Rainbow Water Beads {fun & fail}

A few days ago, my son & I made up a tray of rainbow water beads to play in. Since I only had clear water beads, we attempt to color them - which was met with some success & some failure - but lots of fun too!

First, we tried coloring the beads with Kool-Aid (see our other Kool-Aid endeavors) - the idea of scented & colored water beads was enticing, but didn't work out... We tried to soak a teaspoon of clear water beads in water with two packs of lime Kool-Aid. We ended up with just slightly hydrated, sticky little green orbs ...

They never did get any larger than this... so we threw them out. With an older child... this might have been a great intro into a fun science experiment with the water beads (i.e. what happens to the water beads when we use different liquids to hydrate?) I'm pretty curious myself... so I might just do the experiment with my 3 year old anyway...

Instead of Kool-Aid, we resorted to traditional food coloring gels, hot water and ziplock bags. We hydrated a tablespoon of beads with several cups of water & a generous addition of food coloring for several hours. Then, I rinsed the beads in a colander before pouring them into our pan for play.  Initially they looked beautiful....

And my son had a great time playing in them....

But after a day or two, the colors faded and the whole bin was a drab shade of greenish-grey...

The moral of the story is... if you want rainbow water beads, buy the rainbow water beads that are already colored...  even though our colors faded, the beads were still quite fun!

DIY Tabletop Light Box {3 Simple Steps!}

(This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.)

So I've been wanting this Table Top Light Box for ages...

Unfortunately, the price tag has been a bit prohibitive... We have a larger DIY light table made from an Underbed Storage Box that works pretty good -- we followed the general directions for the spray paint method over at Teach Preschool for the first light box... my son plays with it nearly everyday!

A few tips on making a larger version w/ spray paint:

1. The plastic primer is NOT optional - you must use it in order for the other paint to stick to the plastic.
2. Scuff & clean the surface of the plastic bin with sandpaper before priming! We learned this the hard way actually... even with the primer, we had blotches of paint flake off -- especially places where my son put heavy items or tried to sit/stand on the bin :(
3. Buy a big enough light for inside - we used a corded 18-Inch Fluorescent Light from the hardware store - it works pretty well! the smaller battery operated lights didn't seem to give off enough light for the price (+ the cost of batteries!) 

So... on to our DIY table top light box!

The other day I saw these 12"x12" plastic Scrapbook Paper Boxes at our local craft store for 40% off & I thought -- "Whoa! That would make a great mini-light box!" i.e. half the size of that tabletop box above... but for a fraction of the cost! I went ahead and purchased the plastic container and a set of White LED Lights. Since I used a 50% off coupon for the lights, the bulk of the materials for our table top light box cost less than $20!

I used a quick method for this version of a light box - also based on info over at Teach Preschool! Just 3 easy steps and your little one will be enjoying their very own light box in no time!

You need: 
A 12"x12" clear plastic Scrapbook Paper Box
A string of 50-100 White LED Lights
Aluminum foil
Wax paper or Parchment paper
Clear tape

1. Cut a piece of wax paper or parchment paper to fit inside the BOTTOM of the box. Then tape around the edges to hold it in place.

2. Cover the inside of the box (i.e. the top & sides) with aluminum foil & tape the edges to keep in place - make sure the shiny side faces inside the box for the light to reflect off of!

3. Arrange the LED lights on the LID of the box in a 'coil' of sorts & tape the cord down. You can drill a hole in the box for the cord if you want.

4. Then you're ready to go!

Overall, this quick method took about 20 minutes total & the result was pretty good! While I think that I prefer the 'spray paint' method mentioned above, this method allows for me to use the plastic box for something else later if my son completely loses interest in the light box (which is highly unlikely!)

I'd love to hear about your own DIY light box and light table ideas... please share!

Baby Dolls & Hearing Aids {Peek @ the Week}

I finally got around to adding hearing aids to all of our classroom dolls...

Some of our dolls already had hearing equipment, but they needed a little fixing up and newer dolls needed devices added... 

It was mostly a simple process  - just a little fabric paint in the shape of a hearing aid and/or cochlear implant on the dolls' ear(s) left to dry overnight. And a piece of felt, some hot glue & some craft foam to make the BAHA hearing aid. The kids LOVE the addition & were completely amazed that the dolls are the same as they are!

Do your dolls have any adaptations to match your students?

Spring Cleaning {Taming the Toys}

Earlier this week I wrote about how I got my spring-cleaning started this year – if you didn’t read my last post click here. It can most simply be summed up like this: I needed sleep, but instead I started browsing Amazon eBooks. I found "Clutterfree with Kids" and stayed up reading (while I should have been sleeping)… then I heard about 40 Bags in 40 Days… the rest is history and so are about 15 boxes of our old stuff! 

I was telling a friend about our de-clutteing experiment the other day & she expressed difficulty weeding out her kids’ toys, which got me thinking about how I reduced our toys at home (and subsequently, at school). She mentioned that she was focusing on getting rid of all the ‘plastic crap’ and keeping only wooden toys. In the moment of tossing toys, I didn’t think too hard about what toys to get rid of and what toys to keep… but there were a few guidelines that I was subconsciously sticking to. And it’s definitely more difficult than just plastic vs. wood toys.

After some thought, here are my guidelines for cleaning out the toy box (or for purchasing new toys):

1. Most importantly – do the kids like them? Duh! If the kids don’t like the toys, then why keep them? And absolutely don’t throw out your child’s favorite toy simply because it’s a cheap piece of crap… time will surely take care of toys like that. We have to remember that toys are a central part of a child’s daily work – otherwise known as PLAY. We know with certainty that kids will find things to play with even when there aren’t toys around (remember that time that your toddler played with the box that his new toy came in?) but a carefully selected collection of appropriate & stimulating toys adds to the fun!    

2. Are they high quality or crap? – The toys that were allowed to remain in our home were those that were durable & sturdy. This didn’t mean that plastic toys were vetoed in favor of wooden toys – but it did mean any cheaply made toys were destined for the donate bag unless they were a favorite (see rule #1). 

3. Is there more than one way to play?  – Versatile toys that boast many ways to play, use across wide age spans, seasons, genders etc. were likely to receive a pardon from the donate bag. But, toys that could only be enjoyed for a short time, during a single season or by only one child at a time mostly ended up getting the boot!

4. Do the kids have to think or create?  - Next I considered whether a toy promoted thinking or creative skills during play. There were a handful of toys that didn’t pass both the quality vs. crap and versatility tests (see rules 2 & 3), but offered plenty of opportunities for students to think creatively – (e.g. Legos, dollhouse). 

5. Lastly, are the toys on YOUR 'blacklist'? Just admit it... there are certain toys that you just can't stand! I've dubbed these toys the 'blacklist.' And unless they're your child's favorite,  this is quite possibly a perfect opportunity to rid your home of them once & for all!  My 'list' includes most things with batteries, toys that make noise and most toys with characters on them (although I've come to accept superhero & Elmo items -- see rule #1 again)

I know that my rules seem overly simplistic, but really, I can think of very few toys in my house or classroom that don’t pass most of these rules. And now when I purchase new toys, we follow these rules and of course the One-for-One rule. Ultimately, we have to consider a wide range of factors when paring down toys - especially when we do so in the classroom and have an entire classroom of students to keep satisfied (see this post for more about Simplicity in the Classroom).

Another Rainbow Bin {Alphabet Pasta}

All of the amazing rainbow inspired crafts & sensory bin activities that are popping up over on Pinterest have really given me spring fever! Unfortunately, winter has other ideas... primarily that he's never leaving & spring will never arrive!

Yesterday, while waiting for the snow to melt on yet another snowday, I made these fun rainbow alphabets for our sensory bin.

I love using Kool-aid for dyeing things (check out this recent post for more Kool-aid fun!) It always smells so yummy and the colors always come out beautiful. I used pretty much the same recipe and process that I used for dying the beans a couple of weeks ago.

Here's what you'll need:
6 boxes of alphabet pasta (my boxes were 12 oz each)
2 packs of Kool-aid for each box of pasta you intend to dye
extra food coloring for more vivid colors
1/8 c. rubbing alcohol per box of pasta
1/8 c. of very hot water per box.
Large Zipock baggies

How to:
1. Pour hot water, alcohol, Kool-aid & extra food coloring into baggie. Seal & shake until Kool-aid is dissolved.
2. Add pasta to colored liquid, seal & shake until coated. Only leave the pasta sit in the liquid for a short time -- less than 5 minutes preferrably as the tiny pasta begins to soften quickly & will start to stick together easily.
3. Pour pasta out on cookie sheet to dry. Allow to air dry for several hours stirring frequently to prevent pasta from sticking together.

We put ours in the oven to dry the rest of the way over night - CAUTION: Do not put pasta directly into oven, as the rubbing alcohol is very flammable!

It didn't seem to take very long to dry, but we did get some pasta clumps because I didn't stir frequently enough during the drying. I imagine if I did less pasta at a time, this clumping problem wouldn't have been as bad. When making sensory bin materials, I'm always making large quantities so that I can take them to school for my students when my son is finished exploring them... so a cup of each color just won't cut it around here! 

Here's the lovely alphabet bin that I made with the finished pasta. It reminds me of fruity pebbles in both look & smell.

I think that we'll pair this bin with Dr. Seuss's ABC book or Chicka Chicka Boom Boom sometime in the coming weeks!