This One's For Hank

A very special little man in my life turned two (2!!!!!) on Saturday. Hard to believe, no? We've come a long way in the last 24 months.

Now, anybody who has or had a toddler knows that just keeping them entertained is a full time job. Absolutely NO exaggeration. I've recently taken myself on a quest (out of sheer desperation) to find new, engaging, and cheap activities for Hank to do. Especially important this time of year when we are pretty much housebound. Finding a lot of inspiration in Unplugged Play and The Toddler Busy Book as well as general Google searching for "fun toddler activities".

I created this Animal Pockets board today with my Silhouette. Multi-tasking mama did all the cutting while on hold with various doctor's offices and the cable company. Basically, I took eight pieces of cardstock and cut a pocket and various animals silhouettes from the same sheet. Adhered the pockets to foam board with dimensional adhesive and glued half a manila envelope on the back for storage. He takes all the individual animals from the back and puts them in the right pocket based on color. Funny to watch him shake his head at himself when he almost puts one in the wrong pocket. Board probably will only last a few months with the wear and tear, but didn't cost me a lot of time or money to put it together. Anything that buys a few minutes of peace is totally worth it.




Pocket is file jean_pocket_C00441_19210 in the Silhouette store and the animals are actually a free dingbat. Saved my cut file so if I need to make more in the future, it is a piece of cake...as long as I have a phone glued to my ear and insurance information to hand over:).

Might be fun to share my successes and failures with Toddler Entertaining here on the blog. I've already learned that you've got to be willing to let a mess happen. Armed with a vacuum and wet wipes, I'm game for just about anything.

Speaking of the Silhouette, here's a few layouts I've done over the last two weeks for the Silhouette blog. Check here and here for more of the details. Just thought it would be fun to share.