Pinata time!

The girls had a great idea to make a pinata.

 

I am grateful for cold, wet, and slimy fun that all of the kids enjoyed working together on.

Easy Winter Kid Activity

We are in the middle of potty training and I needed an activity that would keep her where the hard wood floor was.......for easy clean up if she had an accident.

So I came across our window markers and let her have a hay day with them.

 

She absolutely loved coloring on the windows with them.  I was really surprised at how long it kept her entertained.

 

 I am thankful that she seems to be doing well with the whole potty training thing this time around.

Fun with Milk

A while ago I saw my sister do this fun activity with the kids she tends and since my kids were kinda bored this morning I thought we would give it a try and see what they thought.

All it takes is milk, food coloring, and dish soap.

I had no idea exactly what would happen, but we all thought that it was kinda cool!!

You could hear the kids shout things like 'Come see what color is showing now!'  or 'Wow' or ' I see an elephant in mine!'

There were questions as to why the milk did that, so we headed on to the internet to do some research.

Give it a shot!  You can find the directions I posted over on Pikadilly Charm.

I am thankful for simple experiments.

A Parade of Their Own

With it raining this morning and Baby Root Beer still recovering from surgery, we decided to skip on the city's parade this morning.

The younger kids were super bummed.  So they decided to put on a parade of their own.

There was only one float in the parade and they spent maybe 5 minutes decorating it lol!

It turns out that they just wanted the candy that is associated with parades.

So I gave them some.....all I could find around the house was some candy canes from last christmas, some mints, and some mini lollipops.

Then my hubby and I sat out front and cheered them on while they chucked candy at us.....

.....and while they ate the candy.

I am grateful for that the sun came out for their 'parade.'

Summer Boredom Buster

I ran across a little stash of things for the kids to do this summer that I had forgotten about.

One of the things that was in it was a mini microscope for each of them.......it is basically the same as this one and the best part is that it only cost a couple of dollars.

So I sent the kids out to see a whole new world in the backyard.

They used them on everything!

Rocks, bark, flowers, hair, feathers, water drops, chalk, the mini trampoline, their pets, dirt, bugs, and so on.

It was so fun to hear them excited about what they were seeing and to call each other over so their sisters could have a look too.

I am thankful for hands-on fun.

Paint and paper

I just love it when one of my kids is SO excited about something that they did at school that they want to show the whole family how to do it......and I'm grateful for many hands that helped clean up afterwards. 

This is the art project where you fold a piece of paper in half, then unfold it.  Next put paint in random places on one half of the piece of paper.  Now fold the paper in half again and open it up and see your paint creation.

Time for the trash

I've loved this Valentine Mailbox that E and I made a few months ago.

It looks pretty good in this picture, but it is sure starting to fall apart.

Have you ever had to secretly throw something away without your child knowing?

Thats what I did I few days ago.  I knew she would be upset if I told her it had to go.....but I don't feel quite so bad tossing it since she hasn't noticed that it is gone. 

I am grateful for cereal boxes and duct tape.

Painting with Grandma

I am grateful for learning new things.

Easter Eggs

I am grateful for water color pencils, and salt, and rubber bands. 

Does this look rotten to you?

So this what happens when you soak an egg in food coloring for a couple days and THEN

soak it in corn syrup for a couple of days.

I am thankful for science experiments.

It's for the birds

I ran across some pinecones that i had collected in the fall and decided to let the kids make some bird feeders with them.

They smeared peanut butter on it, then rolled them in birdseed for wild birds, and then found a place outside to hang them.

I am thankful for quick, enjoyable crafts.

Egg-cellent egg-speriment

So this is what happens when you soak an egg in Vinegar for 2 days.

I am thankful for fun school projects.

Pocket Pals

I posted a tutorial on how to make these little take along ice skaters over on Pikadilly Charm.

It is a pretty quick and easy craft and the kids have loved playing with it.

I am grateful for toys that are easy to take places with us.

Teaching

I'm grateful that Baby Root beer wanted to teach her sisters how to make chinese fortune tellers this morning.

Perfect way to spend time together.

Sidewalk Paint

My SIL invited us over to do some sidewalk painting.

We thought the little ones would get really messy....ok we were hoping that they would get messy. lol!

But this was about the extent of it.

You can find the recipe I used here.

I am thankful for things that are fun for all ages.....even I had a good time painting with it.

Perfect day

It was a nice surprise when we ran across the spin art kit that we forgot we had.

I am grateful for things that entertain the kids.

Side Walk Paint

I've run across several places on Pinterest that have had this sidewalk paint.

I thought it would be a ton of fun for the kids to play with.

And I was right.

They LOVED it!

And it is super easy to make:

Ingredients 

1 cup water

1 cup cornstarch

food coloring (any colors you desire!!)

The colors were much much brighter than they look like in these pictures.

I am grateful for the colors of the rainbow.

Fairy in a jar?

So here is the activity that I wanted to do the night before Little A's big show.

 I saw this idea on Pinterest and decided to give it a try.

It didn't quite turn out how the photo on there showed (but you could totally tell that one was doctored.)

Here's how..

You need a jar (we used baby food jars), glow sticks, and very fine/small glitter.

First make your glow stick glow.

Then cut one end off of it and pour the contents into the jar.

Then quickly add your glitter to it and put the lid back on the jar.

Shake it all up and there you go....a fairy in a jar  lol.

The yellow/green glow sticks seemed to work the best.  At least they were the brightest.  And you have to be sure to put the lid on the jar quick....the ones that we were slower on didn't seem to stay glowing as long.  And adding more glow stick juice to the jars when they started to go dim didn't really make them glow too much longer.

They don't glow for too long (one of them lasted a couple of hours and then another one only lasted 20-30 minutes).

I am just thankful that my kids seemed to have a lot of fun playing with them and using their imaginations while they did glow.

Lights and Action

I can't tell you one specific place that I found directions to make this light table.  I just did a searched and combined things that I like from the different homemade ones that I came across and made my own.

The best part is that I already had the storage type containers at home and they were not being used so they worked perfect for this.

And ALL my kids had tons of fun playing with it.  My oldest even had friends who came over just to see it and feel the 'awesome' water beads.  lol!

And I am thankful that the water beads are non-toxic

And that they were on clearance.  =)

Marshmallow Art

Give a kid some toothpicks and marshmallows and they can entertain themselves for quite a while.

I am grateful for when I already have everything that I need at home for an activity with the kids .