A WAHM with SAHM ideas

I came to the conclusion a few days ago that I'm a working-outside-the-home-full-time mom with stay-at-home mom ideas (or is it goals? or both?).  I see and know all those fun interactive learning activities out there and I wanna do 'em with my own children too.  Besides waiting and wanting and hoping for children for what seemed like forever, teaching young children has always been my career; my passion. Obviously I'm not just going to do that kind of stuff with the children I teach every day.

So despite an already too full plate with not enough time in the day to get done what needs to be done... sometimes I throw all that other stuff out the window and find joy in creating those hands-on activities and doing them with my littles anyway.  After all, there's no dire need to do one more load of laundry today, and the math tests I've toted to and from school in my bag have already waited a week to get graded- what's the problem with waiting another day?  The kindergartners in my class won't notice and I'll find more happiness in a fun game/activity created out of love than laundry and math tests any day.

Here's what we've been up to:

Fingerpainting

Thanks to Julia, I've gotten past my fear of painting more than just Sam and Anna's hands and pressing them to paper in a very controlled format. I finally gave in and let Sam and Anna freely explore with paint. They had a blast and kept requesting paint for hours. It was surprisingly not that messy.

Beads-in-Bottles

First, Sam and Anna practiced fine motor skills by putting beads in the empty bottles while highly supervised.  Then, the caps went on, and Sam and Anna watched the beads move as the shook them like maracas.  Temper tantrums ensued when I tried to put them away which shows how much they liked it. (And yeah, a character top... but it was a gift so I didn't pay a cent for it and Sam likes it.  He's worn it twice.)

Pom poms in a container with a hole

 Lots of fun with this too, but we've gotten to the point where it's as fun to them to spread the pom poms around the room instead of put them in the container.  Less fun for mama though.  I'm thinking this is going to be a good bring-to-church quiet activity.

Velcro craft sticks

 I made the sticks with Velcro idea that's been floating around pinterest. I think this is something I'm carrying over for my classroom too. We made shapes together and some letters and discussed patterns... but Anna really loved making a necklace out of them the most. (Sam was still napping when I took these pictures)  Another good quiet church activity that'll get tossed into the diaper bag next week.

Color Matching Balls and Tees

Julia, you inspired me to make this. My meticulous Anna patiently sat for a long time carefully placing the wooden balls atop the matching golf tee and carefully replaced any that fell off. This wasn't Sam's kind of activity though- he wanted to forcefully smoosh the balls on the tees (which then got pushed further in the craft foam) and he didn't quite have the desire to go carefully and slowly to successfully balance the balls this day. Hence, no pictures of him here.

There!  Proof that a mama that works outside the home more than 40 hours a week can still do fun and hands-on self-created learning projects with her toddlers, too.