Pixy Stix Learning Tray

Learning with Candy ~ Pixy Stix Games and Magnet Play

My kids are loving participating in the week long candy series. So far we have Painted with Licorice and mixed up a batch of candy potions! Next up, learning, playing and experimenting with our Pixy Stix Learning Tray. The kids tried 4 different ways to play with Pixy Stix and each of them got the thumbs up.

I love this little moment that I captured. It totally sums up my sweet daughters excitement. She is my special girl that has me rolling on the floor giggling one moment and the we are wiping tears. Love her!

Pixy Stix Pick-up Sticks Game

We kicked off our Pixy Stix play/learning with a little old school game of pick-up sticks. I was surprised at how great they worked. I was concerned since essentially Pixi Stix are just paper tubes, however they stood up well. Such a simple idea but oh so fun!

Poured Pixy Stix Art

After they wrapped up the game, asked the kids to pour the sugary powder into the tray. The kids immediately started making patterns and swirls with the powder. Who would have thought of creating art as the sugar was being poured…kids:) I love how kids brains work, and watching them process through things.

Their sugary poured patterns and swirls were beautiful. However, they wished we had more than 4 colors to work with. Anyone know if Pixy Stix come in more colors than just Red, Orange, Purple and Blue?

Pixy Stix and Magnets

Once the kids poured all the sugary powder onto the tray, I showed them how to tap the sugar flat. When I brought out a tray of varying sizes of metal balls and a different strengths/sizes of magnets the kids new exactly what to do.

They experimented with all the different sizes and strengths of magnets and sizes of metal balls. It was funny listening to them discuss which combination was the best an why. I just stepped back and watched the learning unfold. Kids are great at teaching each other, and it is such a great skill for them to learn.

Their favorite magnet was this oblong shaped one. It plowed a wide trail of Pixy Stix power where as the smaller balls just left a skinny track. They played for hours simply creating patterns in the sugary powder.

We also pulled out a number of other objects that created unique patters. Some of the kids favorites included an offset spatula, a fork, a rubber basting brush and lots of different shaped cookie cutters. However the magnets were by far the biggest hit.

Drawing in Pixy Stix Powder

The kids fashioned a simple magnetic drawing utensil from metal ball and a piece from their magnetic building set. It worked beautifully.

They even fit in a game a hangman.

Our simple Pixi Stix Learning Tray was a hug hit. Who knew that those sugary little tubes could hold so much learning potential.

Please remember to be careful when playing with magnets and small children.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Make sure to click on the links below for more inspiring Learning Activities:

Math Games with Candy from Learn Play Imagine

SweeTart Sorting & Graphing from Mama Papa Bubba

Candy Corn Counting and Math from Reading Confetti

Spelling with M&M’s from Inspirational Laboratories

Candy Train Game from Play Trains

Learning with licorice from Blog Me Mom

Free Printable Flashcards for Addition with Jellybeans from Mama Miss

Tomorrow we will each be exploring creative Candy Art.

For more fun inspiration follow my Painting without Brushes board on Pinterest.

Candy Potions

Invitation to play, invent and explore ~ Halloween Candy Potions

My kids are having so much fun creating and playing with Halloween candy. Yesterday we shared a fun invitation to create and Paint with Licorice Today our little scientists are mixing up a batch of candy potions that you wont want to miss!

Have you met my sweet friend Shaunna from Fantastic Fun and Learning? Not that long ago she shared an wonderful post all about Little Wizards at Work and I fell in love with her simple playful set up. If you have not read her post yet, made sure you hop on over. However plan to stay a while, Shaunna’s site it delightful and completely addicting!

Kids love mixing, pouring and playing, however by adding the element of candy turns something fun into a truly magical experience.

Potion Mixing Station:

Over the years we have collected a number of different science kits. They always come with test tubes, pipettes, petri dishes, containers, tweezers, stir sticks, goggles and just about anything else that we needed for our simple Potion Mixing Station.

As for the candy, we used skittles, nerds, gummy bears, licorice, smarties, pop rocks, suckers, candy corn and just about anything else we could find.

Water, food coloring and glitter are also great additions.

Our little scientists found tweezers to be perfect for adding just the right amount of candy. Don’t get me wrong, they used the dump method as well, they just liked playing with the tweezers.

I love my sweet little scientist’s look of concentration. Getting just the right proportions of Nerds, Skittles, Candy Corn, water and food coloring can be tricky. You can’t rush science.

The scientists used suckers as a simple pestle for grinding and breaking up candies.

Instead of handing over jars of colored water, I set out the food coloring and let them mix just the perfect shade. If you are doing the activity with little kiddos, then you may want to have jars of colored potion water ready to go just to make it easier for littler fingers.

Goggles just make everything twice as fun! I love our little mad scientist.

This simple invitation to create and play was a HUGE hit. It kept the girls busy for hours, mixing, dumping, shaking, pouring and inventing. Love it.

Our little scientists discovered that a Smartie was the prefect fit to wedge into a test tube creating a simple candy stopper. They were amazed that it sealed so tightly that none of the blue potion leaked out. The candy did eventually dissolve. I love watching kids make discoveries.

Check out these Creepy Jars and Candy Labels that would be the perfect addition to your spooky concoctions.

For more great ideas on how to avoid the Halloween sugar rush, check out how we Painted with Jelly beans, Painted with Laffy Taffy, Nerds and Licorice, and created Candy Wrapper Turkeys.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Make sure to click on the links below for more inspiring Sensory Play Ideas:

Candy Monsters from Blog Me Mom

Hershey Chocolate Playdough Recipe from Learn Play Imagine

Mouldable Edible Candy Clay from Mama Papa Bubba

Tomorrow we will each be exploring creative Learning Activities with Candy.

For more fun inspiration follow my Painting without Brushes board on Pinterest.

Painting with Licorice

Halloween Candy Activity ~ Painting with Licorice

Are you looking for engaging activities that will put your kids Halloween candy stash to good use? Then look no further, this week on Housing A Forest we are all about Candy Activities for Kids. I am collaborating with some of my favorite bloggers to bring you the Ultimate Halloween Candy Guide. We have selected a different candy theme for each day, including painting ideas, sensory play, learning activities, art projects and science experiments all revolving around candy. Our series is all about giving parents alternative ideas for getting kids creating with their Halloween stash and minimizing the sugar rush. Today I am kicking off our candy series with a simple invitation to create revolving around Painting with Licorice.

Licorice may not be in my kids top 5 favorite candies, however they were all over painting with it. Not that long ago, we made stamps with Pull ‘n Peel licorice and the kids have been begging to create with licorice ever since. We chose to use Pull ‘n Peel Licorice for our painting exploration, however I am sure that regular licorice would produce beautiful results as well.

Invitation to create

In the center of the table, I set an open bag of Pull ‘n Peel licorice along with a filled paint pallet. The only instruction that I gave, was to have fun. Simple enough. The kids dove right in exploring process art and creating with out rules. I loved listening to all the silly giggles as they began pulling out pieces of licorice to play with.

They started by dragging one individual licorice stand through the paint and across their paper. Slow and methodical.

DIY Paint Brush ~ Candy Art

It was not too long before the kids created their own primitive paint brush. All they did was held onto multiple licorice pieces, creating a wiggly brush of sorts. No ties were used, just their fingers. Simplicity was totally working in their favor on this one.

I love the rainbow of colors and the beautiful lines that are formed from their simple DIY paint brush.

Egg cartons make the best paint trays. They hold just the right amount of paint, there are 12 wells for different colors and the best part is they are free. I find the plastic egg cartons work great since they are washable although we use the cardboard egg cartons as well.

They also explored pulling the licorice through a sandwiched piece of paper. Similar to these adorable pulled sting paintings. It worked great as long as the the licorice was pulled gently.

Licorice stamps made from rolled up pull n peel ropes were also explored. They creating a fun snail like pattern, and delightfully messy fingers.

The skinny single stands of licorice and the thick ropes were all a hit.

Beautiful tracks made from using the licorice like a rolling pin. I totally love the pattern and mixture of colors.

Our simple invitation to create was a total hit. The kids loved exploring and playing. I was surprised that my oldest son dove right in as well. I think that it getting messy with candy is a hit no matter what age you are. Little and big, this activity got rave reviews from my kids.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Make sure to click on the links below for more inspiring ideas on how to Paint with Candy:

Nerds Watercolor Trees from Reading Confetti

Glossy Skittles Paint from Mama Papa Bubba

Starburst Finger Paint Recipe from Learn Play Imagine

Tomorrow we will each be exploring creative Candy Sensory Play ideas.

For more fun inspiration follow my Painting without Brushes board on Pinterest.

Pumpkin Sensory Dough

Pumpkin Sensory Dough – Fall Sensory Play

We love Fall and had a blast with our recent Fall Recipes for Play Series. I have been ~~patiently~~ waiting the arrival of pumpkins in our stores and they finally arrived! I know sounds a little silly, but this idea has been brewing for a while and it needs a real pumpkin. Since both Allison and myself have been playing the pumpkin waiting game together, we decided to join forces and share our pumpkin gut play recipes at the same time. 2 great ideas for the price of one! You can’t beat that. Allison of Learn Play Imagine made made a gooey Pumpkin Slime, and we created a squishy Pumpkin Sensory Dough.

Ever wondered what to do with Pumpkin Guts?

Well look no further, here are 2 fun sensory play recipes that your kids will love!

Carving pumpkins is on of my favorite Fall family traditions. There is something satisfying and wonderful about exploring the inside of a pumpkin. We love roasted pumpkin seeds and eating pumpkin pie, but had yet to find a “recipe” that incorporates the pumpkin guts. Why not use them to create a fun Fall Sensory Dough.

I totally love that this simple play recipe is mixed right in the pumpkin, meaning there is no need to dirty a bowl. If you have ever been in my kitchen (minus my edited and cropped blog photos) you may wonder if I chose to mix it in the pumpkin purely because all my bowls were dirty. Ha! My lips are sealed, plus my kids thought it was a genius idea. Shhhh…don’t spill the beans, my kids still think that I am totally brilliant and can do anything.

Our Pumpkin Sensory Dough Recipe is a mix between play dough and cloud dough. It is firmer than play dough, and has a moldable texture similar to cloud dough. I really had no idea which was the more accurate description, so instead of loosing sleep over the title, I settled on sensory dough.

Kids love playing with regular kitchen utensils. I love how they immediately pick up a tool and begin exploring. They don’t stress if they are using it in the right way, they just dive right in and discover as they go. Love that! I mean really, why wouldn’t tongs work better above your head?

Even though the pumpkin guts (minus the seeds) took a little whirl in the blender, you can still see the wonderful texture that it adds to the dough.

The kids had a blast sprinkling corn starch around the play surface and the pumpkin. I am sure they added way more than necessary to keep the dough from sticking, but they were having so much fun and totally focused on “their job”.

Pumpkin Sensory Dough Recipe:

2 cups of pureed pumpkin guts ~ we placed the guts (minus the seeds) into the blender and pureed until it was smooth. Since pumpkin guts are naturally wet, there was no need to add water.
2 to 3 cups of corn starch ~ You may need more depending on how wet your pumpkin guts are.
1/2 cup of baking soda
1 TBS of dish soap ~ any soap may work, but we used dawn dish soap.
Spices (optional) ~ however they do smell great.
Pumpkin seeds to add back into the dough

Puree the pumpkin guts (minus the seeds) until smooth and pour back into the cleaned out pumpkin. Have your kiddos dump the 1st cup of corn starch directly onto the pureed pumpkin and mix. You can mix with a spoon or your hands. Both work great. Next, add in the Baking soda and mix again. Finally add in the dish soap and the rest of the corn starch. Depending on how wet the pumpkin gut puree is, you may need to add more corn starch. Just keep adding until you have a moldable dough.

Ready for another amazing Pumpkin Gut Play Recipe? Check out this super gooey and oh so fun sensory experience.

Learn Play Imagine is all about sensory play, and their gooey Pumpkin Slime looks totally amazing!

For more Fall Pumpkin Inspiration, check out our…

Yarn Pumpkins

Kool-aid Pumpkins

36 Creative No Carve Pumpkin Ideas

5 Minute Paper Plate Pumpkin

Painting on Wet Glue

Sun-Catchers ~ painting on wet glue

Paint and Play Challenge ~ Painting with Glue

We are back with another Paint and Play challenge with Crystal from Growing a Jeweled Rose and Vicky from Mess for Less. If this is your first time joining us, the focus for our series is all about the process and encouraging our kids to get excited about creating art with fun and unique mediums! Our challenge this week was to create art with Glue. We wanted to make a set of sun catchers to brighten our widow, so we tried our hand at Painting on Wet Glue.

I recently found these amazing Cosmic Sun-Catchers and I knew we had to try creating our own. Secretly I really wanted to paint on glue myself, but shhhh don’t tell my kids:) Plus this little art project involves the use of recycled materials and it only takes a few moments from start to finish (except for drying time).

Since Babble Babble Do posted such an amazing tutorial, I am only just going to post the pictures of our process. Make sure to hop on over to their blog to find the full instructions.

The kids loves squishing the food coloring onto the set glue. Such a simple exercise, but wonderful for working those fine motor muscles.

I think everyone’s favorite part including mine, was swirling the food coloring drops around in the white glue. It was so fun to see the patterns emerge and watch the colors mix.

I love how easy this activity was to set up. We always have white glue and food coloring on hand, so no need to make a special trip to the store! We will be revisiting this activity again soon!

I was so excited to share these with you so they are still wet. If you are wondering what our glue painting looks like hanging in a window with the sun streaming through, then hop over and check out these beautiful Cosmic Sun-Catchers.

I love finding new ways to paint, and this activity was oh so satisfying!

…………………………………………………………………………………………

FOr more creative way to Paint and Play with Glue, make sure to check out…

Magic Glue Paints from Growing a Jeweled Rose

Black Glue and Watercolor Pumpkins from Mess For Less

Don’t miss out on any of our Paint and Play series.

If you love process art like us, then check out my Painting Without Brushes Pinterest board. It is packed full of fun ideas.