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!

Beat Spring Break Boredom: Handprint Lamb Craft

This project is cute, quick and easy. Just how I like my crafts. This is perfect for preschoolers, but the big kids liked it too. 

 First lay newspaper down to protect your work surface. Next, have each child choose a color of construction paper. Using black acrylic craft paint and a big sponge brush, have your child paint the bottom of their entire hand. Older kids can do this themselves, smaller kids might need a little help. Then have them place their painted hand down on the construction paper, pressing to make sure they get a nice hand print. By the time the kids finish washing their hands, their hand prints should be just about dry. Turn the paper upside down to make your lamb. Your four fingers become the lamb's legs and your thumb becomes the lamb's head. Glue cotton balls all over the palm to create the lamb's fluffy body and a wiggly eye to the thumb and you have a cute Lamb! 

 

 Beat Spring Break Boredom with Easter Games

Cardboard Tube Bunny Craft

Spring Break Survival Strategies

Coffee Filter Butterfly Craft

More Easter Ideas

Easter Ideas

Easter is just a few days away. Here's a hodge podge mix of Easter ideas for you!

JerseyFamilyFun.com has great ideas to share on Candy-Free Easter Eggs for Girls, Candy-Free Easter Eggs for Boys and Candy-Free Easter Eggs for Toddlers! As well as ideas for Edible, but Candy-Free Easter Eggs!


Speaking of Candy-Free Easter...have you seen the Limited Edition HEXBUG Nano Easter eggs? We're huge HEXBUG fans at our house! These HEXBUG Nanos are packaged in a little plastic Easter egg and come wearing a pair of removable bunny ears! Love them!



I love these Mr. Potato Head Easter Bunnies too! 

My boys will be getting some candy and chocolate, but the majority of their Easter treats will not be edible. 

A few other things they'll find in their baskets:


Stickers

Books


Matchbox Cars


Play-Doh
                       
                                               Coloring Books


                                               Tooth brushes (Santa puts new tooth brushes in their stockings on Christmas, so it only makes sense that the Easter Bunny would put new tooth brushes in their Easter baskets.)



Do a Google search for "free Easter coloring pages" to find and print coloring pages and worksheets to keep your kids busy. These are great to help beat spring break boredom. They're also great to occupy kids while you're cooking Easter dinner. Here's a few pages we've colored in our house this week:

Dora and boots Easter Coloring Page

Winnie The Pooh Easter Coloring Page

Piglet Easter Coloring Page

Max & Ruby Easter Coloring Page 

and here are a whole bunch more free printable Easter Coloring Pages!


Do you leave milk and cookies out for Santa on Christmas Eve? How about leaving carrots and celery out for the Easter Bunny on the night before Easter? We'll also be leaving chocolate milk out for the Easter Bunny because Sean somehow got it in his head that the Easter Bunny likes chocolate milk. Now Daniel...Daniel got it in his head that the Easter Bunny is a girl. Crazy Kids. I think Easter traditions are often overlooked. Most families have tons of traditions they follow at Christmas each year, but not many for other holidays. Come up with an Easter tradition that's unique to your family. 


Quick and Easy Easter Jelly Bean Fudge Recipe...

Here's what you need: 

2 cups of white chocolate chips

(1) 16 oz. container of vanilla frosting

2 cups of the tiny jelly beans (pastel colors will look pretty in the white fudge)

Here's what you do:

1) Melt the white chocolate chips according to the package directions, usually in a saucepan over very low heat, stirring constantly until melted.

2) Add the vanilla frosting and continue stirring until mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. The fudge mix needs to still be easy to stir but not so hot as to melt the jelly beans.

3) Add the jelly beans and stir. Line a baking pan with foil and mist it with non-stick cooking spray. Pour the fudge mix into the pan, spread evenly and cool to room temperature.

4) Cover with foil and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Remove the foil and the fudge from the pan together and place it on a cutting board. Carefully remove the foil and then cut the fudge into bite-sized pieces. This recipe should make about 3 dozen pieces. 

Carrot Science Experiment:


 All you'll need is a shallow dish, water and the top 1 inch of a carrot.


Place the carrot in the dish and add enough water to cover about half the carrot, leaving the top uncovered. Check the carrot each day to make sure the stump stays wet, add a little water if needed. In about 2 weeks time the carrot top will start to grow lacy leaves and you'll have a pretty little plant.

Beat Spring Break Boredom: Coffee Filter Butterflies

This is a fun and super easy project for a child of any age and a sure fire way to beat Spring Break Boredom! 

I give you...Coffee Filter Butterflies!

You probably have everything you need to make this project and if you don't, any of these items can be found at the dollar store.

You need:


Coffee Filters

Markers (Non-washable work best. Not permanent, non-washable. And yes, they will wash out, just not as easily as washable.)


Spray Bottle with Water


Clothes Pins


Optional - 

Black Pipe Cleaners (Or "chenille stems" as they're now called.)


Wiggly Eyes


Lay newspaper down to cover your work surface. Place a coffee filter on the newspaper and flatten it out.

Next, color the coffee filter with markers. You can make an intricate design or simply scribble all over it with a variety of colors.

After your coffee filter is colored. Spray it down with water and allow the markers to bleed and blend on.

After spraying the coffee filter, you can transfer to to a dry piece of newspaper or lay it on a cooking rack to dry. 

While you wait for your coffee filter to dry, you can color the front of a clothes pin with marker.

Once your coffee filter is dry, fold it back and fourth accordion style in about 1/2" pleats. 

Until it looks like this: 

Then fold the coffee filter in half, hold it in the middle by the fold and clip your clothes pin on to it. Your clothes pin becomes the butterflies body and the the coffee filter it's wings. Fan the folds out on each side.

If you have them, you can use small pieces of black pipe cleaners to form a "V" shape, curl each end by wrapping it around the end of a pencil and then clip it in the clothes pin to give the butterfly antennae. You can also glue tiny wiggly eyes to the front of the clothes pin.


Here's a few ideas...


For a more vibrant butterfly, color the entire with coffee filter, filling in all the white.


Instead of using every color marker in the box, color one coffee filter with all warm colors (red, orange, yellow) and one with all cool colors (purple, blue, green) for a nice effect.


Clip the butterflies to curtains in your home to add pizazz to any room.


Glue a magnet to the back of the clothes pin and hang your butterfly on the fridge.


Tie a piece of fishing line around the top of the clothes pin and hang your butterfly from a ceiling fan or from the ceiling to make it look like it's flying. 

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. :) 

















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