**The Original Harlem Globetrotters Ticket Giveaway**

The Original Harlem Globetrotters are coming to the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia for two games, Friday March 8th at 7PM and Saturday, March 9th at 1PM!

We were treated to our first Harlem Globetrotters experience over the summer and our family absolutely loved the show and had an amazing time!

Known as innovators of the game of basketball for decades, the world famous Harlem Globetrotters are once again introducing something unparalleled in the history of sports and family entertainment, when they visit the Wells Fargo Center.

For the first time ever, fans will decide the rules for the game that could affect the final outcome. Possible rule changes could include playing with two basketballs at once or getting double the points for each basket made. 

***Special Discount***

Click and use password HGMOM to save $7 off tickets!  

Guess what? Thanks to the good folks at the Wells Fargo Center, I have a 4-pack of ticket vouchers to giveaway! They are for the 1PM game on Saturday, March 9th. You will need to turn the vouchers in at the box office for actual tickets. 

Here's 3 easy ways to win:  (You can do all 3 for 3 chances to win!)

1) Leave a comment on this post telling me about the first time you saw The Original Harlem Globetrotters. If you've never seen them, leave a comment telling me why you want to!

2) Subscribe to my blog! Then leave a comment telling me you've done so.  

3) Share this post on your Facebook page and leave a comment to let me know you did.  

 Contest ends Sunday, March 3rd at noon. Winner will be notified by email and has 24 hours to respond or they forfeit their prize. Please be sure to include your email address in your comment so that I can contact you if you win. Good luck!

MYO: Playdough

If you've never made homemade playdough with your kids, you're missing out on a good time. You can use your friend Google to find one of a million recipes to do so. The no cook methods are the easiest. We've tried several recipes and this one is my absolute favorite. It's super easy, you can your kids can whip up a batch in a few minutes and it will provide hours of entertainment. It also smells divine and is the perfect dough consistency. 

Here's what you need: 

1 cup of flour
1/2 cup of salt
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
1 or 2 packets of Kool-Aid drink mic
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil 
1 cup boiling water

Here's what you do:

Combine all of your dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.  Next add the oil and boiling water and mix it with a spoon until it gets nice and firm. Once the dough cools down (it only takes a few minutes), you can dig in and mix it with your hands. If it comes out feeling a little too sticky, you can roll it out on wax paper and add a little more flour.

That's it! Super easy and so much fun!

Another tease from our friends in the Zhu-niverse...

You may have seen my post a few weeks ago announcing the coming of the Zhu-Zhu Pets in their first feature length film, The Quest for Zhu, coming this Fall.

We're HUGE Zhu-Zhu fans at our house and I'm so excited for this movie to come out. The trailers looks so cute, I just know my kids are going to love it!

If you can't get enough Zhu-tastic action either, I've got great news for you. Our friends in the Zhu-niverse have released an extended trailer for The Quest for Zhu!!!

How To Make Rainbow Cupcakes

We kicked off the first day of summer vacation today with a Rainbow Brite Play Date for the boys and a few of their favorite girls. I uncovered one of my favorite movies as a little girl, Rainbow Brite and the San Diego Zoo Adventure, and my guys quickly became obsessed with it!

Our Rainbow Cupcakes were a big hit! They're fun and easy to make, here's how:


1) Prepare a yellow or white cake mix as per the directions on the box. Then divide the cake better evenly into six small bowls. There's no need to measure, it doesn't have to be perfect, just eyeball it. Each bowl of batter will be made into a different color of the rainbow by mixing in food coloring.

For red - 18 drops of red

For orange - 12 drops yellow,4 drops red
For yellow - 12 drops of yellow
For green - 12 drops of green
Blue - 12 drops of blue 
Purple - 9 drops of red, 6 drops of blue 


2) Place baking cups in cupcake pan. Divide the purple batter evenly between in cup, then the blue on top of the purple. Then green, yellow, orange and red. Bake cupcakes as per the directions on the box. 

The result is really cool rainbow or tie dye cupcakes. I'll definitely be making these come next year for St. Patrick's Day! 

The best news I got all day... (The Quest for Zhu)

Have you heard about The "Quest for Zhu"? You haven't? Well...have I got some exciting news for you!

"The Quest for Zhu" is the first feature-length animation from Zhu-Zhu Pets! That's right, folks...the Zhu-Zhu Pets are going to the big on the screen! You heard it here first, kids.

The movie is in partnership with Universal Pictures and will debut in the Fall of 2011. "The Quest for Zhu" will bring the Zhu-niverse to life in 3D. It stars the four original Zhu-ZHu Pets characters - Pipsqueak, NumNums, Mr. Suiggle & Chunk - it's a tale of adventure of heroic proportions that Zhu-Zhu fans of all ages are sure to LOVE!

Beat Spring Break Boredom: Cardboard Tube Bunny Craft

This project, making cute little bunnies from cardboard tubes, is one the whole family can have fun with. Big kids can do most of this project on their own, for little kids you might want to do some of the prep for them before hand. 

Here's what you need (most of which you probably have laying around your house right now):

Cardboard tubes (Paper towel and toilet paper rolls work well, you can cut them down to different sizes to make different sized bunnies. The purple bunny above was made from a duct tape roll.)

Acrylic Craft Paint - These are often on sale at Michael's 2/$1.00. They're super cheap, you can use them on anything and clean up is a breeze. I use them for all projects I do with my kids.

Paint brushes

Scissors

Glue

A paint marker or Sharpie marker

Pom-Poms for the bunnies nose (If you don't have Pom-Poms, you can paint or draw a little nose with marker.)

Wiggly Eyes (Again, a dab of paint or a marker will work just fine if you don't have these.)

Anything else you might want to embellish your bunny with!

Gather all of your supplies, lay some newspaper down and you're ready to roll!

(Pun intended.) 

The first step is to paint your cardboard tubes. In the interest of time, I didn't paint the inside of the tubes. If you're kids are making these to give as Easter gifts or you'll be using them as a centerpiece on a table, then you'll want to paint the inside of the tube too. 

The cardboard tubes are the body of your bunnies. The next step is to make your bunnies ears by cutting strips of cardboard tubes. 

 Fold the strips in half and run a line of glue between the two sides. Squeeze to flatten it. 

 For some reason I thought that super glue would do a super job of this and work much better and quicker than any other glue in my collection. Not so much. And this is why I should never use super glue...

I'll be chewing super glue off my fingers for the next three days.

Moving right along...

Next you are going to paint the ears in pairs to match the cardboard tubes you've already painted. 

Then paint a strip of pink paint down the center of each ear and snip off the sides on the top of each ear to make them look more like bunny ears. My ears could definitely look more like ears.

Now glue the ears to the top inside of each cardboard tube body.

 Starting to actually look like bunnies, right? All that's left to do is give your bunny a face. You can use a paint or sharpie marker to draw your bunnies faces or use wiggly eyes, pom-poms or buttons. 

 You're not allowed to see the white bunny's face. Something went very wrong with the white bunny's face. 

Some ideas as to what to do with your completed Cardboard Tube Bunnies:

Slip your fingers inside the tube and use your bunnies as puppets to act out an Easter skit.

Have your kids give them as Easter gifts to friends and loved ones or as a favor to take home from Easter dinner.

Make a family of bunnies and use them as the centerpiece on your table at Easter dinner.

Make one for each guest at Easter dinner, write their name on the front and use them as seating place markers.

I'd love to hear about your experience and/or see photos if you decide to make these Cardboard Tube Bunnies with your kids!

Beat Spring Break Boredom: Easter Games

The kids are off school for 10 days for Spring Break. Every day this week I'll be posting Easter and Spring arts and crafts projects and other fun ideas to help beat Spring Break boredom!!!

Here are some fun and easy Easter games to play with your kids this week:

Chick, Chick, Bunny!

Put an Easter twist on the traditional game of Duck, Duck, Goose! The game is played the same but instead of saying "Duck, Duck, Goose!", you'll be saying "Chick, Chick, Bunny!". Have everyone sit in a big circle. Including you! You're not too old for Duck, Duck, Goose! You are NEVER too old for Duck, Duck, Goose! Whoever is "it" will walk around the outside of the circle tapping each "chick" on the head saying "Chick, chick..." as they do, until they decide who will be the "bunny". Whoever is chosen as the bunny will stand up and chase the first bunny around the circle. To add some more Easter to the game, instead of having them run around the circle, have them hop like bunnies around the circle. If the first player makes it back around to the empty spot in the circle without being caught, the second player comes the bunny. 

Egg and Spoon Race

Nothing says Easter fun like an egg and spoon race. You can use raw eggs for older children and hard-boiled eggs for younger kids. Divide the players into two groups, have one group line up side by side at one end of the yard and the other group do the same at the opposite end of the yard. Start all the players on one side with an egg and a spoon. Have them place their egg on the spoon and hold the spoon in one hand. On the count of three, they need to race to their partner on the other side of the yard (without dropping their egg) and hand off the spoon and egg to them. The first team to make it back to the starting line wins! You can come up with variations of this to make it easier for younger children or more difficult for bigger kids, like adding laps or setting up a small optical course.

Pin The Tail On The Easter Bunny

Put an Easter spin on the traditional birthday party game of Pin The Tail On The Donkey! Draw a big rabbit shape on a piece of poster board or cardboard. Cut it out and tape it to the wall. Each player gets a cotton ball with double-sided sticky tape attached to it. Line them up, blindfold them and have them (one at a time) try their aim at pinning the tail on the bunny. The child who places their tail closest to the Easter Bunny's tail wins! If you have a lot of kids playing, use markers to color a spot on the cotton balls so you know who's is who's. 

Easter Egg Hunt

You can't go wrong with an Easter Egg Hunt! Fill plastic eggs with small treats toys or coins, hide them inside or out and let the kids go wild searching for them! A neat idea for a family egg hunt is to include special reward coupons inside some of the eggs, such as "This coupon entitles you to an extra 30 minutes of TV time."

Easter Egg Nose Roll Race

This game is sure to give everyone a serious case of the sillies. Each player gets an egg. I'd recommend hard-boiled eggs for this game! Use jump ropes, clothes lines or brooms to set up a start line and a finish line. Line up all the players at the start line, then tell them to get down on their hands and knees and that they have to roll the egg to the finish line using only their noses! Whoever makes it to the finish line, using only their nose to roll the egg, wins. 

Put On Bunny Shadow Puppet Shows

All you need for this is a flashlight, a wall and your own two hands...and maybe a little imagination! Point the flashlight at the wall, put your hand up to the wall until it makes a shadow, you may have to move the flashlight around a bit until you have a sharper picture. Use your hands to make a rabbit shadow puppet and then make up a short story for your rabbit. Whoever comes up with the best story/show wins! (How To Make a Bunny Shadow Puppet: Hold your right hand out in front of you so that you are looking at the palm of your hand. Make a peace sign with your middle and index fingers to make your bunny's ears. Put your pink and ring fingers on top of your thumb. Turn your wrist away from you and you'll be able to see your bunny's eyes. For little kids, a peace sign rabbit will work just fine.)

Check back each day this week for more ideas on beating Spring Break boredom! 

Easy Science Experiments for Little People

I was never a big fan of science class in school. When I think science I think long, impossible to remember formulas, beakers, test tubes and the dissection of frogs (barf). Fortunately I haven't had to use the Periodic Table of Elements in my adult life. Not yet anyway. Heaven help me when my boys get older. My ability to help with math and science homework will end long about the 4th or 5th grade I'm sure. 

At the Preschool age science is awesome! Little people are natural scientists. Science involves observation of events that occur naturally and experimenting in controlled environments to test a hypothesis (See? I retained some science vocab. from school). That's where Preschool Science begins! Little people are curious by nature and love to ask questions about what goes on around them in their day to day lives. Think about all the questions you answer for your preschooler on a daily basis, you're preschooler might have more science in their world than you would have thought.

Your job in raising a little scientist is to encourage your child to observe and ask questions about what goes on around them and to ask your child questions that will stimulate them to come up with a hypothesis, figure out a solution, summarize and evaluate situations. Adding more science to your child's life doesn't have to be pre-planned or an ordeal. 

Recently my 4 year brought me a tissue and asked me to wet it for him so he could wipe off his face. I explained that tissues didn't hold up well when wet and that it would fall apart. Later that night, as he was finishing up his bath, he asked if we could put a tissue in the bathtub to see what happens when a tissue gets really wet. So we did. We also dropped in a paper napkin and a paper towel to see what would happen to them. We compared them to what they looked and felt like when wet and dry and talked about which held up the best when wet. It took 5 minutes. That's preschool science! 


Here are some ideas for fun and easy science experiments and activities for you to do with your little people:


Chemical Interactions - You'll need a small cup or bowl, vinegar, baking soda and old, dirty pennies. Your child can measure and pour two tablespoons of vinegar and a half a teaspoon of baking soda into a cup. They can then drop a penny into the cup and stir the solution with a popsicle stick. You and your child can then watch the penny magically become clean. Have your child explain what they just did and what happened. Talk to them about chemical reactions and explain why the penny became clean. Repeat the process again with a new penny. You can then do some more experimenting. Ask your child if they think the penny will become clean by just dropping it in vinegar or plain water. Then test out their theories. You can then have your child draw a picture showing the before and after of the experiment. 


Surface Tension - Explain the idea of surface tension to your little scientist, that there are forces of attraction between the molecules of a liquid and how soap and detergents work to break or weaken these forces and help other substances work with them more easily. Talk about how surface tension works with cleaning and washing things like dishes, clothing and their bodies. Then you can experiment and see surface tension in action. You'll need cooking oil (like vegetable oil or olive oil), water and dish washing soap. Pour a teaspoon of cooking oil into your child's hands and have them rub it in all over their as if it were soap and they were going to wash their hands. (You can shake a little cinnamon or another spice into their hands before they rub the oil in. This can make it easier for smaller kids to not only feel it but see it as well.) Have your child rinse and rub their hands in running water in the sink to see if the oil is easily removed. Needless to say, it will not be. Now pour a drop or two of dish washing soap into your child's hands. Have your child rub the soap into their hands and then rinse their hands in the water again. Talk about surface tension and how the soap helps the oil to mix with the water and be removed with more ease.

Light and magnification - Explain to your child how objects look magnified when immersed in water. Have your little scientist place a pencil in a glass of water and observe how it looks like it bends where it enters the water. Talk about why this happens, have your child draw a picture of the pencil before it's placed in the glass of water and a picture of what it looks like after it's in the water. Talk about how light is bent by the lenses of glasses. Experiment with a magnifying glass, binoculars and the zoom function of a camera.



Buoyancy - Explain buoyancy to your child. While they are taking a bath, let them experiment with different objects to see which will sink to the bottom of the tub and which will float on the water. Before they drop the object into the tub ask them for a hypothesis as to whether they think that object will sink or float. You can also talk to your child about "swimmies" or "floaties" and how they help children who can't swim stay afloat in a pool. 



Capillary Action in Plants - For this experiment, you'll need a stalk of celery or a daisy, food coloring or ink and a glass bottle. Explain capillary action in plants to your child. Pour a generous amount of food coloring or ink (roughly 1/4 cup) into a glass bottle. Place a stalk of celery or a daisy into the jar and let it sit for 4-5 hours. If you're using celery, cut a slice of the stem. You should see colored dots where the liquid has traveled up the capillaries of the celery. If you're using a daisy, you'll see that the color has traveled up the stem as the flowers sucks up the water. You can have your child draw a picture of the experiment or take before and after photos with a camera. 


Leave a comment if you've got a cool experiment for little people and share it with my readers. :) 

















*Image at top courtesy of: http://teacherweb.craven.k12.nc.us/HJMMS/teacherresources.html*

Cape May Moms Family Wing/Bowling Night!

SAVE THE DATE: Next Friday, March 25th @ 5:30


Cape May Moms and Mousetrap Bowling Alley are hosting a family night in honor of the Philadelphia Wings Lacrosse Team!  


Mouse Trap is offering Buy One Game for $5.50 and get 1 Game FREE. If you only want to play one game that night, you can get a coupon for a free game to redeem on your next visit. Mouse Trap will also have a special on their wings, $1.00 off each order. 


Cape May Moms will be giving away (2) Family 4-Packs of tickets to see the Philadelphia Wings Live! 


For more info. on this event go here. If you'd like to RSVP and secure a spot for your family, email Karen@capemaymoms.com with your name and the number of people playing. 


I'll be there and I can't bowl to save my soul. Should be fun....and fun to watch. :)

AND...speaking of bowling, I have a bowling related giveaway coming up next week! Check back on Wednesday for details. :)