Bag O'Squish

Matthew had a blast with this. Now that he's getting bigger we've been doing fun projects and the preschool teacher in me is definitely coming out! It helped him with observation & discovery and sensory awareness.


Squeeze several tablespoons of ketchup or mustard into a quart-sized resealable plastic bag. Lay the bag flat and squeeze out as much air as possible. Place that resealable plastic bag into another one (just in case the first bag splits), and give it to your child to squish around.

Draw a few small pictures (smiley faces, stars, hearts, etc.) on a piece of paper and place the squishy bag over it. Show your child how to use his finger to press down and displace the ketchup or mustard to reveal the pictures below.

Corn Syrup Swirls

I bought a package of cards that have a ton of great activities for kids age one. Matthew loved this one and it focuses on sensory awareness, color recognition and large motor skills.





You pour 1/4 cup of light corn syrup onto the center of your child's highchair tray. Squeeze one drop of food coloring into the middle of the corn syrup. Encourage your child to swirl the color into the corn syrup with their hands. For an even more interesting color experience, place one drop of red food coloring and one drop of blue food coloring for them to swirl together into purple. Talk about the colors. Using blue and yellow (makes green) and red and yellow (makes orange) also works great. Never has art tasted so good!