Me on the Map

It's not unusual for us to ask 'What country do we live in?' and hear 'Connecticut'!  or to ask 'What State do we live in?' and hear 'United States'!  I think this is pretty common for little kids but it is extra confusing for our kids since the girls were born in Ontario, Canada but now live in Connecticut, USA.

{On a side note, with the upcoming President's Day, my girls were very disappointed to hear that they could never be President since they were born in Canada.  We told them they could be Prime Minister of Canada but that didn't seem to make them feel better.}

I found this great geography activity that I hope will help the kids visualize where we are on a map.  I think I will have to make a version of this for where they were born and where all our relatives live too!

I used my nesting mixing bowls to trace out 7 circles on construction paper and on white paper.  The 7 white circles I then trimmed to slightly smaller than the construction paper circles. 

{This step is probably not necessary and you could just draw right on the colored paper.} 

I labeled the circles {see picture} and then Sarah drew or glued on pictures for each one.

I punched holes in the circles and strung some ribbon through.  It now hangs in our kitchen for future reference.

 Idea for Me on the Map by Finally in First.

Painting with Water

Here is a wonderfully simple idea from The Artful Parent.

Just grab some water and paintbrushes and let the kids paint on a chalkboard!

{or in nicer weather paint on the driveway, the deck, the swingset}

What a simple, easy and clean little activity!

{and our chalkboard is always in need of cleaning}

I love how Jillian writes her 'J's backwards.  I know I really should be correcting her but its just so cute!

Both Jillian and Matthew were thrilled when I gave them the water and brushes and told them to paint the chalkboard.  I really didn't think it would entertain them for long but boy was I wrong!

They had a blast!

Happy painting!

Shiny Pennies - Part 2

When Sarah found out that Jillian and Matthew had done a little science with pennies she wanted to try too!  So tonight after supper she mixed up the mixture (1/4 cup vinegar and 1 teaspoon table salt) and dropped in her dull pennies.

We talked a little more about how the vinegar and salt react to remove the copper oxide from the pennies.  Then we split the pennies into 2 groups.

Group A    rinsed the vinegar/salt solution off

Group B   let the vinegar/salt solution dry on the pennies

We went off to do Sarah's reading for about 1/2 hour and this is what we found when we came back!

Group A                    Group B

In Group B a chemical called malachite formed on the pennies and turned them a greenish-blue color!

Very Cool!

Science from Science Bob via Meet the Dubiens

Shiny Pennies

Since yesterday's post {The Corner Store} was all about money, and Abraham Lincoln's birthday was 4 days ago, I thought that we could shine up some pennies and talk a little science!

First, gather up some old (not shiny) pennies.

Next mix up 1/4 cup of white vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt in a non-metal bowl.

Drop your pennies into the 'penny cleaner'.

Count to 10 slowly.

Remove your pennies and rinse them in water.

So sparkly!

The kids were really impressed with their new shiny pennies and put them straight into their piggy banks.

I basically told the kids that the vinegar is an acid and reacted with the salt to clean off the pennies - can't get much more detailed than that with preschoolers. 

Wow Abe!  You really clean up well!

The Corner Store

We have played 'Corner Store' a few times now.  The kids LOVE IT!  They help pick out what will be in the store and then take turns purchasing their items.  We usually fill the bowls with a combination of food and non-food items.  The items in the store today were: fruit snacks, granola bars, marshmallows, squinkies, gumballs, crayon erasers and stickers.

It is so interesting to see their little personalities come out in this activity......Jillian will use up all of her $2.00 to the very last penny.  She would also buy all gumballs if I would allow her - I enforce a strict 5 gumball rule.  {The gumballs were left over from our gingerbread house building at Christmas, in case you are wondering why I even have gumballs in the house!}

Sarah, on the other hand, is our healthy eater and often forgoes the sweets and usually has a bunch of money left over.

Once the kids have picked all their items I have Sarah add up the total and then count out the change - a sneaky way for her to practice her math and money skills.

Sarah also read {and really enjoyed!} the following 2 books by Loreen Leedy.

This is a great book that introduces money concepts such as: buying, selling, earning, saving, investing, donating, budgeting and interest!  It has 'kids humor' too which had Sarah laughing out loud. 

This was a cute book about a quarters adventures at the mint, bank, store, vending machine, garage sale and more.  It held Sarah's attention and was another way to help her learn about money math without knowing it.  Love that!

Love Blossom Tree

I am in love with this craft!
It's really easy and such a great keepsake.  I found the idea at a great blog called Meet the Dubiens. 

I painted Matthew's arm with brown paint and pressed it onto some pink cardstock.  Next I tried to help Matthew make thumbprint hearts but he was not interested......so these are my lovely thumbprint hearts! 

I started with red leaves and thought it looked a little bare........

.....so I added pink and white hearts and then thought I went a bit overboard.

Still very pretty!

I find thumbprint hearts are actually a little tricky for my kids but I think this craft would look just as pretty with red, pink and white single thumbprints for leaves instead.  I love this craft so much I have a little idea that I am planning to do with it in a future post - stay tuned!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine Food Day

Valentine Breakfast, Lunch and Snack!

These heart pancakes were very cute but really messy to make.  I put them in a cake decorating bag and squeezed out the batter.  While I was making them Chris said, "Why don't you just make regular pancakes and cut them into hearts with your heart cookie cutter?"   Ummmmm, I don't know why I didn't think of that before I had the pancake batter spilling all over the counter.  I will remember that for next time!

 This cute heart-dog I saw in the Valentine Family Fun magazine.  They turned out great and the kids thought they were awesome.  It's simply a hot dog, cheese cut into arrow shapes and a pasta noodle.

We had lots of of white chocolate chips left over from all the peppermint bark we made over Christmas so we made some Valentine Pretzel Sticks for snack.  I melted the chocolate in a double boiler and used a spoon to pour the melted chocolate on the pretzels.  Then the kids sprinkled them with Valentine sprinkles and we popped them in the fridge to cool.  Be sure to place them on parchment paper or they will stick to your plate. 

Snack time was very quiet as the kids enjoyed their treat. 

YUMMY!

Birdseed Valentine Ornament

We have previously made gelatin based bird seed ornaments.  It was a super easy recipe - add 2 packages of Knox gelatin to 1 cup of water, simmer on low in a medium sized pot until the gelatin is dissolved, add 2 cups of birdseed, stir and pour into mold.  Set in fridge for at least 2 hours.

They turned out great!  However, because the gelatin base is so soft the birds {and squirrels} devoured the ornaments within minutes right before our eyes.  While entertaining for the kids, I wanted an ornament that would last a little longer!

So, here is a new recipe that we tried with great results!

Birdseed Ornaments

3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup water

3 tablespoons corn syrup

4 cups bird seed

Mix well and set in molds

Dry for 4-6 hours, take out of molds and turn over, dry for another 4-6 hours.

This is a much drier mixture which made it very easy to work with.  I used an old spring form pan with an upside down glass in the center to shape the wreath.

And here is the finished product!

Love it!

We also filled a Valentine mini cake pan.

{we poked holes for the ribbon with a darning needle while it was still wet}

And here is our sweet little Valentine present for the birdies!

This new recipe will be the one we use from now on!

Happy Valentine's Day to our little tweet friends!

Valentine Mailbox

Sometimes I am surprised by how much my kids will like certain crafts.  For example, the paper roll owl family {found here} I thought was cute but didn't think the kids would play with them for very long.  It turned out the owl family was a big hit and continues to get play time!

Then I saw these mailboxes.  Again, I thought it was a cute craft but did not expect how much the kids would love them!  They were so excited to decorate their mailboxes and started writing out and mailing Valentine's to each other as soon as the paint dried.

Here is how you make them......

Look through your cupboards and get some heavy weight cereal or cracker boxes.

First you will make the bottom of you mailbox {this will make more sense as you keep reading}.
Trace out the bottom of your box onto another piece of cardboard.
Add rectangles for 'tabs'.
Cut out, fold up the tabs and set this piece aside.

Then, carefully take the boxes apart at the seams and cut off the bottom flaps so that when put back together the bottom will be open.

Turn them 'inside out' and reglue them together.  This way you can paint them. {I used a glue gun which quickly and strongly held them together with no wait time}

Cut out your mailbox slot.

You could leave the box as is or you can cut out some mailbox legs as seen in the picture below.  The pic below also shows how the bottom of the mailbox will look once inserted.

Then paint and decorate your mailbox. 

Poke some small holes into the mailbox door and add a pipecleaner handle.

All done!

Have fun mailing all those Valentine's!

Homemade Bath Salts

This is a quick and fun little activity to do!

1 cup Epsom salts

1-2 drops of food coloring diluted with a few drops of water

a few drops of an essential oil

We only had tea tree oil so the smell was a bit medicinal, but the kids didn't care.  They enjoyed mixing the color and oil into the salts and especially enjoyed dumping it into their bath!

You could use lavender oil and package up some 'Lavender Bath Salts' as Valentine gifts {great idea C!}.  Peppermint or eucalyptus oil would be other good oils to try.

So simple!

Felt Valentine Fortune Cookies

I made these cute Felt Valentine Fortune Cookies for the kids to open and read their fortune on Valentine's Day.

 Trace out a circle (about a 3"-4" diameter) on some felt.

I used a drinking glass for the circle shape.

Use a glue gun to draw a line of glue down the middle. 

Put a piece of florist wire on the glue .......

.......cover with a ribbon and press down into the glue.  Let dry.

Then fold your circle in half, ribbon to the inside, and bend and shape into a fortune cookie!

Here is our felt fortune cookie bowl!

The kids are excited to read their Valentine Fortunes!

'Found object' Valentine Painting

Here is an activity we did during our last snow day......hence the pj's!

I had Sarah and Matthew collect some household objects that they would like to paint with.  I guided them a little bit since one of Matthew's objects was a paintbrush and that would kind of negate the 'found object' idea. 

I found this fun painting idea here. 

This craft was a hit!  It engaged them for a long time....

and turned out pretty cool too!

Candy Heart Gingerbread Man

We smashed a lot of Jolly Ranchers to make the secret message decoder cookies.  I needed to come up with another idea to use up some of the crushed candy and found these. 

Make your favorite gingerbread recipe, cut out bears or gingerbread man shapes and place on a sprayed foil lined cookie sheet.

Cut out a heart shape and fill with your crushed candy.

Bake at 350 degrees for approx. 10 min and cool completely.

Dip in melted chocolate and set in the fridge to cool.

Cute and Yummy! 

I need to remember this when making our gingerbread house next Christmas.  The candy would make great looking glass window panes!

Thought I would add this picture.......a little sign of spring amongst all the snow!