Quiet Time Baskets: Nature and Halloween

It's been a while since I posted any quiet time baskets, and that's because I haven't changed them out in a while. But I got some fun stuff for a Thanksgiving basket and a snow basket, so I had to make room.

Nature basket

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  I painted the cupholders of a fast food drink caddy red, orange, yellow, green, and brown and the girls were supposed to take it outside and fill each container with things of that color.


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  Assorted pinecones and rocks


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  A magnifying glass, a small flashlight, and a makeup brush for examining rocks


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  A birdhouse


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  Four flipbooks of insect, bug, and bird trivia with magnifying glasses to look at the slides

Halloween basket

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  Halloween playdough (lime green, purple


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  Rolling pin and cookie cutters


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  Glow in the dark skeleton (it's the same size as Helena)


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  A test tube of glop from the dollar section at Target and a Halloween segmented plate to play with it on (ONLY ON THE PLATE!!!!)


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  A science experiment workbook


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  A picture book about pumpkins


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  A picture book about a haunted house


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  Geeky glasses to go with the mad scientist stuff

Be sure to click on the quiet time baskets link to see more ideas!

Halloween sensory bin

We haven't had a sensory bin for a while, but I found a bunch of plastic bugs in day-glo colors in our Halloween decorations, so I decided to put this bin together.

In it is black and white beans, skeletons, spiders, snakes, and bugs in bright orange, green, purple, and black, glitter pom poms in the same colors, googly eyes, a pair of tongs, and three Halloween silicone molds. I got all three molds at the dollar store--there's an orange pumpkin one, a purple skull one, and a black bones one.

Tempe and Helena love using the tongs to sort the pom poms into the molds and then "feed" them black and white beans. Juno loves trying to stuff handfuls of beans in her mouth. She's not quite old enough to play with this, but we try!

Felt and burlap fall trees

We had our first few days of cold weather last week--cold and RAINY. I don't mind cold at all (I did live in Laramie, Wyoming for 3 years!) but I'm not a fan of rain. Kids can play outside when it's cold and dry, but it's not so fun when it's cold and wet.

At first the rain was nice. We had fun cuddling in front of the fire and reading "On the Banks of Plum Creek" (Tempe and Helena are so into the Little House books right now!), baking cookies, and drinking hot chocolate at every meal. But then my kids started. going. crazy.

So we went up to my room where we keep miscellaneous craft supplies and I pulled this idea out of thin air. Tempe and Helena "helped" me make it and then it kept them occupied for quite a while!

I covered a small painting canvas in burlap by wrapping the burlap tightly over the edges and gluing it on the back. It's a little lumpy, but whatever. Then I cut the shape of a "haunted" tree out of brown felt. It's basically a skinny hand with creepy, long, skinny, knobbly fingers and a tapered wrist. It's pretty gross, but don't worry, you'll cover it with some lovely fall foliage!

You could cut leaf shapes out of felt if you are so inclined, but since hearts are so easy to cut, I just cut a bunch of heart out of yellow and red and a few out of brown. I think this tree with it's heart shaped leaves is sooooo cute!

The felt sticks to the burlap, so kids can position the tree and leaves however they like without them getting scattered. My kids have had so much fun playing with this! I plan on cutting snowflakes out of white felt, flowers out of pink felt (for cherry blossoms), and more hearts out of green so we can play with this tree in every season!

Peanut butter playdough

We're trying to cut back on tv here (we even canceled Dish!) That mean a bit more creativity on my part than letting Tempe and Helena watch Curious George/Arthur every single day while I make dinner.

Last week we made a batch of peanut butter playdough to go with the adorable woodland creatures cookie cutters that I got at Ikea. When it's time to work in the kitchen, I give them each a ball of peanut butter playdough (equal parts powdered sugar and creamy peanut butter), a handful of raisins and cheerios, cookie cutters and a rolling pin. Tempe and Helena love making "cookies" while I make dinner. Double points: this is a sensory activity and a fine motor exercise. Plus, it's pretty tasty!

Maybe you don't know this about Tempe--she loves moose (I always want to add an "s" to the end of that word). They are her favorite animal!

Juno hasn't been able to participate in this activity, because she's not 1 yet. I'm contemplating what other ingredient I could combine with powdered sugar to make edible playdough for babies. Mashed bananas? Applesauce? Any ideas?