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When I heard about using water beads in sensory play, I ran right out to the nearest Dollar Tree to buy some. Roo and I came up with 6 ways to use them in play and learning. Water beads are such a fun sensory exploration activity for any age. *Just be sure you supervise littles because the ones from the Dollar Tree are not edible. These are!* 1. Just play Easiest way to enjoy water beads during sensory play is to dump them into a bin (or bowl, or tupperware, or any container with enough volume to contain those bouncy water beads) and stick your hand in. Pick up just one and notice how slippery and squirmy they feel. Squish one in your index finger and thumb and see what happens. Roll them around in your fist. Stick in both hands and roll them around in the water beads. Oh yeah, and let your kids haveRead More →

things to do on a rainy day indoors

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Whether it’s raining, snowing or too hot, there is a time of year for all corners of the world that we search for things to do indoors with our kids. All that energy has to go somewhere, and if we can’t direct it then our furniture, walls, and sanity will suffer the consequences. Here’s a list of Roo and my favorite things to do indoorsRead More →

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Paper flowers are a fun craft to do any time of the year. Spring is an especially colorful time to celebrate the rebirth of the flowers, but seasons like winter deserve a little extra color too! Paper flowers also make fantastic additions to greeting cards, wrapped gifts, invitations, and party decorations. Here are 5 paper flower crafts you can make with your kids to brighten up any day.   Coffee Filter Flower Supplies: coffee filters Crayons or Markers Green Pipecleaner Make Have child color at least three coffee filters. We used crayons, but you could also use markers and then wet them to make the colors tie-dye like in this craft we did! You will just have to wait for them to dry before the next step. Next, poke the green pipe cleaner through the center of the coffee filters and make a small loop to hold it in place.  You can make another big loopRead More →

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Do you have trouble getting your toddler into the bath? Sometimes, it’s way more fun to get dirty than to get clean afterwards! Creative bath time activities are some of Roo’s favorite things to do and are garunteed to get her in without a fuss everytime. Bath paint, bath crayons, and bath playdough are all super fun. Here are some recipes for you to make them at home for your next bath time!Read More →

15 crafts for toddlers and preschoolers

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Happy New Year! Since starting WhimsyRoo blog this year, I’ve learned so much about blogging and about crafting with toddlers and Lesson # 1 No matter how cute you think a craft for toddlers and preschoolers is, your toddler or preschooler will not participate if it’s not interesting to them. Lesson # 2 Almost anything can be cleaned up if you use washable materials! Lesson #3 Except glitter. Nothing gets rid of glitter. Ever. Roo’s Favorite Crafts From This Year Weekly posts about crafts for toddlers and preschoolers has lead to a heap of ideas. I combed through everything from 2013 and came up with these toddler and preschooler crafts. Here is a list of 15 of our favorite crafts that Roo and I did together this year. Click the links to see the instructions. Top Roo Picks Sensory Bins Sensory bins are one of my favorite toddler and preschooler crafts. Roo loves them too andRead More →

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Valentine’s day crafts are some of my preschooler’s favorite type of crafts. Even as a toddler, Roo loved the heart themed Valentines activities and decorations. This year I’ll let Roo make some Valentine’s day decorations as well as crafts and Valentines to send to family and friends. We are getting started early!

Here are some of my favorite Valentine’s day crafts for you to do with your toddler or preschooler (ages 2-5)Read More →

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I love making Sharpie Mugs! They’re simple, oh so cute, and completely customizable. Handlettering isn’t a skill everyone has or enjoys, but I love it. I find new fonts to try and add to a new painting or a Sharpie mug when I’m bored. Usually, I avoid drawing on mugs. Mistakes are much easier to hide on letters, in my opinion. But, occasionally, I will make a simple outline. Even if you have very little talent for hand-lettering or drawing, Sharpie Mugs can be done! Write with simple clean handwriting and add simple polka dots. Or use letter stickers and polka dot or even scribble around the stickers before peeling them away! It’s so simple, even toddlers could do it. With stencils or homemade stamps, anything is possible. But I’m categorizing this post under adult projects because I love making them myself so much! DIY Sharpie Mugs Make Great Gifts! For Christmas last year, I madeRead More →

Painted hands

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Why should we constantly search for books for our kids? We all know reading to our children is important. It’s essential for encouraging early literacy and an eagerness to read later in life. But did you know it’s important to developing creativity too? Even as early as infants, children benefit from seeing the colorful illustrations and how lines shape that one-dimensional world. As their vocabulary expands, they will begin to hear descriptive words that add vibrancy to the subject of their imagination. Imagination and Creativity Speaking of imagination, favorite story characters will soon start to appear in pretend play and they will begin developing stories of their own to act out. Developing imagination and storytelling is huge for developing creativity! Besides reading the book itself, there are loads of ways to get creative with story time. You can make a popsicle stick bookmark or word pointer like we did in another post. Or you can craftRead More →

Fairy Garden Sensory Bin

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Roo has recently discovered fairies and dragons and elves and all of those magical things. It’s actually one of the few pretend play themes I can play with her without constantly trying to sneak a peek at my phone! So for a surprise, I made a Fairy Garden Sensory Bin, and I’m showing you how to make one too.Read More →