Valentine's Day a-cometh, and just the color selection alone lent itself nicely to some STEAM activities! This week was a particularly messy one, so in addition to having big t-shirts available to put over clothing, I had some plastic food handling gloves. As parents know, it doesn't matter how washable something says it is, red NEVER comes out.
As always, I had the more baby-safe things on the floor:
Rice bins are always good for lots of time sifting and pouring. This was 20 lbs of rice colored with red food coloring.
A few exploration questions to get things going:
But they really didn't need it.
FYI, the rice is actually easier to vacuum off a rug than it is to sweep off the floor, because once it hits the tile it goes EVERYWHERE.
I sliced up a million pool noodles last year, and they all happened to be pink!
Stack them, string them, balance them on your head. You can even toss them at each other with no real repercussions.
The weekend before was Sheridan's Nutcracker birthday party, so I brought the leftover sugarplum play clay:
On top of a vinyl tablecloth and WELL away from the carpet. This was everyone's first stop!
Up on the tables it got messy fast!
fabric softener, dish soap, oil, corn syrup, water, and hair gel, to make your own
The food coloring wouldn't even mix into the oil, so there was our first science lesson! Vinyl tablecloth, plastic under the table, t-shirts and plastic gloves. I cut the bottoms off empty soda and juice bottles for the mixing. The dish soap was a bad choice on my part, as it cut through the oil and made everything mix nicely. They still had fun!
A little tamer:
I just rummaged through the storage room and prize box, and found plenty of pink and red in no time at all.
Back to the messy:
We need more measuring cups! For now I just marked styrofoam cups at approximately the half cup line. Bonus: I can just toss them when it's done.
It's funny how some don't like to get their fingers in it, and others go right to town.
Last but not least, good old coffee filter art - but cut into heart shapes first!
So pretty!
Between the dough and the love potion, the room smelled REALLY good by the time we were done! Happy Valentine's Day, and Happy Mess Making!
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