Ocean Week

Last week we had an ocean themed week.  I did activities with Ryder each day that had to do with the ocean.  Here's what we did:

Monday

First, we went to the library to check out some books about the ocean.  This was a bust.  Bentley got fussy as soon as we got there and Ryder wasn't cooperating either.  We couldn't really dig through and find books about the ocean since they are arranged alphabetically by author and we didn't know what we were looking for.  So we got some random books and left.  That was what I had planned for that day so I had to pull the activity I had planned for Tuesday.  We did a little art project that looked like this:

 A handprint Octopus :)

 The artist

Bentley woke up from a nap and happily chewed on his hand while we finished Ryder's project.

Remember these?  You put them in water and they 'grow?'  We did a few of those.

 And it has nothing to do with the ocean, but since Bentley napped A LOT that day, Ryder & I baked some cookies. :)

Tuesday:

We were going to make a "Beach in a Bag."  As soon as we got started, I knew it wasn't going to work out and I had to change the plan a little.  It turned out just fine.

It was clear that he wasn't going to enjoy the stuff being in a bag for him to play with. 

 So I put it in this bucket instead - beach sand, shells and a few plastic animals.

 And a spoon, of course.

He was mesmerized by the sand.

Then Bentley woke up and I had to sit on the couch to nurse him.  My back was to Ryder and I knew he was up to something.  Sure enough .......

There was sand everywhere!!  Cleaning up the sand was no fun, but Ryder really enjoyed playing with it, so it was worth it.

Wednesday:

I blew it.  We had errands to do and the day just got away from us - plus since the library didn't work out on Monday and I had to bump up Tuesday's activity, I never got a chance to come up with something else to do.

Thursday:

Simple.  We cut out pictures of ocean animals and made a collage.  Ryder can't quite get the hang of cutting yet, but he loves gluing stuff.  

Friday:

This was kind of the main event of the week and I was super excited about it.  We made an ocean sensory bin.  Flat glass marbles (to represent the water) & ocean animals.  I meant to get some plants, but forgot.  I thought Ryder would love it.  He wasn't completely interested at first, so I got brave and added water (in the house - it was WAY too hot outside).  I put some towels on the floor, hoping to keep the floor dry.  Riiiiight.

 As soon as I put the water in, he was all about it.

 And eventually this happened.  Followed by him sitting in it.  I guess it was inevitable.

 And then once again, I had to nurse Bentley and Ryder took that as his cue to go wild.  Flat out dumping water on the floor.  And then he got the dog food bowl, filled it up and started walking toward the living room.  I told him not to, and did he listen?  No.  He dumped the water on the laminate floor.  This activity didn't end well.  He slipped and fell on the wet tile twice and then landed himself in timeout for continuing not to listen to me when I told him not to dump water on the floor.

All water projects will take place from now on.  I wish it wasn't so dang hot.  We are tired of being inside all the time.  We can't wait to enjoy our grassy backyard every single day, when the weather allows it.  Ryder has been asking to play with the ocean again all week, so we'll definitely being doing this one again at some point.

 I was hoping to come up with a new theme each week to base our daily activities around.  Ryder is definitely needing more structure (as am I!) but it is just so hard with a baby running our schedule.  I failed with the whole theme thing this week.   With Rudy's (30th!!!) Birthday over the weekend, we were too busy for me to get the chance to plan everything out.  Also, I had to buy stuff for ocean week and if I was going to do that every week, it would get expensive.  I definitely need to get creative and think out of the box.  We'll see what next week brings!