Magnetic Flower Arranging

I've wanted to make some sort of "quiet time" activity for M using a cookie sheet and magnets for a long time now. And it just so happened that the first real free time I've gotten to work on it corresponded to the beginning of Spring here in Texas. So, I guess it's only natural that the cookie sheet theme be flowers.

I used an old, corroded cookie sheet for this project. The paint covers any ugliness. It was important though that I find a sheet that would stick to magnets. (Aluminum wouldn't work)

The flowers are cut-outs from several old Martha Stewart magazines. They are covered with packing tape on both sides for durability. The magnets I put on the back of each flower already had adhesive backing; so that saved a little time. Painting the foliage was the most time-consuming part of the whole thing. (but relaxing and fun, nonetheless)M doesn't really understand the concept of making a bouquet, but she does enjoy moving the "flowies" around on the pan and naming their colors. I think I may store it away for now, and take it out in a few years to be used on car trips.

"My Busy Hands" Homemade Baby Book

Knowing how much M likes to put things in and out of containers I thought she might enjoy an interactive book where she gets to put things where they belong.

My mother bought some blank board books a while back and shared them with me, and I've been waiting until I had some spare time to work on decorating them. You can order some yourself here.

The first set of pages had an apple tree on one side and a bushel basket on the other so that M can go "apple-picking."The second scene asked M to pick up her toys and put them in her toy chest (you'll see my ulterior motives when it comes to some of these :-)Next I have a picture of my father fishing on some water (in a boat named after my mother). M gets to "go fishing" and put the fish on the dinner plate.After dinner, of course, one needs to clear the table; so I have M take the dirty dishes off the table and put them in the sink. (Wouldn't it be great if I convinced M that clearing the table was "fun?" :-)Finally, M gets to deliver five baby birds back to their nest and wish them good-night.


I drew the background scenes myself (trying to keep them as simple as possible for the sake of my unprofessional artistic abilities). The movable objects I made by printing off pictures that I found on the internet, laminating them with packing tape and placing a piece of removable, double sided tape on their backs. (In order to ensure that the tape stuck to the object and not to the background I also placed a tiny piece of regular tape on top of part of the removable tape to fasten it down)

I was a little nervous when I presented the book to M because as you can probably tell, it was a bit of work, and I was afraid the pieces might be difficult for her to move or that she just wouldn't be that interested. But horray! She loved it! She was able to move all of the pieces and loved doing it over and over!

I do have to make sure she is supervised with the book though because she was, of course, interested in putting the "stickers" every where else beside the book as well!