Sidewalk Art

Sidewalk Chalk Recipe

3/4 Cup of warm water mixed with

1 1/2 Cups of Plaster of Paris and

as much powered tempera paint as your heart desired, within reason of course. Start with tablespoons worth.

For the mold of the chalk I used a water bottle ice cube tray. But when I had my kid's group I used soap molds and made all different shapes. Just let them set over night and (depending on the size mold you used) they'll be ready to write with the next day!

Sidewalk Paint Recipe

1 cup of water mixed with powdered tempera paint. We used about 3 tablespoons of green. Then mix in

1 cup of cornstarch.

That's it! Easy Peasy sidewalk fun!

Children's Book of the Week!

I don't know about anyone else, but sometimes I like a book for the opportunities I have to use silly voices.. This book had about twenty voices!

But, besides that it was really cute. A little boy walks around MoMa looking for his friend Art and instead gets introduced to a whole museum of "art" instead. The end of the book tells of each artist shown in the book.

Short read, but cute!

Another real cute book is 'Whoever you are' by Mem Fox. We read that twice in a row because the message was sweet and clear.

Camping Children's Books!

While out gathering up our camping supplies we researched some books in store as well. Some we saw were..

'Campfire Songs' with lyrics and chords, 'Maisy goes camping' by Lucy Cousins, 'Stella & Roy go Camping' by Asheley Wolff, 'When you are camping' by Anne Lee, 'Looking for a moose' by Phyllis Root and 'Where in the wild'. As well as a ton of kids guides to camping out, exploring and nature.

Once your kid could read and write in handy books, journals and logging books those will be even more fun.

We picked Van up a camping activity book with puzzles, coloring pages and fun facts!

I almost forgot to mention my dopiness from our latest camping trip..

We unpacked our bags into the car at the bottom of our trail and filled them with only what we'll need for the night. Knowing that there were no lakes to swim in, or picnic tables to sit around; I packed Vans stack of library books in my bag while Guy carried everything else in his! It sounds a bit uneven except that Van had about FOURTEEN books.

We then walked uphill for a mile on a rocky trail before reaching a beautiful little clearing to set up camp in.. So two thoughts for the future, ditch these vibrams five fingers that I've been so loyal to for years and years, and never bring books on a hike! I suppose unless you are replacing the weights around your ankles or waist.. Then in that case, books are much more fun!

As for the vibrams, they just do not protect your tootsies against the rough and rocky grounds that a hike entails.

Children's Book of the Week!

This book is ADORABLE!

So cute and interactive. Tickle breaks every other page!

We missed out on the box set that came with the tickle mittens- so if you're looking to buy this book I'd suggest checking online first for that.

Picnic Season!

Ask anyone that knows me- I have a picnic obsession.

We live walking distance from a great park with a perfect space we've claimed as our "picnic spot".

Packed in our basket is always enough for a crowd. Frisbees, football, baseball and gloves, bubbles, sometimes even horseshoes or lawn darts. Keep a blanket in there too, and pack your favorite snacks! But don't forget snacks for your furry park friends..

I always pack fresh produce but it's also nice to have refreshing drinks like strawberry lemonade and a baked treat.

Blueberry Square Recipe

Preheat your oven to 350 and line an 8" cookie sheet with tin foil.

In a large bowl mix together..

1 1/2 cups of uncooked oats

1/2 cup of flour

1/2 cup of packed brown sugar

1/4 Teaspoon of baking soda

1/8 Teaspoon of salt

Mix in 6 tablespoons of melted, unsalted butter until mixture is crumbly.

Reserve 1/2 cup of this mixture for the topping.

Press your mixture into your ungreased, tinfoil lined cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes.

In the meantime, in a saucepan over medium heat..

Mix together 1 1/2 cups of fresh blueberries,

3 Tablspoons of sugar

2 Teaspoons of cornstarch

1 Teaspoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice

for about 2 minutes, stirring often until all of your dry ingredients are clear in your blueberries.

Spoon that onto your warm oatmeal and sprinkle the spare oatmeal mix on top.

Bake for 30 minutes, cute into squares and share!

Another cute idea are fruit-kabobs! Especially with Starfruit being in season!

Recycled Wall Paneling, Part 1

Guys been busy.

We recently moved and have a big, unfinished basement. Straight away he started building a shop; equipped with all sorts of machines and messes. So, naturally before he organized and finished that project, he began another!

With a quick trip up to our local hardware store, he came back with a free roof load of pallets. The hardest part was breaking them apart. Using everything from hammers, mallets, drills to pipes, he used it all to break this wood apart.

Soon as he had a decent pile of wood panels piled up he began his solo project. Hammering to the beams already in place, a wall was built!

..to be continued

"Hands on" Fun

Besides the kids learning about measuring out recipes and feeling new textures, these things keep them busy for hours!

1. Cloud Dough
We filled up an empty toy bucket, laid out a towel on the floor and broke out some of our smaller beach toys. This is by far Vans favorite of them all.
Cloud Dough is easy to vacuum up and leaves a fresh smell to the room!

Mix together 8 cups of flour with 1 cup of baby oil.

2. Rice Tank
Carolina rice, I find to only be tasty in rice pudding. So when the big bag was on sale at the supermarket I bought it strictly for play.
Dumping half of the bag into a large jar with a few drops of rubbing alcohol and food coloring I shook it a ton and left it laid out on a towel overnight to dry.

We went with a grassy green.
Van sat, wrist deep at the counter with an aluminum pan full of rice and little dump trucks every afternoon for about a week!

I warn, this isn't as fun to clean up.

3. Oobleck
This was NOT Vans favorite, but by far mine! One late night we whipped up a batch with friends and couldn't keep our fingers out of it!
Mix together 1 cup of water and 1 1/2 cups of cornstarch in a bowl.
Then, just dig in. Scooping it up as an almost solid and watching it drip through your fingers as a liquid is wild. If you've got a speaker available place your bowl of oobleck atop and watch it dance!

4. Goo
Van quit this before it was even done being made. I didn't push it with hopes that he'll be intrigued about it when he sees us playing in it later.
This goo makes a slimy and cold feel that their little hands are really not used to.
Mix together 1 teaspoon of borax in 1/2 cup of warm water. Pour into a bowl with 8oz of school glue. This will instantly become stringy.

5. Bored Bags

Ok, so we only did this once. But maybe my ONE idea could get your ball rolling!

I had three kids for the day and they were getting bored with everything offered to them. While they watched a movie I whipped up some cupcakes.. Felt cupcakes.

I grabbed every color of wool felt I owned and started cutting. Cupcake shapes, frosting shapes, stripes, polka dots, sprinkles, hearts and other shapes that they can get creative with. I laid out the pieces for them and let them get to building and my, were they some interesting looking cupcakes! When they were done "baking" we cleaned up the pieces into a ziploc.

Two other ideas I had were decorating a big felt Christmas tree with cut-out ornaments, and decorating a big felt face. Cutting out shapes for your template is easier than you may think.

Everything doesn't have to be perfect, just obvious. If I kid doesn't know that those are eyes for their cut-out face they will be easily confused.

Wool felt is cheap! Michaels sells small sheets and Jo-Ann's sells it by the yard.

Have fun! It's easy!