DIY Solution to Playing at Night

When it's night at our home, the fluorescent lights go off and the lovely yellow-tone lights come on.  

I prefer yellow light for a relaxing mood after office.

This also worked as a nice parenting tool  ever since Ladybug Girl was a baby : yellow lights (and music) in her playroom established the beginning of a bedtime routine.  The change signaled winding down and eased her into taking her warm half-bath and touch-therapy massage before bed.  Even our bathrooms have a yellow-light option that goes on at night.

Ladybug (Baby)Girl winding down for the night with ambient lighting

That's why as a corporate mom who always comes home way beyond the sun going down, you may notice that many of our activities (and my posts) all have horrible fluorescent lighting or wrong dim lighting.

In my blog-exploring-me-time while my family sleeps, I came across an intriguing play tool called a "light table".  There are various ready-made and DIY versions out there but they all look like a mini-version of professional drafting tables.

photo courtesy of google images

What a friendly solution to a working mom to be able to get home at night and still squeeze in some play without disrupting her winding down routine (so much)!

But of course my DIY solution is again so very laughable.

Plastic bin + christmas lights = super simple light box.  What the heck, it works.

We played with expanding water beads for the first time this way (sold as Orbeez in toy stores)

On our bed, no less - how's that for squeezing in play before bed?

They feel really new to touch, and were very pretty against the light.  So it was a new sensorial learning experience for Ladybug Girl.

She kept wanting to touch them.  Frankly, so did I.

I used the opportunity to work on her concentration and fine motor skills (she needs lots of practice)

Undecided which hand to use so she used both (but she's a lefty most of the time)

Use clear cups to mix colors (see we made purple!) and slotted spoon so water doesn't spill

We had thirty minutes or so of play, then it was natural to transition to bed by picking up a book.

Bedtime reading via halogen spotlight (on a dimmer)

Who knew lighting could be a handy parenting tool?

Thanks to Birgit O'Connor Watercolor's post for featuring our super simple light table!  For other ideas on light table play, check this lovely Pinterest board here.