Thursday, March 29, 2012

Playing with Tiny Ice



I bought an ice cube tray that makes tiny little ice pellets at a thrift store. I needed a simple activity for L to do while I was making dinner so I brought out the tray from the freezer and dumped the pellets into a bowl. I gave L the empty ice tray, small tongs, and another small bowl of warm water. He transferred the ice pellets back into their holes in the ice tray, and he also melted a bunch of ice in the warm water. This kept him busy long enough to make dinner...a simple success!


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Monday, March 26, 2012

The Super Awesome Messy Playdate!




I had some great friends and their kiddos over for one big messy awesome playdate!

The kids mixed up some great concoctions!




The Setup


Lots of different containers and utensils to mix their concotions in/with.
Everyone who came brought many more things too!






The ingredient and mixing area.
Coffee grinds, shredded paper, dry beans, noodles and rice, salt, spices, fake snow, birdseed. And everyone who came brought lots of great stuff too, like, glitter, oatmeal, acorns and pinecones, etc.
The kids had a really great variety of "ingredients" to work with!






The water station
I filled a spouted water jug with "glow water" and a few other containers as well. The kids poured their own water into their containers for mixing their concoctions.




and the fun begins!


































such messy fun!


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Friday, March 23, 2012

Making Stone Soup Outside




We borrowed the book "Stone Soup" from the library and we've been reading it over and over for weeks. L absolutely loves the story, as did I when I was a kid.




There are many variations, but if you are unfamiliar with this classic folktale,
wikipedia will summarize the most popular version for you (because I am lazy haha) .

 Some travellers come to a village, carrying nothing more than an empty cooking pot. Upon their arrival, the villagers are unwilling to share any of their food stores with the hungry travellers. Then the travellers go to a stream and fill the pot with water, drop a large stone in it, and place it over a fire. One of the villagers becomes curious and asks what they are doing. The travellers answer that they are making "stone soup", which tastes wonderful, although it still needs a little bit of garnish to improve the flavour, which they are missing. The villager does not mind parting with a few carrots to help them out, so that gets added to the soup. Another villager walks by, inquiring about the pot, and the travellers again mention their stone soup which has not reached its full potential yet. The villager hands them a little bit of seasoning to help them out. More and more villagers walk by, each adding another ingredient. Finally, a delicious and nourishing pot of soup is enjoyed by all.



So on this beautiful sunny spring day, L did what I remember doing many times as a child...make stone soup outside using natural materials. And just like I once did, he believed whole heartedly that his soup was "real" and tasted delicous! I love a child's imagination!





Soup from a stone. Fancy that!


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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

The Children's Art Group: Making Bird's Nests

After constantly wishing there was an alternative to the expensive art classes and camps, I decided to start a local Children's Art Group, now with 30 members! We have some awesome little artists, enthusiastic parents, and we are having a BLAST focusing on mostly process art and projects.




Making Birds Nests

The Children's Art Group made birds nests in honor of Spring!
L made a clay nest when he was 2 and we have kept it as a keepsake.
 I thought it would be a fun project for the art group too!


The Setup
I told each person to bring clay or playdough for their child, giving them THIS LINK to suggestions for homemade recipes. And I also asked that everyone bring some natural materials or whatever else they'd like to decorate their nests with. I set out lots of things for the group to use as well. Some things came from Hobby Lobby and other things came from my yard.



flowers, moss, bird feathers, cotton batting, small sticks, rainbow yarn, tree needles.
Some of the things other members brought were easter grass, clovers, and stickers!
We had lots of great materials to work with.



The kids made some really awesome nests!

Love these springy green nests!
What bird wouldn't want to snuggle in these!?





So creative




Love the color!




 A sophisticated bird dwelling :)










and I couldn't resist making one myself

A great way to kick off the Spring season!


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