Combine play sand with cornstarch and you get lots of sand fun!  What is great about this mixture is that unlike regular sand, it cakes together when slightly damp.  Almost becoming hard, but smashes back into sand.  All of my kids enjoyed playing with there new “outdoor only” tub!  I will warn you though, they were covered in sand when they were done!  The “clumping qualities” exist on clothing too – haha.  This was messier than regular sand, it didn’t just brush off until it was bone dry (aka when …

Super easy and Super fun! This is a really easy edible art project! Instead of boring plain old syrup on your pancakes, why not paint them! What you’ll need: Food Coloring, Syrup, Unused Paintbrushes, & Pancakes! We used an egg carton to “hold the paint” as it doesn’t tip easily, holds small portions of syrup and, most importantly, is disposable! I love art projects with easy clean-up! Add 3 drops or so to roughly a tablespoon of syrup and have fun painting and …

I think this was one of my kids favorite activities so far.   We went outside to one of our flower pots by the pool where we can easily find bugs, frogs, geckos, etc.  gathered a couple worms, grubs, a beetle and an earwig.  Going on a bug hunt was fun!  Then we dipped them in paint and watched them move.
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Supplies needed:
Half a dozen or so different types of bugs
Tweezers, paint covered bugs are slippery!
Different colors of water soluble paint – so the bugs can live through this experience.
Paper
What to …

Paint is our favorite medium.  It is the good ole’ standby at our house.  As we are learning about birds this week, we decided to paint with feathers.
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Materials Needed:

Paint, we used our shaving cream paint recipe
Feathers
Glue
Paper

Originally we were going to use the feathers as one would use a paintbrush.  Silly me thought my two-year old was up for the fine motor skill challenge.  Once my little fella discovered th joy of getting his fingers wet in the paint their was no stopping them and my older child joined in.  …

This week we are studying birds.  We used birdseed in a tactile or blind, “I Spy” as well as practiced gross motor skills by pouring bird seed from cup to cup.
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Materials needed:

Bucket
Birdseed
items and small trinkets

What we did:
The kids love feeling birdseed sifting through their fingers!  They picked three objects from their pile and would hide them in the bucket, then pass the bucket to the other child who would proceed to find whatever items were requested.  This gave the kids chances to work on giving and following instructions as well …

Chalkboard paint is great.  You can use it to transform any blank surface into a creative masterpiece (or at least a place for notes).  Kristen had a terrific idea!  She painted the side of her refrigerator with chalkboard paint to use it as a note or list making area.  She inspired me and we painted the side of our refrigerator and have made it into a little art niche.
She gives instructions for the project here.  But basically, we needed to clean the surface and apply several coats of the paint.  …

My kids love art projects (maybe even more than I do) and this week we are exploring with water.  This is our experiment where we interacted with water, dye, oil and shaving cream to learn about emulsion, flotation, absorption and make a lovely mess.
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Materials we used:

an old baking dish
liquid food coloring
Tempera Paint
Spray Oil
Shaving Cream
Paper (cut into fourths)

We began our mess with water by mixing liquid food coloring in to water and dipping our paper into it to get a baseline (or control group) – it didn’t look like much.
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We next …

Have fun discussing the names and basic functions of parts of a plant while decorating this fun picture using various materials.
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Materials Needed (Improvise when necessary):

Straws
Colored paper
Pipe cleaner
Tissue paper
Scissors
White glue
Colored pencils/crayons/markers

Draw a basic picture of a plant including petals, stem, leaves and roots.  Using the various materials let your child decorate the picture while you help them name the parts and explain what they do.  We used bits of straw for the stem and roots because the plants use these parts to “suck up” nutrients and water.  We used small squares …

My preschool kids love to paint and I don’t love to clean up the mess.  What if you could combine painting with cleaning the bathtub?  Wouldn’t that be awesome?  This is bathtub paint.  You can make it thick and use it as finger paint, or you can dilute it and use it with paintbrushes.  This “paint” is washable, does not stain and will help you clean your tub.  So sit near the bathroom with a good book and let your kids have a blast!  It won’t be quiet, but at …

I dread going on long trips with kids in tow.  We have driven across the country at least once a year for some time now and while we never look forward to our treks, here are some tips that we have learned to make our road trips easier, to keep a bit of my sanity.  Do you have any ideas to add?  I’d love to hear about them in the comments!
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Activities to entertain your kids in the car:

Get a bunch of cheap toys (stickers, figurines/dolls, trinkets, magnifying glass, noise makers, …