Note to Self...

I found this little shamrock planting kit for $1 at Target back in March, and I thought it would be a an easy activity for Brett to do with Logan while I took Mia to a birthday party. As expected, the seeds started to sprout quickly, which is always good for planting with kids. The only problem is that there was only one leaf on each stem for the longest time, and I wish I had know that sooner. (The packaging was not particularly helpful with the timetable for germination or anything along that line, but again, it was very inexpensive, so I can hardly complain.) It turns out that it takes about four weeks for the sprouts to actually form three leaves and look like recognizable shamrocks! So, our shamrock seeds, which were planted just one week before St. Patrick's Day didn't really look like shamrocks until we got into April. For future reference, plan to plant shamrock seeds just after Valentine's Day to avoid this.

Mommy Needs a Makeover?

While I have been busy being someone else's mom, I have started to let myself go, apparently. I didn't realize it had gotten so bad until last night when I was at Art Night with Mia. We were sitting at a table in the school cafeteria while she worked on her shell creature craft. That's when Random Teenage Boy on the opposite side of the table informed me, "My mom has that exact same sweatshirt." At this, I stopped and looked at myself. I wasn't even wearing a sweatshirt. Whew! Dodged that one, right? Then, he looked at me pointedly and repeated himself, this time somewhat louder, "My mom has that exact same sweatshirt." Although his words had no inflection whatsoever, making it impossible to tell how he felt about this, it was now clear that he was, in fact, speaking to me. Then, I understood that he was referring to my very boring, basic, blue fleece jacket that I was wearing for pure practicality of the in-between seasons weather we are having. Obviously, I knew it wasn't high fashion when I put it on, but I had not really cared at the time. Now, I am rethinking this...

Especially after this morning's trip to the Kroger pharmacy. I have another sinus infection, which makes five since school started. UGH! Frankly, though, my misery of having yet another sinus infection has been paled by the exchange between Pharmacy Boy and myself. I have seen this particular kid before and wondered how old someone has to be to work there. He needed the pharmacist to verify the prescriptions before he could hand them over to me. While ringing up my antibiotic and nasal spray, he said something that made me inwardly cringe. It was, "Thanks, MOM... I mean, ma'am!" Oh my! I could tell that he was pretty mortified, something akin to when you think, I wish the floor would open up and swallow me whole. So I said nothing, because truly, what could I say that would make that situation any less awkward? And just for the record, unless I had a very busy "extracurricular life" in say, eighth grade, I am not nearly old enough to be this boy's mother!

Ever since this experience, I have put in more of an effort with my appearance, or at least I think I have tried harder. It seems that I may be sliding a bit in this department, though, considering these two highly embarrassing moments that have taken place within the past 24 hours. Barring any recent scientific advancements that would allow me to get an injection of much-needed self-confidence (alas, I am aware of no such treatments), I think it may now be time to consider a mommy makeover. To be clear, I am not desiring to be more attractive to teenage boys. However, I would settle for looking like less of an obvious MOM-type figure to them. Is that too much to ask for?

Shell Creature Craft

Here is another simple craft idea that Mia made at her school's Art Night tonight. She dubbed this little friend a "shell creature." I love the smoochy lips and long eyelashes that she drew. This craft reminded me a bit of when we painted rocks, although there was no paint involved tonight, which made it even simpler and less messy. This is definitely a good craft for kids of almost any age to enjoy.

{Shell Creature by Mia, Age 6}

Materials:

• sea shells
• googly eyes
• glue dots
• craft foam
• permanent markers
• scissors (optional)

Directions: 

1. Use glue dots to adhere googly eyes to a clean, dry shell. I think a smoother surface would work better, but we didn't test this on a bumpy shell, so I don't know for sure. Tip: Instead of trying to peel off the glue dot with your fingers, place the back of the googly eye directly onto the glue dot and then peel it off and place it on top of the shell.
2. Draw the creature's face. Permanent markers work well for drawing noses, mouths, eye lashes, and other features.
3. Add more decorations as desired. Mia included some craft foam hearts, which were also attached with glue dots. You could add many other items such as other possible materials: beads, buttons, sequins, yarn, ribbon, small pebbles, and construction paper, for example. Use scissors to cut shapes from paper or foam, or trim lengths of yarn for hair. 
4. Make several shell creatures and find a fun way to display your new friends.

Recycled Magnet Craft

Here is a brilliantly simple way to re-use that round piece of aluminum that comes with cans of frozen juice. I learned this one tonight at the Art Night at Mia's school and even though I very rarely buy frozen juice, I loved this idea! In the past I always felt there had to be another use for that nice round piece of tin, but I never thought of one. Now, I know! They make super-simple little magnets.

To switch things up, you could even cut out a photo and paste it in to make them little photo frame magnets instead of using puffy paint. That is much less likely to stain clothing and more personal, too. I think that would make a nice Mother's Day gift idea.

{Recycled Magnet by Mia, Age 6}

Materials:

• clean, round aluminum lid from frozen juice can
• self-adhesive magnet
• puffy paint

Directions:

1. Peel the backing off of a self-adhesive magnet, and adhere it to the inside of a clean, round lid from a frozen juice can.
2. Flip it over and then use puffy paint to make designs on the opposite side. Tip: I have found puffy paint to stain clothing, so you may want kids to wear smocks or old clothes before using puffy paint.
3. Allow puffy paint to dry completely. This will take several hours, more or less, depending upon how thickly you apply the paint. Now you have a magnet. Tip: You can save your lids and then make several magnets to give as gifts. This is something useful that any mother would appreciate for Mother's Day!

DIY Colored "Sand Art" Jars

I had originally found this idea online while searching for rainbow crafts to possibly do for Mia's Care Bears party. I decided it wasn't a good activity to try with a large group of kids in my small dining room, but it was a perfect spring break activity for my own two kiddos. These turned out really pretty, and you would never know that they aren't even made of actual sand, but rather, colored salt. The most notable benefit to using salt instead of sand is that it is way, way cheaper. The cost was the only thing that had prevented us from making colored sand art jars in the past. Making your own faux "colored sand" is not difficult to do at home, but it is kind of messy. I think the process was fun, and the end results are beautiful, so it is totally worth a small amount of spilled salt, in my opinion.

One thing I did learn is that craft is better suited to school age kids rather than preschoolers, especially if you are using somewhat large jars as we did. Mia, at age six, had more patience for this than her little brother did. That's really a no-brainer, but I was hopeful that Logan would be able to fill his jar. He only managed 3 layers before he started being kind of naughty and salt was flying all over the place, and I decided to cut him off. Then, I packaged up Logan's left over "colored sand" in baggies in case he decides to try again tomorrow. Mia, on the other hand, ended up with 6 layers. Maybe the rule of thumb is that kids can make one layer per year of age? Okay, I'm not sure that is true, but that is how it turned out at our house.

As usual, they had different ideas for how to do things. Logan produced 3 layers in 3 distinctly separate colors, and Mia made her six layers alternating just two colors: pink and purple. However, she didn't make the layers all look the same. She colored for different lengths of time to produce different intensities of pigmentation so there is a gradation of color from darker to lighter as she went. I don't know if this was intentional or if it was the product of getting tired with the process and trying to speed things along. Either way, she was pleased with her finished "sand art" jar.

{"Sand Art" Jars by Mia, Age 6 and Logan, Age 3}

Materials:

• colored chalk
• paper
• salt
• glass containers with lids or corks
• cookie sheets (optional)
• Super Glue/hot glue (optional)

Directions:

1. Pour some salt onto the center of a piece of paper. We used black construction paper, which will later be re-used for chalk drawings, but any paper will work for this. Tip: To contain the mess, we first laid our papers on cookie sheets. I highly recommend using cookie sheets. The rim helps keep the salt from ending up all over the table and floor. (It's not perfect, but it helps quite a bit.)
2. Rub colored chalk back and forth over the salt until it is the color you want. We used sidewalk chalk for this, but you could use the smaller chalk that is intended for use on chalk boards. Tip: Show younger kids how to color with the sides of the chalk to make this process go a bit faster. Tip: You may want to re-center the salt occasionally during the coloring process since it tends to spread outward. To do this, just slightly fold up the edges of the paper until the salt slides back to the center. Then, add more color as desired.
3. Once the chalk is the color saturation you are looking for, carefully roll the paper into a funnel, and slowly pour the colored salt into your glass container. Older kids may be able to do this on their own, but adults should help little ones. Tip: We used these fun square glass bottles with cork stoppers that I found at the Salvation Army for 99 cents apiece. I had searched high and low for my old set of glass spice jars because I thought they would be perfect for this, but I have yet to come across them. You could also use baby food jars or small canning jars or any other glass container that has some sort of lid. Tip: If you want, you can turn and twist your container as you pour for different layered effects. Mia did this while I poured each layer.
4. Turn the paper over for the next color, and repeat steps 1 through 3. Do this as many times as needed to fill your jar or bottle. Tip: While filling, make sure not to shake the container or you may end up with a muddy brown mixture instead of vibrant rainbow colors.
5. Once your container is filled, place your lid on top and make sure that it is secure. Tip: Since we were using corks, I added a small ring of Super Glue to them before inserting them. You could also add Super Glue even if your container has a screw-on lid if it gives you peace of mind. Hot glue would work as an alternative if you do not have Super Glue.
6. Find a nice place to display your colored "sand art" jars. Ours look lovely on the sunny kitchen windowsill.

{Demonstrating the "proper technique"...}

{And here's Little Man's method. I love how her look seems to say, "You are sooo doing that the wrong way! He did switch after seeing a demonstration of "proper technique."}

A Busy Bag Activity

Recently, I put together these "busy bag" sticks so that the kids would have something to do while we are waiting at places like restaurants or doctor's offices or just because it's spring break and I have heard "I'm bored" more often than I should. This was another brilliantly simple idea that I saw on Pinterest. These were easy to put together one evening while watching "The Voice" at the same time. I bought a package of colored craft sticks at Michaels, the large size that resemble tongue depressors, which cost me about $2. I used some round Velcro stick-on tabs that I had at home, plus a new package of square ones from Wal-mart, which cost about $3.80. So, in total, I spent less than $6.00 and I made over 50 of these activity sticks. That is enough for both kids to play with and both kids have enjoyed these! We did lose a handful of the sticky tabs, but it has not made much of a difference in the entertainment factor. Anything that both a three-year-old and a six-year-old agree on is all right by me.

Materials:

• large craft sticks
• scissors
• self-adhesive Velcro tabs
• bag or bin to contain craft sticks

Directions:

1. If using circle Velcro tabs, cut them in half to get more bang for your buck. If using square tabs (I believe mine were 1" squares, but I don't know for sure.), cut them into quarters. I cut mine diagonally to make 4 triangles. If you prefer not to cut the tabs, this will save you time, but you won't be able to make nearly as many activity sticks.
2. Peel the Velcro tabs off of their backing and adhere them to the ends of the craft sticks. The way I did this was to put on "hook" tab on one end of the craft stick and the "loop" tab on the other end. Then, I flipped them over and did the same thing on the other side, only I reversed the positions of the tabs. My belief was that they would be able to do more different types of building activities this way, but who knows, I may just be anal retentive.
3. That's it! Your busy bag is now ready for action. We store ours in a ziplock bag, but you could also use a pencil pouch, pencil box, aluminum can, or whatever else you have that is handy.

{Some building fun!}

Spring Cookie Cutter Stamp Art

Last month, Logan made did some printmaking using shamrock cookie cutters. For a simple activity to do over spring break, I had the kids make some stamp art with our spring cookie cutters. Mia enjoyed experimenting with different amounts of paint on the cookie cutters, producing thick lines fading to thinner lines, and even sort of dotted lines as the paint was used up. Logan just enjoyed mixing colors. Of course, this inevitably turned to a finger painting project for him, and then for Mia as well.

{Spring Cookie Cutter Stamp Art by Mia, Age 6}

Materials:

• cookie cutters in spring shapes (egg, cross, bunny, tulip, butterfly, flower)
• paint trays (we used old Styrofoam trays)
• paint (we used powdered tempera that I mixed up beforehand)
• paper (we used construction paper)
• table cloth or newspaper (optional)
• paint smocks or old shirts (optional)
• cookie sheets (optional, to hold paper and contain messes)

Directions:

1. First, I covered our work surface a vinyl tablecloth (which happens to be in a Halloween print, but I picked it up for a few cents at the church rummage sale for the sole purpose of crafting.) Newspaper also works. Tip: Also, before starting I had Logan put on his paint shirt, which is one of my old t-shirts that I make fit better by using a clothespin to gather the extra material at the back of the next. Mia just wears another old shirt of mine.
2. Next, I mixed up powdered tempera paint in red, yellow, blue, orange, green, and purple. I let each child pick 3 colors and put them onto Styrofoam trays (left over from some meat packaging and washed well; I am a fan of using what you have that is free.) Tip: The reason I only allowed 3 colors is that any more than that and it would have just become muddy brown. Tip: You could also use ready-made tempera paint, or even acrylic if you are feeling brave. Add white if you like, or use more than one shade of the same color to get different effects. (Note: Acrylic paint stains fabrics, so be aware.)
3. I let the kids dip the cookie cutters into the paint, mixing as they wanted. Then, they stamped it onto some construction paper, and repeated until they felt the prints were finished. Tip: The reason I only allowed 3 colors is that any more than that and it would have just become muddy brown.
4. We let the paint dry completely and then I hung up the kids' artwork for spring decorations.

{I love that he chose primary colors.}

{Finished Stamp Art/Finger Painting by Logan, Age 3}