Need something quick, easy, and fun to do with your kids? Try popsicle stick catapults! They provide tons of fun for very little effort. What can you do with these catapults? Try launching various objects to see what goes further. Aim to launch objects into cups. Have contests to see how many objects you can launch into cups in a certain amount of time. Stack more or less sticks in the middle to see which provides more height for launch. The ideas are plentiful! My daughter had the most fun seeing how far she could move her bucket away and still get her dime into it. To make your own popsicle stick catapults you'll need: 8-10 popsicle sticks 6 small rubber bands small objects to launch 1) Start by rubber banding 5-6 popsicle sticks into a stack. You'll want to put rubber bands on both ends. 2) Next, rubber band two sticks together on one end only. 3) Slide your stack of sticks between the two popsicle sticks on the open end then rubber band … [Read more...]
Family Bonding With Puzzles
For as long as I can remember my dad has gotten a puzzle for his birthday. My dad's birthday is Christmas Eve so my family would put together his birthday puzzle over Christmas break. We would spend days bonding as a family while putting these puzzles together. My girls have loved and gotten puzzles for presents since they were old enough to put them together. Tottie puts one together at least once every couple of weeks. They keep her busy while Nutty is at school. A couple of years ago, Hubby had carpel tunnel surgery. He bought himself a 2000 piece puzzle to keep occupied while off of work. Little did he know, his puzzle would be the start of a new family tradition. The girls and I loved helping him put together that large puzzle. Since then, once a year we get a large puzzle to put together as a family. This puzzle takes up 3/4 of our dinning room table but Hubby and I think it's worth it. He cut boards so that they can be moved if need be (i.e. for … [Read more...]
5 Cold Weather Day Activities
It's been cold in Minnesota lately. Don't get me wrong, we're used to cold, but not THIS cold! Air temps in the -20ºF range with wind chills in the -40ºF range?! School has been canceled for the 4th time this month and we're going stir crazy! I decided to look back through our archives to come up with 5 cold weather day activities we can do during this crazy, stuck indoor time. Click on the large words to bring you to the post with directions. 1) Make and indoor obstacle course The perfect way to burn off energy while sparking imagination! Arrange and re-arrange to come up with endless obstacles. Spread it all over the house for more exercise! 2) Corn Starch and Water Need a quieter activity that will keep your kids busy for at least an hour? Try the corn starch and water science experiment. You just might end up playing with it yourself! 3) Paper Beads Bring out the crafty side in your kids by making beads out of paper. You should have all the supplies just lying … [Read more...]
50 Ideas for Road Trip Bags
Tis the time to start thinking about Holiday traveling. After all, Thankgiving and Christmas are just around the corner and I'm sure many of you travel. Twice a year we make the journey up north to Papa Tractors house....it is a six-hour drive each way. Over the years I have fine tuned our trip to include things to pass the time. This year I put all those things together into one bag! Each kiddo got their own, personalized, basket for the road trip. Here are a list of 50 things you could pack into a road trip bag to keep the kids entertained. Crayons Sheets to color on (I found 100 foot rolls of coloring paper in the dollar section!) Traffic BINGO (didn't we all play this as a kid?) Library books (This was a huge hit because they were something new, not books they've seen before) One snack for each hour (this helps our kids know the answer to the dreaded question "how much longer?") Water bottle (gotta stay hydrated) Batteries (for any electronic device) InnoTab … [Read more...]
How To Make A Rain Instrument–Pinned it, Did it!
I originally pinned this rain instrument for a Pinned it, Did it post however, the pin does not link to the original source, it links to another Pinterest type site. This website appears to be a copy-cat type and when I click on the pin I pinned, it leads to a broken link. I refuse to give credit to a copy-cat type site that leads to broken links. I learned my lesson to try to pin from the original site vs just re-pinning random pins. Now onto how to make a rain instrument... Ok, this is super simple... 1) Get a bottle 2) Put in a bunch of tooth picks 3) Put in some rice 4) Close the bottle and shake That's it!! It really DOES sound like rain! To be completely honest, my girls were thrilled with this for about 5 minutes and then it got old. My neighbor's 2 year old son, however, loved it! Side note: Did you know that we are now on Vine?? (link only works if you have Vine installed on your phone) Yup, that's right, we'll be sharing short videos of … [Read more...]
Imaginative Play With Play From Scratch #Spon
In an age filled with electronics and step-by-step instructions for every toy out there, it's hard to encourage your children to use their creativity and imagination. Children are constantly looking to adults (or electronics) to entertain them with what to do and how to do it. They get frustrated when parents tell them just to make something up. When we were contacted by Play From Scratch to try out their products we were both excited and a little skeptical. After all, it's just a bunch of cardboard boxes, tubes, and tape. Why would someone pay for that?? Well, this is why... Jamie's thoughts: Nutty's birthday party was the perfect time to bring out the Play From Scratch Creative Party Pack! I opened up the world famous box of boxes and the enormous tube of tubes, laid everything out, and gave the girls two rules: 1) Use your imagination, 2) Have fun... The girls promptly got to work choosing their boxes, picking their tape, and forming teams to work on things. I … [Read more...]
