First, my thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by the recent tornadoes in the central US. Because of all the news about these tornadeos, the girls have had a lot of questions. I thought we would do an experiment to hopefully answer some of those questions. Thus, we did a tornado in a jar. To make your own tornado, you'll need: a jar water a small amount of dish soap (about a teaspoon) 1) Fill the jar to almost full and add the dish soap. 2) Put the top on then shake it up to get some suds on the top. 3) Let the water settle out just a bit for the best results. 4) After the water has settled, shake the jar again in a circular motion. When you stop shaking, you should see a tornado form! 5) Let the water settle out again before making your next tornado. You can explain to your kids that tornadoes happen when two different air masses (usually a warm and a cold one) bump into each other. One mass moves faster than the other so they form a … [Read more...]
Pet Jellyfish in a Jar
Nutty and I had a half hour to ourselves the other day and she wanted to do something neat. Unfortunately a half hour is not a lot of time so I got on Pinterest to see if there was something quick we could try. I came across a jellyfish in a bottle. The site that the pin linked to only had photos that appeared to be from another blog so I will link to the pin and not the site. We gathered our supplies of: a clear plastic bag (we used a vegetable bag from the grocery store) scissors a jar blue food coloring floss to use as a tie (any string will work) We then cut the bag to make it a little smaller because it was just too big. Following the photos of the pin, we tied off part of the bag to make a "body" then began to cut the tentacles. Here's our jellyfish before we put it in the jar...yeah, I'll get to this in a minute... Time to fill up our jar and dye the water blue. Technically you don't have to dye the water but it makes for a good effect. … [Read more...]
Bubble Painting and a Little Entrepreneur
Yesterday Tottie was bored. It was a beautiful day outside but she was tired of her sidewalk chalk, scooter, and bike. It was time for something new to do. Thank goodness for bubble painting! What is bubble painting you ask? Read on... I got out our large jug of bubble solution, some food coloring, small containers, and some paper. (If you don't have bubble solution, dish soap mixed with a little bit of water makes a good bubble solution.) I poured a small amount of bubble solution into each container then added different food coloring to each container. Tottie then dipped her bubble wand into a container and blew bubbles onto the paper. When they popped, they "painted" the paper! She has so much fun doing it! Just a few notes though...She made a mess dripping colored bubble solution all over the place so make sure when you do it, to do it outside too. Also, beware because the bubbles do pop in your face. All said and done, Tottie made seven paintings. She liked … [Read more...]
You’ve Been Egged
My family is lucky enough to live in an AWESOME neighborhood. My neighbors regularly get together for fun things and have a minimum of two block parties a year. We could not be happier with where we live. Because our neighborhood is so fun, a few years ago my girls and I started "You've Been Boo'd" at Halloween time. It was a huge success and everyone really got into it. This year we decided to do something different with "You've Been Egged!" for Easter. You've Been Egged is similar to Boo'd in the fact that it is still a ding-dong and ditch thing but instead of just leaving treats on your neighbor's door, you hide eggs in their yard. Both adults and kids can have fun with this. The only problem is hiding the eggs without getting caught! To "Egg" your neighbors, you'll need: 10 fillable plastic eggs treats to put in the eggs (candy or non-candy) a copy of the "You've Been Egged" sheet (see below to download) 1) Fill the plastic eggs with treats 2) Sneak into … [Read more...]
Easter Story in an Egg Hunt
Since Nutty was old enough to walk my family has had an egg hunt every Easter. My mom hides over 200 eggs and my girls, along with my nephew, hunt for them. It is a tradition we look forward to every year. Last Easter was a bit different. Hidden among the normal eggs were "special" eggs with something other than the usual candy or money inside. Instead, what was contained in these eggs shared the true meaning of why we celebrate Easter. The eggs were Resurrection Eggs. As the kids opened all the eggs they found and built their candy/money stash, they set aside the Resurrection Eggs. When all the regular eggs had been opened, the kids took turns reading the slips from the Resurrection Eggs in the ordered numbers. Along with that, my sister read the Easter Story from a book. The story closely resembled the story from the bible. The kids loved coordinating the eggs with the bible book story! Having Resurrection Eggs along with our regular eggs in the hunt reminded us all that Easter is … [Read more...]
Catching Leprechauns
Everyone knows if you catch a Leprechaun they have to give you their pot of gold. You also know that catching those pesky little critters is nearly impossible. That doesn't keep my girls from trying! This year we searched the internet for some fun and easy traps to make. Of all of the ones we looked at, the girls said these traps below look "do-able". Now to get them to agree on just one or two of them! 1) Marshmallow Mudpie has the trap that I like the most. We already have a box that's similar. Nutty agrees she likes this one too. 2) True Blue Aggie Fans has a trap similar to the one above but Tottie likes it "because it's taller and looks cooler." 3) Inheriting Our Planet has a trap similar to one we tried a few years ago. Nutty would like to try something like this again. "Maybe we didn't do it quite right last time." 4) Holiday Haven has a trap that Tottie says "I just want to try mom. I like duct tape!" Personally, this is the one I like the least :) What … [Read more...]
