Mason Jar Lanterns

We found these at indulgy.com via pinterest and were excited to make them! Very easy to make! I think I have found that Carter my 9 year old just likes to go...He insists on not waiting for my help or instructions just dives in when I put the supplies down. His first lantern was interesting...he was upset about it until I sat down and helped him.

LANTERNS: ITEMS NEEDED:
MASON JAR OR ANY TYPE OF JAR
TISSUE PAPER
MOD PODGE (WE MADE OUR OWN 1/2 GLUE 1/2 WATER)
PAINTBRUSH OR SPONGE BRUSH

Simply take your paper, cut in shapes you want and modpodge on to the outside of jar! Once dried go over with a thin layer of mod podge! Careful not to tear! Carter was more pleased when we cut shapes out to glue instead of just wrapping around. I liked the look. I might try a fancier pattern paper next time! Will be cute on the deck by the hot tub!  Will do again!!! I will be excited once school starts so I can start doing some of these projects myself!! :)

Sponge Fights!

This is a great project and saves my fingers and time! It has been floating around pinterest and we have been waiting to try it! Great Water Balloon Alternative!

I bought a pack of 6 sponges from the dollar store. Cut them in thirds. Zip Tied the middle! Soak with water and throw! Lots of fun with this one! We will be making more!! No tieing of balloons, no picking up scraps for a week, the kids can pull them out themselves! Whooooeeeee FUN!

Gnome Sticks!

Poppop was talking about hiding gnomes and letting the boys find them in the lot, we did not want ceramic as a 2, 3, 7 and 9 year old would be messing with them. I did some checking and found these gnome sticks on shaktidove.blogspot.com via pinterest. We did them a little different and did not whittle. We just found sticks and broke them. A few we smoothed the edges and painted! They are currently in Nana's front garden awaiting to be hidden and drying. Carter even made a smurf one and a Spanish one with a sombrero on. I didn't get the final pictures of his as he refused to leave them! :) I think we will try to get everyone who visits to do one so that way we end up with a ton! They will be hard to find in the mountains but will keep the boys busy as the painting did too! Love them! Hard to see the ones with the knob noses but those are my favs! I will try to take better pictures of the noses!

Homemade Bird Feeders

We are still up in the mountains so we decided to do a homemade bird feeder. Carter was a little disappointed that we were not actually making one out of wood but I promised him he could make something tomorrow using a drill, hammer and wood. He was ok with this. We found this on pinterest and now I cannot find it to post the link but it was easy and I think it was a hit!

BIRD FEEDER
Items Needed:
Empty Toilet Paper Roll

Birdseed
Peanut Butter

Take the toilet paper roll, have the kids spread Peanut Butter all over it and then roll in birdseed, sprinkle and fill the gaps! Then simply hang it on a branch! No rope needed!

Such Concentration!

Callen had a lot of fun sprinkling the birdseed on the peanut butter. He was very interested in how it felt. We checked on it and the blue jays are eating it! Every time I try to take a picture of the Jay though he leaves when he hears me approaching! Great Project for a 2 year old! Carter did the peanut butter and Callen did the seed. Great Team!! :

Finished Feeder!

Father's Day Giant Candy Card and Glow Bath!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!  We found this great idea with no "real" website attached but it has been floating around pinterest.com for the last few weeks! It is super cute! Carter had fun finding the Candy. We had to go to 3 different stores for it all! Mike liked it and they have been munching on candy since!

The glow bath was a ton of fun also. We just took glow bracelets and tossed them in. Turned out the lights and it made for a cool bath! It was pretty neat...maybe I will do it to... Just watch the little ones as my 2 year old kept trying to eat them! Hope everyone had a fun filled day with their dads!

Giant ice cube fun!

We had been waiting for a warm day for this one! It is AWESOME! We found it on pinterest with this link http://www.crumbbums.com/?p=2476 It was a surprise for the boys, I made them and surprised them with little treasures in them!

I used foil pans from the dollar store and food coloring and made 3 levels of ice each with little plastic animals also from the dollar store including fish, shark, gators, and even little compasses which Carter was excited about and immediately launched into pirate land and finding treasure! Such imagination! I love seeing their faces light up with excitement! The kids and even the dog had a great time with these! They tried to figure out the best way to get the treasure out and tried a hammer (kids one) warm water, salt, rocks, an decided the best was dropping it over an over so chunks broke off and let out some aggression! I immediately refilled them with other treasures from the house an they are in the freezer for the next time! Quick, easy activity that kept the kids cooled off in the summer an busy having fun with each other for over an hour! Recommend!

CALLEN CHECKING IT OUT AT FIRST

EVEN THE DOG HELPED!

Fizzy Friday Fun!

Time for some Fizzy Fun! 20 Days! Carter really likes the exciting projects like explosions, fizzy, totally boy activities. I have been waiting for a rainy day to do this one we found pinterest.com about fizzy bubbles.

FIZZY FUN
ITEMS NEEDED
TUPPERWARE
BAKING SODA
FOOD COLOR
VINEGAR
EYE DROPPER OR MEDICINE SYRINGE

Fill bottom of Tupperware with baking soda. Mix vinegar and food coloring in separate container. Have kids fill droppers and drip the solution into the Tupperware. Bubbles, fizziness and fun! I love Callen's tongue sticking out in serious concentration. It was a good motor skill lesson for him as well learning how to hold the dropper and push it so the colors came out. I got shot a couple of times! Great fun! Only takes 10 minutes to set up! Both boys were sad when they ran out of their mixes! Really easy project with instant results for fizzy noisy fun! Carter and I talked about the reaction and he remembered using the same ingredients in school while making his volcano...that will be soon I am sure. I think I will hit the mentos trick for him also soon!

Colored rice sensory box

Again, I never thought my 2 year old would enjoy a simple little tote of things, he still loves his construction box and plays with it for at least an hour a day. He will ask for it and play independently with it which is huge in my house! This box was for both boys as Carter got the fun of coloring the rice different colors and finding what he wanted to put in it for his brother. He is proud of it.
To color the rice just food color an let dry. Carter put some weebles, a helicopter, a spoon and a few recycled k-cups to scoop and fill.


Callen was a little confused about the feel and texture of the rice but got into it! Carter buried things and told home to find them. Another hit with Sensory Boxes! Going to do an ocean one but that is for outside! :) 18 days down! I have to admit it is harder than I thought! We do plenty of things but there are days when I don't feel like doing any! The good thing is it keeps me motivated to get an activity done and good for the boys. We have been working on some other projects as well and will have some good posts coming up!!

The Stache and bouncy balls

We LOVE moustaches! We simply printed up stache pictures and glued them to a stick. The kids loved it when I sang and talked to them with it on! Carter liked to chase his brother of course and we all laughed at each other! Carter woke me up this morning with the little one on and talking funny. They were quick easy and a riot!!! IT IS A MUST DO! How can anyone not appreciate the STACHE.










We also made bouncy balls. There is a pinterest post on this, however, I went with the easier version when we happened to come across a Rose Art Super Ball kit on sale at walmart for $3.00 when we picked up some glue sticks for future project.
Both boys love to play with bouncy balls. Now they get to make them! Highly recommend the kit!
Super Easy. Has ball mold and colors. Each ball only took 2 minutes to do, and 20 minutes to rest. We made 4 balls and still have more left over. They bounce well and make my boys smile. That is what it is about. Good day with lots of smiles and laughter. Hope your day brought joy as well!

15 Days! Bath Paint Fun!

 We love bath time activities! This one had a duel effect as it cleaned the boys and they had fun! Great Pinterest Idea!




HOMEMADE BATH PAINT
ITEMS NEEDED!
BABY SOAP (LIQUID)
CORN STARCH
FOOD COLORS

THAT'S IT! PUT SOME CORN STARCH IN ADD THE FOOD COLORING AND FEW SQUIRTS OF SOAP AND STIR, ADD SMALL AMOUNT OF WATER UNTIL CONSISTENT WITH PAINT! 

Callen loved to color himself more than the walls! This is great

as it is soap! :) He had such a great time when it came to my 9 

year old's turn to shower  he insisted that I make him some as 

well! He would not let me take pictures but he had more fun

coloring the walls! Comes off easy! Lots of fun with this activity!

MELTED CRAYON ART

I know everyone has seen the melted crayon art circling around pinterest. We decided to give it a try with some tweaks. First, we used a cardboard box for round one as Canvas is expensive and want to wait until we had it down before using it! Second, we taped the letter C in Carter's for his room.

All you see on pinterest is the beautiful perfect ones. I am posting this as I am sure many moms have tried it and not got those results! I am glad we did a trial run and it did not turn out! We will retry because we really liked it though!

THINGS NEEDED:
GLUE GUN
CRAYONS
CANVAS (WE USED CARDBOARD FOR TRIAL RUN)
HAIR DRYER

Glue the crayons to the top of your board. Let dry! Then take blow dryer and melt the crayons!

TIPS:

•  NOT TOO MUCH GLUE AS IT MELTS THE CRAYONS
• DO NOT MOVE CRAYONS AROUND ON GLUE AS IT BREAKS THE HOLD
• BLOW FROM THE TOP FOR STRAIGHT DOWN CRAYON ART (CARTER LIKED TO BLOW STRAIGHT ON AND THE COLORS MIXED TOO MUCH)
• PUT LIKE COLORS BY EACH OTHER MAKING A BLOCK OF BLUE, A BLOCK OF RED ETC...THIS WILL MAKE THE COLORS POP OUT MORE!
• BE PREPARED TO HOLD THE HAIR DRYER, CARTER'S ARM GOT TIRED AND WE HAD TO KEEP SWITCHING 
• PUT NEWSPAPER UNDER SO YOU WILL NOT BE SCRUBBING THE COUNTER LATER

HAVE FUN! REMEMBER IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PERFECT! THE POINT OF IT IS TO SPEND TIME WITH YOUR KIDS AND TEACH THEM CREATIVITY AND EXPLORE!!

Day 13 Tornados and Magnets

Today I decided to do some science fun with the boys. Tornado's and Magnet fun.

TORNADO IN A JAR
THINGS NEEDED:
JAR
WATER
DISHWASHER SOAP

Really simple! Fill the jar leaving about an inch on top, add one TINY drip of soap and SHAKE IT UP.
Hard to get a photo of this one it is too fast. Carter enjoyed trying it, we had to keep dumping it and re-doing as once you get a good tornado out of it, it is too foamy to do again. We had races to see whose lasted the longest and the best one. Kept them busy for ohhh 15 minutes! LOL!

PIPE CLEANER MAGNET PLAY
THINGS NEEDED:
PLASTIC JAR
PIPE CLEANERS
MAGNET

The boys are still playing with this one a day later! Cut up the pipe cleaners and place in empty PLASTIC jar. Seal and take magnets and place on sides moving them around! The boys had fun playing tag, trying to steal the cleaners away from them and seeing who could get the most! They woke up this morning and grabbed it and messed around with it while watching cartoons! :) FUN!

Home Made Air Dry Clay! Day 10!

Hello! I am running a bit behind on entering the posts! So little time by myself! :) Carter uses clay in art class and really enjoys it. He has been begging to make it. I decided on the air dry kind thinking it would be less work! It probably was but takes a lot longer to dry! It has been 24 hours and they are still not dry! Carter made father's day presents for Mike (a worry stone and ball) a snake for himself, vitamin holders for 2 Grandpa's and a cigar ashtray for the other one! We will paint when it drys enough and repost!
We found the recipe via pinterest at http://www.homeschooling-ideas.com/how-to-make-clay.html#airhardening

Air Hardening Modeling Clay

2 cups baking soda
1 cup cornstarch (cornflour)
1.5 cups cold water
(makes about 2 pounds - the recipe can be halved).

Baking soda and cornstarch make a smooth, pliable play clay that can be colored with everyday food coloring - or left white and painted once it hardens. When you have made your model, leave it to air dry - turning every 12 hours or so.
Place ingredients in a pan and stir until smooth. Set the pan over a medium heat and stir until boiling. Stir out any lumps and cook until it is the consistency of mashed potatoes.
Turn out onto a plate and cover with a damp, well-wrung kitchen towel - let cool. Dust a work surface with cornstarch and knead until pliable

 



Some Tips From our experience!

• Make early in the morning! It takes a while to cool down!
• Takes more than 24 hours to dry so do not plan on painting the next day!
• When turning every 12 hours be CAREFUL! Very fragile and cracks easy!
• Don't forget to have your kids sign the bottom before drying!

Calming Jars and Reading Time

Today was a day to catch up on rest from the last few days of fun! We implemented a mandatory reading time that I hope to continue if not daily then at least 5 days a week. Everyone picked a book and had 30 minutes of reading, writing and or resting. This was needed as both boys have issues sitting still and reading! It was nice!
We also made Calm Down jars. I mean come on, who cannot use one of these. We saw this idea on pinterest in many places and I think it is a great mediation tool to calm down your overstressed, overwhelmed, overstimulated upset child! I think I need one too!!Some call these time out jars. Really simple! 

Calm Down Jars/Time Out Jars

Things Needed:

Jar

Hot Water

Glitter

Glitter Glue

Food Coloring

Super Glue (to tighten cap after so kids do not open it!) 

Here are your instructions from www.herewearetogether.com and tips below on our experience! 

 1 tablespoon of glitter-glue with about fill with hot water leaving about 1/2 inch from top, then added  food colouring and a tiny tub of glitter.
The glue makes the water so thick and gooey that the glitter just slowly and gently swirls around, it takes 5 minutes to fall to the bottom!

These Photos are from the first set. We plan on making more with pearlized glitter, and in plastic jars. Here are some tips! 

• Pearlized glitter glue makes all the difference!
• If you want "swirls" in the colored water, make sure to use some pearlized glitter glue or pearlized paint to color the water.
• You can not substitute Elmer's glue in place of glitter glue -- it just makes the water all foggy and white and doesn't help suspend the glitter at all.
• The finer the glitter you use, the better.  
• Chunky glitter will fall much faster, but finer glitter will stay suspended for quite awhile.
• Food coloring or liquid watercolors work to color the water.  
• Leave some room on top but not as much as in the photo! Trial and Error!!! Will Post 2nd set once we get pearlized glitter glue!

Slingshots, Explosions and Puppet Shows

OH MY! Day 7 brought a ton of activities in the mountains. Some fishing, a carousel, rock stores, and some pinterest fun. SLINGSHOTS, EXPLOSIONS, and puppet shows!! They boys were excited about these ones!

We figured since we were in the mountains with lots of land the boys could try out homemade slingshots. We sent them to find their own sticks and used a rubber band. There are many ways to do this to make it more professional but we were looking for something cheap and fast. The nice thing about it was the boys were not great at it they could only hit things within 5 feet so we did not have any accidents! They used pine cones and pebbles to let loose!









BIG EXPLOSIONS!!! CAN YOU GUESS WHAT WE EXPLODED?

Soap! This was another super easy project! We tried to keep them easy in the mountains as we had so much other stuff to do!! This is ivory bar soap. Put it in the microwave and it blows up to a huge sculpture! Make sure you place it on a plate or wax paper!! We put it in for 2 minutes and watched it go! Very neat! and Not Messy! It looks like it is but that mass of soap is really a big chunk. You can reuse in the tub! Or let it snow on your kids in the tubs. It flakes! 

You must use Ivory! The soap that floats! They are the only one who infuse air into their soap enabling it to enlarge and expand like this! Next time we are thinking of adding food coloring to see what that looks like!! Even Poppop had fun with this one!!! 

At the Carousel of Happiness there is a spot for kids to give their own puppet shows. I thought this would be fun! The boys were not so great at it! They just made the puppets fight....boys...

Great fun in the mountains!!! We also went to the rock store and let the boys pick some rocks out, they really liked the magnetic ones. 

Mountain Fun! Day 6

Sorry for the delay! We were in the mountains visiting Nana and Poppop so did not have time to let you know what pins we did! We had a fun-filled 3 days with tons of outdoor activities! When we get there they love to run around like crazy so we did a NATURE SCAVENGER HUNT!
This was great for a few reasons...

1. While we were unpacking the car, lugging suitcases in, and getting situated the boys stayed out of our hair!
2. The boys are always super excited when they get there, this gives them time to run, see their cousin, and have some outdoor fun without me looking over them! (They stay on the property)
3. I got to have a cup of uninterrupted coffee!!!!!!! WHOOOOEEEEE

I had made this early in the morning so I needed that extra cup! They kept the boys busy for about an hour! Then they got bored and moved onto building lephrachaun houses. I forgot to take a picture of theirs as I got busy with my 2 year old! So all in all a fun Hunt we also did one in the car. Its an hour drive but for a 9 year old, 7 year old and 2 year old boy that is a long drive! It got to the point I told them that if they asked one more time "are we there yet??" They would have to sit on the steps at Nana's for 5 minutes.  They stopped.