One of our favorite activities!

If you found your way here from Google, you are probably desperate for an afternoon activity that does not involve a screen. I call this Toddler Mixology. You basically give your kid a bunch of clear plastic cups and a tiny pitcher of water. The absolute secret here is skipping food coloring. Food coloring will permanently dye your kitchen chairs. We used a squirt of washable liquid paint mixed into the water instead. It gives you those vibrant colors without the lingering panic of permanent stains.

One thing you cannot see perfectly on camera is how to mix the paint. You really have to whisk it into warm water vigorously. If you just stir it with a spoon in cold water, you get a sad blob of blue paint sitting at the bottom of the cup. Getting the water slightly warm makes the paint dissolve into a perfect colored liquid for pouring. My daughter spent forty minutes transferring green water back and forth between two plastic beakers.

Almost nobody saw this video when I originally posted it. My hook was apparently terrible, so it stalled out at fewer than two hundred views. But the parents who actually stuck around really engaged with it. The people who tried it immediately understood why the washable paint swap is so crucial for your sanity. It takes about four minutes to set up on a towel on the kitchen floor. You get to sit nearby and actually finish your coffee while they mix their weird little potions.