Tea Time!

Lucas went to the gas station with Aunt Lauren yesterday.  As they walked through the convenience store, Lucas stops her and says, "Aunt Lauren!  My daddy loves this tea!  It's his favorite!  We have to get it for him!"  Well, of course Lauren bought it :)

The funny part... Jason has maybe had it once in his entire life :)

Lucas gave it to Jason this morning and asked if we could have a tea party... so we did.

 (Lucas took the pictures of me)

 

Of course, you must hold your pinky up when you drink tea!

Cheers!

Slime!

Okay... so we watch way too much Sid the Science Kid :).  But they just have the coolest science projects on that show!  This was a Halloween episode, and they made mad scientist slime.  It looked pretty cool, so we gave it a go...

First, you need an adorable small helper...

Sid the Science Kid says to use 1 cup cornstarch and 1 cup water... that was too watery for us, so we increased the corn starch to 2 cups.

We mixed the cornstarch and water together, then added some food coloring to make it more fun.

Note:  it's very hard to mix!

This stuff is so cool!  When you first pick it up, it's a solid that you can almost break in half...

Wait a few seconds, and it will liquefy, running quickly out between your fingers!  This is a great project if you want to teach your kids about different states of matter.  Lucas just wanted to touch and play for now.  That's okay!  He's experiencing and learning without even knowing it.

Be careful punching or poking the slime! It gets hard when just sitting in the bowl and not being manipulated!

Yes, it is messy. Don't worry, warm water wipes this right up! ...the food coloring might stay on the small helper's fingers, though... :)

Linking up to: The NY Melrose Family | Whipperberry | Sun Scholars | Cheerios and Lattes

Fun with Crayon Rubbings

The weather around here has gotten sooo beautiful!  65-70 degrees and sunny!!  Ahh... Dear, Fall... How I have missed you!

This project could have been done inside, but we decided to take advantage of the sunshine.  I know I've mentioned Sid the Science kid multiple times, but it really is Lucas' favorite PBS show. Sid's teacher classifies all of their learning (engineering, estimation, measurement, etc.).  Lucas seems to like the subject labeling (maybe that's how kids his age learn... I don't know), so I try to do that when I'm teaching him something new.  Lucas and I played around with crayon rubbings, while I attempted to explain textures to him.

Seeing the texture of the cement patio... while Jack tries to eat the paper...

Seeing the textures and shapes of different leaves we found in our yard...

Seeing the difference in texture between one type of tree...

...and another.

...How about this water cover thingy?

...and then Jack finally gets to eat the paper :)

And Lucas gets to play in the tree!

Linking Up To:

Sun Scholars | Cheerios and Lattes | Raising Memories | Jellibean Journals | Rainy Day Mum

Painting with Sunscreen

Lucas' current favorite PBS show is Sid the Science Kid.  On one episode, Sid is frustrated because he doesn't like having to put on sunscreen before playing outside.  His preschool (or kindergarten?) teacher does a project with his class that illustrates what the sun can do.

I thought it was pretty cool, so Lucas and I gave it a try!

We got...

• your normal, everyday SPF 50
• some colored construction paper
• a small piece of foil (wax paper or a cup works, too)
• and some toddler fingers :)

Lucas and I started painting away! (Sunscreen doesn't paint very well, but the thought of getting messy with something new was exciting to him :)

Put the paper outside for the afternoon (maybe 3-4 hours, at least?).  Cover the corners with rocks so the papers don't blow away!

Show Toddler what happened!  The sun bleaches the color everywhere but where the sunscreen (and the rocks) were!

 

Pretty cool, huh?

Linking up to:

Red Ted Art: Kids Get Crafty
Rainy Day Mum: Tuesday Tots
We are that family: Works-for-me Wednesday
Sun Scholars: For the Kids Friday
I Can Teach My Child: Show-and-Share Saturday

Cloud Dough

Okay, so I'm addicted to Pinterest... Isn't admission the first step to recovery? (BUT I DON'T WANT TO RECOVER! ...says an annoying little voice in the back of my head)

Anyways... This stuff is amazing! I found the recipe for it here.  Just mix 8 cups of flour with 1 cup of baby oil.  Knead/hand mix it for 3-5 minutes until it can maintain it's shape like wet sand (although it still feels soft like flour... how cool is that?).

Lucas loves this stuff!  I put it in a large stock pot, and let him have at it!  He builds small castles with little storage cups and then lets his dinosaur collection demolish them :)  RAWR!

When he's all done with it, I just pack it up in a little container until next time he wants to play with it.  I would not recommend letting your child play with it on carpet :). It's messy (although can easily be brushed into the carpet vacuumed).

Painting in a Bag

I found this idea on Pinterest! Genius!!! All the fun of finger painting with no mess!

Squirt several different pain colors into a freezer Ziplock. Tape it to a glass door or window on all four sides (I guess you could just place the bag on your kitchen table and let the kid have at it... I just liked how the light illuminated the colors).

Eww.. fingerprints on glass... oh well :)

We got about 5 minutes into playing with this when we got a SUDDEN thunderstorm. I knew it was getting darker and would probably rain soon, but I had no idea the wind would kick up so suddenly and our neighbor's ginormous tree would bend right over like that! Our power went out at the same time (it was about 90• outside, by the way), and when I saw that tree start coming down, I grabbed the boys and ran to our "Tornado Spot" (behind the couch against perpendicular walls).

Watching the storm come in

Soo... Fast forward to having power back on (the storm ended up not being as bad as it started, although several thick branches from that tree ended up in our driveway)...

Lucas and I were able to practice naming colors, and it also gave me a chance to show him what happened when colors mixed.

Oh, and since it's in a sealed bag (and my toddler wanted it left up), it's still in the window a week later, and the paint is still wet :)

Boating at home

I really need to catch up with this blog... I bought a book my pediatrician recommended called "The Sleep Easy Solution" (Read more about it here).  The first night was hard, but following all of the guidelines (and they're pretty simple), within 24 hours, Jack is a new kid.  He's happier, well-rested, and... he puts himself to sleep!  (Within 3-5 minutes, I might add).  I don't mean to sound like an infomercial, but I think families with young kids should definitely try it!

Due to extra sleep being had by all around this household, I now have the time and energy to be creative.  I'm catching up on several Pinterest ideas that I'd been wanting to do, and I'm able to be more creative with the boys.  I wish I could take credit for this project, but I can't.  I found it in a Family Fun magazine (May issue, maybe?), but couldn't find it on their website (sneaky sneaky...).  Basically, we just made a river with aluminum foil and a hose (outside, of course).  The article said to use old jar caps (like from a peanut butter jar) and use modeling clay to place a "sail" made out of paper on the inside of that cap.  I didn't think that would float, plus I didn't have any extra clay lying around.  We had bought $3 plastic boats last summer from Walgreens to take with us to the pool, so we used those instead.

Lucas had a blast (although there was a little bit of a tantrum when we had to go back inside :), and Jack thought the water from the hose was pretty darn cool!

We played a guessing game to see what floats and what sinks (rocks, sticks, leaves, boats)

LOVE the expression!

Linking Up To:

Sun Scholars: For the Kids Fridays