Easter Bunny Project

Yes, we created easter bunnies today.  I had the project idea from my mailbox magazine, and didn't think the kids would really care that we were doing an early easter project, and this way you have an idea for easter if you'd like!  I am including a picture of the instructions below, but if you can't read them, it basically goes like this (in total you will need 2 large white paper plates, 1 small one, glue/stapler, green construction paper, white construction paper, markers, other construction paper for the hanging strip, and your child's shoes).  You will need 2 large paper plates, and one smaller one.  Preferably they would be all white.  Cut one of the larger plates in half and staple one of the halves backwards onto the other large plate.  This creates a pocket for the bunny.  Attach the smaller plate to the top for the head of the bunny.  Have your child trace each of their shoes 2 times, to create the feet and the ears of the bunny, and then cut them out.  Attach the ears and the feet to the body of the bunny.  Your child can then draw in the details and cut up some green construction paper to put in the pocket of the bunny that looks like grass.  If you'd like to hang it, you can cut a strip of construction paper and staple it to the front and back of the bunny.  Here are some pics!

The instructions

Tracing the shoes

putting it all together

Finished project!

Spring Break Plan

Spring Break is upon us!  For our family it is next week, and we aren't going out of town, and I don't want to spend a bunch of  money.  So . . . I thought I would share our plan for next week and encourage you to make a plan as well!  They don't stay little for long and if you are anything like me it is much more fun to spend time together when you have a plan (even if you need to change the plan!).  It's also going to be raining next week, so my original plan of visiting a different park every day is a no go!  So . . .

Yesterday I visited Teacher's Tools (or teaching tools?) for the first time which is Lewisville off of Business 121.  I've been meaning to go there for quite some time and was expecting a small store.  This store was HUGE and there was so much fun stuff for the kids.  I of course hit up the 75% off section first which is way back in the right corner of the store.  There I found some great finds!  Ever heard of the Mailbox magazines?  They are for teachers and are full of activities, worksheets, and craft projects.  In this section they had one for each month of the year and so I bought April and May.  Now I am thinking I want to go back and get the rest because they were about $4 each (regularly 15), and I got so many ideas from it.  I also got a couple of workbooks for .73 each - GREAT deal.  I also got a few things that weren't on sale, including those dot painting thingies that you see your child using in preschool, and a few workbooks that were $3 each.  So . . . here is our plan!

Monday:  it is going to be sunny, so we are hitting up Andy Brown park in Coppell, playing, feeding the ducks, and having a picnic lunch.  In the afternoon while the 2 year old is napping away, the boys will be having fun with a couple of art projects and other educational fun from my mailbox magazine.  After she is done napping, off to the cul-de-sac we go to ride bikes and enjoy the sunshine.

Tuesday:  no rain on Tuesday, so it is off to Cortadera park we go where we will play, practice some baseball, have a picnic lunch, and go to our favorite yogurt place for dessert.  More art fun during naptime, and then it is time for a walk/bike ride around the neighborhood.

Wednesday:  Rain!  We have a membership to the Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas so we will be headed there.  The kids LOVE it.   If you are reading this and want to come with us, I have a couple of free passes!  (KARLIE/KIM?).  :)  When we return from the museum, there were some fun rain art projects from the book so it only seemed right that we do these on a rainy day!  After naptime, I have some fun stampers that I got for the 2 year old, so she will be having fun with that while the boys work in some of their new workbooks.

Thursday:  Rain!  Starting out the morning with a craft/game from Mailbox magazine, and then heading out to either Chick fil a or McDonalds to play and then have lunch.  Join us!  :)  During naptime, the boys and I will be having Sorry, War, and Farkle tournaments, and I have a prize basket for the winners!  (The prize basket is always present in our house and is where the toys from kids meals go and other random things they get from parties, etc.)  After naptime they are making some fun bunny baskets (not too early for Easter stuff right?)

Friday:  Cloudy, but no rain.  Off to Austin Kent Ellis Park we go to play and have a picnic lunch.  Frog craft during naptime, and winkids free time from 3:30 - 5.  My kids go crazy over WinKids so they will be very excited.

If you are following this blog, in a couple of months I will be sharing my summer plan with you!  Last summer I had a plan for every day of summer before it started, and it made all of us so much more excited about our precious time together.  Anticipating is half the fun!

Paper Monsters

So I am kind of a sucker for books/magazines that have activities in them you can do with your children.  My latest purchase is called "365 Things to do with Paper and Cardboard" and I got it from my 6 year olds book order form.  Today we made paper monsters and they were fun because the kids can totally do it and they can design their very own monster.  Here is a pic of the ones we made today:

And here is a pic of the instructions - you can't see it all that well, but I need instructions illustrated because I am not very artistic so it may be helpful:

And here are some other monster ideas to get your creative juices going:

I'll add the instructions for how to make these to the "Kids in Art" tab!  Have fun!

Juice Box Mummies

For some reason my children are obsessed with Halloween.  Every time we go to the library they want to check out Halloween books.  All year they ask how many days left until Halloween.  In February they started talking about their costumes.  So, I've decided to just go with it.  Let's start halloween activities in September!  Why not?!?  :)  Today we made juice box mummies, named that because you use empty juice boxes to make them.  Super easy and they had fun with it!  You use construction paper on the outside of the box so you could even decorate the outside of the mummy if you want (which may take away some of the mummy effect but who cares).  I put the instructions for making them under the "Kids in Art" tab.  Have fun!

Tortilla Chip Pumpkins

This morning while my 6 year old was school my 4 year old made pumpkin shaped chips out of tortillas - he had a lot of fun with it!  If you are getting in the pumpkin spirit, here's what you need:

Soft corn tortillas, 1/4 C vegetable or olive oil, salt, pastry brush or paint brush, pumpkin shaped cookie cutters (with the face - I got a set at Hobby Lobby for 1.99), small bowl, cookie sheet, and 1 red and 1 yellow food coloring.

Use the cookie cutters to cut out the pumpkin shapes from the tortillas.  Pour oil into small bowl and add 2 drops each of the red and yellow food coloring.  Wait a few minutes and then stir to blend the food coloring.  Dip the brush in the oil and paint both sides of each cut out until well coated.  Place chips on ungreased cookie sheet and sprinkle with salt.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

They were DELICIOUS hot out of the oven!

Paint by Number

Today we tried out the painting by number packet I bought at the craft store.  I got one for my 6 year old that was labeled for 8 - 12 year olds and one for my 4 year old that was labeled 4 - 8 year olds.  They were excited and did have fun, but mainly I think because it was something new.  However, this activity was challenging for a few reasons.  My 6 year old didn't want to follow the coloring, but painted the picture the way he wanted.  This is fine, but I am almost inclined to just give him a blank sheet of paper and let him paint.  Also, the spaces for each color that you were to paint were VERY small, and there was a lot of paint mixing involved, like mix #1 color paint with the #5 color paint, and he just didn't have enough focus for that.  The 4 year old was actually trying to use the colors that were instructed, but again on his the spaces to paint were very small, and he was to mix many of the colors and that just wasn't going to happen.  I told him to just choose one of the colors when it called for 2.  They lasted about a half hour with this activity and then set it aside and said they would do more later.  I probably wouldn't get this again for them unless they convinced me that they enjoyed it more than it seemed that they did.

For dinner tonight we had stir-fry, and it is so easy.  I bought one of those stir fry packets from the asian section of the store, and followed the instructions on the back.  It tells you what veggies to get, but I just bought the ones I wanted, like broccoli, onion red pepper and mushroom.  Then I made rice for the side and dinner was ready!  So easy and it was delicious.