Brittney, Author at Sly Spoon

Toddler Letters – “Y” is for “Yarn”

December 12, 2016August 23, 2023 Brittney

Supplies Needed:

Toddler/Preshooler letter of the week craft Y is for Yarn with related craft, tracing sheets and fruits/vegetables.

Colored Craft Paper
Letter “Y” Cutout
Elmer’s Glue
Scissors
Yarn
Marker

Set Up:

We started by cutting long strips of yarn. I oped to do a thin line of glue and wrap my yarn around my letter “Y”, my son had more fun covering his “Y” in glue and glueing down long and short strips of yarn to his letter… mostly I think he liked being able to play with scissors and cut the yarn. Both ways worked out great.

We finished by talking about strings and how they can be used to make things like fabric, carpet, and rope. I had him look at his shirt and find the hem so he could see the thin string used to hold his shirt together, then we looked at our shag rug to see how the lots of little stings formed the soft carpeting and we finished by looking at a rope and seeing how all the stings wound together made for a really strong rope.

Toddler/Preshooler letter of the week craft Y is for Yarn with related craft, tracing sheets and fruits/vegetables.

Toddler Letters – “X” is for “X-Ray”

November 28, 2016August 23, 2023 Brittney

Toddler/Preshooler letter of the week craft X is for X-Ray with related craft, tracing sheets and fruits/vegetables.

Supplies Needed:

Colored Craft Paper
Letter “X” Cutout
Elmer’s Glue
Scissors
Q-tips
Markers

Set Up:

We stared by gluing down our black letter “X” to our white paper. Then we cut up our Q-tips so that we could use the ends to form more bone like structures. Once we had the Q-tips we wanted we did a line across our letter “X” with our glue and glued down our Q-tips in the pattern we wanted… my son’s X-ray ended up looking like someone with some seriously broken bones 🙂

We finished by talking about what bones were, I showed him some pictures of X-Rays and we talked about how our bones help support us.

Toddler/Preshooler letter of the week craft X is for X-Ray with related craft, tracing sheets and fruits/vegetables.

Tracing Letters:

*Courtesy of http://bogglesworldesl.com/

Have you made this craft? What was your experience like and do you have an suggestions to make it better? I’d love to hear about them in the comments section below.

Touring Boston – What to Know About Attending a Cape Code Factory Tour with Kids

November 23, 2016October 15, 2021 Brittney

New England has this amazing brand of potato chips call Cape Cod Chips. They are thin, crisp, salty and pretty much the best potato chips I have ever eaten in my life… and honestly until I tried them I was not a huge potato chip fan.

Anyway one day I was looking at the back of the bag and saw that they offer factory tours and knew that before my husband finished his studies and we moved away from Boston that we needed to tour this factory… mostly because it sounded ridiculous … and awesome.

What to Know About Attending a Cape Code Factory Tour with Kids

Just after Labor Day we decided to take a short camping trip to Cape Cod and decided that one of the attractions we wanted to see along the way was our chip factory.

We parked and walked up to the building, only to see signs that no photos were allowed to be taken inside the factory. We snapped a few outside and then stepped into the building. The tour was self guided and pretty much just a long walk down the hallway where you could stop and peek through different windows to see what was happening. Next to each window there was short plaque describing what was happening and you could move as quickly or as slowly as you wanted.

We watched all the potatoes being poured onto conveyor belts and men and women looking them over to remove bad potatoes. Then we saw the potatoes getting cut up into little bits, followed by being soaked in oil and fried. When they were done cooking we followed the belt to the next window to see them getting salted and more people picking out the less than perfect chips.

Then we walked to the last window and watched the bags being made and the chips getting stuffed into them. Our two year old son was mesmerized by this process and we stood at those windows for a long long time watching the bags being made by a robot and then filled with chips.

The tour ended and you get a small sample bag of chips to enjoy as you walk through the gift shop.

Summary:

The tour is really short, honestly if you don’t stop at the window and watch and read you would be done with it five minutes. For us, with our toddler this was great since we could stop at the places that he was interested and move on when he wasn’t. It was also easy to leave at anytime. The chips were delicious and my son loved it. Months later he still likes telling people about going to the chip factory, which makes it a win in my book.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Four Stars. The tour was great and I thought it was perfect length for a toddler, but there really wasn’t much to it. Just a long narrow hallway with windows to peek into. If you’re not really into machinery and watching things happening, it may not be worth your time to make the drive or the detour to the factory.

Have you been here before? If so I’d love to know more about your experience and any tips or tricks you have in the comments section below.

Cape Cod Chip Factory

100 Breed’s Hill Road
Hyannis, MA 02601

Phone: 1-888-881-2447
Website: http://www.capecodchips.com/about-us/factory-tour.html

Tour Hours: Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Self-guided tours are free. Closed Weekends and Holidays

Family Friendly Boston – What to Know About Boston University Pool (and its Awesomeness for Kids!)

November 16, 2016October 15, 2021 Brittney

We’ve found swimming to be our go to activity in the winter since there are a whole bunch of indoor swimming pools around us. Not too long ago a neighbor was celebrating a birthday and all the kids from our building were invited to a pool party at Boston University (BU). Initially I was surprised at the venue since there is a pool on campus as well as a number of other closer pools. That is I was surprised until we got there and discovered how incredible the Boston University pool is for kids!

Things to Note:

1) Pool
BU actually has a couple of different pools, but the one I thought was the most note worthy is the kid pool.

It’s in a separate room from the lap/lane pool
It has life guards
It has a long, zero depth ramp so children can slowly get into the water
It has a pool depth of 3-5 feet
It has a basket ball hoop & basket balls
It has small raised trampoline like sections under the water so children don’t have to swim clear to the walls to touch the ground
It has lots of floaty toys like pool noodles, boards, and water tubes
It has a lazy river
Warm water (about 85 degrees)
A 15 person hot tub

2) Changing Rooms
The Boston University Pool has family changing rooms! These are amazing! There is a set of 6 (if I remember correctly). You can take your family in and lock the door. Inside each changing room is a toilet, sink, bench, a handful of lockers and a shower with a pull down shower head. This made getting kids changed so much easier since I didn’t have to chase them around the locker room and keep them from running out of the shower and away or getting in anyone else’s space.

3) Price/Getting In
Unfortunately you have to know someone at BU to have access to their amazing pool. If you can find a friend you can get in on a daily pass for $12/adult $8/child which gives you access to so much more than the pool. (There is a climbing wall, gym equipment, dance classes etc.) Learn more about Guest Passes.

4) Getting There
The green line drops off right in front of BU, and there is also a parking garage behind the fitness center.

Summary and Rating ★★★★☆

Four Stars. We thought this pool was amazing and for a family swim it’s perfect with warm water, leveled ramps, toys, a lazy river and family changing rooms. The only down side I can see if that you have to know someone from BU to get in, there are no single day/single use passes otherwise, which is a complete bummer because the place is amazing.

Have you been here before? If so I’d love to know more about your experience and any tips or tricks you have in the comments section below.

Boston University Fitness and Recreation Center
915 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215

Phone: 617.358.3740
Website: http://www.bu.edu/fitrec/

Hours: Vary

Toddler Letters – “W” is for “Wind”

November 14, 2016August 23, 2023 Brittney

Letter W Craft - Toddler/Preshooler letter of the week craft W is for Wind with related craft, tracing sheets and fruits/vegetables.

Supplies Needed:

Colored Craft Paper
Letter “W” Cutout
Glue
Paint
Straw
Marker

Toddler/Preshooler letter of the week craft W is for Wind with related craft, tracing sheets and fruits/vegetables.

Set Up:

We started by adding little drops of paint all over our letter “W”, then I showed my son how we could use the straw to blow the paint around, the way the wind blows against us. It worked fairly well though I had hoped to blend our colors more… In hindsight I would suggest watering down your paint a little bit so that the “wind” from your straw has an easier time blowing it around. We still had a great time painting this way and the next time we sat down to paint my son wanted to use a straw rather than a paint brush, so I guess he liked it. 🙂

We finished by talking about the uses of wind, (scatters seeds so new things can grow, can be used to make power, push boats, fly kites etc.)

Have you made this craft? What was your experience like and do you have an suggestions to make it better? I’d love to hear about them in the comments section below.