This is another fun activity, involving the senses, to do with your toddler. Once again, totally safe and fun! I saw this idea in a kids activity book from the local library.
To make:
Use a few boxes of different colour gelatin.
Follow the instructions to make it on the box except use only half the amount of liquid. Most of them say use 1 cup of boiling water and 1 cup cold. So instead, use 1/2 cup boiling and 1/2 cup cold.
Freeze according to instructions.
Remove from the freezer and cut into mini cubes.
Place them in a bowl and let your little one use them to build a tall tower. I spread a sheet of construction paper on my counter top and let mine build her blocks there. Some of them tumbled over, especially as they started to melt a little. But it was fun to watch her enjoy herself picking them up and building away again!
Then I spread a large bath towel on the floor, added construction paper, and let her and her sister play.
NB: Note that the unflavoured jello works best for this activity. It has a firmer and very interesting texture than the flavoured jello when frozen with 1/2 the liquid (see the image below). Almost as if you could twist it apart with a lot of effort. I tried biting a piece and just could not. It took me about 5 minutes to get the frozen piece of unflavoured jello cut up. Where as the flavoured ones took only a couple of seconds each.
With the unflavoured one, the blocks are more likely to stay in place. To make the different colours, you can add food colouring during the mixing. Either way, flavoured or unflavoured, the kids will have fun. Well, at least mine did. Oh, and she sure had fun eating all the flavoured ones, too. I had not made any jello since she was born. Surprisingly, she liked the cubes.
For the baby activity with this, just squish a variety of colors together in a plate and let her feel the texture – See my post here on sensory play for babies.
This looks like a lot of fun! Thanks for sharing it at Mom’s Library; you were featured this week!
Oh Ashley…thanks for the feature! Love the link-up:)