Make it yourself window paint

We haven't had much going on the last few days so I decided to try something new. The kids love to paint so I found a recipe for making your own window paint: you simply mix together 2 parts dish soap and 1 part washable finger paint. The kids helped me mix them in little jars then went to town on the sliding glass door. I was thinking this might be a fun rainy day activity, but after doing it there's no way I would ever do this inside!


It started out clean enough...


But with three boys working at once you never know what's going to happen...


They started out by using brushes, but quickly tossed them aside wanting to experiment using their hands. Joe even tried out painting his body... but soapy paint just doesn't feel good on the eyes...


And soon I was faced with a HUGE mess... hmmm, don't know if we'll be doing this activity again! BUT, the kids really did love it. Until they had to be sprayed down with the hose from head to toe.

Not recommended for children under 3. And not recommended for more than 1 child at a time :)

Painted shirts

One thing we did on the 4th was make patriotic shirts. We did this while Joe was napping, and the kids (and Pete) loved it. You could make make these shirts anytime of the year with different shapes and colors, or paint a shape on the back pocket of a pair of jeans, on a bag, a dishtowel... the options are endless! Here's how you do it:


Cut the shapes you want out of freezer paper. I had the stars die cut, but as you'll see, Pete got creative and printed out the letters "USA," then used that as a stencil so he could cut them out of the freezer paper using an x-acto knife.


Arrange the shapes how you want them on the shirt.


Iron them on, smooth side down.


Put cardboard in between the front and back so the paint doesn't leak through.


Use fabric paint to fill in the shapes.


When the paint has dried for a few minutes, gently peel away the freezer paper.



And voila! Fun t-shirts for the whole family!

The Animal Game

A favorite game to play while driving in the car is the Animal Game. We take turns thinking of an animal and everyone else asks yes or no questions until we guess the right animal. Daniel has just recently started taking a turn, although we aren't quite sure if he is really grasping the game yet. We'll ask a lot questions and he'll reply with yes or no, until we finally guess an animal and he says, "Yeah, that's it." But we're suspicious of the fact that he might not really be thinking of an animal from the beginning. So yesterday on the way home from church we were playing this game, and it was Daniel's turn. Here's how it went:
"Can this animal fly?"
"No."
"Does this animal swim?"
"No."
"Does this animal walk on four legs?"
"No."
"Does this animal have legs?"
"No."
"Is it a snake?"
"No."
"Is it a snail?"
"No."
"Is it a worm?"
"No." (At this point I thought we were going to have him trapped, he wasn't really thinking of an animal, just saying yes or no.)
"We need a clue."
"It starts wif a 'B'."
"Hmmm.... we give up. What is it?"
In a monotone voice, "A bis----."
"A bicycle?"
Again in a low, monotone voice, "A bison."
"Oh, a bison! Of course!"

Armor

One thing we did for John's birthday was make armor for him and Daniel. One of John's little friends had some (store-bought), and John had said several times that he thought that it would be fun to have that. So we made an activity out of it and used cardboard, aluminum foil and electrical tape. Surely these won't pass the test of time, but hopefully the memory of making them will!

Painted binoculars

So I collected a bunch of toilet paper rolls a while ago, saving them for just the right project, and finally came up with this: binoculars. We turned it into a little art project and painted them, then taped them together and tied a piece of yarn to one side so the kids could wear them around their necks.


John painted his in his typical fashion... very clean and thoughtful.


And Dan painted his in his typical fashion... more paint on his hands then on the project.



Ready to explore!

The art basket

This is yet another idea taken from The Sleepy Time Gal. I found this basket at Bed Bath and Beyond (Pete knows I already have way too many baskets and bins, but I just couldn't pass this up!) I LOVE having all of our art stuff in one place and having it easily accessible. I filled my basket with pencils, crayons, markers, paper, stickers, small note books, glue, and scissors, so whenever the kids need something to do I can whip this out.

Mother's Day bag

This bag for my mom was a combined effort by me and John. He was the artist, I was the seamstress. I used old dish towels for the lining and straps from my old purse for the handles. So it's very "green," if you will. I hope all you mothers out there had a great day! I wouldn't trade being a mom for the world. My 3 little boys mean the world to me. After giving me a few things he made in preschool John said, "If I had some money I would buy something for you." I think those words were are all I needed!

Vinyl scripture bag

I've been wanting to make John a scripture bag to replace his other one that was falling apart. I bought a remnant of vinyl for really cheap last month so decided to use that. I got the idea to have John draw a picture on his own bag before I sewed it together from The Sleepy Time Gal. I think it turned out rather nice! He drew everyone in our family. I especially like everyone's hair : ) Vinyl proved to be very easy to sew once again.

Book of Faces

My sister Brittney gave me this idea and I absolutely love it. You print a 4x6 picture of each person in your (extended) family with their names on it (I put the names on the actual photos in Photoshop, but you could also glue a piece of paper onto it after you print them) then put them in a cheap little picture book. And there you have it... a book of family faces for your kids to look at! I especially wanted to make this as our families are getting more and more spread out so the kids can always remember everyone's names and faces. I keep this in my church bag and whip it out every Sunday. Joe especially loves this book right now and gets all excited when he sees the faces of his grandmas and grandpas.

The indoor sandbox

My mom introduced us to this idea: a bin full of rice. The perfect indoor sandbox. Easy to create and easy to clean up. Every kid likes different things to play with, and this is something that Daniel LOVES. He buries his trucks with rice then slowly digs them up, and of course calls me over to watch whenever a truck is emerging. Our neighbor gave us a couple large cans of rice from his 20 or 30 year old food storage. I know rice lasts that long, but in reality I would be a little nervous to actually eat it. So we put it to good use and made sock snakes, then poured the rest in a bin. Doesn't provide any nourishment, but instead provides hours of play!

Homemade playdough

My friend shared this playdough recipe with me last year and we have LOVED it. It's quick and easy to make, and I have found that it doesn't dry up as fast as the "play-doh" brand. Here it is:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
6 tsp. cream of tarter
1 tblsp. oil
1 cup cold water

Over medium heat, mix the first four ingredients together. Slowly add in water, food coloring and flavoring if desired (almond, mint, etc. to make it smell good). Stir until it starts to form into a ball and leaves the sides of the pan. Pour onto wax paper and let cool slightly, then knead with hands until the dough is smooth. Cool down and enjoy!

This recipe makes enough playdough for one child, so I double it when I make it for John and Dan and it is plenty. The kids love to roll it out then use cookie cutters to make cookies. I throw it all in a tupperware when they're finished playing, then it can be used again again. The gift that keeps on giving!

Easter Eggs

Every year the kids and I find a new way to decorate Easter eggs, then glue a piece of ribbon to them so they can be hung with the collection from previous years. The yolks are blown out so they'll last longer. This year we cut out little pictures that reminded us of spring and Easter, then used decoupage to glue them on. John insisted on cutting out a little picture of a snowman, saying "I LOVE snow!!!" So I guess not all are strictly Easter themed. They are hung on our chandelier and make a fun Easter decoration.

Sock snakes

We do a little preschool with John and 3 other little boys and take turns teaching. This week preschool was at our house, and the lesson was about animals so I decided to have the kids help make some sock snakes. I took some old soccer socks, sewed on some buttons for eyes and a piece of felt for the tongue, then had the kids help fill them with rice and tie the end with a few pieces of string for the rattle. Easy and inexpensive, my kind of craft!

Button strings

I have a tub of buttons that the kids love to get their fingers into. I cut some wire so they could thread the buttons onto it. Pour the buttons on the floor, then let them go at it. You can put them on by color or count them as you go. When the wire is full, take the buttons off and start anew. Bet you never thought buttons could be so fun! : )

Tissue paper rainbows

This was a very easy and inexpensive art project for the kids. I first cut out a bunch of squares from old tissue paper. Drew a rainbow on some paper (you could draw any shape or let them draw their own), then let the kids crumple up the squares and glue them on. I first suggested they put one color on each line of the rainbow, but quickly found they were going to do their own thing. But they loved it!

Making bread

One of the kids favorite things to do is to help me make bread. No matter what they're doing, when I ask them if they want to help me make bread, they come running. There's something about getting your hands dirty and digging them into a sticky piece of dough that kids can't resist. I always make a little extra dough for them to play with (and sometimes it will make it to a pan and even turn in to something yummy after it cooks). They can make a mess on one side of the counter so I can be compulsive and a perfectionist with my loaves on the other. Lately the favorite is to make cinnamon twists. They roll it out, cut it in strips with a pizza cutter, dip it in butter, then cinnamon sugar, twist it and put it on the pan. Sadly, this batch got burned (whoops!), but luckily they didn't seem to mind. Playing with the dough is the fun part anyway.

Art Space

On Sunday morning John helped me put together their little "Art Space." I was again inspired by The Sleepy Time Gal, although we have about 3 feet of space for our area instead of an entire room. Someday! We have a little table that fit nicely between our computer desk and our piano. We brought out all our paper, crayons, paint, glue, scissors, etc. and arranged them on the window sill, back bench and piano, so the kids can create whenever and whatever they want. It's only been a few days since we set everything up, but I have LOVED it! Multiple times a day they'll see the art space and sit down and create their own little projects. Painting, coloring, drawing, cutting, you name it.

Homemade crayons

Last Friday I opened my planner to find we had absolutely nothing scheduled that day... I LOVE those days. So the kids and I stayed in our PJ's half the day and made crayons. I've been wanting to do this project for a while. I first saw this idea on The Sleepy Time Gal (which is one of my favorite blogs!), and later on our Poshish blog. We had a TON of dull and broken crayons, so this was the perfect way to use them up. You start by breaking them all up into pea size pieces. We sorted them by color, then filled muffin tins with various combinations. Bake at 200 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Cool (can be put in a freezer to speed the process), then remove and use! The fun part was making them, John and Dan actually weren't all that interested in using them once they were done (of course). In fact, Dan even asked if he could have the "normal" crayons.


You start with this



Joe did the opposite of help with this project... thankfully he went down for a nap about 30 minutes into it : )


We all took turns taking the labels off, cutting them up and sorting.





Wahlah!