Rock Houses

If you have been following me for any length of time, you know that I am all about recycling and cheap!  I don't know if I can get any cheaper than this and my kids love this play set.  We washed out some juice and milk cartons, cut them in half and painted them with craft paint.  Then, we cut doors into our little "houses" and added some little details.  Next, we went out into the yard in search of some smallish rocks.  We looked for ones that we were able to stand up.  Then we painted those, added googly eyes and drew on mouths.  Voila!  Done and done.  Cute little play houses for our little pet rocks.  So fun, so cheap and recycling at the same time.  What's not to love??

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Candy Trees

I saw these on Pinterest and knew they were something we just had to try.  How cute are they?  All you need is a couple old fashion ice cream cones (the cone shaped ones, obviously), some frosting and whatever candy you want.  You could use M&M's, gumdrops, peppermints.  We used Skittles.  We tinted the frosting yellow, I asked the kids what color they wanted their trees and that is what they chose.  Then we frosted the cone, placed it on a paper towel and added the details.  So simple and

 "kid-friendly" as my friend stated! 

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Doing Puzzles...With a Twist

My little girl really loves doing puzzles.  So to put a twist on one of her favorite activities, I put all the pieces of her foam alphabet puzzle into a empty baby wipe box.  She reaches in, grabs a letter and then finds the correct spot on her puzzle mat.  She really had a good time not knowing which letter was going to get pulled out next. 



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Spiky Pumpkin Turkeys

I saw some adorable apple turkeys on Pinterest.  That led to me to set this up for the kiddos.  We had several pumpkins that we have been collecting and I couldn't bring myself to just throw them away.  So, I  bought some wooden skewers in the baking aisle at the grocery store.  They were less than 2.00.  I also bought a box of Fruit Loops cereal,  but any cereal with holes in the middle would work too.  We sorted the cereal into colors first (great math, matching, color experience), then the kids pushed the skewers into the pumpkin.  Took quite a bit of muscle to get them pushed in.  Then the kids went to work putting the cereal onto the skewers.  We used some googly eyes and wooden  pieces to make the faces.  So cute....and spiky too!

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TP Roll Feathered Somethings

So I set up our creation station with feathers, empty tp rolls, glue, stickers, markers and crayons.  Then called the kids over and let them get to creating.  Below is what they made.  I was thinking...ya know, TURKEYS...but I have learned not to label what they are "suppose" to make and just let them use their imaginations.  I just love listening to them discuss and problem solve and then watch as they create. 

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Magnetic Attractions

Here is what is in our sensory tub this week.  I got these magnet wands from Discount School Supplies.  Here is a link (magnet wands). You don't need these, although they are very cool and worth the small investment.  You can just use you refrigerator magnets, your kids alphabet magnet letters or those little round ones found at the craft store.  We cut up several pipe cleaners, added some metal lids and tossed in some of the alphabet letters from our playroom.  We are having so much fun discovering and making "hairy" wands.



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Cornstarch Play Dough

We made this wonderful play dough the other day.  It came out so soft and pliable.  It did get a little crumbly, so keep that in mind if you try making this.  Here is the recipe.

2 cups baking soda

1 1/2 cups cornstarch

1 cup of water (add your choice of color to the water)

Mix all the ingredients together in saucepan.  Bring to a boil and cook until thick.  If he dough is too sticky add a little flour or cornstarch and knead. 



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Hammer Time...Pumpkin Style

This was a great big hit with my kiddos today.  I took one of our big pumpkins and put it in the table with golf tees and hammers.  I showed the kids how to hammer the tees into the pumpkin.  Once the tees were in there nice and tight, they were almost impossible to get out.  So, I got out the pliers and showed them how to use them to pry out the tees.  They felt so grown up, hammering and plying.  An all day activity for sure.  Great for hand/eye coordination, problem solving, fine motor development (you know, those muscle needed for writing), and language development, to name just a few of the things they were doing while they were hammering away!



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Squish Prints

We just love doing these.  There is something so satisfying about squirting and squishing!  All you need is some paint and paper.  Have the kids squirt paint onto their paper (I put paint in empty and washed out glue bottles).  Fold the paper over and squish and push the paint around.  It is really neat to feel the paint moving under your fingers.  Then when you open it....voila, a super, duper painting. We added googly eyes to our prints because, well, because the kids asked for them!



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Where's My Mummy?

We have been books and crafts recently.  I guess it easy this time of year.  So, after reading this (super cute) book, we made "jar mummies".  They were so simple and the kids were very excited to light them up.  We simply painted clean, glass jars with DIY Modge Podge, (1/2 water, 1/2 white glue).  Then we wrapped the jar with tulle, (I have tons of tulle) but you could easily use cheese cloth or heck, even white paper.  When they were happy with the wrapping part, they added some googly eyes.  The "mummies" dried overnight and then were ready for a candle and to sit in the window and glow.  Easy peasy and cute, cute, cute!

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"Sorta Like Rain"

This experiment took up most of our afternoon.  It was so fascinating and my son termed it "sorta like rain", which is so true.  The density of the water is more than the shaving cream so the colored water seeps through.  On top of all that, the shaving cream resembles clouds!  Anyway, all you need for this is a clear tub, shaving cream, colored water and some droppers for dripping the water on.  We poured water into the tub, filling it about half way.  Then covered the top with shaving cream.  After that we dripped the colored water on top of the shaving cream and watched the magic begin.  It is fascinating when the colors begin to seep through.  The pictures do not do it justice.  Of course, you can always make some cool prints by pressing paper onto the top of the colored shaving cream and then wiping off the shaving cream.  Makes a neat marbled pictures. 

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Styrofoam Creations

We receive a package in the mail and inside was some cool Styrofoam.  T asked if we could make something with it, so we got out our toothpicks and they got busy.  It is a great fine motor skill and creativity experience.  Below are some of their creations. Just be careful with those sharp points on the ends.  So next time you get something in the mail with those fun chunks of Styrofoam, don't just throw it away....create with it first!

                                                             
                                                                        A Star

                                                                          A Robot

                                                                   An airplane

                                                            
                                                                   and a rocket

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Squash the Spider

For some reason, we have been having a sorts of spider visitors lately.  We have even caught a few in jars to observe.  They are creepy, but so fun to watch. 

We read the book "Squash the Spider" by Nick Ward and then made these spider webs and cute spiders to go with them. 

 To make the spider webs, all you need is some wax paper and white glue.  Squirt the glue onto the wax paper making a spiderweb shape.  You need to make sure all the ends touch or it will be tough to peel off.  When the webs dry, simply peel them off the wax paper. 

 For the spiders, I gave the kids paper and left them to it.  I really thought it was fantastic that they all added 8 legs on their own.  Of course, we had talked about how many legs they have and all that, but I thought it was pretty cool that they all did it!  When they were done creating their spiders, we got some googly eyes to add to them.  I was instructed to hang the spiders from the ceiling, since that is where we usually find the live ones. 

Then we made edible spiders. We used mini chocolate donuts, some pretzel sticks, a little frosting and some m&m's for the eyes. 



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