Wednesday, January 07, 2009

The Fabulous Life of a Dollar Store Cupcake Tin

***UPDATE: My cheap little cupcake tin totally rusted in the dishwasher...so, either don't wash yours in the dishwasher, or plan to only use it once! HA! ... What can you expect for a dollar!?***

A while back, I bought a cheap little cupcake tin for Quinn. I figured we would use it for something! Well, I woke up today feeling very motivated to teach my little man something new...so, when the cupcake tin came to mind, I was so excited at all of the activities that the day would hold! ....It started with sorting! I got out his alphabet letters and put one of each color in each spot. Then, I asked him to sort them and match the colors! He did an AWESOME job...with very little help from me! (And, he even correctly named {and incorrectly named} a few letters here and there) I was impressed and happy that my "cupcake tin" activities had started off with a bang! ...Activity time: 20ish minutes!...
Then, after some playroom time, I decided that we could fill each spot with water, drop in some food coloring, and give Q a medicine dropper to mix and drip! ...Oh how he loved it! He loved watching the colors come to life as I dropped in the food coloring and would request a color for the next spot! He had so much fun squeezing and dripping for a long while. ... Activity time: 35-40 minutes! WOW! He loved it!
Even though, at one point, it ended like this...not a pretty color! :) ... We quickly cleaned it up and started over!!!...

Then, at lunch time, Slickpaw had the idea to serve his lunch from the cupcake tin! ...And, I must say that Q ate an amazingly good lunch from it...turkey, cheese, apples, cheerios, yogurt and triscuits. And, he kept everything neatly in its spot! ... Activity time: 25 minutes... Then, because it was such a nice day, we headed to the park to find some outside treasures! I didn't know if Q would care anything about hunting when he could be climbing and sliding, but I was wrong! We found rocks, woodchips, leaves, acorns with hats, acorns without hats and acorn hats! He would excitedly run to his cupcake tin when he found something new! It was precious! ... And, he paused from time to time to climb and be extra brave to slide down the big slide all by himself! ...

Sorting all of our findings before we left to go back home! ... Activity time: 45 minutes!...
Then, when we got home, we HAD to use that cupcake tin for what it was intended!...CUPCAKES! Quinn helped me mix and watched me pour! ... Then, we patiently watched them bake and enjoyed one together when they had cooled off! Activity time: 40ish minutes...

YUMMY!
What a super fun day with my little man and a silly dollar store cupcake tin!

15 comments:

The Rodriguez Crew said...

oh my gosh what incredible creative and brilliant ideas for that cupcake tin! I will definitely be picking up a silly tin for my little man - thank you for sharing! I get the best ideas from you girls.

Jessica and Matt said...

Will you please label this post? Start a label for things like this, so in a year or two I can go back and easily find it?

Laura said...

One heck of a cupcake tin! Love all the activities!

Bonky's Mom said...

not sure how I found your blog...but thought I'd chime in and say how fun of an idea the cupcake tin was...we may have a cupcake tin day ourselves! : )

Slickpaw said...

I am so proud of my daughter for coming up with this idea. But, did you see how great Quinn did.
He is the smartest grandson ever.
Slickpaw

Diana Richards said...

Wow, what a great idea! I will definitely be using this in the future! Thanks!

kristin fulghum said...

that is the cutest thing ever. you must be a teacher :)

Meredith said...

Ok, this is probably one of my most favorite ideas ever!!!! LOVE it!!! We're going to have a cupcake tin day too!!! Thanks for sharing!!!

Becky said...

that is absolutely brilliant and so creative. Along with many other things you post - I'm sure I'm going to totally steal this idea!! I love it!! I know you have no idea who I am but I learn so much from you. You are an extremely creative mom! I am addicted to reading about you and Quinn!! :)

Danielle (Life with the Hewitt Family) said...

You are so creative! What a great day of fun all from a cupcake tin! I think I will try those activites with Carter...it sounds like so much fun!

Kimberly said...

I love your ideas- especially the baking part at the end:) Creighton and I will be picking up a cupcake tin at the dollar store this afternoon.

Thanks for sharing all your tips and tricks!

Chelsi said...

Fun! Thanks for the great ideas! What a smart little man Quinn is! His kindergarten teacher is going to love you!

Jaime said...

You are the cutest! What a great idea...I t hink I might have to do th is with Reid!!! :)

Lainey-Paney said...

you're so creative!

Noelle said...

I Am totally stealing this idea....good job mom!