Salsa in a Pot!

This spring I've been reading a lot about container gardening. I have a vegetable garden that I seem to overfill every year, so I thought I might try to spread things out a little!  While checking out some great gardening blogs I found a few posts that used one large pot to grow a variety of plants, and some were even meant to be used together in one recipe... what a great idea! Tomatoes seem to be the most popular for container gardening and I have read that peppers can also do quite well. This information lead me to the idea of "Salsa in a Pot"!

My plan was to find an inexpensive pot, decorate it and plant everything needed for homemade salsa. I found this plastic pot at Target and thought that the colour and finish were very similar to a chalk board, so I decided to use the chalkboard markers that we use on our chalkboard table to add a little colour. Once I had finished having fun with the markers, I planted a plum tomato plant, a hot pepper plant and some cilantro... add an onion and we'll have everything we need for a fresh salsa!

Chalkboard table games...

This past summer, after seeing many inspiring projects online, I decided to give our basement coffee table a quick coat of chalkboard paint. The table is an old remnant from our apartment days and can be picked up at Ikea for a whopping $19.99! I used Rust-oleum Chalkboard Paint in black on the top surface of the table. They do have a spray paint version, but I was unable to find it at my Home Depot. We use both traditional chalk and chalkboard markers on the table. The markers are nice because they are less messy. However, they have left marks behind on the table, which doesn't happen on a true chalk board... must have something to do with the paint. I guess we will just need to give it a fresh coat sometime soon!

Andrew has had a great time playing with the table. It is good for all sorts of games and learning activities. So, I thought I would share our favourites!

Some Games...

A little village for his cars and trains

Table hockey!

Chutes and Ladders

Some learning activities...

Place the correct number of objects in the box.

Trace the letters with your finger.

Printing practice

Initial letter/sound sorting

These learning activities have been great for Andrew. He enjoys running around, rummaging through his toys, looking for what he needs. The printing is far from happening with him, but he does like to make marks over the broken-line letters, and tracing the letters with his finger is great practice for directionality! It is amazing to see how fast these skills develop at this age and with hands on activities like these they stay focused for longer periods of time! 

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