What Would You Do With It? Wednesday

What Would You Do With It? Wednesday - Baby Food Containers

I'm giving a brief apology for the lack of posts this month. Life has been insanely crazy. We had a bout of strep throat followed up with a nasty upper respiratory virus. Of course, we weren't sick at the same time. We all took turns, and I think (*hope*) that we are all on the mend and life will go back to normal!

Anyhow, being that I missed last week's post, this week is merged/double post. Today's featured items are baby food jars and containers. (Both the glass jars and the plastic containers).

We use a number of both types of containers as paint holders. The ones in these photos have been glued to a board that slides onto our paint shelf. It makes for easy storage and removal when the children decide to use the paints. (The glue doesn't look "pretty" but it holds a strong bond- liquid nails.)

We have also used both containers to hold smaller arts and crafts supplies.

With the glass containers, we have painted them to make votive candle holders. (Sadly, I don't have any photos of our cute little creations....)

Here are a few of my finds from the www:

These votive holders are different from the ones we made. (We painted ours) I found them over at Back Stitch Baby. I think the tutorial says bullion cube jars, but they would work out brilliantly with baby food jars too!

Aren't these photo snowglobes adorable! I found the post and tutorial from Lori over at It's the Small Things.

I found this tutorial over at Thrifty Fun. I also remember my aunt making these cool trees when I was younger. She made the version with the lights, but I LOVE the idea of an advent calendar like I found over at Naptime Crafters.

I know there are a lot of other neat ideas out there, so please link them up! I really didn't have much success in finding ideas for the plastic containers, so show me what you've got!

Do you have a great idea or post that you can share using baby food jars or containers? If so, please join in linking up!

Here are the rules:

1) The post MUST use baby food jars or containers

2) The post MUST be family friendly.

There are no other requirements. If you would like, I would love if you linked back to his linky party, but it is not required. I would hope that you will investigate the links shared and visit some of the other blogs, but I'm not imposing any "blog hop/linky" rules. Please, if you do find great ideas and photos... Give credit where credit is due :).

If you have been featured and feel inclined, my featured button is available to grab from the sidebar.

Next week, I will feature my favorite link up and I'll be posting about tissue boxes! Hopefully, I'll be on time!

A Few Ideas With Marker Caps (As Promised)

Yesterday, I hope I convinced you not to throw away your markers that "don't work." Today, I will share with you a few ideas for what to do with all of the caps. The possibilities are nearly endless, but here are a few of our recent creations: 1) A Leprechaun/Fairy Ladder/Rope Ladder: 2) #1 if not permanently secured can also double as a rope bridge: 3) #1/#2 can also be made into a train track for your homemade trains :). (No photo available) 4) You can use them as beads for a necklace: 5) You could make them into a wind chime. (No photo available). 6. You can use them as small manipulatives to count, sort, and make patterns with. (No photo available). 7) You could use them as playing pieces in your own homemade board game. (No photo available). 8) You could put them on a wire and glue them in place to make a twirling whirly-gig. 9) You could top them with a lid from a milk jug to make tiny tables or toadstools. 10) You could make them...

Our DIY Light Tables

There has been a lot of buzz about light tables over at Teach Preschool on Facebook . Deborah has collected some great ideas for light table play and has been experimenting with making her own table over on the Teach Preschool blog. I thought I would share with you our two light tables and how we made them. This first table is one that we put together with some scrap wood pieces, an old plexi-glass door from an entertainment center, and a couple of aquarium lights. Total Cost = $0. (We had everything on hand.) The table needs a little bit of tweaking. (It is on my to do list). Basically, we made a frame of wood around the plexi-glass and placed the lights under it. Our DIY skills in putting this together were far from expert, so the frame has a couple of gaps (and the reused wood is warped). We plan to try a new frame and use some caulk to seal any gaps. We also plan to attach the lights to the side of the frame instead of just placing them on the f...

"The Markers Don't Work!"

How may times have you heard, "Ms. (fill your name in here), this marker doesn't work!" I know I hear it all the time. Sometimes it is because our little friends forget to replace the caps, and sometimes the markers have just been "all used up!" What do you do with all those markers that just don't work? Please don't tell me that you throw them out, try this instead: First, sort your markers out. Put the caps in one container ( save those too, I'll show you what you can do with them in tomorrow's post) and the markers in another. I have a box for the markers that "don't work" for the children to place them into every time they run across one. You can also have the children help you test the markers periodically to sort out the ones that need to be removed from the "working set." When it comes time to use "the markers that don't work," we use a small sponge paint roller to roll water onto our card...

Anonymous said…

baby food jars make a great sensory activity ... get 8 jars with lids -- add scents to cotton balls -- 2 of each - -the children smell and try to match them up -- vanilla, garlic, peppermint, coffee, lemon, they all work well -- if you put a little colored sticker on the bottoms so they can check if they matched them correctly -- then it becomes a self correcting game they can do independently.. sort of a DIY Montessori smelling jars -- fun fun ! Glad your feeling better ..... light and peace

February 2, 2011 at 3:52 PM

Ticia said…

Totally forgot to get this done. But, now I'm thinking about what can be done with a plastic baby food jar, and I have an idea brewing in my head.

February 3, 2011 at 3:01 PM

Mihaela { Best Toys 4 Toddlers } said…

Amy, I was just looking in your past linkies. I think you should leave them open much longer. Maybe forever. They are themed linkies. Meaning, someone can come up with an idea how to reuse a thing in 6 months and they couldn't add it to your linky. If you leave them open, you'll be getting more participation and you'll end up creating collections of different ideas for reusing a same object.

February 4, 2011 at 8:39 AM

Amy A @ Child Central Station said…

Thanks for the tip Michelle. I did have them set to be open for at least a month, but it is easy enough to go back and reopen them. I'd love to continue to see more ideas!

February 4, 2011 at 9:21 AM

Me too :)))

I would also suggest that you go to Feedburner and open an accout. Many people (including me) will click on mail subscription if it's available. That's another way to get more followers. And get more readers.

February 4, 2011 at 11:44 AM

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