Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Spray Chalk

Spray chalk!!! My kids could spend hours squirting this stuff! It's so easy and inexpensive to make. I bought 4 spray bottles from the dollar store, 2 boxes of corn starch and mixed it up last night.
Even the dog was entertained! LOL At first they would say "oops" but then it turned into an all out spray the dog event! Poor thing, she's such a sport!!!

I made 4 full bottles of spray chalk and it lasted for an hour with 3 kids and um, one adult!
The recipe is simple:

4T corn starch
1/2 cup water
food coloring

I have large bottles so I did 4x the recipe for each bottle and picked the colors I wanted. I went through a box and a half of corn starch. You can adjust the spray stream to change the effect. I have the most beautiful driveway right now!

Monday, June 29, 2009

Backyard Scavenger Hunt



So today is officially the first day of summer!! We left town as soon as school ended so today is the first full day of summer. We started with a backyard scavenger hunt. It was a huge success! The kids had a blast and they were so excited about finding the items on the list.



I knew the kids would be able to find a tennis ball in the yard, what I didn't expect was for them to be stalked until they were done with it! LOL



They all worked together as a team and there was no fighting! Imagine that!




They even took turns holding the bucket and list.








I made a very simple list of items that I knew they would be able to find in our backyard. Our list included:

rock
stick
pinecone
brown leaf
worm
clover
moss
weed
pink flower
garden tool
tennis ball
feather
green leaf
something white

I tea stained the paper last night and this morning I burnt the edges and then wrote out the list. They loved this effect!
My kids had so much fun with this activity that they asked if they could do it again. It was age appropriate for my group of 3, 4 (my 5 year old is out of town), 7 and 10(the neighbor). The older kids helped the younger kids and told them what to find. I was so proud of the teamwork!!!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

It's Summer time!


Yay, our kids are home from school! I don't know about you, but I love that. I love that our mornings can be relaxed, no running around the house half awake yelling at my kids to eat, get dressed, find their shoes, brush hair/teeth while I fix lunches, try to find clean clothes and throw my hair in a ponytail. ugg. I like to drink my coffee and enjoy being in my jammies. I like to ease into the day. I like having all of my kids home. I hate running around half crazed wondering what or who I am forgetting.
So here it is summer time and I pledge to do at least one creative project/activity each day that will be geared to all 4 of my kids. It means planning the night before and being organized. Those that know me, know that I am not organized! But I will TRY to do this each night. If I don't then I will have to wing it. Afterall, as mothers' we learn to think on our feet, right? Maybe I will plan unplanned days and see what I can come up with on a whim.
I will be posting every night this summer with our daily activity. I will post recipes and all the how-to information needed to duplicate the fun. I will also rate my success, in other words, if the activity was a hit or a flop. And of course, there will be photos. Lots of photos. LOL
My first post will be Monday, June 29th! We will be doing something in the backyard, rain or shine!