With rainy days ahead, there’s a ton of fun, indoor activities you can do with your toddler. Since Mila loves zoo animals right now and hide and seek, I’ve combined the two to a Safari Animal Hunt!
You can easily do this activity too! It’s a great way for toddlers to learn about different animals, find hidden objects, and be creative in hiding too.
I made this printable for Mila and she used it as a matching sheet for the animals she found. You’re more than welcome to download and print to use. We used a full sheet of paper, but they can easily be made into half sheets.
I make sure to challenge Mila in saying all of the animals full names. Her favorite to say is hippopotamus and it’s just as cute to hear her say it too.
Next time, I’ll have to make a water animal hunt. It could be a really cool sensory bin!
All you have to do for this activity is have your toddler cover their eyes or go into another room. Then hide all the animals around a single room or your house. We did just one room to make it a little easier for Mila. You can hide at whatever difficulty rating you think would be best for your toddler.
Then, have your toddler put the printable in the middle of the room. Instruct them to find the different animals and match them to the paper.
After they find everything, have them tell you what animal is which.
At this point, they may want to hide their animals for you. Mila had a blast at hiding her animals for me. It was fun watching her try to keep her hiding places a secret.
This is an activity that can last for a while.
It might be good to find out your toddler’s hiding spots. Especially if you’re missing markets, crayons, and scissors! You learn as much about your toddler as they do about safari animals.
If you do this activity, let me know in the comments!
Before you go, check out these other indoor activities you can do with your kids.
Last year, Mila and I tried our best to maintain a toddler garden. With a little practice, we’ve found five tips that really help our garden grow and thrive.
I will admit, we’ve acquired a few houseplants since our go at it last year. It’s really helped up understand what plants need to grow. Germinating seeds are a little more tricky than having houseplants, but it’s the same principal.
We ended up buying an herb kit from the dollar store to practice. It costed $5 for the seeds, soil, and container. I thought it was a great deal. They’re a little wonky right now since they’re growing towards our grow light, but they’ll even out soon!
Here’s what we did to make them sprout.
Warmth
One of the best things you can do for your seeds is to plant them in a warm environment.
At this point, they don’t need a ton of sun. Windowsills can be really cold in April, so keeping them in the kitchen or another warm room of your house is perfect. This will help promote them to germinate and sprout. They also grow quicker when they’re warm.
If they get too cold, they’ll freeze and won’t be viable to sprout.
Humidity
Besides warmth, the other most important component of starting seeds is humidity.
If the heat in your house is on, your home probably doesn’t have a humid environment for the seeds. But, there are easy ways to create it.
The easiest way is to use saran wrap. After you plant your seeds and spray water on them, just tear off a piece of saran wrap and put it over your containers. This and heat will create a humid environment that your seeds will thrive in.
It may not be the prettiest sight, but it really does help!
You could also use plastic takeout boxes or Tupperware to create the same effect too!
Shallow Planting
I think this is where Mila and I messed up the most last year!
Your seeds do not need to be buried in your soil mix. They need to be able to feel the warmth and humidity. Last year, I put them further down and although some sprouted, it was too deep. This year, I mostly spread the seeds on top of the soil and gently pressed them in the soil.
It took them a shorter amount of time to sprout this year and they’re really thriving. I believe this tip was the biggest factor there.
Patience
Gardening and growing herbs and vegetables from seeds take a lot of time and patience.
It can take up to two weeks for seeds to sprout. If they get overwatered or it’s too cold, they can end up rotting and not even sprout. There’s a lot of components and science to starting a garden.
This garden is a great time to talk to your toddler or child of any age about patience. They’ll be excited to check and see if their plants have sprouted every chance they can get. Once they finally start to, your child will be so proud of their efforts. You will be too!
Love
They say plants grow better when listening to happy music. Think how much they can grow from kind words and love from you.
Gardening truly is a labor of love. Not only to the plants, but with you and your little ones too. There are so many teachable moments and just teaching your child that something can grow from the love you put into it sticks.
I might not be the gardening guru, but these tips have helped us out this year. Mila is so excited to see her garden grow!
When our plants get bigger and it’s time to switch pots, I’ll update with those tips too.
If you’re wondering if you should start a garden, you most definitely should! Start small and see what works for you this year. By next year, you can take on more if you’d like. Either way, it can be a fun and ongoing experiment with your kids.
Before you go, check out how these other moms garden with their children:
Ohio is full of things to do. One of our favorite places to go are the many zoos our state has to offer. This time, we visited the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo!
To celebrate Jensen’s fifth birthday, I thought it’d be a fun idea to go. Mila is really into animals right now and I love seeing them as well. We found out that April is a perfect time to go, even though we had a sprinkle of rain.
This zoo is HUGE. We didn’t even get to go to two big attractions because there was so much to go through. There’s always next time though.
One tip for when you explore this zoo is to bring your walking shoes! There’s a lot of walking to get to the different attractions. When you do check out these five things we loved about the Cleveland Metroparks zoo.
The Interaction
One of the best parts of this zoo is all the interactions toddlers through adults can utilize.
The zoo key program allows visitors to receive so much information. All you have to do is purchase them and go to the front of different exhibits to find out all about the animals. Mila will love this even more when she’s older.
Her favorite interaction was the animal statues. I think she sat on every single one she could. It was a way for her to get an up close view of the actual animals she just seen. She was very observant and pointed out all of their features. Every parent was respectful of this and wiped down the statues afterwards. I really do think these interactions let Mila explore and understand more.
Hopefully by the next time we visit this zoo, all the playground and other explorative areas will be open. All of these areas are my favorite part of the zoo, but unfortunately they’re closed. The play area in the Australia section is huge and I’m sure Mila would have loved it.
There’s also opportunities to feed different animals and other interactive parts that we didn’t get to do because I thought Mila was a little too young.
The Animals
I’m unsure if it was the time of the year or the animals were just in a really good mood, but they were all out to impress.
Every attraction we went to we could see the animals. Usually in the summer they’re trying to cool off. Since it was a chilly April day, they all wanted to walk around and play. It was amazing to see some of the animals we normally don’t get to see.
Two of my favorites were the big cats and the red pandas.
There are a few different species of big cats, but I was obsessed with the tiger and snow leopard. The tiger was just walking around and kept going right in front of us. He was absolutely beautiful. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that close up and moving around. The snow leopard, on the other hand, just made me laugh. He was sleepy and hanging out on a little perch just watching. I came to the conclusion that’s how I would be if I was a big cat too.
Then, the red pandas were out to play. It was like they were playing tag. It was adorable and I think we spent way too much time just watching and giggling at them. Again, this isn’t an animal we get to see often, so it was a different experience.
Mila loved the tundra exhibit, especially the wolves. She also enjoyed seeing the African animals, such as the elephants, giraffes, and the lions. They’re all animals she’s very familiar with and she was amazed that she could actually see them in person. The only animals that scared her were the kangaroos. She said they looked like big rats!
The Flamingos
No matter how much we loved all the other animals, the flamingos hold a special place in Mila’s heart. They were the last animals we saw and she asked about them the entire time.
Before we left, we stood for at least twenty minutes just watching them.
We talked about why they were pink and how their ‘knees’ are actually their ankles. She asked why they were squawking at each other too. Mostly, she kept saying she wanted to bet them and let them know they were being ‘good boys.’
Of course we didn’t let her in the enclosure, but she did get her flamingo fix in for the day!
The Carrousel
As mentioned before, there was a little rain that happened. Thankfully, we were right by the carrousel.
Mila has been on one before, but not since she’s been able to remember. While we were in line, she was determined to ride the shark, but a little boy got to it first. After much deliberation, she finally chose the donkey to ride.
She really had a blast. We were able to escape the sprinkle and enjoy a fun ride. It was also great seeing her be independent and wanting to ride by herself.
After the ride was over, she wanted to go back on again and again. It actually lasted for quite awhile which was nice! The carrousel only costed three dollars per adult, which was definitely worth the cost!
The Dippin’ Dots
I mean, this is totally self explanatory.
Believe me, I know Dippin’ Dots are available at most zoos throughout the country. Yet, they’re just extra special when you’re there.
We absolutely loved this visit to the zoo and will definitely be headed back in the near future. Next time we go, we want to make sure to visit “The Rainforest” and the primate area since we missed them this visit.
It truly was a great way to celebrate Jensen’s day!
A big thank you to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo for having a great place for families to go and learn about animals we normally would never see. It’s always nice to see animals happy and well taken care of! All the zoo employees that we encountered were nice and helpful too!
Have you ever been to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo? Or where is your favorite zoo that Mila and I can visit in the future? Ohio and beyond!
Who said tea parties HAD to be fancy? In this house, we have pajama tea parties sprinkled with lessons on manners.
Mila has recently entered the pretend play stage. She and I play with certain toys and do different voices all the time. Since she has a few tea sets, she’s been asking to have a tea party.
Well… minus the tea. Turns out, she’s not the biggest fan of tea, but she loves chocolate milk.
When I told her we’d be having a tea party for brunch, she went and grabbed her tea supplies and a few friends too. I grabbed everything else.
Here’s what we used to have a successful tea party:
For our sandwiches, I used a heart cookie cutter to make them a little festive. Mila took noticed and loved that. She also loved the macaroons and veggie straws. Everything she ate, she had her pinky out
We did a grazing board because for some reason Mila will eat more this way.
She had the option to dress up in dresses, but she insisted it be a pajama tea party. How could I refuse?
Our little party started with Mila making everyone ‘tea.’ With a tasting promptly after.
She ate and fed her friends. I was informed of what was in all the different tea pots she used too.
Her tiger, baby, and blue Mickey Mouse were the guests of the century. They say quietly mostly, but they did help teach Mila a lot about manners.
A tea party felt like a perfect time to talk to Mila more about manners and being kind. We have these talks fairly often, but it was a great opportunity to demonstrate table manners.
First, we read Kindness Rules! We love Hello!Lucy and their set of books. Their My Mom is Magical is one of Mila’s favorites. We read it completely through and stopped on the pages that talked about eating nice and neat.
They used a wolf and the main character as examples. The wolf ate messy, but the elephant was full of manners.
To demonstrate messy and nice eating, Mila’s animal friends happily volunteered.
Her tiger ate messy without using utensils. Mickey Mouse used every manner and ate without making a mess.
I asked her to tell me the difference between the twos eating styles. She laughed wildly at the tiger, but ended up saying Mickey’s style was how she wanted to eat.
She continued eating, using her manners and making sure to remember how to eat neatly.
We took the time to talk about kindness words. I quizzed her on when to say please, excuse me, thank you, and so on. Kindness Rules! gave her a nice refresh and visuals on how it can be mean when we don’t use manners or are not kind to one another.
Overall, we had a fantastic tea party brunch. It wasn’t extravagant, but it was memorable in so many ways.
Does your toddler like tea parties? If not, what’s their favorite way to pretend play?
Also, I’m taking suggestions on different teas Mila would like. Let me know in the comments.
While you’re at it, please, check out these bloggers take on tea parties too:
If your toddler is anything like Mila, they love flowers. Spring is the perfect time to not only go and pick flowers, but to learn and identify parts of flowers too!
After learning about the water cycle, it was an easy transition to learning about flowers. While reading the Little Raindrop Book, Mila noticed that flowers and plants were a part of a raindrops journey. Since I have a ton of plants, she connected how our houseplants get thirsty and that they needed water to live.
So, we reread the book, talked about what makes a flower, a flower, and made a fun craft too.
To do this activity with your child, you only need a few supplies.
Before beginning this activity, there’s a little prep to do.
First, cut out pieces to make a stem, flower, leaves, sun, and dirt. I did basic shapes, but you can be as creative as you want. For the flower, I left it white so Mila could paint and personalize it.
Then, cut squares for your child to actually label the flower. There should be six squares. Label them with these: sun, flower, stem, leaves, dirt, and roots.
There are a few ways to introduce this activity to your child. Mila interacts with flowers and plants everyday at our home and through the book I mentioned. Your child might enjoy going outside and actually seeing flowers before doing this.
After you talk to your child about flowers, it’s time to set up the activity.
I first had Mila paint her flower with watercolors. Since we’ve been in a creative mood, she loved this part!
After that was finished. I had Mila tell me what she remembered about flowers.
To get to the main part of the activity, I asked her a few leading questions. The first was where do flowers live. She instantly said dirt, so on our paper we laid down where dirt would be. Then I asked her what part of the flowers lived under the dirt. Roots! This is a difficult question and I think she only knew this through my plant propagations.
We glued down half of the ‘dirt’ and then drew roots underneath the other half. This makes this project interactive.
With the dirt and roots set, it’s a little easier for them to figure out what comes next.
Mila ended up putting the stem, leaves, and flowers on by herself. She helped me glue the pieces of paper and placed them where she wanted them to go. For the sun, I asked her what gives the plant life. the sun and water. She placed the sun in the top corner and said that was in the sky.
We used the little pompoms to talk about seeds. Since seeds are in the middle of the flower, we put them there. Although we didn’t talk about seeds, I did extend her learning and told her seeds go in the ground. Then I told her they sprout roots and flowers from that one little seed. She seemed pretty amazed by that.
After it was all laid out, I made her go through all the parts to label them.
As she stated what part of the plant was what, I glued down the appropriate label so she could see the words by them.
Overall, it was a fun activity that she’s really proud of. She’s showed everyone who’s came over.
Make sure to check out these seven spring books that can help you talk to your toddler about flowers and spring. They all have beautiful illustrations and I know toddlers and young children will LOVE them.
If you tried this activity, let me know in the comments. I’d love for you to tag me on Instagram at @greyskies.rainbowhighs so I can see everyone’s creations!
Before you go, check out how these other mom incorporated flowers with their kids:
Rain rain, go away, come back another day! Or if you insist on staying, it’s a perfect time to introduce the water cycle to toddlers.
Mila LOVE experimenting. I try to tailor to her learning style as much as I can. She would prefer doing an experiment every day, but that’s not always possible. Thankfully, teaching her about rain and the water cycle gives us an amazing opportunity to get dirty and make what she calls Stormy Clouds.
This experiment is fun for both toddlers and adults. It not only talks about the rain cycle, but you can incorporate color recognition, the Scientific Method, and motor skills too; so much learning packed in one rainy day activity.
I’m going to first start off by saying this activity can get messy. Whenever there is food coloring, it somehow gets everywhere. I’d recommend placing a plate, mat, or some sort of paper under your big jar. Of course, food coloring will clean up, but it’s nice to just take some precautions.
Once you get an area where you’ll experiment set up, fill a big clear jar with water. The jar I used had a lip on it. I filled it up to the bottom of the lip so it gave me some room to put the shaving cream.
Next, mix your food coloring with water in little jars and bowls. Your child will be either scooping the colored water with a spoon or using a pipette. I used very small Tupperware containers for this step. For the water/food color combination, I used 8-10 drops of food coloring and eyeballed the water. I wasn’t too scientific about the measurements!
Then, add shaving cream to look like a cloud on top of the BIG jar of water. I did this step after the food coloring because Mila would not have had enough patience to wait for all of the colors.
After you’re set with the cloud, have your toddlers start spooning or dripping the dyed water over the could.
It takes a little bit for the water to penetrate through the cloud, but once it does, it’ll look like rain drops are coming out of it. Mila enjoyed using purple the best since it was easier to see. Although, it was fun to do a huge mix of colors.
Throughout the experiment, we talked about how clouds make the rain and then it goes down to Earth. I’m not a huge science buff, so I turned to Little Raindrop, which is a cute book that talks age appropriately about the water cycle! It has adorable pictures and tells the story about a single raindrop. Mila got this when she was one and it was too advanced for her. At almost three, it’s perfect!
Even if your child is not interested in learning about the water cycle or even into rain, the activity is fun to just make a mess and play with colors. I showed a group of adults this activity and they enjoyed it too. It really is fun watching the shaving cream turn different colors.
Next time it’s raining or anytime you want a hands on activity to do with your child, this Stormy Clouds Experiment is perfect!
If you liked or tried this activity, let me know in the comments!
Check out these rainy day activities from other moms!
If you’re stuck with abundant amount of plastic eggs from Easter, let your toddlers play with them! This Egg Rescue is fun for active toddlers who like to work with their hands.
Mila loved ripping through and tearing all the tape off the eggs. It was fun to watch her too!
Here’s what you’ll need:
Plastic Easter Eggs
Washi Tape
Candy, little prizes, or change.
This activity takes a little time to set up. It’s worth it because they get really into it.
Fill Easter eggs with whatever stuffing you’d like. Think of leftover eggs from Easter Egg hunts!
Then, tape them on to whatever table.
Next, have your toddler rip the tape completely off. I made Mila tear off every single piece of tape before she could open the egg. It made her be precise in how she did it.
When they have all their tape off, it’s time for the surprise. Mila had no idea they were filled and was so excited! I let her open the eggs all by herself too.
This activity has so many important motor skills that they use. I also had Mila tell me the color of the egg she was opening to get some color recognition in.
Although I think I spent more time prepping, it really was a lot of fun to watch. She even taped down some of the eggs to keep practicing.
The star of the show was the quarter though!
Mila was genuinely excited that the egg gave it to her. Plus, she got to use her piggy bank which is ALWAYS a treat.
Overall, this is such a fun activity. I think it’d be awesome to do if it was a rainy Easter or in the days following. Since they’re mostly plastic eggs, reusing them for other activities and saving them for next year is great for our world!
I hope you liked this activity and if you try it out, let me know in the comments.
If you’re like me? You probably wonder what to do with all the hard boiled eggs every Easter. I have a simple recipe that you might solve your problems!
And… it’s not deviled eggs!
These bacon and avocado egg sliders are keto friendly. Plus, they pack a lot of big flavor in a little package!
Here’s all you need:
Hard boiled eggs
Avocado
Bacon
Salt and pepper
Quantities depend on how much you want to make!
The first step if you don’t have any leftover Easter eggs is to hard boil eggs. Everyone has different ways to doing this.
If you already have eggs made, start with your bacon. I like mine a little crispy, so I keep it on there for a while. Same as with the eggs, I won’t tell anyone how to cook their bacon either!
Next, cut your avocado up. Then mash it.
Usually, I add salt and pepper to the avocado to give it some spice. Make sure no one steals this mixture… like Mila.
When you’re bacon and hard boiled eggs have cooled down. It’s time to assemble these sliders
Then, slice your eggs in half, longways.
They can get a little slippery at this stage. Be careful of which plate you put them on! I’m speaking from experience if you couldn’t tell.
Then spoon avocado on top.
After, break the bacon up in smaller pieces. Then stick it on top of your egg slider.
If you have extra bacon left, you can add more to it too! I usually add one to the bottom to make a little sandwich.
This little bite-sized slider has amazing tastes. I love the saltiness of the bacon and the creaminess of the avocado. Plus, it’s a great mix of textures too.
Honestly, this is one of my favorite ways to eat hard boiled eggs. Mila loves them too!
There’s not a ton of steps to follow and kids can easily help making these. Bacon and avocado egg sliders are really great for the days following Easter.
If you liked and tried this recipe, let me know in the comments!
Before you go, check out these Easter recipes from other moms that blog:
Today is Crayon Day! Did you know there was a day specifically for crayons? Me neither, but I love how these DIY Letter Crayons turned out. I think it’s so fun celebrating different days with Mila, but the activities along with it are even more fun.
Another thing I didn’t know before Mila and I did this activity was that anyone can purchase a ton of unwrapped crayons. It makes this DIY a lot easier!
Here’s what you’ll need if you want to create some of your own:
This can obviously be done without purchasing the unwrapped crayons. You can use broken ones at home or a smaller amount from a store. Just make sure that the wrapping is taken off. That’s most important.
Before you start cutting crayons for the mold, preheat your oven to 250°.
Then, start breaking up crayons to place in the mold. I’m pretty sure this was Mila’s favorite part of the whole DIY. It takes quite a bit of crayons to fill the mold up. One word of advice from me is even if it seems like a lot of crayon in the mold, they melt way down.
Figure out which colors you’d like to put together before hand too. I added a lot of white in between colors to prevent the crayons from getting mixed. Plus, the marble look is cute too.
Anyways, place the mold on a baking sheet then in the oven for about ten minutes or until they’re completely melted.
After they’re melted, let them completely cool before removing them.
That last step is super important. A few of our crayons broke during the removal process. To fix it, I just popped them back in the oven for a little while.
Overall, I think they turned out perfectly! We made sure to do “Mila’s letters” and Jensen’s too. She helped pick out the colors for both. It was the perfect opportunity to talk about letters and colors as well. I love how random activities can hold so much learning opportunities.
One mistake I made through the crayon making process was putting white on the corners. When we make more, I’ll keep away from that. It just made drawing a little harder for Mila and she didn’t understand why she couldn’t see what she was drawing.
Besides that, Mila noticed and loved how one crayon could have so many different colors. I can’t wait to see her future creations!
If you try this DIY out, let me know in the comments. Also, if you’ve done it before, tell me your tips in getting anything out of molds! I feel like it’s all up to patience, but I get too excited.
Before you go, check out what these other moms did to celebrate Crayon Day:
With spring books comes beautiful illustrations that toddlers love. It’s also a perfect time to teach little ones about all the new things that happen in spring.
I can’t even explain the importance of reading to toddlers. That’s how they expand their vocabulary and learn about everything around them. Plus, it’s great time to bond with your little one too.
Here are seven spring books Mila and I are loving.
This is the latest book I’ve purchased for Mila. The covers illustration is beautiful and it carries on throughout the book too. I love how Mila is learning without even realizing it. Plus, it lets her know how important bees are to our world!
“Also an Animal” is a beautiful book about spring babies and the love between mothers and their babies. The book is so informative. I didn’t even know the name of some of the babies. Mila loves mama and baby pairs, so this book is perfect for that.
This classic book is perfect for spring and Easter too! Mila loves all the pictures and I enjoy sharing stories that I read when I was a child too. It’s a perfect book to make an Easter Eve tradition with too!
Everyone knows this classic song! This book version has beautiful illustrations that helps a toddler visualize what’s going on. At the end, it lets you know the hand motions to use too.
I also enjoy this book to explain to Mila that spiders aren’t scary. It seems to help!
Love You More by Hannah Green
One of my favorite Aldi finds, “Love You More” is a beautiful book about family with bright colors. It lets young kids know that no matter what, they are loved. Mila loves pointing out the colors and we count the flowers on the page too.
If you can find this treasure online, let me know so I can link!
Another classic story, “Play With Me” is perfect for teaching patience and gentleness to little ones. If you have a toddler, you know those two aren’t their strong points. It was a great teaching moment for Mila. Plus, I personally love the illustrations in this book. They’re not as bright, but they’re still beautiful.
I was originally gifted this book and Mila and I fell in love. This is a beautiful story about mothers of all creatures love of their children. Again, the illustrations are beautiful and Mila loved the babies in it.
All of these books are staples in our home. Let me know in the comments what are your favorite spring time books?
Grey Skies & Rainbow Highs 