore the fancy toy. Embrace your child's sense of imaginative play, and hand them everyday items that allow them to construct their own worlds. Of course, use your common sense and best judgement with regard to any item given to a child for play, and supervise when necessary. Take the caps off the bottles, make sure all the staples are out of the cardboard box. Most importantly, don't forget to jump in too, and have fun!

Also, for the record:  a lot of my house still looks like this:

{Project: Glitter Pinecones}

I have always had a creative side and have waited many years to decorate my house with homemade goodies made by tiny hands. 

 Let's face it, most kids crafts are cheesy, made with tissue paper or toilet paper rolls and although you love it because your kid made it, it's just not beautiful to look at. 

Problem: how am I going to make a simple, beautiful Christmas craft with my toddler? 

Solution: when in doubt, look to nature. Everything out there is unique and beautiful in its own right. Lucas is a big fan of exploring the great outdoors. He loves to listen to the birds, dig in the dirt and collect "treasures". One day, we were on the playground and Lucas began collecting pinecones! There are so many things to do with pinecones, but to make it toddler simple I decided to go with glue and glitter! Now this may sound like a disaster waiting to happen, but with a few of the right tools this project can be done with minimum mess. The trick is to keep everything contained. 

We contained the glue in an old frosting container and the glitter in tennis ball tubes. You can use anything as long as the top is as wide as your largest pinecone and it is recommended your glitter containers have tops. 

I was a little hesitant about doing this project with Lucas. Have you ever tried to use glitter with a toddler while taking pictures? I gave it a test run the night before, just to make sure everything was ready (and to snap a few pics incase it was glitter disaster the next day). As soon as Lucas was down the stairs the next morning he was interested what I had left on the counter. In all honesty, it went even better than I imagined! I had two containers of glitter ready to go to keep things moving along but much to my surprise Lucas loved dipping the pinecones in the glue and watching the glue drip off! He made 10 pinecones all by himself. He loved shaking the tubes and was thrilled as each pinecone came out even more beautiful than the last. We were going to make a few to decorate our house (I was hoping for 4 or 5) but now it looks like we will have enough for a few gifts too! If you are LuCky enough to be gifted a handmade ornament don't forget to act surprised! 

The finished products are beautiful, no matter how much glitter ends up on them! For those older LuCk followers, you can always paint the glue on with a paintbrush, use different colors etc. Another fun idea is pom poms! Leave the pine cones as is, or paint them green to look like mini Christmas trees with ormaments on them!

{Project: You've Been Elfed!}

As a lover of food, mason jars and all things crafty, I have always wanted to gift mason jar cookies to all of my friends. You know the ones:  the layers of flour, sugar and chocolate chips just waiting for a few wet ingredients to be made into baking bliss.  For whatever reason, I have never gotten around to it. Maybe it's an irrational fear of those little jars of yumminess not being as loved by someone else. 

Another thing I have always wanted to do was to "Boo!" Someone. Basically, it's like ding, dong, dash with a treat. Technically, it's a Halloween thing but who says you can't be Elfed or Snowmanned? 

As Lucas and I were whipping up another batch of play dough I realized I could do both of these fun activities and thus, LuCk Dough Jars were born!

Lucas helped pack all of the dry ingredients into mason jars, I popped on a label and attached a festive cookie cutter and we were ready to go!

For extra fun, I decided to add a film canister with peppermint extract in it. If you are using a dry scent, like cinnamon you can always use a little baggy. Just make sure you let the receiver know there is a little something extra that needs to be taken out and added before cooking!

Unfortunately, we will have to save the Boo! Portion of my great idea until next year when he understands the concept a bit more but that's okay! 

It is also a good idea to give your mom friends the heads up before coming over and leaving packages on the stoop. I also made sure each envelope said it was from Lucas.