It has been insanely hot outside these last several days, like stupid-hot. As a result, we haven't been able to hit any outdoor playgrounds, play for very long out back or go for a walk. The girls have been going a little stir-crazy, and so has their mom. We needed something to break up the monotony.
I saw this post from Play at Home Mom, a website devoted to some very hands-on learning play ideas. I really like the website a lot, but be prepared to get down and dirty -- it is not for the faint-at-heart! Many of their ideas involve paint, tarps, sand, water, food coloring, tarps and more tarps. But this idea was so easy and not messy at all, and thrilled our girls to no end.
GLOW STICK BATH
Ingredients:
- Glow Sticks
- Bath
- Kid(s)
(I got my glow sticks in the Target Dollar Spot, a pack of 2 for $1. Play at Home Mom claims though that you can get them even cheaper at the dollar store or Michaels.)
Step 1 - Bathe children as usual
Step 2 - Fire up the glow sticks
Step 3 - Throw them in the bath with children
Step 4 - Enjoy the fun and smiles
Both our girls really liked the Glow Stick Bath! You can totally put the glow sticks in before bathing your kids... Josie can be funny about these things, so we saved the glow sticks until the end in case she freaked out. At least that way, she would have already accomplished the 'cleanliness' portion of the bath. But she didn't freak at all, in fact she totally loved it! She was all about that blue glow stick, whereas Caroline was all about quantity -- she held on to the other 5 glow sticks like they were buried treasure she had discovered.
This made the bath portion of the night such a relaxed, cool experience for all of us. They held on to those glow sticks until it was time for bed. We put them in the freezer (the glow sticks, not the children) in the hopes that they would have a little glow left tomorrow. I can tell you one thing, if I can get those glow sticks at an even lower price, we'll be having Glow Stick Baths on the regular!
It also occurred to me that this might be a way to help kids overcome a fear of the dark. Neither of my girls have struggled with this (knock on wood) but we did turn all the lights out for them. There was plenty of light with 6 mini glow sticks that they could see everything that was going on. This might be one way to help a child with a fear of the dark adjust and be exposed to dark rooms.
Such a cool idea, cheap and SUPER easy with a big payoff... try it, you'll be glad you did!
Side note: make sure your child is always supervised with the glow sticks. Not sure what chemicals make them glow, but I am certain they don't belong in a child's mouth!
Recent Comments