Finishing up post on gelatin cake play, started in Gelatin Cakes Part 1.
This is the same play session using plain gelatin, pipettes, straws, and popsicle sticks. We started using the popsicle sticks because the kids asked for them, and they really got into cutting the gelatin into teeny tiny little pieces.
It kept their attention for quite a while (for some older toddlers, over half an hour),and the most enthusiastic were scooping the crumbs into cups and calling it soup before they were done!
Father’s day sneaks up on some of us.
Here’s my favorite last-minute father’s day gift we’ve made for fathers of infants in our care:
We were able to give the illusion that he was holding the sign (and keep him from eating it) by attaching it to a clear plastic sensory tube–a plastic bottle might do the same thing.
You can see a hand holding the tube as well, which was cropped out of the final image.
Some of the kids just sat beside it, but I think it worked well in all cases.
After we printed the images, we put them in cardboard frames the kids had painted with dad’s favorite sports team colors. (Dad may not have a favorite sports team, but our infants’ dads sure did!)
This is something that can be done the friday before father’s day (or mother’s day, or a birthday).
If you’re even shorter on time, like I was this year, (I had an hour!) try a pop-up card with the child’s original art. (this almost-three-year-old seems to have written her dad a long letter inside!)
What have been your favorite last-minute handmade gifts?
Gelatin- fun as Jello, but WAY more fun as a sensory experience.
I first heard of doing gelatin cakes and pipettes in a philosophy of education class in college, a good ten years ago in a video on Bev Bos. I was enchanted, and finally have a class of toddlers to try it on.
It’s many kinds of goodness in one. First, you have the jiggly, gooshy, ooey gooey gelatin. Then you’ve got squeezy pipettes (or medicine droppers or bulb syringes) and liquid watercolors (making this a color mixing activity as well.)
On the gelatin cake itself:
Prepare the gelatin according to package instructions. My bundt pan was just the right size for eight cups of water/gelatin mixture. Nonstick cooking spray is recommended, but crisco works fine. It will set just fine in the fridge or even on a countertop, just make sure you give it 24 hours.
On liquid watercolor
I use liquid watercolor because I have it on hand and I love it the colors. You don’t have to–food coloring works just as well, though it stains more.
On Pipettes
I love pipettes for 18 months and up. I bought 100 for $7 on amazon (and here’s the link. In general, the ones in the science supply section are cheaper than the ones in the toy department). That’s cheap enough to be disposable if one goes up someone’s nose or fills with playdough.
This is the gelatin cake for sensory play. Cut into thirds it was plenty for ten toddlers to play with.
Part 2 to follow!
I’ll admit, I’m a little frustrated with apple printing. The kids (well, these two-and-a-half-year-olds) don’t seem to find it any more interesting than printing with something cheaper, like stamps we already have.
The main problem is that their hands (tiny hands!) just can’t hold the apples, and they get frustrated.
Solution: cutting handles into the apples.
Some other things we learned:
This is a fiji brand water bottle with lei flowers (which held up really well) and plastic beads. I later added more yellow coloring. (I originally added glitter, which really didn’t work so well–it just looked swampy.)
I think this is an eternity brand water bottle. And yes, the bubbles are that purple! pretty cool.
As a toddler teacher, one of my favorite inexpensive toys to make is the sensory bottle: a plastic bottle (usually from water, Voss is my favorite brand, based on bottle shapes) filled an interesting material.
Here’s all of them! colored with liquid watercolor (other dyes/colorings also work), filled with, variously, corn syrup, glitter, soap, beads, baby oil, and a bouncy ball.
They come in two varieties: shakers, which are full loud materials. These are great for safely playing with choking hazards like rubber bouncy balls, paper clips, and beads.
The second, my favorite, is the fluid-filled kind, which I’ll discuss here.
Safety note: you will need to seal these carefully. Some people use hot glue, which is probably best. I use crazy glue, which also works. Clear nail polish does NOT work, at least on the fluid-filled ones (over a week later, it never dried).
This one actually has vegetable oil in it–it’s a little murkier, but readily available.
The bottles were made over the course of a week. I collected a range of different water bottles to see what worked best. We used some materials we had, and some we bought, but the beautiful thing about sensory bottles is you do NOT have to go out and buy new materials. You can always make an inexpensive substitution.
What we learn from sensory bottles:
We had an unused, velcro-backed curtain. I added a strip of velcro to the shelf, and ta-daaaaa!
A peekaboo curtain! this one was right by the changing table, which was very handy when a child who wasn’t getting changed needed attention.
Lisa Murphy, aka the Ooey Gooey lady, Early Childhood teacher trainer with a real gift–comedian-funny, and marries theory and practice in a way that’s on-the-ground useful.
For instance, how to buy yourself 30 seconds to think at circle time:
A routine (Jack in the box song) for ending circle time consistently and clearly.
The banana ritual if (it’s too silly, you’re in the wrong profession)
the shark song/fingerplay (hang around for the punchline)
Here’s her tumblr feed. (Please note that she is msooey on tumblr.)
Tiny Hands, Big Ideas 