Elegant Event (the letter E)

Elegant Hannah

In Kindergarten this past week, they finished the study of the letter "E" with an Elegant Event. All the children dressed up in Elegant clothes and went to their Elegant classrooms. The classrooms were very fancy and so were the teachers! The girls were seated by the boys, and the children were served hors d'oeuvres by their parents. It was an exciting event for the kids and Hannah loved it!

Hot Crayon Rocks

Hannah's Rocks

Hannah's been home sick from school for two days. Today (Saturday) she felt better, but not well enough to play outside or with friends. Hannah was begging me today for a "project" to do. I have a favorites folder called "Things to do with Hannah" that is full of bookmarked ideas for fun "projects" to do with her, such as edible playdoh, homemade moonsand, seashell sprayed stationary, and things like that.

We saw this idea from Chasing Cheerios and knew it was perfect for today. Hannah found some usable rocks in the backyard and then started peeling the paper off our unused crayons from this idea. We put the rocks in the oven for 15 minutes at 350. We had several rocks and found that it worked best if we only took the rocks out one at a time for her to work on. We took all the rocks out at first, but after two rocks were done, the other 3 were too cool for the crayons to melt properly.

For the short crayons we used a chip clip (since we didn't have a close-pin to use)

For the longer crayons I just let her hold those with her bare fingers. She's 5 and has enough coordination, that I wasn't worried about her burning herself.

Hannah loved this activity and when her older brother (who's 13 years old) came home, there was another round of making hot crayon rocks!

Puffy Paints

One Crafty Mumma has a super cool recipe for Puffy Paints. Mix this up, and microwave for 10-30 seconds. The paint will "rise" for a cool effect!

Puffy Paint

1 TBSP self-rising flour
a few little drops of food colouring
1 TBSP salt
Then add some water to make a nice smooth paste.

Paint away on a nice thick sheet of cardboard (if you don't have enough paint brushes use cotton buds - they work really well).
Microwave the design on high for 10 - 30 seconds until the paint puffs and it's all nice and dry. We did ours for 30 seconds.

Here's a recipe for self-rising flour, if you don't have any on hand.

Self-Rising Flour

1 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Here's Hannah's and Carters creations. If you want some really cool pictures, and to see how how the paint can really rise, check out One Crafty Mumma's photos!

Gardening with Kids

Acacia Demonstration Gardens

With warmer weather (soon) approaching, I thought these ideas might come in handy.

Hannah and I took the "Tricks and Treats: Plant Projects for Kids" on October 31st at Acacia Demonstration Gardens. It was free to attend and was put on by the Master Gardeners of Southern Nevada. We learned so much and Hannah was in heaven making all the fun projects they had.

First they showed us container gardening in recycled milk jugs.

Make sure to poke holes in the bottom of milk containers for drainage.

For tiny seeds (such as radish), you can glue the seeds to a paper towel, then cover with dirt

Here's the radish that was grown in a small plastic container.

Hannah planted a sunflower seed in a plastic water bottle container.

Supplies needed:

• empty water bottle container
• cotton yarn or cotton rope (1/8")
• soil
• water
• seeds

Step 1: Cut a plastic water bottle container in half. Place the top of the bottle upside down in the bottom of the water bottle (see photo). Place your wick through the top and bottom of the water bottle. If you are using cotton thread, make sure to double it.

Here are the types of rope and yarn used.

Step 2: Pack your soil down around the wick, making sure the wick is slightly visable above the soil.

Step 3: Plant your seed. Here's Hannah planting her seed with a little help.

Step 4: Water your soil and then fill the bottom of the bottle with water (use tap water, not osomosis or water softener water).

The container is self-watering, just fill the bottom with water as need. Here is our Sunflower after a few days.

Here are the master gardeners plants!
The Master Gardeners also showed us how to make easy sachets!

Supplies needed

• dried rosemary
• dried lavender
• small organza bags

To dry your rosemary and lavender, tie them in bundles using a paperclip as a hanger. Hang in a dark dry place for about 4 weeks (1 week in Las Vegas)

Gather your supplies and pour lavender and rosemary in little organza bags.

Place a pretty sprig of lavender on the top and tie closed.

Playdoh Spaghetti

Hannah with her Creation

Lately Hannah's loving Playdoh! She plays with it every other day and surprises me with what she can do. Tuesday she made all different kinds of food including this spaghetti on a green plate. Hannah wanted to to try some, but she made sure to whisper in a soft voice, "Don't eat it for real, it's just pretend". What a cutie :)

Space Mudd

Space Mudd

Hannah made Space Mudd (or Silly Putty) today in Preschool. She loves it and it's really easy to make.

Space Mudd

2 cups white glue

1 1/2 cups water (room temperature)

food coloring

2 1/2 TBSP Borax

1 cup HOT water

Bowl 1 - Combine glue, water and blend. Add food coloring.

Bowl 2 - Mix borax and HOT water until dissolved.

Slowly pour glue mixture into the 2nd bowl, stirring constantly. Knead until liquid is mixed and not sticky.

Fizzy Tub Colors

Fizzy Tub Colors

My sister introduced me to these when she was visiting over the summer. Hannah loves these! They are little tables in 3 different colors (red, yellow & blue). Place them in your bath water and Viola! you have colored water! They fizz up and dissolve under water so they are cool to watch too. Hannah loves to make purple and orange (she hasn't asked for green yet) by using 2 different colors in the water. Bath time is much more fun with these.

Fun Stuff - Dice Action Game

Use action flashcards and (soft) dice. Have your child throw the dice and pick one flashcard. Do that action (on the flashcard) the number of times shown on the dice.

Action words you can use are: Wiggle, Summersault, Hop (bunny), Hop (one foot), Skip, Smile, Stomp, Run, Snap, Clap, Blink, Roll, Jump, Twirl & Kick.

Depending on which dice of these you pick, you can teach the number or counting.

Fun Stuff - Edible Playdoh

(stock photo)

There are tons of fun recipes for edible playdoh on the Internet. It's so much fun to try the different recipes (check out the chocolate one!)

Fun Stuff - Bathtime Ideas

(stock photo)

Put a couple of (clean) sponges into the bathtub when your child takes a bath. My kids love sponges!

Squirt some shaving cream into the bathtub and let them paint all over. Easy clean up after!

Buy some cheap bathtub "crayons" and have your child go to town!

Fun Stuff - Little Mouse, Little Mouse

This game is called "Little Mouse, Little Mouse" You hide the little mouse under one of the houses (ok, they are barns... but at the time, I couldn't find clipart for a house that I liked). After you hide the mouse then your child can look.

Me: "Little Mouse, Little Mouse are you hiding in the... what color?... "
Hannah: "Blue house!"
Me: looking under the blue house "No, he's not in the blue house..."
Me: "Little Mouse, Little Mouse are you hiding in the.... what color?... ".

and repeat, and repeat until the mouse if found.

We played this at our library storytime and Hannah loved it. Of course, when we played it at home she had to be the mommy and I was the child finding the mouse. You could also play it with shapes too, or letters....

Here is some clipart to make your own "Little Mouse" Game.

Mouse #1, Mouse #2, Barn, House

Here is a video of us playing "Little Mouse, Little Mouse"

Fun Stuff - Do-a-Dot Art

Do-a-Dot Art

Great fun for kids. You can use the Do-a-Dot brand or you can buy bingo markers at Walmart. The Do-a-Dot brand is washable which is worth every penny in my book.

Here is a closeup of the marker
The Do-a-Dot company also sells workbooks, or you can check out this great site for some free coloring pages!