How to Entertain Your Toddler

I made an Entertain Your Toddler post on my myspace blog a while ago and one of my myspace friends Michelle provided a lovely list of ways to entertain your toddler to add to mine. I'm going to share some of my favorites from her list. :)

Peanut Butter Play Dough

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup corn syrup
1 1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
1 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
Mix then knead the ingredients. Let your child mold and play with the dough... and when they are done... They can eat it.

Sand and Water Play

A dish tub filled with sand or water can provide entertainment as well as a great learning experience. Ideas to add to water play: a drop of food coloring, turkey basters, funnels, cups, dish soap, boats, plastic toys, brushes and sponges, ice, cold or warm water, baby dolls or play dishes to wash, toddler safe balls, items that will sink or float.

A box

Add a large cardboard box to a toddlers environment. Be sure your child does not stand ON the box. (My daughter has LOVED the box the carseat came in!)

My mom got my daughter a swingset for her birthday this year. (she turned 2). It was graded for 3 and up, but she loves it and as long as I am out there supervising I feel good about letting her play on it.

She loves the slide, and is warming up to swinging (finally). This adventure playset is a lifesaver. In the late afternoon, usually her rough time of day, we go outside and she plays for an hour or two.

This lets her get out her energy, and enjoy the fresh air.

The only downfall is she can see the playset from the living room window, and many days I have to listen to "Play, play, play" for a good part of the morning. :)

This Adventure Playsets is great for us, since we live 20 minutes from the closest playground it saves us tons of money and time.

Simple Face Painting Designs
Without formal training, it is still possible to create simple face painting designs that are also eye-catching and beautiful. Cheek art is the best way to accomplish simple face painting.

One of the biggest benefits of developing simple face painting designs (or cheek art) is saving time. In a fraction of the time, you can paint a small design or character on a child's cheek or arm and generate the same kind of "wow" that you would if you spent ten minutes painting an elaborate full face design.

Versatility is a big advantage with simple face painting. These small designs can be adapted and painted on the face/cheek, neck, shoulder, legs and arms. A simple snake looks fantastic slithering up the arm. A rose or other flower looks beautiful on the shoulder.

Here are some things you can do to create simple face painting designs for your kids or kids at heart.

1. If you're at a loss as to what designs to start painting, look no further than the television or movie theatre. What is the hottest kids' movie playing right now? What about the funniest animated show? Classic children's television programming is also a great place to start. Particularly for preschoolers, the characters are very simple in nature and therefore fairly easy to replicate.

2. A clown face is a very simple face painting design. And since clowns can be happy, sad, silly or goofy, this one simple design with a few adjustments around the mouth is a great face painting design to have in your arsenal. A bright red nose, a larger than life red mouth (paint around the outside of the lips), large white area surrounding the red mouth, oversized eyebrows and some eye lines that extend from the outside of the eye toward the temples altogether make a simple clown face painting design that will get rave reviews.

3. Turning a little girl into a fairy princess is as simple as a few feathery lines around the eyes, starbursts at the end of each line and a bit of glitter.

4. Painting a pretend bracelet or necklace is a simple design yet very unique. Start by painting pearl sized dots around the wrist or neck and "dangle" a painted heart, peace sign or other "charm" from the painted "jewelry."

5. Try a simple rainbow face painting%u2026a classic, but always popular. Paint red, yellow, green and blue 'horseshoe' shapes and add two little white puffs for clouds at the end of each side of the rainbow. Voila! A happy kid!

The possibilities for simple face painting designs are endless. Don't get caught up with the elaborate work that professional face painters do. For a single birthday party, volunteer event or just having fun with your kids, simple face painting designs can be just the thing to put a smile on a kids' face.

Easy Face Painting is the guide that over 1,000 first-time face painters have used to guide them through their very first face painting event. Whether it's a birthday party, charity fundraiser, school festival or community picnic, Face Painting is a popular activity with kids of all ages and Easy Face Painting makes it, well, Easy!

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