Quiet time is sanity time.

I have a two year old son.  Sometimes I need him to leave me alone.  Just, like, three minutes of silence.  Therefore, Pinterest and I are working on increasing the size of my arsenal of quiet time activities.

My sister and her children came to visit recently, and Bubs showed great interest in their dry erase alphabet workbooks, even trying to write a few of the letters himself.  I should be ashamed to admit that my first reaction was, Hmmmm, that's Pinteresting.  But I'm not.  Because I have 117 pins on my kids! board, and I haven't even been able to use ONE of them yet.  THAT'S A LOT OF PIN-TENTIAL.

I was excited to make these sensory bags from Pre-school Play for Bubs.  I thought they might be a good place to start engaging his new-found natural interest in writing.

STEP ONE!  Assemble your materials.  Take a moment to contemplate the decisions you've made in your life that have led to crafting with hair gel, food coloring, and glitter.

STEP TWO!  Throw all that crap into a large Ziploc and squish it to death.

STEP THREE!  Tape it shut.  Super shut.  I can't speak from experience, but I'm assuming a Ziploc full of hair gel and food coloring is not something you want exploding in your home.

STEP FOUR!  Let your preschooler have at it.  I gave him a popsicle stick to use as a "pencil" but I also think an unsharpened pencil would work just as well.  Or their finger.  Or anything.

Bubs showed interest in writing on it for about 3 seconds, but he did enjoy squishing the bag around for about 45 seconds.  Forty-five seconds is also about how long he will occupy himself picking his nose.  So the final verdict, sensory bags = as fun as picking your nose.

And that's how you Pinterest.