Family Fun (Rock edition)

  Over the summer my kids had a blast finding, hiding and painting rocks in our area.    This is such a great time for the family.  The snow and cold weather has slowed things down but not stopped it.

  Hiding the rocks is a one of the fun parts.  We don't always remember to bring them with us to re-hide so sometimes we just re-hide the ones we find. 

We hide them on the sides of buildings!

Under trees in plain site in a high traffic area!

Along the side of a walking path!

Although hiding inside buildings is not acceptable some places are like the library. 

Rock selection is up to the person. 

 Decide what your going to paint and begin painting.

  Sit back and be proud of your rocks. 

Don't be surprised if you even make something that you can't part with.  

The rocks can be painted or made as elaborate as you like.  Even though you may hide them outside or inside the owner can keep them where ever so anything goes on a rock when it comes to the design of them.

Lastly, you have to hide some!  That's what makes this so fun.  It's all about hiding and finding them!

Rock groups are everywhere and if it's not you can easily start one.  Paint a rock and hide it. Start a Facebook group so found rocks can be announced and you can even share clues of where the rocks were hid on there.  

This is a great and somewhat cheap activity to do with your family. Rainy day, inside or outside activity.  Any age can play to because an artistic ability is not necessary.

I hope you enjoyed reading one of our family fun events! If you hide rocks I would love to hear about your experience.

Halloween Accessory

  Every outfit has its accessories.  Sometimes it's jewelry.  Maybe a purse, definitely shoes are a must but as we approach Halloween in addition to the candy and costume a candy collector is a must.  I'm not talking about bellies or mouths of monsters or little ponies, ninjas or Moana's.  I'm talking about the vessel to get your candy home.

  A bag!  For older children this is the perfect item to carry the loot.  A bag has handles that are more comfortable when the load is heavier and a bag will definitely aid in ensuring every piece makes it home.

  My daughter was so excited to receive a new bag for her trick or treating experience but way more excited to get to style it .

  She loves to color and design so coloring was right up her alley for a nice afternoons entertainment.

  She's pretty good at starting a job and staying there till it's finished!

  She loves how her new bag came out.  She also loves that it glows in the dark.  That's a nice treat.  Our routine doesn't keep us out too late but, fall does make it get dark sooner.   I love that it's durable and will hold the candy.  The glow part is fun but I also like that she will be able to use this bag again next year!

  The canvas bag came with 3 markers to color the bag.  It has easy to follow instructions.  No need to wash before coloring so your bag will be done quicker!

  Bags even come in two different colors but still offer the same great fun and glow in the dark magic!

  Check out the special code for a discount!  There are also other items available your child can color too!

  I was provided this product complimentary for review purposes and all opinions stated are my own.

School with Letter C

Each day or most days I try to get my son outside.  Not just to play but to explore and observe.  We look at what's around us as well as hunt for letters.  We go out looking for the letter of the week but, he also points out other letters and that's OK to.  That's part of reading.  Letter identification on everything we see and repetition brings the process full circle.  It may take to the next day or week when he catches on to a particular case lowercase letter.

We made no bake cookies because baking starts with b and we were all about the c.

No bake cookies take a little time to turn solid but if you watch them waiting goes quicker.

The sand on a walk is the perfect place to practice letter writing!

Each week I pick up a couple books with the letter as a word in the title. He has to identify the word.

C is for cutting.  He likes activities that let him use his scissors!  He is left-handed and I have to let him do his thing.

 

His cutting strips helped make c for popcorn.  Does that count?  We also used shaving cream and made cotton candy!  What a sweet week! 

We were greeted one morning by a Cicada! Perfect timing big fella! 

A peek at the desk for one day of the week.  I think he really enjoys seeing the new books and identifying the objects on it.

We finished our week with Chick Fil A. Chicken for the win!  This is one of the few places my little people eat all of their meals.

Thanks for following our journey.  Learning the letter c was a good week!  Did you see any new ideas to share with your little ones?  

Pot of Gold Craft

  I wanted to make something to give away that represented the upcoming holiday, but was easy enough for kids to help.

  Green is the focal point and everyone wants gold but in this case chocolate will have to do.  Does that about sum up St. Patrick's Day?

                 
  I picked up the pot at Walmart for under $1.00

  Pipe cleaner I had on hand would have rather had gold but silver had to do.

Purchased a spool of black ribbon under $2.00 also at Walmart.


  Paint was 2 for $1.00 also at Walmart, so I grabbed a couple colors and one was the green.

 Hot glue to hold everything together I had on hand!

  No plans for these pots to go outside so I just painted them first.

  Figure out your ribbon placement and cut it appropriately and secure it with hot glue.

  I had to decided based on the size of my ribbon how big I wanted the buckle.  Which was 2 pieces bent into "L" shapes and one piece for the middle.  I then glued it in the middle with the hot glue gun.

  Lastly, I had to add gold to my pot.  This officially completes the pot!  I'm considering to give packets of seeds away on Earth Day.

         Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

W is for Watermelon ( kids craft)

  This week we are discussing the letter w here.  I decided we needed to make a craft and watermelon it was.  Which is almost kind of sad considering my little student doesn't even like watermelons.

  For this craft you may already have the basic supplies on hand.

1 paper plate

Red paint

Black paint

Paint brush

Scissors 

Glue

Q-tip

Green paper

  I selected this craft and made it especially like this to allow different tools and techniques for my son to complete.

  Folding, cutting, gluing, painting and dotting.  They all take a different level of not only patience but also require you to change your thinking, hand and eye coordination and actually watch the creativity of the watermelon be born as he's working on one step at a time. 

Fold the plate in half.  I did this part and made it as even as I could.  Older kids could probably do this by themselves.

Cut the green sheet for the rind.  The size of the pieces don't matter.  So give your little one the scissors and let them go at it.

After the rind was put on we colored the inside red.  I think it probably works better this way then glue first and paint second just based on mess I'm assuming.

After the red paint has dried we added black dots to represent the seeds.  I used q-tips for this part as it would make the dots smaller.  Challenges the little ones with their grip and precision.

The perfect watermelon.  It sits up and painting both sides gives it a nice look.  Of course you could use this piece for naming the parts or incorporating it into a lifecycle of a watermelon.  We discussed the colors and the different parts.  I wonder if the next time I pick it up at the store if he will eat it.

What's your favorite fruit?  I made several pinterest recipes utilizing watermelon last year. Check that out here.