tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28415489961247104502024-03-13T19:49:47.289-07:00walk in the sunshine"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.comBlogger225125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-6542452997507032172014-06-25T05:44:00.002-07:002014-06-25T05:44:26.332-07:00Fun Space Crafts and Activities for KidsMy 4-year old son really got into our Blast Off! Week of <a href="http://walkinthesunshineblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/big-little-summer-plans.html" target="_blank">MOMS Camp</a> this summer. We did a few small projects I found at the Dollar Tree, such as a space sticker scene and some foam rockets that were fun. We also made a few crafts that we all loved! <br />
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One of my favorite things we made this week was Night Sky Play Doh! My kids really love play doh - especially my son. I found this awesome recipe on <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/mrstmnt/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> that was perfect for this week and we had a blast. Here is the original <a href="http://www.two-daloo.com/night-sky-activities-preschool-stretchy-night-sky-playdough/" target="_blank">Link </a> for the recipe I followed. The only thing was, I didn't have any black food coloring.... or any black liquid water color! So I came up with a fabulous idea to turn the play doh any color I wanted!! Dissolve dried watercolor paints into 1 cup of water and mix into your play doh as it's cooking! Just pop out a little oval of watercolor paint from the pallet and stir it into a cup of water. For this night sky color I used one oval of black and one oval of purple paint. When the play doh was cooling, I added TONS of glitter in all different sizes and shapes.<br />
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We used plastic gems and glow in the dark stars to make night scenes in the play doh which was a super fun way to play with it before we really started molding and squishing the play doh like normal. Then we used those giant glow in the dark stars to decorate my son's ceiling! They cleaned up great after being in the play doh so it wasn't a problem.<br />
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I have been dying to paint with shaving cream for some time and was excited to come up with a craft project using it for Space Week. We made Shaving Cream Painted Planets!! Start with a rectangle cooking tray covered in foil and fill it with shaving cream.<br />
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Then squirt several lines of acrylic paint on top. Use something pointy to swirl it around - but not too much! We used plastic chop sticks but you could just use the tip of your paint brush.... or your fingers if you're not afraid of a little mess! <br />
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Cut out circles of construction paper and press one down onto the shaving cream mixture. Hold it there for about 10 seconds, making sure it touches everywhere. Then gently pull it off and set it aside to dry. <br />
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After about five minute, use a squeegee to carefully scrape off the
access shaving cream and you're left with an awesome swirly planet!<br />
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This was such a cool technique to create what looks exactly like a gaseous planet - I loved it! Not to mention my kids loved playing in the shaving cream afterwards and mixing it up even more. <br />
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Finally, we made some Paper Straw Rockets that I found on <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/mrstmnt/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a>. They were so fun and simple - we used crayons to decorate several small squares of paper. They were each about 4.5" by 4.5". Then wrap the paper around a pencil to help it hold a cylindrical shape.<br />
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Glue it down one side to create a tube. <br />
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Once that's dry, fold over one end and secure with tape.<br />
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Stick it over the end of a straw and blow (just like you do with a new straw wrapper at a restaurant!) to launch your rocket! We used big plastic straws for ours but regular straws are fine too. This was a fun project to make and THEN play with! Here is the original <a href="http://curiouskangaroos.blogspot.com/2011/07/paper-rocket.html" target="_blank">blog</a> where I found this!<br />
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<a href="http://curiouskangaroos.blogspot.com/2011/07/paper-rocket.html" target="_blank"><br /></a>"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-91446948481604001432014-06-11T11:44:00.002-07:002014-06-11T11:44:07.674-07:00Fun Space Themed Recipes For KidsOur Blast Off! week of MOMS Camp was a big hit! I was so happy that my 4-year old really got into it! Here's some of the fun space themed recipes we had this week:<br />
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We made a fun breakfast out of toast and scrambled eggs that looked like a rocket ship! I added a bit of yellow food coloring to the eggs to make them extra bright and sprinkled some shredded cheddar cheese on them. Please note: there are no crusts on the toast! lol I also added a small window to our rocket ships using a round slice of strawberry!<br />
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For a fun and educational snack, we shared a Fruit Tray Solar System! I found this idea on <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/mrstmnt/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> but ended up using my own ideas for each planet, based on what I had on hand. Here's a list of what I used to get the (relatively) right colors and sizes: Sun - grapefruit; Mercury - little yellow sweet pepper; Venus - cherry; Earth - kiwi; Mars - strawberry; Jupiter - plum with a tiny strawberry to be the big red spot; Saturn - lemon with an extra lemon peel for the rings; Uranus - regular size marshmallow; Neptune - banana; Pluto - miniature marshmallow! I placed everything on my icy tray from Pampered Chef so they stayed cool...and my kids thought this snack was really "cool!" <br />
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Another very educational snack we had was a plate of Oreo cookies - portraying the Phases of the Moon!! I saw this idea on <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/mrstmnt/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> and HAD to do it. So yummy and so smart! We also read a book about the moon and it's phases right before we had this snack. I was so proud a few nights later when my 4-year old pointed out the "half moon" in the sky! I just used a butter knife to scrape off the extra frosting we didn't need for each shape... but it was all reused in the remaining "top cookies" to create extra Oreos to eat. <br />
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A very quick and easy dessert I made one day was Night Sky Chocolate Pudding! I literally made this in a couple minutes while my kids were playing and they hardly noticed I was gone, it went so fast. This is also a great recipe your kids can make on their own! Make some instant chocolate pudding and as it is setting, sprinkle some mini marshmallows on top to be the stars. Use a sharp knife or kitchen shears to cut out a crescent shape from a regular size marshmallow to be a moon! I like making single servings ahead of time so after dinner it is so fast and easy to pull these out of the refrigerator for a yummy and special dessert.<br />
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One day this week we went to pick strawberries (not space related but fun!) so naturally I made strawberry shortcake! I did make it with a star theme to go with our space week, butt then I turned it into a red white and blue dessert so I wrote about separately for the 4th of July and you read that blog post <a href="http://walkinthesunshineblog.blogspot.com/2014/06/red-white-and-blue-strawberry-shortcake.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>. <br />
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<br />"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-54415911432697436112014-06-11T11:38:00.001-07:002014-06-11T11:38:33.794-07:00Red White and Blue Strawberry Shortcake 4th of July Dessert!This was the second year we went to pick strawberries and we love it! What a fun outing! Such easy fruit to pick and what a delicious prize! We were so lucky to make it out before they closed for the season - we went on the very last day!! All the strawberries we picked were super ripe and very sweet. I made two batches of strawberry shortcake because it was so popular with my family! One day, I decided to make it a little special and created a new 4th of July dessert! We actually like to eat it for breakfast, too!<br />
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First make your shortcake. I used a baking mix and had my batter ready in minutes. As you're putting it onto the cookie sheet, press the batter through a star-shaped cookie cutter. It'll be a little poofy so you'll need to squeeze the corners to be sure it's shaped like a good star. Before you put it in the oven, sprinkle some blue sugar sprinkles on your stars. Then bake like usual.<br />
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While that's baking, you'll create the strawberry sauce. Cut up several strawberries into small, bite size pieces. When you have about 1 1/2 cups, sprinkle them with sugar. I never measure mine, but it's probably about 1/2 a cup of sugar. Seal your strawberries in a gallon size plastic bag, or in a bowl with a lid so you can mix it up. The more you mix it,the more syrupy the strawberries will become.<br />
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Spoon some strawberry mixture onto a warm shortcake and serve with whipped cream. Delish!"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-41162910802690715982014-06-03T17:55:00.000-07:002014-06-03T17:55:22.020-07:00Children's Books and DVDS With a Space ThemeThe next week for our <a href="http://www.walkinthesunshineblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/big-little-summer-plans.html" target="_blank">MOMS Camp</a> is "Blast Off!" It's a week about space, rockets, planets, and the moon and stars. I'm hoping to make a trip to our city's Planetarium this week, along with an amusement park so we can go on a rocket ride! Each day we will read books and watch DVD's having to do with space.<br />
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Here's a list of some space-themed children's books to read:<br />
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The Planets by Martha E. H. Rustad<br />
Rockets and Spaceships by Karen Wallace (beginning reader)<br />
National Geographic Kids: Planets by Elizabeth Carney (beginning reader)<br />
Space Shuttles by Colleen Sexton<br />
Glow In The Dark Constellations by C.E. Thompson (This one has more print than I would normally read to my own kids, ages 4 and 7, but the glow in the dark pictures are great!)<br />
Stars and Constellations by Nick Hunter (this one about constellations is a little more readable) <br />
Zoom, Rocket, Zoom! by Margaret Mayo<br />
A Trip Into Space by Lori Haskins Houran (love this rhyming book!)<br />
Stars by Mary Lyn Ray (not what you'd expect!)<br />
Green Wilma Frog In Space by Tedd Arnold<br />
The Moon by Robert Louis Stevenson, pictures by Tracey Campbell Pearson<br />
and of course, Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown!<br />
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Here's a list of some space-themed DVD's to watch, listed with movies first:<br />
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Wall-E<br />
Muppets in Space<br />
Escape From Planet Earth<br />
Fly Me To The Moon (this one was really cute and showed some very realistic stuff from NASA!)<br />
Megamind<br />
Space Buddies<br />
Star Wars Saga<br />
VeggieTales: Veggies in Space<br />
Backyardigans: Mission to Mars<br />
Tom and Jerry In Space<br />
Cat in the Hat: Space is the Place!<br />
Curious George: Rocket Ride and Other Adventures!<br />
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Finally, a fun CD to listen to with your kids is Rocketship Run by the Laurie Berkner Band"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-12850810377972827582014-06-03T12:15:00.002-07:002014-06-03T12:15:21.379-07:00Fun Weather Crafts for KidsDuring our Weather Week of <a href="http://Our last craft we made during our Weather Week of MOMS Camp was a wind sock - and it was definitely the most popular craft of the week! We each decorated an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of card stock for it. My daughter and I chose to paint ours, but my son (age 4) isn't always willing to sit for such long crafts so he drew on his with marker and added stickers. When the paint was dry, we turned them over and taped strips of crepe paper to the bottom edge. Each strip was about 18 inches. This was great cutting practice for my preschooler! Then we rolled up the card stock and stapled it together to make a cylinder. I used a hole puncher to add two holes across from each other at the top. Before punching the holes, I reinforced the card stock with pieces of tape on each side where the holes would go. Finally, I tied a piece of yarn through both holes (again, about 18 inches in length). Now we can hang them for decoration and my kids LOVED running around with their wind sock flying out behind them! " target="_blank">MOMS Camp</a> we made several fun crafts! <br />
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Part of our week was all about clouds - learning the different types and reading books about them. My personal favorite is Little Cloud by Eric Carle, in which a single cloud changes into several different shapes, like a rabbit, a shark, and a clown! After reading this book we used white paint and cotton balls to paint our own cloud shapes. Naturally my daughter made hers into a lamb! We also added lots of white paint to the middle of a sheet of construction paper, then folded it in half to make a new blob shape for a cloud. We used my favorite paint, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Crayola-Washable-Kids-Paint-Bottles/dp/B00004UBH3/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401820097&sr=8-1&keywords=crayola+kids+paint" target="_blank">Crayola Washable Kids Paint</a>.<br />
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My daughter loved painting with cotton balls so much, she came up with her own project! It started when she wanted to use her favorite color (brown) to paint with... and it turned into a tornado! Later, when the paint was dry, she added lots of stickers to portray animals and bugs that might be swept up in the tornado! This project was so much fun to do!<br />
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Another fun project was finger painting with sun block! I squirted a little bit of sun block onto a plastic lid and we used our fingers to paint with it on black construction paper. You can use any dark color of paper. Be sure the sun block is kind of thick as you're painting. Then you leave it out in the sun for a couple hours and watch how the sun fades the paper's color all around your design! The sun block will evaporate and your design will be left on the paper in the original dark color! This is a fun way to teach your kids how sun block really does protect your skin!<br />
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At the beginning of the week, we made a homemade rain gauge! This was in idea from <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/mrstmnt/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a>.
You'll need an empty plastic bottle, all washed out with the label
taken off. Cut off the top part and turn it upside down, then place it
inside to keep water from evaporating out later. I used an old steak
knife to cut our bottle, and covered the rough edges with duct tape. Use
a ruler to mark your measurements on one side, then you can decorate
your bottle with permanent markers! We left our rain gauge outside all
week, with a chance of rain every day... but it barely rained at all! My
daughter (age 7) still had fun going out to check it each day though.
Here's a picture of the one we saw online:<br />
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Here's ours as we made it:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_CaHxqofqww/U44ZOjI2m0I/AAAAAAAABok/JHW1zQkQNC4/s1600/IMG_0489.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_CaHxqofqww/U44ZOjI2m0I/AAAAAAAABok/JHW1zQkQNC4/s1600/IMG_0489.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a>"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-57607625268924448432014-06-03T12:13:00.001-07:002014-06-03T12:13:20.212-07:00Windsock Craft for KidsOur last craft we made during our Weather Week of <a href="http://www.walkinthesunshineblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/big-little-summer-plans.html" target="_blank">MOMS Camp</a>
was a wind sock - and it was definitely the most popular craft of the
week! We each decorated an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of card stock for it. My
daughter and I chose to paint ours, but my son (age 4) isn't always
willing to sit for such long crafts so he drew on his with marker and
added stickers. <br />
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When
the paint was dry, we turned them over and taped strips of crepe paper
to the bottom edge. Each strip was about 18 inches. This was great
cutting practice for my preschooler! Then we rolled up the card stock
and stapled it together to make a cylinder. <br />
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I
used a hole puncher to add two holes across from each other at the top.
Before punching the holes, I reinforced the card stock with pieces of
tape on each side where the holes would go. Finally, I tied a piece of
yarn through both holes (again, about 18 inches in length). <br />
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Now we can hang them for decoration and my kids LOVED running around with their wind sock flying out behind them!<br />
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"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-15061708227587534192014-06-02T06:52:00.003-07:002014-06-02T06:52:39.083-07:00Fun Kids Recipes - Weather Theme!Throughout our Weather Week of MOMS Camp, we made several fun recipes including snacks, side dishes, a breakfast, and desserts!<br />
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For a new take on "sunny side up eggs" we made an easy Sunshine Breakfast! This fun and simple meal of scrambled eggs and toast is from a previous post I did in 2012. You can read more about it <a href="http://walkinthesunshineblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/easy-sunshine-breakfast.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>. For my son's breakfast this time, I made his with cinnamon-sugar toast!<br />
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A fun side dish we made at lunch one day was Rainbow Fruit Kabobs! This idea was one I found on <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/mrstmnt/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a>. I used different fruits than what was suggested, just because it was what I already had in my fridge plus when I went to the store for more I opted out of spending so much for blueberries! My kids don't really eat them anyway. The fruits I did use were: Strawberries; Oranges; Pineapple; Kiwi; and Blackberries. I used plastic kids' chopsticks as my sticks. My daughter loved these!<br />
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Another rainbow side dish we made was Rainbow Veggies which I served at dinner one day. This was also an idea from <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/mrstmnt/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a>. I used slices of red, orange, yellow, and green peppers for the rainbow, and cauliflower for the clouds. I also added on a "pot of gold".... ranch dressing that I dyed gold with orange food coloring! This was the first time my daughter ate ALL her peppers so this recipe will definitely hit my table again some time!<br />
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Finally, two different desserts we made this week both looked like clouds! One was Cloudy Day Jell-O. I served squares of Jell-O with puffs of whipped cream throughout to look like clouds. To get this awesome sky blue color I used COTTON CANDY flavored gelatin! It was so yummy!! I found it at Wal-Mart and had never heard of the brand Kid's Kitchen before but it was totally worth it and delicious!<br />
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A second dessert this week was my Blue Sky Float! I used vanilla ice cream in clear glasses. Meanwhile, I dyed some clear lemon-lime soda blue with food coloring. I used 5 drops to get the deep blue color I wanted. When that was poured into the glasses with vanilla ice cream it turned a little lighter and the ice cream looked like clouds! Another hit with my kids and so simple!<br />
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"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-72104349295193748292014-05-27T15:01:00.002-07:002014-05-27T15:01:12.208-07:00Childrens Books and Movies for a Weather ThemeSummer Vacation is here and MOMS Camp 2014 has begun! MOMS Camp is something I came up with several years ago to make the most of my time with my kids during the summer. It stands for Make Our Moments Special. I've given each week over the summer a different theme. Throughout each week we'll explore that theme with activities, crafts, movies, books, and outings. <br />
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First off we have "Weather Week!"... complete with sunshine, clouds, rain, wind, storms, tornadoes, and ending with rainbows! We are focusing on the weather that we will be experiencing this time of year here in Kansas. This is the one time ALL SUMMER I'll be happy to see thunderstorms in the forecast! haha!<br />
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<br />A list of books we will read this week are:<br />
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Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett<br />
Freddy The Frogcaster by Janice Dean<br />
Clouds by Marion Dane Bauer <br />
Little Cloud by Eric Carle<br />
The Police Cloud by Christoph Niemann<br />
In Like a Lion Out Like a Lamb by Marion Dane Bauer <br />
Molly and the Storm by Christine Leeson<br />
Stormy Weather by Debi Gliori <br />
Extreme Weather: Tornadoes by Anne Wendorff<br />
Over the Rainbow by Eric Puybaret<br />
A Fairy Ballet by Daisy Meadows<br />
Rainbow Magic: The Weather Fairies Set by Daisy Meadows<br />
Elmer and the Rainbow by David McKee <br />
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DVD's I've checked out from the library for this week include:<br />
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Sid the Science Kid: Weather Kid Sid<br />
Sid the Science Kid: What is a Rainbow?<br />
Elmos's World: The Great Outdoors (includes an episode called Weather)<br />
Sesame Street: Elmo's Rainbow and Other Spring Stories<br />
Dora the Explorer: Shy Rainbow<br />
Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs (1 and 2!)<br />
The Wizard of Oz<br />
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<br />"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-31394610685366997992014-02-07T12:58:00.000-08:002014-02-07T12:58:04.884-08:00Hand Print Snowflake Project <br />I love making little projects with my kids' hand prints. It is such a fun way to remember how small their sweet hands are at this age! We got pretty crafty during a recent snow day home from school so I took the opportunity to make a project with some hand print snowflakes!<br />
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As always, I used Kids Washable Crayola Paint. I painted a mix of light and dark blue on one of their hands and made the prints on white construction paper. To make the snowflake, you'll need to do multiple prints, each a little off center from the one before. We did 6-8 prints for each snowflake. Reapply the paint after every two hand prints so it doesn't get too used up.<br />
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Before the paint was dry, I had my kids sprinkle glitter (yay!) on their snowflake. This kind of paint dries very quickly so you need to move fast. We used white glitter.<br />
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Meanwhile, I created a sign for our snowflakes on a sheet of 6x12 bright blue card stock. I used a silver metallic permanent marker to write "Our Little Snowflakes" and then added the year.<br />
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Once the snowflakes were dry, I cut them out and used a hold punch to add a hole at the top of each, as well as a hole for each on my sign. I used varying lengths of white yarn to attach my snowflakes to the sign. Here's how I made it look nice without any knots:<br />
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I threaded the yarn through as a loop into the snowflake hole.<br />
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Then I passed the two open ends of yarn through that loop and pulled tight. If your hole breaks, just reinforce it with clear tape and punch another hole through that.<br />
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Next I threaded both loose ends of my yarn UP through the hole in my sign. Wrap your two loose ends around the yarn connecting to the snowflake and tie a knot behind that.<br />
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Use tape to secure the knot to the back of your sign and pull tight.<br />
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This is such a cute decorate to have in my kitchen now - and it is one to save and pull out again each winter! I made one with my friend's children as a fun gift for her and we used blue paper as a background for our white and light blue painted hand prints. <br />
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<br />"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-55234623582434769822014-02-05T16:00:00.001-08:002014-02-05T16:00:33.520-08:00Snow Day Fun - Indoor Carnival!Being stuck inside on a snow day is no excuse for boredom! I decided to transform my whole house into an indoor carnival when my two kids were home from school on a very cold snow day. Each room had a couple different games in it and I acted as their ring master to guide them from game to game. As my kids watched tv, I set it all up and had it ready to play, but then my kids had a fun time coming up with their own games! My daughter even set up a prize stand in her room, assigning points to each item so it was a great bit of math practice when it was time to cash in our prizes!<br />
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Here are a few of the games I came up with:<br />
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I used Washable Crayola markers to draw a huge target on our living room windows and had the kids shoot their dart guns at it.<br />
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We bounced plastic buttons into a display of plastic trays... from the Dollar Spot at Target! Score!<br />
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Just timing each other while we did a simple puzzle was really fun. <br />
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Here's my favorite one: a water shooting gallery!! I drew several
circles across the back of my bathtub using Washable Crayola markers.
Then the kids stood next to the tub and shot at the dots with water
guns! The only thing to get wet was my bathtub, and as they kept
shooting, the colored dots disappeared! We actually re-did this game a
few times because it was such a big hit!<br />
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Here's a giant ring toss consisting of a hula hoop and a skinny little shelf I had in our family room. You just need something sturdy enough that it won't fall over when the ring hits it! Even a person sitting down will work - we did it that way too. ;O)<br />
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We tossed a small basketball into a large basket in our hallway...<br />
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... and I set up a bean bag toss using a few bowls from our kitchen. Check out a Valentine's Day version I made <a href="http://walkinthesunshineblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/valentines-day-party-bean-bag-toss.html" target="_blank">HERE</a> that shows how to make homemade bean bags!<br />
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We did have a few other simple games, and then my kids' games they made up got a little silly, but it was definitely a fun and different way to spend some time at home on a snow day! Plus we got prizes! Have fun! <br />
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<br />"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-51174593965583057102013-09-20T08:20:00.001-07:002013-09-20T08:20:43.319-07:009 Fun Ways To Practice Spelling WordsMy daughter is in the first grade this year and already has a weekly spelling test! I can't believe how difficult the words have gotten after just a couple of weeks! We try to practice the words daily, but simply having her write them down is pretty boring. Here are several fun ideas I came up with to help her practice. Now my daughter feels like she's actually having fun and playing when she's really studying! I'm so proud to report she hasn't scored lower than 100% on a spelling test yet!<br />
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1. Glitter!<br />
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I filled a flat, rectangular plastic container with glitter and let my daughter write her letters in it. Glitter is so much prettier than sand and you can choose any color! It only took a couple ounces of glitter to fill the bottom - you don't need very much. We use the bottom tip of a permanent marker as our writing utensil. <br />
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2. Cup Stacking!</div>
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Get an inexpensive package of plastic cups and write large letters on them with permanent markers. I went through my daughter's weekly list of words to determine which letters I for sure need, and if I need any doubles. Now have your child stack the letters and spell their words! For added fun, let them knock down their spelling tower after each correct word. Click <a href="http://walkinthesunshineblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/spongebob-squarepants-bean-bag-toss.html" target="_blank">HERE</a> for instructions on how to make your own bean bags!</div>
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3. Painting With Water!<br />
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We used our Aquadoodle mat to paint out her spelling words one day, but you can also paint with water on regular paper... or your driveway, or a concrete wall, or your garage door! Just use a regular paint brush and plain water. <br />
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4. Play Doh!<br />
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Use a set of letter cookie cutters to spell words in Play Doh. I got my letters as part of a set of 100 cookie cutter from Wal-Mart for cheap! You can create each individual word, or make lots of letters and use them to spell words on a separate sheet of paper.<br />
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5. Make A Spelling "Puzzle"!<br />
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I love these little foam puzzles and so do my kids! You can buy them at the Dollar Tree for...what else? A dollar. They come in a set of 9 and are all interlocking. My kids love to build shapes and roads with them. NOW we spell words with them, too! Use a permanent marker to write letters on the backs. I made lower case letters this time and added an underline to avoid confusion. <br />
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<br />6. Spell With Sticks!<br />
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Write letters on the end of craft sticks and have your child use them to spell out words. We tuck our sticks into our count down calendar because it has great pockets. You can also just lay your sticks out on the table, or poke them into another pocket such as an apron. OR stick them into a clump of Play Doh so they'll stick up! <br />
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7. Find The Letter!<br />
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Here is a chart I made out of a 12" x 12" sheet of card stock. Write the whole alphabet on it, in large letters. Now cut off the end of a toilet paper or paper towel tube. Have your child use this to circle each letter in the word they're spelling! This feels a little reminiscent of a Ouija Board, but there's nothing scary about passing that spelling test!<br />
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8. Play School!<br />
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My daughter loves to play school, especially when I'm the student and she gets to be the teacher! One tactic I use is to raise my hand and ask her how to spell a word. Of course it happens to be on her spelling list! She loves writing on her chalkboard and she really loves "teaching" me!<br />
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9. Tablet! <br />
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This last idea is so simple but I felt like a genius when I thought of it. Have your child practice writing their spelling words on a Magna Doodle type board or even a tablet. It's easy to erase when they mess up or are ready for the next word. It still feels like playing because it's not a plain piece of paper and a pencil... and you can grab it on the go without having a hard surface to write on or worry about losing a pencil in bed, on the couch, in the car... or where ever!<br />
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<br />"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-91857211044163751512013-09-02T19:53:00.000-07:002013-09-02T19:59:38.723-07:00Octopus Theme Party Ideas - Food**This blog talks about the food I served at my son's Octopus Theme Party. Check out my other blogs to read about the <a href="http://walkinthesunshineblog.blogspot.com/2013/09/octopus-theme-party-ideas-favors.html" target="_blank">PARTY FAVORS</a> and <a href="http://walkinthesunshineblog.blogspot.com/2013/09/octopus-theme-party-ideas-party-games.html" target="_blank">GAMES</a>.<br />
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I decided to serve a simple lunch for my son's summer party because I knew the kids (and moms) would be hungry after swimming! <br />
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After scavenging <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/mrstmnt" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> for ideas, I settled on a few common choices.<br />
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Octo-dogs: a hot dog cooked, then cut to look like an octopus. You see these everywhere!! To make it easier, I cooked them and cut them ahead of time (over the stove on a frying pan in a bit of bacon grease). I also cooked several regular hot dogs and placed them in buns. Then I wrapped each hot dog in foil and placed them on a cookie sheet in the oven set at 140 degrees. They stayed warm until we were ready to eat and didn't dry out! *octo-dog in photo is not a cooked one per one little boy's request...<br />
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Octopus Bananas!<br />
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Octopus
dip: this was really clever! Start with an orange pepper and cut off
the bottom. Turn it upside down and draw on a face. I just used
permanent marker because we didn't plan on eating this part. Then cut 8
strips of pepper to create the tentacles. Set all this up in a bowl of
dip to look like your octopus is swimming in the dip! Use extra strips
of the pepper and crackers for dipping.<br />
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Octopus cake: I baked a small, single-layer cake for this one and covered it with homemade blue frosting. Click <a href="http://walkinthesunshineblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/lizard-birthday-cake.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>
for my frosting recipe. I used plenty of frosting and used a swirling
motion to make it look like waves. Finally, I created small gummy
octopuses on top by using a Dots candy for each body, and small gummy
worms cut in half for the tentacles. I made just enough candy octopuses
for each guest so everyone got one.<br />
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Finally, here's the cute octopus plates I found on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005OVWZE4/ref=oh_details_o02_s02_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1" target="_blank">Amazon</a>!</div>
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<br />"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-69184711196647128602013-09-02T17:21:00.003-07:002013-09-02T19:57:05.207-07:00Octopus Theme Party Ideas - Favors*This blog talks about some party favors for our Octopus Theme Party. Check out my other blogs to read about the <a href="http://walkinthesunshineblog.blogspot.com/2013/09/octopus-theme-party-ideas-party-games.html" target="_blank">GAMES</a> and <a href="http://walkinthesunshineblog.blogspot.com/2013/09/octopus-theme-party-ideas-food.html" target="_blank">FOOD </a><br />
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I always love to send the kids home from a party with fun favors but I'm not a fan of the typical tiny erasers and cheap plastic toys that will just end up in the trash. Not to mention our guests were pretty young and those ideas posed a choking hazard!! Here's what I came up with:<br />
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Octopus Suckers: I used colorful pipe cleaners to create octopus
suckers out of Tootsie Pops. Here are step by step photo instructions:<br />
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Octopus Balloon Animals: ever since I took my kids to a free outdoor concert over the summer, they have been obsessed with the balloon animals they got there! I bought an inexpensive set at Walmart for just $5 that included 20 long balloons and a pump. The pump is most important!! Those balloons were pretty tight and kept popping so I ordered a larger bag of 100 professional balloons from Amazon. You can find them <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GTLDIS/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1" target="_blank">HERE</a>. <br />
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I found a video online that gave instructions on how to create your own octopus balloon animals. It really wasn't that hard and it was a fun gift to pass out! They also made fun decorations before the kids went home! Here is the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V_hJEFD9cs" target="_blank">video I used! </a><br />
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Finally, here's some octopus party blow outs I found on Amazon:<br />
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<br />"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-71883755316457166012013-09-02T17:07:00.002-07:002013-09-02T20:01:52.059-07:00Octopus Theme Party Ideas - Party GamesEver since my daughter was born in 2007, I have given her a Halloween Party every year just for fun (even when she was only 6 months old!!). When my son was born in 2010, I wanted to give him a part each year for fun, too, but couldn't decide on a holiday to celebrate so he gets a summer party each year! I admit it's usually been an "end of summer" party because I always get so busy with our other happenings that I don't get around to planning it until school is upon us!!<br />
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This year, my son chose the theme of Octopuses for his party! Once you pick a theme for any gathering, planning the details just falls into place.<br />
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This blog features the games I came up with for our party. Check out the other two parts to read about the <a href="http://walkinthesunshineblog.blogspot.com/2013/09/octopus-theme-party-ideas-food.html" target="_blank">FOOD</a> and <a href="http://walkinthesunshineblog.blogspot.com/2013/09/octopus-theme-party-ideas-favors.html" target="_blank">PARTY FAVORS</a>! <br />
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Ocean Animals Search: I found a package of small plastic ocean animals which included one octopus at a huge toy store near us called <a href="http://www.ustoy.com/" target="_blank">US Toy</a>. While the kids were playing in a separate room, I hid all twelve sea dwellers around my living room. This was a group of children ranging in age 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 so the hiding spots weren't too difficult! I had the kids come in the room to search for the animals. Whoever found the octopus was the winner! <br />
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Ink the Octopus: A couple days before the party, I drew a large octopus on my garage doors using sidewalk chalk. This was a really fun set up activity to do with my son because he got to participate with me! When all our guests arrived, this was also a great back drop for a group photo!! Also before the party, I spent about an hour filling up water balloons so they would be all ready for the big day. I filled up a large cooler (on wheels) with about 200 water balloons. I had the kids throw the balloons at the octopus drawing to make him "disappear!"<br />
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<br />"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-56288876605484577362013-07-15T05:35:00.000-07:002013-07-15T05:35:44.692-07:00Cave DrawingsOne of our favorite parts of Cave Week was learning about cave drawings!! We read a cute book about "Grunt! The Primitive Cave Boy" by Timothy Bush. In it a boy draws animals on his cave walls and they come to life. Then we decided to create our own cave drawings!<br />
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I used two huge sheets of brown packing paper to tape on our own "cave" walls (a corner in the living room we covered with blankets). I had been saving that packing paper for months! It originally came in a package I'd ordered from Amazon and I knew it would come in handy!<br />
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We decorated our cave walls using crayons. Each of us got to do a different section. To find some real examples of cave drawings we could replicate, we took to the internet to find pictures of real examples of cave paintings. Here are the links to the ones we really liked: <br />
<a href="http://www.langlibrary.org/index.php?news&nid=28" target="_blank"></a><br />
<br /><a href="http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1366&bih=638&tbm=isch&tbnid=xNCeoVBYRaxOhM:&imgrefurl=http://depositphotos.com/8178726/stock-illustration-Cave-painting---primitive-art---vector.html&docid=cxXZxf46Zzgy0M&imgurl=http://static8.depositphotos.com/1007350/817/v/950/depositphotos_8178726-Cave-painting---primitive-art---vector.jpg&w=950&h=950&ei=cCa6UfLLAYO88wTA24DACA&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:24,s:0,i:172&iact=rc&page=2&tbnh=187&tbnw=187&start=11&ndsp=21&tx=147&ty=111" target="_blank">One</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.langlibrary.org/index.php?news&nid=28" target="_blank">Two</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.langlibrary.org/index.php?news&nid=28" target="_blank">Three</a><br />
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This was such a fun project because it involved learning, a creative project, and imaginative play! Molly (6) loved finding real examples of cave drawings and discussing what each image stood for or what story it would tell. As for the actual drawing part? My kids ventured in their cave to keep adding to it all week! Finally, both of them had a blast pretending to be cave men.... or even explorers discovering the drawings we'd done and speculating about the cave men who lived there. Weeks later our cave drawings are still up!<br />
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"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-64051996467041020822013-07-03T14:59:00.002-07:002013-07-03T14:59:37.322-07:00Oil Pastels Firework Project for KidsWhen I was a kid I loved drawing with oil pastels so I bought some recently for my own daughter, now 6. I have been waiting for a special project to get them out and came across a neat one on <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/mrstmnt/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a>. We had so much fun doing this "big kid craft" together during her little brother's nap one day. I can't find the original blog this is based off of, but here's my version: <br />
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Start with a sheet of white paper and draw several fireworks using the pastels (love them!). My daughter chose to use all patriotic colors but I went kind of wild. Start by drawing a circle, making sure it's pretty thick. Add a second and third circle around that one using different colors. <br />
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Now use your finger to smear it out from the center outwards.<br />
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My daughter wasn't a fan of this process but I thought it looked cool. I used Crayola brand oil pastels and my fingers washed off really easily afterward.<br />
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Now draw several lines from the center out. You can use different colors and different lengths to make it look like a real exploding firework.<br />
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Once you've drawn several fireworks, it's time to create the night sky! Use water colors and fill in the whole sheet. The oil based pastels will show right through! We used black, blue, and purple water colors with plenty of water. Before the whole thing is dry, sprinkle on some glitter just because. :O)<br />
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If you wanted to skip the paint part, just make your oil pastel fireworks on a sheet of black construction paper instead of white. I love how these look and it was so fun sitting next to my little girl creating them because it was a two step process and made for some great quality time! Happy Fourth of July!!<br />
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<br />"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-81303530480288786962013-07-03T14:28:00.002-07:002013-07-03T14:28:42.325-07:00Uncle Sam Paper Plate Mask Here is a fun and simple project to make with your kids for the Fourth of July! You probably have everything you need already around your house.<br />
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UNCLE SAM PAPER PLATE MASK!<br />
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My 3 year old was able to do it mostly by himself with some prep work by me. My daughter, age 6, also had fun making one! Her favorite part was coloring the hat. Here's what you'll need:<br />
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- paper plate<br />
- white card stock or construction paper <br />
- scissors<br />
- glue<br />
- crayons<br />
- cotton balls<br />
- craft stick <br />
- stapler plus tape<br />
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Start by cutting out the center of a paper plate. I did this part for both my kids. Then cut out a hat shape from your white card stock. Older children can cut this out on their own. Have your children decorate the hat with red and blue crayons.<br />
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Use glue to attach cotton balls to the bottom half of the paper plate. This is Uncle Sam's beard! I was so proud of my 3 year old during this part - he put the cotton balls in a perfect line and DIDN'T MAKE A MESS!! Woo hoo!!<br />
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Use an apricot colored crayon to fill in the blank white part of the paper plate. Now attach the hat to the top of your paper plate using a stapler. Be sure the smooth side of the staple is facing the back so it won't scratch your child's face.<br />
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Use strong tape (or a hot glue gun) to attach a craft stick to the back of your mask so you can hold it!<br />
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<br />"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-78501206093496839792013-07-02T20:37:00.001-07:002013-07-02T20:37:26.610-07:00Fourth of July PancakesI wanted to make some special recipes for my kids since the Fourth of July is just around the corner. After many searches on Pinterest, I thought I was destined to include strawberries and blueberries into EVERYTHING. That's fine and good but it got a little old. So I came up with something new: Firework Pancakes! They were so simple!!<br />
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I started with a regular recipe for pancake mix, but divided it into three separate bowls. I used about 7 drops of blue food coloring in one, then about 12 drops of red food coloring in another. I used more red so it didn't look so pink! Leave the biggest amount plain for white.<br />
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Set the burner a little lower than normal so you have some time to work with each pancake before it cooks! Start with a small circle of blue, then quickly surround it with a circle of red, and finally a circle of white.<br />
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I spread out the center using a chopstick. Make several lines from the inside out to create your firework. <br />
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Cook your pancake like normal. Note that only one side will have the firework design. I also made single red and blue and white ones so I could add chocolate chips. Yum!<br />
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What a fun breakfast for your kids! Aaaaand you can serve it with strawberries and blueberries if you wish it. ;O)<br />
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<br />"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-41425328658309071162013-06-23T18:24:00.001-07:002013-06-23T18:24:44.690-07:00Fun Cave Activities and Crafts for Kids<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
My theme for last week's <a href="http://walkinthesunshineblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/big-little-summer-plans.html" target="_blank">MOMS Camp</a> was all about CAVES! My kids are way into caves recently so I decided to make a whole week of activities based around them. At first I felt kind of limited, but then I was surprised at how much I came up with and what a successful week it was! </div>
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Here is a list of fun activities and crafts we made during our cave week: </div>
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- Naturally we made a giant cave in the living room out of blankets. We used an old baby gate (the kind that stands on it's own and makes a giant hexagon when linked together) to really add some space. It stayed up for a whole day and we had a blast laying in it to watch a movie; read books; and pretend to be bats, dinosaurs, bears, and even monsters. </div>
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- Here is a fun and quick <a href="http://www.playcreateexplore.com/2012/11/paper-bag-bear-cave-craft-learning.html?m=1" target="_blank">CRAFT</a> we made that I found on <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/mrstmnt/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a>. You can make a mini cave out of a paper lunch sack. We used ours as a home for Molly's mini plastic dinosaurs, and later a tiny plush bear.</div>
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- We took TWO awesome trips this week!! First we went to the Omaha Zoo in Nebraska with my mom. We had visited before and knew all about their "Kingdom of the Night" exhibit, featuring bats and other cave-dwellers, as well as just nocturnal animals. That and a couple other exhibits featured areas that looked just like caves and the animals that lived in them! Seeing the bats - especially the Giant African Fruit Bat - was so amazing!</div>
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- Our second trip was to Fantastic Caverns in Springfield, MO. It is the only ride-through cave in the U.S. so it was perfect for little feet that tire easily... and a little boy who is obsessed with trailers! Our tour guide was spectacular and the kids really loved being in a real cave. It was really neat to point out the different parts of the cave and formations that we had learned about from our books all week. My favorite part was when they turned of the lights and we got to be in absolute darkness: you literally couldn't see your hand in front of your face. According to our tour guide, if you stayed in absolute darkness for 30 days, you would go completely and permanently blind!! Luckily they turned the lights back on and our tour only lasted for about 50 minutes.</div>
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- We also acted out "We're Going On A Bear Hunt" which was really fun. I was happily surprised at how much my three year old really got into it! Here's what you do: sit on your knees and slap your legs gently with alternating hands to simulate walking as you chant/sing "We're going on a bear hunt/ We're gonna catch a big one/ We're not scared/ What a beautiful day!" Then you act like you come across something in your path: ie "Uh Oh! A river!" Then it's always the same: "We can't go over it. We can't go around it. Oh no! We'll have to go through it!" So then you pretend to swim and say something like "splashity splash! splashity splash! splashity splash!" .... so on and so on.. until you reach a cave and find a bear. He chases you and you have to QUICKLY go back through everything you passed again, doing the motions and sounds. Then you get home, slam the door, run upstairs, and hide under the covers. All while pretending and sitting on your knees. I remember playing this in preschool when I was little and was THRILLED to find a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Were-Going-Bear-Hunt-Anniversary/dp/1416987118/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371960277&sr=8-1&keywords=going+on+a+bear+hunt" target="_blank">BOOK</a> of it which we have read since Molly (age 6) was a baby. </div>
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<br />"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-27100086058302002682013-06-22T20:23:00.002-07:002013-06-22T20:23:09.607-07:00Bath Time Foam RobotsI love finding ways to make bath time more fun for my kids! I read a while ago on <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/mrstmnt/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> to use foam sheets to create a fun bath toy for your kids. I finally decided to make some for our Robot Week of <a href="http://www.walkinthesunshineblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/big-little-summer-plans.html" target="_blank">MOMS Camp</a>. <br />
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Start with a variety of colors of foam sheets. I found mine at Target in their kids' craft section for just a couple bucks. Cut out several shapes just like we did with the felt busy bags. Include regular shapes, as well as silly ones like long zig zags to be robot arms.<br />
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During your kid's bath time, get each foam piece a little wet and it will stick to the side of your tub! Now your child can create robot after robot! Note of warning: if you leave the pink ones stuck on overnight, it will stain your tub!! (oops) Don't fear! It does come off with a quick swipe of a wet cloth. ;O) These are so fun for kids and curbs the complaining at bath time!!<br />
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You could also do the same thing in your kiddie pool in the yard! "Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-42471733294170326512013-06-14T14:40:00.004-07:002013-06-14T14:40:55.068-07:00Fathers Day Footprint GiftFathers Day is this weekend and I have put together another cute idea for my husband. I found the footprint idea on <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/mrstmnt/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> a long time ago, but searched out a quote to pair with it to create a whole project. <br />
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First, start with the foot prints! I used a 12 x 12 sheet of card stock. You might have to print yours at an angle or use a larger piece if the dad's feet are too much bigger than my husband's! While he's away, grab one of his shoes and cover the bottom in paint. I used washable Crayola kids paint (like I do for everything!) Don't worry - it washes off so easily with water and will be dry before he gets home from work! Make an even print of the shoe... you might have to roll it around a little to get the toe, and press down at the arch to get the middle. I practiced with three different pairs of shoes to make sure I got the "coolest" print. Tennis shoes (aka sneakers) seem to work the best.<br />
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After that has dried - which shouldn't be more than 45 minutes, really - grab your largest child and make a footprint right on top of the shoe print. Try to line up the heels to get a good size comparison! Once that one is dry, do another right on top of it. Keep on going until you run out of kids. Be sure to use contrasting (but complimenting) colors so they all show up.<br />
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Meanwhile, I found a saying that I really liked and wrote it out on white construction paper. I just used a Sharpy marker and my regular hand writing but feel free to get all high tech and print it out instead. I never found a source for the quote, so it must just be one of those neat things passing along the internet.<br />
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I used a glue stick to attach the saying to card stock in coordinating colors, and used a paper cutter to get those straight edges. Since it was card stock, I used Glue Dots (love them!) to attach the whole quote to my print.<br />
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"I don't want my kids to follow in my footsteps...<br />
I want them to take the path next to me and go farther than I ever dreamt possible."<br />
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Happy Fathers Day! "Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-36743293665285999282013-06-08T13:31:00.004-07:002013-06-09T08:44:26.893-07:00Robot Crafts and PrintablesHere are few projects we did over the past few days for our robot themed week! I found all of these simple printouts on <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/mrstmnt/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a>.<br />
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We loved this robot <a href="http://www.piikeastreet.com/2010/09/robot-helicopter/" target="_blank">helicopter!</a> I printed one out for each of my kids (plus myself) to color with markers. After you cut it out and fold the legs in opposite directions, it's supposed to twirl down like a helicopter when you drop it. Ours didn't work as well as hoped, but when you weight down the head by adding two strips of scotch tape, it works much better! <br />
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We decorated a cute robot <a href="http://www.amazon.com/RoseArt-Color-Blanks-Set-Figurines/dp/B00AZ0LYTG/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1370791600&sr=8-3-fkmr0&keywords=blank+keychain+robot" target="_blank">key chain</a>! We found ours sold individually at Michael's for less than a dollar apiece but I couldn't find a link for those online. The key chains in the link look the exact same, though! My 6 year old and I decorated ours with permanent markers. Mine had a cubed head so I drew a different facial expression on each side. This was great for emotion recognition practice for my three year old!<br />
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Here's a fun robot <a href="http://www.freecoloring.org/space/robots-coloring-pages.htm" target="_blank">coloring page</a>.<br />
Here's <a href="http://color-the-robot.blogspot.jp/search?updated-max=2010-02-11T02:05:00-08:00&max-results=1" target="_blank">another.</a><br />
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These pages are educational and fun! Here's a cute robot <a href="http://www.education.com/worksheet/article/cutting-squares-robot-prek/" target="_blank">activity.</a><br />
Here's <a href="http://media-cache-ec2.pinimg.com/originals/8c/8b/a5/8c8ba59e96a857f491c8d074b4401718.jpg" target="_blank">another. </a><br />
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Hope this keeps you busy for a while!! "Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-42947590276887152902013-06-08T13:31:00.003-07:002013-06-09T08:03:40.108-07:00Robot Books and MoviesEach week of <a href="http://www.walkinthesunshineblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/big-little-summer-plans.html" target="_blank">MOMS Camp</a> I pick out books and movies to go along with our current theme. This week we did robots because my three year old is really into them. He loves to walk around the house pretending to be a robot and even reprimands me for talking like "a mommy" and not a robot! <br />
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Here's a list of our favorite robot books from the library this week:<br />
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The Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot<br />
by Margaret McNamara and Mark Fearing<br />
(A fun, outer-space version of the Three Little Pigs.)<br />
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Robot Zot<br />
by Ian Scieszka and David Shannon<br />
(Wonderful illustrations and a funny *little* robot who is very silly and brave.)<br />
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The Robobots<br />
by Matt Novak<br />
(A very zany tale of a new robot family that teaches a valuable lesson.)<br />
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See Otto<br />
by David Milgrim<br />
(This is part of a Ready-to-Read series that's perfect for my little blooming reader! It has easy pages, including "Go, Otto, go!" and my daughter (age 6) was so proud to read it to me and her little brother! This one actually has my favorite illustrations, by the way, because they are hilarious.)<br />
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Our favorite robot movies from this week are:<br />
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Wall-E (of course)<br />
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The Iron Giant (my 3 year old son LOVED this one because it includes tanks and weapons, but it might be a little much for your child if they get scared easily at giant angry robots and the military)<br />
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The Backyardigans: Robot Repairman<br />
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<br />"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-18571882896624507322013-06-08T13:31:00.001-07:002013-06-08T13:31:36.174-07:00Busy Bag Idea: Felt Robots!I haven't made a new busy bag for a long time, but Molly is always pulling them out to play with. Click <a href="http://www.walkinthesunshineblog.blogspot.com/2012/09/ive-discovered-busy-bags.html" target="_blank">HERE</a> to read about busy bags and a few other ideas for them! I made a new one that was a big hit with both my kids, ages 3 and 6: Felt Robots!<br />
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Cut out several shapes from colored felt. You can buy single sheets of felt at Walmart for maybe $0.29 each so you can get a good variety of colors. Make some normal shapes like rectangles, squares, circles, and triangles. Naming these shapes is great practice for my three year old. Include plenty of smaller circles and squares to be the buttons! Also make some silly shapes like squiggly lines and crescents (for smiles) to complete your collection. Molly (age 6) helped me cut some shapes this time and got very creative!<br />
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Have your child build a robot out of the felt shapes! This is a fun, quiet project your child can do with or without you. My favorite part was so unexpected - Molly and Ben focused on what each robot would be used for and named what each button would do! What wonderful imaginations!<br />
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"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841548996124710450.post-80705380819334510922013-06-01T06:17:00.000-07:002013-06-01T06:17:42.559-07:00Hand Print Farm! I love doing cute crafts using my kids' hand prints and our farm-themed week gave me an excuse to do plenty! I found ideas to make all these cute animals on <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/mrstmnt" target="_blank">Pinterest</a>. We put them all together on one sheet of green construction paper to create a complete farm! As always we used Washable Crayola Kids Paint. It shows up really well even on colored paper.<br />
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Once the hand prints were dry, we added details with permanent markers. My kids especially liked adding fleece to their sheep by using cotton balls! Regular cotton balls were a little large so I cut them in half before giving them to my kids. We used regular glue to attach the cotton balls. Ben, age 3, got kind of carried away with that part, but I sheered his sheep so you could tell what it was. ;O)<br />
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<br />"Sara"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08385777862419974967noreply@blogger.com0