Category Archives: Mila Stories

Toddler Activity: Ice Cream Bonanza

Posted on by
16

With the temps steadily increasing, Mila keeps asking about one thing for breakfast: ice cream. To make her ice cream dreams come true, we had an ice cream bonanza (after lunch) to celebrate life.

I mean… there doesn’t need to be any reason to eat ice cream, but we had to make it special. They’re only three and this excitable once!

The first step was to make an ice cream charcuterie board!

We used all our favorite ice cream toppings for this. M&Ms, Oreos, strawberries, whipped cream, and of course sprinkles. Plus a little more too. Mila was shocked this whole board was for her!

Good thing she didn’t eat everything off of it. That would have been a fun sugar rush.

After she was satisfied with her dessert, we opened up her new Little Bookish Wardrobe box. We’ve been subscribed to this monthly box since last year! It’s a great way to add to your library. Plus, it comes with a dress up outfit AND a few activities to do too.

This month’s book was Izzy: The Ice Cream Fairy by Make Believe Ideas. It’s an adorable book that Mila had so much fun reading.

The story is set at a beach. Izzy and the ice cream fairies run out of ice cream. So, they go on a trip to find more. So much drama! Mila’s face throughout it was hilarious.

Honestly though, the best part of our whole bonanza was seeing Mila dress up as an ice cream fairy.

She thought her dress up outfit was perfect for the day.

After the book, we did the activities on the card. She also answered all my ice cream related questions, which made me happy.

Apparently her favorite ice cream is vanilla. Sprinkles are her favorite topping. She loves the ice cream from The Tusky Dugout and Dairy Queen. Cookies do NOT go on ice cream, but they’re good to snack while you’re eating it.

I love three.

Have you ever had an ice cream party for your toddler? What’s your favorite type of charcuterie board? Sweet or savory? Let me know in the comments.

Toddler Activity: Backyard Scavenger Hunt

Posted on by
22

Being outside is a staple in Mila and I’s life. Everyday, we explore our backyard and the world around us. To keep the fun going, we love to do mini backyard scavenger hunts.

We’ve done this before by finding different colored objects. It’s great for color recognition, but sometimes can be hard to find all the colors.

To switch it up a bit, we got really specific with our latest hunt.

If you’d like to do this activity and prep, all you need is a scrap piece of cardboard or paper to write down the different items. Then, just get outside!

For ours, I wrote down different items that I knew were in our yard. I ended up drawing little pictures of the items too because Mila can’t read. It helps her see the words, but also understand what she needs to get too.

We set up a home base for the cardboard to stay, then she went on her search.

She’d point and say which item she was going to go get. Then she went on her way. It was fun watching her pick out the items.

I could have sworn she’d get a handful of dandelions, but came back with a little white flower instead. Her rock also made me laugh the first time because it was so big. Then the second time she did it, she found a really small one.

I love activities that get her outside and thinking. We could have had different items on this and will most likely expand too.

Other items could be leaves, dirt, bug, and maybe a random object. Or you could do a specific count on the items. Such as, find five rocks and three flowers. The opportunities are endless!

Mila actually did this for a little while. It was nice to just sit and work on my computer as she found the different items. We’ll definitely be using different scavenger hunts all summer long since she loves them so much!

What items would you have your child find in your backyard?

Toddler Activity: Fruit Flower Art

Posted on by
Reply

Two of our favorite parts of spring are the flowers and fresh fruit! Since we love playing with our food, we were inspired to paint our favorite spring things.

Mila has painted with different foods before. It’s always fun watching her experiment with how the paint works with random objects. Even more fun, is how it all turns out at the end.

For this project, we ate a fruit salad for breakfast and then used the tops for her artwork. It was a way to reduce waste and be creative all in one.

Try saving some of your fruit scraps and try this flower painting out.

Here’s all you’ll need:

This activity is really simple to set up.

All you need to do is prep your fruits, get a painting space, and pour paint. Your child will figure out the rest as they paint.

For Mila, I asked her if she wanted to paint flowers and we looked at the ones in our yard.

Since we practiced the parts of flowers, she kept telling me which part of the flower she was painting. It’s amazing how much little ones remember! She also kept telling me the apples made bigger flowers and the strawberries made smaller ones.

I absolutely love watching the world Thats in her head come alive on a canvas. She’s always telling a story when she paints too.

We make sure to ‘sign’ and date the back of every painting she does. One day I’ll need to get a huge storage box for all of her paintings. For now, they’re decorated all throughout my house.

With these paintings, you can have your child paint whatever they’d like. Mila just loves flowers and it’s perfect for springtime.

I think she did an amazing job!

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever painted with and what do you think Mila and I should try next?

If you’re into playing with your food, but just prefer eating it, check out these recipes from other mamas. I’m sure you’ll love them!

Toddler Activity: Birdhouse Motel

Posted on by
20

Mila and I love watching birds in our backyard. After making DIY bird feeders, we thought it’d be fun to expand their spot on the tree. We created what I like to call a little birdhouse motel.

If you didn’t know, birds hold a special place in my heart. They remind me of Jensen and whenever I see a red or blue bird, I feel as if it’s him saying, “hello mom!” There are also birds on his urn. For some reason, his urn called out to me. It felt like it was a freeing image and after that, birds just felt right to celebrate him with. With that being said, we really welcome them in our backyard.

I’ve been looking at different birdhouses to purchase, but have been so busy I’ve forgotten to order one. Thanks mom brain! When I last went to the dollar store, I found two little kits, so I had to buy them. Then I figured we could reuse something at home too.

Not everything has to look perfect or expensive, it still turns out cute when made with love.

Here’s what we used for our birdhouse motel:

As I said before, if I could do this again, I probably would have ordered a different birdhouse kit. Yet, this one worked out perfectly because it wasn’t so big that Mila lost interest.

For the kits, I followed the instructions on the back of the package.

Honestly, I threw away the wood glue and went straight to my hot glue gun. It went a lot quicker! If you’re up for the challenge and have the patience, you could try the wood glue.

After the hot glue was dried, Mila and I each painted one of the mini birdhouses.

She wanted to pick out the colors and of course chose purple and pink. They’re truly her go to colors! It makes me laugh that most of the crafts and artwork in our house are bright and girly. Let’s hope the birds like it too!

While Mila continued to paint her birdhouse (which she did all by herself!), I cut out a big chunk of the juice carton and then washed it out. I also cut two holes across the top to pull string through to hang. It would have really helped if I had done this before I painted, but… I forgot!

Afterwards, I ended up painted it black (against Mila’s wishes) with a purple little heart on it. When it was dried, I pulled the string through and tied a knot.

When the kits were done, I also tied the string and hung them all together.

Mila went to find some grass, small sticks, and a little bit of bird seed to welcome in our new friends. It was so cute seeing which objects she thought the birds would like. If I were them, I’d feel right at home!

I can’t wait until we can get more birdhouses and maybe do another DIY.

These two were simple enough for us to do it in an evening. As she gets older, we can definitely do more complicated things. For now, she’s in love with our birdhouse motel. I am so proud of how well she painted and worked on her little project.

Now we get to wait to see who decides to move in and benefit from the motel. Hopefully different types of birds will visit and maybe even a bluebird or two. Fingers crossed!

What’s your favorite type of bird? Let me know in the comments.

If you love birdhouses and want some other inspiration to do a DIY one, check out what these moms have done.

Weird Things My Toddler Does: Part 15

Posted on by
11

Welcome to another issue of “Weird Things My Toddler Does.” From the previous 14 parts, we can definitely see that my toddler (like most) is pretty weird. I guess that’s what makes them so much fun.

Mila has taken her weirdness to the streets this time.

With all her shoes and outfits, she has decided to make a twist on what goes together. No, it’s not making weird clothing choices, it has to deal with her shoes. More specifically, crocs.

At this point of being three, Mila has thrown out everything she’s known about wearing shoes. Instead of mimicking the adults around her by wearing matching shoes, she has decided that the perfect outfit centers around one glitter croc and a blue one.

Seriously. Everywhere we go she has to wear this combination.

At the zoo recently, the other parents took notice. They asked if she dressed herself and one even asked if we had lost the other ones. Politely, I just said, “that’s what she wants to wear.”

Although it’s so weird, it was easy to point her out when she went down the slide. Or when I was scanning when she was playing up on playground equipment and I could only see feet, there were the mismatching crocs. I guess her weirdness helps in that way.

Plus, it’s not really conducive to fight about something that goes on her feet. If it makes her happy then that’s what we do.

I think the funniest part of all is she is adamant that these are the feet the mismatching has to go on. She refuses to change it up. The blue has to be the left foot and the glitter on the right.

Three is about making choices and becoming independent… it’s just weird Mila decided to show it off like this.

Cheers to crocs and they still look cute mismatched.

What weird things are you toddlers doing lately? Do you fight with your kids about what they wear or just roll with it?

Toddler Activity: Flyswatter Painting

Posted on by
6

We love process art! With spring here, as well as the bugs, we had to find a creative way to make a unique piece of art. This time, with a flyswatter and a hyper toddler!

Mila has a love hate with bugs. On one hand, she’s afraid of most of them. Then, on the other, she likes butterflies and the ‘pretty’ bugs. She despises flies and gnats, but was pretty impressed last year when she was introduced to the flyswatter. It’s like she’s on fly patrol whenever she sees one.

To get her creative and being active (which she loves), I thought this activity would be fun for her!

Not only is it fun for Mila to paint and have fun with it, the texture the flyswatter made was amazing to me. It turned out to be a great project.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • Canvas or paper
  • Flyswatter
  • ‘Bugs’ (aka paint)

I love activities that have an easy set up. It works for Mila’s patience level and if I just need a quick activity, it’s so nice. This one was just like that.

The only real planning we did was picking out paint colors. Mila, of course, went for her normal colors: pink, blue, and purple. We had everything else already on hand, but you can find all of these materials almost anywhere.

Then, I just poured little dots of paint all over the canvas. I told Mila to pretend they were bugs and to smack them!

She had so much fun hitting all the different bugs. If I do this activity again, I’ll have her hit the certain colors to practice color matching. It would be fun seeing if she or any toddler would try their best not to hit any other colors too.

The patter the lines on the flyswatter made were perfect. When she asked for more bugs, the layered look was so cute. Somehow, the paints didn’t all muddle together and you could see all the different colors. I was worried they’d just become a huge purple blob!

I think this pattern would end up making great homemade wrapping paper too!

Mila had a ton of fun hitting the canvas and we ended up doing the same activity on a big wood board too.

I hope to finish her painting off with writing a quote on it in the near future. I love to combine her artwork with encouraging words! It just makes for a fun team project that I know we’ll enjoy for years to come.

Let me know in the comments if you like bugs or if you’re on Mila’s side of the flyswatter.

Check out how some other moms incorporated bugs and insects in their learning.

Toddler Activity: Dino Dance!

Posted on by
24

Happy National Dinosaur Day! To celebrate, Mila wanted to share her one of her favorite books and dinosaur activity: Dino Dance!

Mila has just now taken an interest in dinosaurs. Books about them have really helped broaden her imagination about them. We also have a few great dinosaur toys that she loves playing with. When we went to the zoo, there was a dinosaur there so she was able to understand they were huge. She’s been asking about them since.

Dino Dance! hands down is her favorite way to look at dinosaurs and think about movement. She loves to dance, so when she saw that dinosaurs danced too, it helped her connect.

Plus, it helped create a fun little activity too.

Normally, we read books over and over again (oh the toddler stage). Instead of just sitting and reading some, we find ways to act them out. Dino Dance! gives us the dance moves to do, while learning too!

We took our learning outside and Mila showed me her dino moves.

Her favorite was the ‘cha cha cha’ move and the t rex stomp! It was also so fun to watch her come up with her own interpretations of the dance moves. We ended up dancing and singing along with the book for a little while. While dancing their moves, I had her say the dinosaurs names too.

Mila asked me to show her how I would do certain dance moves too! It was great to mimic each other and see how we both were creative.

In one little book, there was a ton of learning! From dinosaur names to being creative, Dino Dance! is a great way to introduce your child to dinosaurs.

It also sparked other conversations about dinosaurs. We have other books that have more realistic descriptions and images of dinosaurs. To make a connection, I remind her of the dinosaurs dance moves in the one book and show her in the other. I can’t wait to take her to see the dinosaurs in the Columbus Zoo soon!

Another dinosaur song Mila loves right now is from Blippi. Whenever she has screen time, she asks to watch his channel. So, The Dinosaur Song has been a great way for her to learn about dinosaurs while dancing and watching her favorite show too.

If you’re looking for other fun activities from creative moms and their kids, check them out here:

Toddler Activity: Moon Rock Toss

Posted on by
16

Mila is a kinesthetic learner. So, when she learned about the Moon, we had to do a Moon Rock Toss.

This simple activity is fun for active toddlers who are curious about learning. Plus, it’s easy to set up for busy parents that keeps your child’s attention for a long time.

Lately, Mila has been into the moon and loves looking at the stars. For the longest time, she thought she could jump up to the moon and eat it. Thanks Sesame Street! We’ve done a few activities from Fluff Pieces Space Unit and I’d love to order some of the puzzles and items she used too.

Now she knows that the Moon isn’t a cookie! But it was cute when she did.

Anyways, here’s what you’ll need for this activity.

  • A basket
  • Aluminum foil
  • Construction paper
  • A ‘backboard’

Since we have a chalkboard door, we used that as a blackboard. You can use whatever you’d like. I can imagine a huge poster board or pieces of paper helping too.

I decorated our backboard to be like stars on the moon

Then all the other set up I needed to do was crumble up aluminum foil and paper. That’s it!

Mila’s been loving Blippi so his space song really hit home. She listened to that as I set up. It really set the activities mood.

We walked about the moon and how there are moon rocks there. I told her these were our moon rocks. Since there’s no gravity on the Moon, the rocks are lighter than Earth rocks. Obviously this isn’t how it works, but it’s okay.

I told her to try and make it in the basket and she had a blast. She kept refilling the moon rock bowl to start over the activity.

Since Mila is really into space, I plan on continuing teaching her more about it during summer. I have a feeling she’ll love stargazing and would love to talk about the constellations with her.

For now, she’s obsessed with her moon rocks and making them in the basket. Maybe she’ll be a basketball player too!

Let us know how you liked this activity in the comments below or let me know what your favorite planet.

Check out how these other moms introduced space to their kids.

Toddler Activity: Frida Kahlo Portrait

Posted on by
10

In celebration of Cinco de Mayo, femininity, and art, Mila learned more about one of my favorite historical woman: Frida Kahlo. Of course, we had to do a craft of a Frida portrait; just with a toddler spin.

If you don’t know about Frida, she’s truly an amazing woman. Her history was tragic, but her perseverance to keep going against all odds really speaks to me. Through everything, she became one of Mexico’s greatest artists. She did a ton of self portraits, which is why we honored her this way.

Now, I understand Frida has NOTHING to do with Cinco de Mayo. This holiday commemorates Mexico’s unlikely defeat over France in 1862. Since then, it’s turned into a huge celebration.

With Mila being three, I don’t feel completely comfortable talking about war with her yet. It’s still a great way to teach her about Mexican culture. Frida is a huge cultural icon and since we love learning about art, it felt perfect.

Anyways, you can look up all kinds of information about CInco de Mayo and Frida all over the internet. Now it’s time to get to our little craft.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Honestly, i wish I had a free printable for everyone to make this craft a little easier. The elements in this project are a little detailed, but the end result is worth it.

To prep for this craft, I drew the different elements of Frida’s face on the construction or craft paper. They don’t have to be perfect. I think the more unique it is with its imperfections, the more it connects with Frida and her work.

I drew Frida’s hair, nose, eyes, and unibrow on black construction paper. Her lips on red scrapbook paper. The accessories on yellow scrapbook paper. Her body is made out of brown construction paper and the dress out of floral scrapbook paper.

Once everything was drawn, I cut them out.

Since we used a canvas, I hot glued Frida’s body and part of her hair down. Then, it was all up to Mila.

She has seen Frida and her artwork for her entire life. We read books with her in them, but I showered her a picture before she started. After, I asked if she could make her face.

Honestly, she did a great job. She loved talking about the different parts of her face and was in love with the flowers. I think she said Frida about a thousand times too. It amazes me that she picks up on all these new words.

I think she did a really good job. She put it in a prime spot for all to see! I love that she loves all her hard work.

Plus, it was a fun way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

Tonight we’ll be enjoying tacos and I’ll have a margarita. We love to celebrate these holidays and learn all about new culture.

Let us know what you think about this Frida craft and how you celebrate Cinco de Mayo!

Before you go, check out how these moms celebrate Cinco de Mayo and Mexican heritage.

Toddler Activity: DIY Star Wars Slime

Posted on by
15

May the Fourth be with you… okay, Happy Star Wars Day! To celebrate this fun little holiday, Mila and I made slime for the first time. We had a blast with our little DIY and I loved introducing her to slime and the force.

If you’ve never made slime or hate how sticky some recipes are, this one was actually great. It was a few simple steps that’ll make you actually want to make slime with your kids.

Here’s what you’ll need:

The first thing to do is empty out the entire bottle of glue in a bowl. We did glow in the dark glue with sparkles in it. I thought it would be unique and it reminded me of Star Wars.

To get all of the glue out, I cut the bottle in half and spooned out what wouldn’t come out.

Then, add the baking soda to the glue. You’ll need to mix this up and it starts to get really thick. Mila loved helping mix it at this stage, as well as pouring everything into the bowl. I did end up having to help her at this point because it did get difficult.

After it’s mixed together, add food coloring to it. We chose purple because it’s on of Mila’s favorite colors, but it’s reminds us of space and galaxies. Of course, we added more sparkles too.

Next, add the contact solution.

This will make the slime almost impossible to mix. It immediately clung to the spoon when we started mixing it. After a minute, I ended up mixing the slime with my hands. It was way better kneading it with both of my hands.

Although our slime wasn’t sticky, you could add more contact solution if needed.

Mila was a part of the entire process, but it was still fun to present it to her with Star Wars stickers. She loved pressing the stickers into the slime and asking what all of their names were.

We talked about the characters being in space and that’s what the slimed looked like. It’s great because she knows that the moon and sun are in space. She might not grasp the entire concept of space yet, but it’s fun seeing her learn more about our universe each day.

As much as we had fun talking about Star Wars and space, Mila really just had a blast playing with the slime!

With how well our first slime making experience went, we will definitely be making more in the future too. It was also such a fun way to get Mila started with the Star Wars universe. I’ll love it when she is old enough to watch the series with me. If I had to guess, Princess Leia buns will be next.

What’s your favorite slime recipe and do you enjoy the Star Wars films?

Before you go, check out how strong the force is with these DIY moms and their kids.