Cold Spaghetti

I read a blog recently where the author made a big bowl of cooked spaghetti for her little girls to play with, and they loved it. What a fun, messy idea for sensory play!

We've had a couple really warm days this week so I'm looking for more things the kids can do outside. I was already stopping at Dollar Tree this morning so I grabbed a couple boxes of spaghetti while we were there.

After cooking it, I rinsed it really well with cold water, then used my hands to mix food coloring into small bowls of the noodles. I rinsed it with a little more water to get rid of any extra color, then put the dyed spaghetti into my biggest bowl and set it outside for the kiddos.

I thought they would dig in, but they took their time, pulling out a couple noodles at a time and putting them on the ground. After a few minutes they began grabbing handfuls, with Elise flinging it behind her. They pulled it back and forth, putting it into the bowl and taking it out again, until it was a nice bright, mixed-up rainbow of colors.

After about 20 minutes Elise got bored and walked off to play in the yard. Parker wanted to join her but wasn't quite ready to leave his sticky mess so I let him play for a few more minutes before calling them in for naptime.

The best part is that cleanup was super easy--just dumped the spaghetti onto the plastic tablecloth the kids were sitting on and put the whole bundle into the trash!

I keep reading that boxes of dried pasta/rice/beans are fun for kids to dig through too, especially if you hide some small 'treasures' in there for them to find. Maybe I can try that for Parker and Elise next time!

Bunny Slippers

I keep wishing Easter would be earlier this year. I made something for Elise and I can't decide if I should keep it for an Easter gift or just give it to her now. In keeping with the holiday theme, I made her bunny slippers! Aren't they the cutest? :)

The pattern was from etsy. I actually made her a pair of these a few months ago but, even though I made her correct size, they barely fit. And the back of the heels were too short--the slippers kept sliding off her feet.

Well, I finally made a couple slight adjustments and they seem to fit much better. I made a bigger size, added a tiny bit of width to the back seam and then put elastic through the heel as well so they would 'hug' her feet and stay on. And it worked! Another difference in this pair is the lining. The pattern calls for two layers of fur, which gets a little hard to sew. I opted to line the inside of these ones with the same flannel I used on the ears--much easier to manage!

I actually made two pairs this time. One is for Elise and the other is a gift for her little friend (hope you aren't reading this, Ashleigh!)  ;)  Even better, we found these plastic Easter egg cases at Dollar Tree last week and they're the perfect size for the slippers!

I picked up a couple more of these egg cases as well as some smaller plastic ones to fill for Parker and Elise. Parker had fun hunting for eggs last year so we're going to do it again for both kids. I'm not a fan of giving candy to toddlers though, so I'm trying to come up with ideas for other fillers.... maybe stickers? tattoos? fruit snacks?
Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated!  :)