Bubble Fun With Kitchen Utensils

We experimented with bubbles and kitchen utensils on one of the sunnier days we had this week. Bubbles are always fun for my daughters but they really enjoyed trying out some new ways of blowing bubbles. In fact, they enjoyed it so much they went through an entire giant bottle of bubble solution and made bubbles for about an hour.

Here are the kitchen tools we used for making the bubbles. Cookies cutters, particularly the ones with some sort of handle, a spatula, a small whisk (easier than a large one for getting the solution onto the whisk) a slotted spoon, and a baster with the top removed. (I tested them all beforehand to make sure they would work.)

I put the bubble solution into a shallow container large enough for both of them to use at the same time.

The cookie cutters and biscuit cutters worked really well. The larger the better.

They really produced a lot of good sized bubbles.

The baster was a fun one to blow into and watch the bubbles come floating out. My daughters dipped the large end (the end where the bulb had been removed) into the solution and then blew on the other end.

The spatula was a big success. It was placed into the dish of solution and then could be blown on to make lots of bubbles at once.

Not the best picture, those bubbles move fast and so do my children! But trust me it worked well.

My oldest daughter really enjoyed holding the spatula and spinning around to produce the bubbles. Not to mention swatting her sisters bubbles with the spatula. (Which reminds me, I've also heard fly swatters work great for bubbles too , we haven't given that a try yet.)

The little slotted spoon made lots of smaller bubbles and was just as fun.

And lastly, not a kitchen utensil but, we tried our hand at making bubbles with weeping willow branches. After they were soaked a bit, they were very flexible and could be held and submerged in the bubble solution.

They made the biggest bubbles of all. Next time I think we'll try some bubble making with string and sticks, it looks like a lot of fun.

Backyard Play :: Water Play Accessories Board

With warmer weather we have our water tub out for play. I added this water accessories board and it has been a big hit with my daughters. The board serves as a place for buckets to sit on, tubes to connect to, and containers to hang from.

The board was sitting unused in our shed and I started by drilling two holes, one to hold the aquarium cleaning tube and the other for the soda bottle. (I taped the top of the soda bottle with packaging tape for safety.) I found an empty plant container with the holes in the bottom and nailed it onto the board and added another nail to hang a metal pail from. We added a fish net for scooping as well.

Having the board has added to the enjoyment of water play, which my daughters already love. It is easily removable and can be changed out to hold different water accessories as we experiment with different containers.

An Outdoor Play Addition

This is a newly added feature to our outdoor play area that my daughters are really loving.

A stump and a long board was all that was needed to create an experience with gravity, balance and fun.

We have two set up in our backyard and now that they are familiar with them they run from one to the next.

We've established the rule: One at a time, so no one gets hurt.

Like most children, my daughters love walking on objects that require balance because of the challenge it provides. This skill in addition of the movement of the board makes this activity even more fun.

A Fairy House

I am in the midst of rearranging plants and play areas in the backyard. It is so much fun, and I am excited to share more photos soon. Right now things are still brown and just starting to grow- perfect for digging and rearranging. I've condensed a lot of the flowers to one bed in our backyard and then decided it would be the perfect spot for a fairy house. Last year, we made fairy houses from sticks found on the ground, but this bird house turned fairy house is a more permanent structure and perfect to be hidden among the flowers later in the summer.

The bird house has been enhanced with small sticks around the base glued on with a hot glue gun and dried milk weed pods glued onto the roof. I used one nail to nail it to the tree stump to prevent it from blowing over on a windy day. We found moss from around the area and laid rocks on top to hold it down. We have enjoyed having it so much that we think it may need a neighbor or two!

Our Outside Play Space

Here are some photos of our play space outside.


This year we got a sandbox and my daughters love it. They spend a lot of time playing in it every day. We don't bother wearing shoes and they especially love adding water to the sand. The cover is a wooden lattice piece from the local hardware store, cut to size.




My daughters enjoy using rocks, shovels, sticks, buckets, small tins and rakes when they play in it. (Any other ideas for sand play?) I need to get some trucks and am looking to make some stick people to use in the sandbox as well.



The stumps are often used for tables, seats, or walking on top of. They also love stepping stones for jumping and balancing.



We had so many stumps that I dug and laid some half buried in the earth for walking on.



Here is a little secret spot further away from the sandbox and other play areas. It is often used as a "house" or "campsite."



A pile of rocks serves as a campfire.



Another stump is used as a spot to sit or table.



This giant galvanized tub (found at Home Depot) is what we use for water play. I keep it at a good distance from the sandbox to encourage lots of movement and exercise when they add water to the sandbox.




We have a swing that is used often. My daughters just love swinging and I appreciate and value swings for their developmental and physical benefits (see an earlier post here for more info on rocking and swinging).



Another fun play area is the meadow behind our house. In the summer we cut a horseshoe shaped path for running and walking through.



My daughters have been enjoying these plastic gutters for sandbox and water play. When put together they make a fun water-way.



Great for making "rivers and lakes"





Fun for experimenting with floating or moving objects.