A mortar & pestle can be a cool tool for your toddler or preschooler!

Since my son loves sugar so much, I had this great idea.

I bought a box of sugar cubes and I took out my white mortar & pestle thingy.

I put a pile of cubes in a small dish. I took the sugarbowl off the counter and placed it next to the cubes. I showed my two year old how to take them, one at a time, and put them in the mortar & pestle.

SMASH, SMASH, SMASH!

Then, he'd fill the sugar bowl with the sugar he smashed. I was right there to help (of course he snuck some granules :) but it was a really fun, easy, cheap and self-fulfilling activity.

Other ideas for smashing in the pestle and mortar are: soft foods (ie: guacamole helper!), smelly foods (ie: cinammon sticks- what happens when you smash it up?), frozen ice cubes, cereals, basil (pesto anyone?), beans, peas, garlic (super smelly), coffee beans...anything else?

Supervise little ones with anything small but seriously, they love to smash things up:).

okay, so we decided to bring in an au pair for extra hands and flex-time childcare.

Well,  after a few mismatches, we picked a girl from Mexico! We can't wait to have her work with the kids on spanish and other exciting cultural things. It's going to be a bit crazy but it will also be nice to have someone here and not worry about all the patch-work childcare problems we have now.

PLUS, Spanish is such a great language for the children to be exposed to all year round...especially up in VT where there is very little Spanish spoken(compared to everywhere else!).

Anyway, it's exciting and I am hoping for the best :). Oh, and yes, what you are all wondering-she's pretty but I'll have to risk it!

If you want more info, email me.

My 4 y.o. son asked how many numbers I was (as in my age) and I said 30 ...and he said, "oh, that's gross."

come to think of it, I feel pretty gross in my mom-sweats and bad hair color...maybe I need to turn back the clock!where did I put my magic wand?

so you can make that phone call or finish the morning's email. Then join in!

5. Get the Rice Out- Fill a shallow pan with rice. Give your kiddo one teaspoon and a clear jar , cup or bottle (non-breakable).  Scoop by scoop, he or she will fill the bottle over and over. Just remind them the rice stays in the tray or it goes away.

4. Inside Snow- Fill a shallow tray with snow. Give a few utensils and you've bought yourself ten minutes. :)

3. Water Play- Put two large towels on the kitchen floor. Get a shallow pan or wide bucket. Have your child play floater or sinker with different objects. Spoons, measuring cups and all that make for a great time.  Just watch for splashing- when it starts to get rowdy, time to dump the water :).

2.  Transfer Cereal- Put one bowl with cereal next to an empty bowl.  (Full on left, scoop to the right- prewriting skill). One tablespoon is enough to entertain your child. Scoop, pour. Scoop, pour. Demonstrate once or twice and then hand it over.

1.  Water Pour- Put one small cup next to a small pitcher.  Make sure the amount of water is less than the cup can hold (so it doesn't overflow).  Demonstrate pouring the water from the pitcher to the cup, placing the cup down, picking it up and pouring it back into the pitcher. Then, allow your little one to fill & refill the cup.

Good Luck!