on the shelves - 19 months

Elise turns 20 months old tomorrow, so I thought I'd better get her favorite 19-month-old activities posted!

1. colander and pipe cleaners

I'd been seeing this fine motor activity on pinterest for awhile now, and thought Elise might enjoy giving it a try. Pushing the pipe cleaners into the holes on the colander has been a great challenge for her little fingers. I'm not sure which she thinks is more fun: pushing the pipe cleaners in or pulling them back out!

2. colored rings on dowels

Hubs and I made this little stacking and sorting activity for Elise.  She has been enjoying ring stacking activities for awhile, and these smaller rings and dowels require her to use more refined hand movements.  I've also shown Elise how to sort the rings by color, but she is more interested in creating her own combinations at this point.  ;)

3. fragile objects

Elise is beginning to have a good understanding of what it means to have "gentle hands."  I put a few precious, breakable items in a special box for her to practice with.  It's very sweet to watch her carefully take each item out of the box and explore it.  The little dog is her favorite, of course!

4. horizontal ring stacker

Another homemade activity - we sure went for it!  I'm glad we made this one because stacking rings horizontally requires completely different hand and wrist movements than stacking rings vertically.  It's really been a great challenge for Elise - you can almost see the gears turning in her brain...

5.  play dough

Play dough is quite possibly Elise's favorite activity.  Right now, she's really into rolling "snakes" between her hands - she even makes a hissssing sounds as she rolls!  We've been loving the 4 minute play dough recipe from the Imagination Tree.  The little rolling pin was a gift from our friends over at Sixtine et Victoire - it is just the right size for Elise's hands and she adores it!

6. The Mitten story props

Of course!!!  I'm SO glad Elise has been enjoying these hand-knit story props.  I love finding ways to support her interest in books, and I think using props is a great way to add another dimension and encourage creative play.  I think we'll get a lot of use out of these little animals!  :)

adventures in table setting

If you never thought table setting could be exciting, then you've obviously never been a plate at our house...

I'd just been debating how to best include Elise in setting the table when she went ahead and figured it out all by herself - of course!  I am slightly anxious about the well-being of my dishes, but I definitely don't want to squelch her enthusiasm.  Plus, as wild as it may look, there have been no casualties so far - knock on wood!

Here's to the weekend!

cloud dough

 In case you didn't already know,
we are big fans of DOUGH around here!

It's inexpensive and easy to make,

appealing to the senses,

and incredibly effective at strengthening fine motor control.

Oh yeah, AND it's FUN!!!

We've been enjoying The Imagination Tree's 4 minute play dough so much lately,

we decided to give their cloud dough a try, too.

Have you ever made cloud dough?

It's really simple - just flour and oil.

(We added a little glitter, too, so I told Elise it wasn't safe to eat...  

as you can see, she couldn't resist a taste here and there when she thought I wasn't looking!)

Elise was instantly enamored with the texture.

I, on the other hand, kept expecting it to feel like regular play dough,

but it was actually more comparable to wet sand.

Like wet sand, cloud dough is great for making imprints.

We tried shells, stones, and twigs,

but Elise was happiest just digging her fingers in...

and her toes...

and eventually her entire body!

The Imagination Tree's Cloud Dough

7 cups flour

1 cup vegetable oil or baby oil

glitter!

* We only made half a recipe, but next time I think we'll make the whole recipe and put it in a big tub.  Then, Elise can really get into it, and the mess will be slightly more contained.  I'm still finding dried-up chunks of cloud dough in random places around the house!

hand-knit story props for The Mitten by Jan Brett

I'm so excited to share these little animals I knit to go along with The Mitten by Jan Brett!  Elise and I both love them so much, we're having trouble deciding who gets to sleep with them at night...  ;)

It was so much fun making this beloved story come to life.  Elise knew exactly what I was up to - she even helped me choose the yarn!

Whenever she overheard me telling someone about my project, she would start sneezing like the bear does at the end of the story,"Aaaa-choooo!!!!"

The Mitten is one of those stories that is especially fun to retell with props...

 Alone...

 ...or with a friend!

For all of you knitters out there, I made most of the animals from patterns I found on Ravelry.  The badger, mole, and mouse were my own inventions!  

Here are a few pattern links, if you're feeling inspired to make your own set:

• bear
• fox (modified)
• owl 
• rabbit
• hedgehog
• mitten

Find me on Ravelry here and Facebook here!

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