Coffee Can Stilts

I made these coffee can stilts for L's best buds 4th birthday.

They were so easy to make that I made L a pair as well.

 I used THIS TUTORIAL for making my stilts, except I did spray paint mine. To personalize it, I taped a foam number 4 to one of the cans before spray painting and after it dried I peeled the 4 off.

I wanted to do something a bit different with L's stilts so I wrapped rubber bands around the creases of the cans before spray painting to create silver stripes.

It took him awhile to get the hang of it, but even after falling a few times at first, he kept on trying and finally started to get the hang of it! He was really proud and excited to show daddy his new skill!

 

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Rainbow Puddles

We've been in an extreme drought for most of the summer and so today when we had consistent rain for a few hours, we took full advantage of it by not only just playing in it, but also making...


RAINBOW PUDDLES!


I mixed powdered tempura paint and sugar together in spice shakers to make the "puddle paint." I did this to save a bit of money so I wouldn't have to use so much powder. You can also mix it with salt, flour, or cornstarch. I only used sugar because it was right next to me on the counter.  If you do not have powdered tempura paint, you could also use crushed chalk, or even koolaid!

by then the sun was shining again and we went to making the puddles around our yard beautiful!

 



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Themed Bath Thursday: Bathtub Restaurant

TOTALLY inspired by Growing a Jeweled Rose's Sensory Bath Ideas, I decided to dedicate one night a week to making bathtime EXTRA special! Thursday's are usually our least busiest night of the week, so Themed Bath Thursdays were born! This was our 10th week.






Bathtub Restaurant
We've done so many outdoor cooking activities that it was only a matter of time before it dawned on me to bring our plastic play food in the bath. L LOVED...no, he SUPER LOVED this bath night! The wood bench above has all-weather sealant on it so I wasn't worried about it being in the bath for just a bit. He would have had fun without it too but I loved the play element that it added to the whole thing. I printed a "Lawson's Bathtub Restaurant" sign using some clip art that I found of a man cooking in his bath and taped it to the wall, gave him all his plastic water friendly food, an empty spice shaker, small frying pan, cup, plate, bowl, and spoon.
He was in business and started taking orders!

 

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Slime Revisited

We've made homemade silly putty before, but we were calling it SLIME this time, and SLIMY it is!  What's nice about it is that yes its sticky, but its actually not THAT messy. It can be picked up with itself and it's really easy to peel off of your skin and whatever's left can be easily washed off with warm water and a washcloth. It also saves for a long time in an airtight container or ziplock bag.

INGREDIENTS

4 tablespoons liquid starch

8 tablespoons of white school glue

Your choice of food coloring

  

DIRECTIONS

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl.

Stir a bit, then let set for 5 minutes.

Start working it by hand and it will firm up

Have fun!

 

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A Special Delivery For Our Friends

A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be. ~Douglas Pagels

Being a a great friend is something I have always thought was one of the most important things in the whole world. I get pure satisfaction and joy from making my friends feel important and loved. This is something that from an early age I have and will continue to also instill in my children...they joy of helping people, making others feel happy, and being a great friend! Since becoming a mother, I have formed some amazing friendships with women who have children that L is friends with. We start off as aquaintances whose children play together and over time these women and their children have become a big part of our lives. L loves his friends dearly and frequently tells me so. He is a very affectionate and loving little boy, so when I suggested that we do something extra special for our friends, he was totally on board and really excited.

So we made

Rainbow Cupcakes 

for our dear friends 

and then

Hand Delivered

them to each family

Thanking Them

for being such a

Special Part of Our Lives

 

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Summer Snowball Fight with Fluffy Stuff

We made FLUFFY STUFF which is simply

2 BOXES OF CORNSTARCH AND 1 CAN OF SHAVING CREAM!

it is very similiar to the Cloud Dough that we've made in the past,
yet it is still a different sensory experience, one that all 3 boys (1,4, 14) enjoyed!

The coolest part about Fluffy Stuff is how soft it is yet able to be molded.

Once we molded a few balls we immediately associated them with snowballs.

L wanted to make them purple so we added some powdered tempura paint.

The lavender Fluffy Stuff was then molded again into snowballs and what do you do with snowballs?.......HAVE A SNOWBALL FIGHT OF COURSE!

Sadly I have no pics. I don't think my phone would have survived it as I was covered in "snow!"

My Stepson J (14) has a BB gun and he actually made his own batch of Fluffy Stuff, molded several snowballs, and used them as targets. It was actually pretty cool!

When he shot them they exploded like "POOF!" leaving a little cloud purple behind.



If you liked this activity, you may also enjoy...


Cloud Dough

Goop

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