Pre-Schooler Activity: Water & Baby Food Jars

Being a mom of a pre-schooler, I've realized that they love to explore and experiment!  I am always looking for simple "experiments" for her to do and keep her busy!  While we were working on some gardening projects, she discovered that water in baby food jars created different sounds!  She was so excited, we ended up digging out a few more jars for her to play with.

This is an extremely simple, no-mess way to keep your child busy and explore his or her environment.  

Gather the following items:

• Glass jars or glasses (I happen to have a lot of empty baby food jars, so I opted for those)
• Water (preferably in something that your child can pour in and out of!)
• Spoon or metal tool to create sound against glass
• Other things to clink against the glass such as plastic spoons, wooden spoons, etc. for your child to decide themselves which one works the best  (Optional)

The first thing I did was fill each jar, starting with just a little bit of water, and then adding more and more in each jar.  Once that was finished, I had her use her "tool" to tap each jar and see what kind of sound each one created.  She was so excited to hear the different pitches of sound she got.

Once she realized that the water level was what caused the different sounds, she spent a good hour playing with the jars and water, changing the levels by adding and removing water to test the sounds. 

What I loved about this particular activity is that once I showed her how it worked, she was content keeping herself busy.  It didn't make a mess (other than spilled water), and she was able to do it by herself entirely!

Some good questions to ask your child:

• What kind of sound does it make if there is just a little bit of water?
• What kind of sound does it make if there is a lot of water?
• What do you think will happen if we add more to the jar with the least amount of water? 
• What do you think will happen if we pour out most of the water in the full jar?

This also opens up a good conversation about "pitch", because you will probably have to explain it to your child.  They will likely know in their head that one jar sounds higher and the other low, (and everything in between), but won't have the words to verbalize it.  

Most of all, have fun watching your child explore and learn!

xoxo
Dani

Homemade Wipes: In a Wipes Container

If you have been blessed with children that have incredibly sensitive skin, you may know a thing or two about making your own baby wipes.  It isn't difficult and you can create your own recipe using paper towels, baby wash, oil, and water.  Before I ever did this, I read through about ten different blogs and (no joke) none of them made their wipes the same way, so feel free to get as creative as you please.

I however, am a simpleton in this area.  I don't get fancy.  In fact, I prefer to just skip all of the hassle and buy wipes, but because of skin sensitivities, homemade wipes it is! 

**Because my least favorite part of this project is cutting the paper towel rolls in half, I always do this ahead of time and store them in the closet** 

To Make Homemade Wipes You will Need:

• Viva Brand Paper towels in select a size (cut in half--so it looks like an over sized roll of toilet paper)
• Leftover wipes container 
• 2 1/2 cups of water (boiled and then cooled to room temperature)
• 2 tbsp baby wash
• 2 tbsp oil

Once you have boiled & cooled your water, mix in the baby wash and oil and swish it all around.  Honestly, I'm so lazy now when I do this, that I just eyeball it.  When I actually take the time to use the correct amounts, though, they turn out so much better!

Put your 1/2 paper towel roll inside the wipes container so that it's sticking out.  Like this...

Don't even bother wondering HOW this thing is going to end up fitting in here.  I was terrible in physics & science so I can't answer that for you.  I just know it works. 

Next, pour your water mix all over the paper towel roll trying to get it as saturated as possible and then pour the rest of the water into the container.  Once you have done so, press down on the roll so that it flattens down into the container.  Don't worry about what it looks like, we are going for practicality here.

Close the lid and flip the container upside down.  If the lid doesn't close entirely, don't stress about it.  I usually just lay mine on top of a towel and it hardly ever leaks.  Leave this upside down for at least 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, flip it back over and open the lid.  Pull out the cardboard roll from the middle of the paper towels.  Trust me when I say DO NOT attempt to do this before this step.  I know some of you will try, and you will understand why I told you not to!  (I was that person, I tried it just because I had to know WHYYYYY I wasn't supposed to do it! lol)

When you pull the cardboard out, it should pull up the first "wipe".  If it doesn't, don't stress, just pull it out yourself.  Close the lid and pull it on through!  Viola!   You now have homemade wipes in an actual wipes container so you don't have to deal with annoying lids! 

What do you make instead of buying store-bought items?  I'd love links to your "recipes"!

xoxo
Dani

There's Still Wax...But The Candle Won't Light!

It drives me crazy when my candles won't light, but there is still a ton of wax left in them!  Anyways, as dumb as it sounds, it hit me the other day that I have the perfect solution built right into my kitchen! 

Not everyone will have one of these, (sorry), but those of you that do are in LUCK! 

What am I all excited about?  A WARMER plate built right into the top of my range! 

That's all!  That's my big secret.  I just turn the warmer on (which is right between my two back burners) and sit the candle on there.  It gets hot enough to melt to wax and make my house smell better, but never so hot that the candle is too hot to handle. 

Impressive, I know.  But hey, I just saved myself ten bucks by not running out to by another candle for my kitchen!  :) 

xoxo
Dani

Cloth Diapering Basics

...By a very NON-expert!  

After getting quite a few questions from friends and family about cloth diapering, I decided to *attempt* to answer a few of the more common questions in a video!  If you haven't watched it yet, be sure to click play above!  

In this video, I will cover the following questions:

• How do cloth diapers work?
• What do you do with a wet diaper?
• What do you do with a poopy diaper (because what mom doesn't love to talk about poop, right?!)
• Why use cloth diapers?  

I'm still a newb to cloth diapering, but what I've figured out is that the best way to learn is to dive in head first!  No one cloth diapering momma does it the same, and we all have different tastes and preferences. While one mom may swear by all-in-one diapers, another may only like pockets, and some even like good old-fashioned prefolds!  There is no right or wrong, only what is right for you!

I'm excited about doing some more cloth diapering videos, and would love to know what other questions you have!  Once I have some more questions compiled, I will get another video together!  So be sure to leave questions in the comments below!

xoxo 
Dani

PS- This was my FIRST video ever so be sure to spare me some grace!  :)