Paper Garden

Have some dirt-free garden fun with your kids by making a fun paper garden!

1. Let each child decorate their own flower pots {paper cups} and then fill their "pots" with beans or rice.
2.Then, simply cut out lots of different colorful shapes and petals with different colors and prints of craft paper and let the kids use glue sticks to create flowers and bugs for their paper gardens.
3. Finally, attach Popsicle or craft sticks to the bottoms and "plant" them in the bean-filled pots.

Themed Play-Dates: Dinosaur Mania!

Themed play-dates are a great way to add a little structured {and hey, maybe even educational} fun to your summer days! With a few simple items you have right around the house, you can turn your kitchen, dining room, and back yard into a prehistoric wonderland.

Dinosaur Eggs:

This fun and simple project gives you a reason to dye eggs that have nothing to do with a fuzzy white bunny.Trust us, your kids will love this one!
1. Hard boil some eggs.
2. Bang them up and make them crackle-y all over, but DON'T peel them.
3. Mix up egg dye using food coloring and vinegar {Follow the instructions on the back of the food coloring box.}
4. Put the crackled eggs into the dye and let sit for a few minutes.
5. Take them out, peel, and enjoy! They are perfect for your dinosaur theme, and are a healthy snack to boot!

Fossils:

To make your fossils, you're gonna need some Play-dough. It's totally fine to use store bought "Play-Doh" but if you wanna get your cheap on, feel free to mix some up with a few simple ingredients.
We have a fantastic home made play-dough recipe here. 


Once you've got your play-dough situation figured out, make little balls, smash them down into pancake-y patties, and then let the kiddos mush dollar store dinosaurs into them.


They can also smash larger-sized dino feet into them.

 Put the "fossils" on a baking sheet and bake them at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Take them out and let 'em cool. They will look something like this:







Now that you've had fun MAKING the dinosaurs, the kids can enjoy playing with them too! Take all of your fossils and bury them in your sand box and let the kids excavate with paintbrushes/toothbrushes/whatever you have handy and see how many fossils they can dig up.

If you don't have a sand box, one variation is to hide the fossils and/or the dollar store dinos all over your house/yard and let the kids go find them. Let everyone take a bag-ful of dino-goodies home with them.

Other Activities:

1. Learn all about dinosaurs, or read fun and funny dinosaur themed books together.
2. Have smaller children act like dinosaurs. What do the meat-eaters act like? What about herbivores?
3. Watch a dinosaur movie.
4. Make and decorate a volcano cake together.

Squishy Fishy Featured on Fresh Living

Squishy Fishy

Want a fun, simple summer project to do with the kids? Well, we have a project that you can make using ONLY items found right in your home!

Introducing:

The Squishy Fishy!

{Translation: a no-sew bean bag... that is much cuter/quirkier than a bean bag.}

To get started, you'll need:
Socks {new or used}
Rice
OR
Dried beans
OR
Pea sized gravel
...and that's it!

We'll make a few decoration suggestions as we go, and you can pick and choose projects based on what other supplies you may or may not have.

The most important thing is to have fun with your kids! At the end of this post, we have a few easy suggestions for games you can play with your squishy fishy bean bags.


Simply fill a sock with your filler of choice, tie the end off into a little tail {cut off the excess if it's a tube sock} and voila! You have yourself a bare-bones squishy fishy. Now, if you want to give it a little flair... read on!

One step above bare bones, would be to bust out a few sharpie markers and give your squishy fishy a face, or some scales, or any fun design you can dream up.

Another option is to draw designs with a black sharpie, then use Crayola Washable Watercolors to create a tie-dyed effect. {Simply take a paint brush, dip into the water and then the paint, and then blotch random patches of color into the white sock. The sock readily soaks up the watery-paint.} 

For this squishy fishy, we used:
A black sock
Acrylic paints
The eraser on the back of a pencil

Just dip the eraser into the paint and use it to make the polka dots. Be sure and re-dip the eraser for each dot so the paint will show up nice and dark. Then glue on some googly eyes or buttons, and your fish is complete!


This Fishy? {Above}
Old white sweat sock
Acrylic Paint
Paint Brush
Googly Eyes


And this fishy?
Funky sock {Walmart}
Silk flower
Rhinestone
Funky buttons



Now, to have a little fun with your squishy fishies, try one of the following simple games:

Toss Game

*Round up laundry baskets, pots, tupperware bowls and anything else you can think of.
*Spread them out over the lawn.
* Write different point values on paper plates and attach them to the "targets". {Higher point values should be assigned to smaller targets that are further away, while smaller point values are assigned to easier/larger targets.}
* give each child a certain number of fish and then see how many points they can earn!

Hot Potato

*Pass a squishy fishy around in a circle as fast as you can to music.
*When the music stops, the player stuck holding the fishy has to run a penalty lap around the circle.

Fish Out Of Water

*Set a small blue object out in the yard, or at the far end of your living room. This object represents a pond.
* Stand behind an established line on the opposite end of the yard or room.
*Have each child take a turn tossing a squishy fishy across the room in an attempt to land it as close to the "water" as possible.
*The child who lands their fishy closest to the pond wins.

Any bean bag game your kids like to play will work just as well for your squishy fishies.
So make some fun memories with your little ones today!

Summer Bucket List

 

Today we are putting together a 

Summer Bucket List. 

Have you heard of these?

It's where you make a big old list about all of the awesome things you definitely want to do this summer, cut the list into strips, put the strips into a BUCKET, and draw out an activity a couple of times a week.

Then you go and do whatever activity you pull!
How genius is that?
Love, love this idea.

(If you aren't exactly the spontaneous type, and you need some extra time to pull your activity together, you can always pull the activity the night before so that you can plan for it. It's always fun for kids to have something to look forward to.)

Here is the list of things that our family came up with:

ALL DAY ACTIVITIES:
Go to the Zoo
Go to Discovery Gateway
Go to the Aquarium
Go to Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum
Go to the Bean Museum
Go to Seven Peaks Water Park
Go to Lagoon

HALF DAY ACTIVITIES:

Go Bowling
Miniature Golf
Go on a picnic
Go to an outdoor movie
Go out for ice cream
Visit a new playground
Visit a new playground
Visit a new playground
Go to the Art City Museum
Go to an activity day at the library
Visit Krispy Kreme
Fire Station Tour
Go to yard sales
Camp
Go berry picking
Have an art party
Roast marshmallows
Have a backyard camp out
Make popsicles
Make s’mores
Make wind chimes
Go to the duck pond
Go to the Reservoir
Go to a fun Swimming Pool

What activities are YOU going to be adding to your summer bucket list?

fun with cookie cutters.

Make lunch time interesting this summer with the help of your stash of cookie cutters. Kids love seeing their food take on different shapes and personalities, and hey, with an eater as picky as mine, it's all about doing what works.

You can use  cookie cutters to shape watermelon, jello, toast, and even your kiddo's PB&J. I used mine to make fun turkey and cheese sandwiches today and the kids loved it!

This crown cookie cutter is great for making your daughter princess for a day, and also would be fantastic to use when serving little sandwiches as a princess tea party.

Rooster toast was a hilarious addition to our breakfast table. {Goes great with eggs!} The toast pictured below has cinnamon and sugar and would serve as a great mid-morning snack!

Watermelon is fun, but messy, so you may want to "cookie-cut" your watermelon slices outdoors so kids can just have fun and won't have to worry about making a mess. Simply cut watermelon into large, round slices and dole them out to the kids. They can also carve their own designs with a butter knife for one of a kind creations!

Summer Art

Looking for something unique and creative to do with your kids during these long summer days?
Get artsy with these fun ideas:

Art picnic in the park:

1. Go to your local library and check out books about all different kinds of artists.
2. Pack a small picnic with snacks, art supplies, easel, art books, and a blanket.
3. Go through the art books with your kids. Teach them {briefly} about the impressionist and abstract styles using examples from artists like Monet and Picasso.
4. Encourage your kids to try creating a painting using the styles they have just learned about:

What would this duck pond look like if it was painted by Monet?
Can you make a self portrait in the style of Picasso?

Sidewalk Chalk:

Take to the driveway and let your kids' imaginations run wild with a little help from mom and dad. Ask questions like:

1. What would you look like if you  had the hands and feet of a giant?
2. How many different kinds of bugs can you draw?
3. Can you draw the four seasons?
4. If you were a superhero, what would you look like? What would your powers be? Can you draw a picture of you using your powers for good?
5. Can you make up a game we can play on the drive way? What are the rules?

{Of course, these exercises can be done with markers, crayons, paints etc. Use whatever medium your children prefer, or try all sorts of different ones to find out what they like best!}

{Sidewalk chalk art ~ in the style of Monet.}

Five Things to do with a Sheet.

It's rainy inversion day activity time, folks!

Because rainy? Not so much.

But sunny with a 99% chance of toxic haze? You betcha! 

So here are 5 are inversion day activities to do with your little ones using 

ONE 

simple item that every household has:

A sheet. That's right.

A sheet.

Here we go!

#1 Build a fort!
This is one of Kortland's all-time favorite things.
At his insistence, his fort was made with his comforter, but you could totally use a sheet.

Some additional ways to enjoy your sheet fort are:
a. Watch a movie in there! Kort loves to build them in the living room and watch cartoons from their openings.
b. Have lunch in your fort.
c.  Encourage your child to take stuffed animals and toys in there. They can role play being a little family, OR hold a session of school in the "school house" {a.k.a. fort,  *wink, wink*}
d. Have a tea party.

#2 Make a sheet hammock.
Kort loved this!
The hubs and I nearly threw our backs out trying to satiate his ravenous hammock swinging hunger!
With little ones, make sure you keep it "low and slow" so if there are any tumbles out of the sheet, they only fall a few inches. Also, watch out for furniture - play in an open space!
This is a great activity for when dad gets home.

15 minutes of your time, and your kiddos will think they have died and gone to heaven!

#3 Blow Bubbles!
Blowing bubbles has been STRICTLY an outdoor/summer activity at our house... until now! If you cover your carpet and furniture with sheets - you can let loose and blow bubbles all the live long day. Kort was REALLY excited to demonstrate this one for all of you!

You can also blow them in the bath tub, if you're not looking forward to the soapy sheet laundry...

#4 Have a picnic!
This doesn't have to be a major production.
Stick a couple of snacks {fruit leather, crackers, gold fishes, cheerios} in IKEA bowls and let 'em have at it. Kort asks to have picnics roughly...EVERY day. So it's a treat, and can make even something small feel special.

Another variation on the "sheet picnic" is to have a popcorn party.
Set an air popper {if you have one} in the center of the sheet, and pop a batch of popcorn WITHOUT the guards on. Popcorn flies everywhere and your little ones will get a huge kick out of it.
They can pretend they are animals {puppies, goats, frogs...?} and crawl {or hop}around eating the popcorn off of the clean sheet.

The final idea is {not pictured, but that is my FAVORITE picture of Tennyson CRACKING up!} but it is:
#5 Sheet parachute!
You all know this one. They are awesome {and sort of hard to photograph}.
Get a BIG sheet, throw it up in the air, dive under it and pull the sides down around you. Now, sheets don't hold air the way that those awesome REAL parachutes do, but your little ones won't mind. Believe me, if they've got their mom laughing and diving onto the floor with them, they are going to be happy.

So, there you have it!
5 things to do with a sheet.
Did I miss something?
What cool things do YOU do with sheets?

Christmas Bucket List.

The Christmas Season comes and goes SO QUICKLY and it's easy to lose track of time. It seems like the holidays always end well before we get the chance to do all of the Christmas-y things that we had "good intentions" of doing. Well, NOT THIS YEAR! We've put together a Christmas Bucket List to keep us on track.

To make the bucket list, we simply typed up all of the activities we wanted to be sure that we do, printed them out, cut them apart, folded each separate piece and put them all in a Christmas-themed Bucket. Now, we draw out a paper every day, or every other day, depending on how many activities we have to do within the time allotted.

If it is a big activity that needs extra planning, we do it within 3 days of drawing it out. For instance, Kort drew out "Have a cookie decorating party." We needed time to make invitations and get them out to friends, so it is scheduled for this Wednesday. We're going to decorate cookies and make Christmas puppets. I'm really excited! This is exactly the sort of thing I would have put off until it was too late. I LOVE bucket lists!



Another fun approach is to slide a slip of paper into the slots in your advent calendar instead of using a bucket. This gives you a two in one. Each day, when kids mark the countdown, they can also get a bucket list assignment. 
My good friend, Natasha, came by for a visit last week and was lovely enough to brainstorm with me. Here are some ideas we came up with:

1. Straw for Baby Jesus (At the very start of the month, set out an empty nativity and challenge your children to fill it with straw for Jesus' bed by Christmas Eve. They earn a piece of straw {raffia or cut up yellow paper} by doing a good deed. The more good deeds that go on in your home, the softer Baby Jesus' bed will be when you lay him in the manger on Christmas Eve.) *I LOVED this one.

2. Build a snowman, and make a snowman kit.

3. Wrap up a bunch of your Christmas books and put them under the tree. Have a few of the bucket list days say "Unwrap and read a Christmas book together"

4. Pop popcorn and watch "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"

5. Pop popcorn and watch "A Christmas Story"

6. Make reindeer food (Granola and magic glitter and anything else you want to put in it) then put it in individual bags for all of your children, {labeled "reindeer food" of course} save it, and then sprinkle it all over the yard on Christmas Eve. {Make sure the kiddos understand that it won't ALL be gone in the morning because reindeer just nibble a little at each house!}That oughtta save you some clean up!

7. Have a family snowball fight.

8. Go sledding.

9. Do a family "secret service santa" day. Draw names in the morning and do good deeds anonymously throughout the day.

10. Go caroling with friends. Come home and have chili and hot chocolate.

11. Assemble and deliver neighbor gifts.

12. Have a Christmas Cookie Party!

13. Decorate a fun cake (have everyone help) and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. Then have everyone in the family give a gift (of service/love to others) to Jesus.

14. Have an elf treasure hunt. At the end of it, kids can find their new Christmas pajamas.

15. Drive around and look at Christmas lights, or go to a fun light festival in your area.

16. Make gingerbread houses.

 

P.S. How exciting is it that you can make a stinkin' cute Christmas tree card with strips of brown paper, and green polka dot paper cut into simple triangles? I love how these turned out and they only took about an hour from beginning to end. {This includes a LOT of time spent designing the font and layout of the info in Word.

Do you have any awesome Christmas Activities your family loves? I'm all ears. My bucket list could stand to have a few additions!