"Cloud Dough" {Tutorial}

Our children LOVE playing with messy crafts!! 

We usually try to do a Messy Monday craft.

~~Here is a little poem I have posted before and try to keep in mind whenever I have the daunting task of cleaning up after a very "Messy Monday!" LOL.~~

MY MESSY CHILD

As I sit and watch him play
I'm fully there in every way
A pour, a stir, a splish, a splash
I'm witnessing a joyful bash
Mistakes are made, and even praised  
He problem solves, my child’s amazed
Through play he learns of his self-worth
Something I’ve instilled since birth
No shame, no correction, just free to discover
The wonders of this world he will uncover
The day is done, his hands are red
There’s sand and shaving cream on his head
A passerby stares in dismay
“Oh Dear, why does he look that way?”
I smile with pride, and the comfort of knowing
That all this “mess” is helping his growing
From blue toenails to purple knees
I smile at my child.....who is so PLEASED.

AK 

This week, we made Cloud Dough again.

It is really simple. 

Cloud Dough

8 cups flour

1 cup Baby Oil (we like the lavender scented kind)

Just mix it together for 5 minutes and, voila!

Messy Monday Funday!

Be a blessing,

Aria:)

*EASY* Contact Paper Collage!

Ready for a really easy, inexpensive and fun craft?

Well, just pull out some clear contact paper and tissue paper!

That's it!

{No messy glue to contend with either, LOL}

For the younger kids, tearing the tissue paper is a great way to build their fine motor skills (and pre-writing and cutting skills) and for the older ones, cutting the tissue paper is great practice!

The girls really enjoyed this project!

Be a Blessing,

Aria:)

Math Estimations

I found a really cute idea for a Math Estimation Craft on Pinterest 

{hop on over and follow us there} 

and decided to give it a try!

Our girls love math and love eating, so it was the perfect combinations, LOL;)

First,  just printed off the estimation worksheet and let the girls get the O's going.

We just traced their hands and let the girls estimate how many O's would fit in each.

Em really underestimated hers, but Elle was really close to her actual number!

Definitely a hit and a great follow up to our {H.E.E.T} Apple Cooking Class, where we 

played an Apple Estimation game as well!

Hands-on learning at its finest--so fun!

Be a Blessing!

Aria:)

Art Museum Visit

Our children love going to the local Art Museum.

We have been studying various artists in homeschool (Brueghel, Inness, Bierstadt, Jacob Lawrence and Piet Mondrian, most recently). We have learned about how artists use various mediums to create different pieces of art and also how they use shapes and lines in different ways.

It was really fun to take the girls back to the Art Museum armed with knew knowledge about art. They were really interested in looking at the various creations and also creating some art pieces of their own!

We had a really nice visit and a lively dialogue about the various artists and their work. Practical application, in a hands-on manner, has always been the best part of homeschooling!

 I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the artwork of Elijah Pierce. I was introduced to his work over 20 years ago by a Professional Mentor of mine in college. I was so happy to see a whole gallery of his works at our local museum-what a treat!

They have a really neat kids' area where they can create funny animals, make sculptures out of wooden dowels, create funny faces using metal instruments and play with dishes (and more)!

We even packed a healthy lunch and enjoyed it at the museum!

It was a wonderful family outing and very educational!

Blessings,

Aria:)

Our History/Herstory Timelines

We are using Heart of Dakota's History Curriculum and the girls absolutely L-O-V-E it!
I love it as well. It really allows us to use the Bible as a History book and teaches us to view all of timre from creation forward through the lens of God.

As a part of one of the lessons, the girls made their own personal history/herstory timelines. It was so fun (and bittersweet) to see the girls' baby pictures and their lives all put on paper.

They loved having their own "history" and proudly display them in our home!
Elle had so many years, she had to use 2 papers (sniff, sniff:0).

This was a really fun project for the girls!
Blessings,
Aria:)

{Messy Monday} Rainbow Spaghetti!

I saw the idea to make Rainbow Colored Spaghetti on Pinterest
{hop on over and follow me there} 

and decided to give it a try!

But....I also wanted to see if we could somehow come up with some mock turkey meatballs:)

First, I used some white craft foam balls and had the girls paint them brownish/red.

{click on photo to enlarge}

 I think they looked more like chocolate, but hey, the girls didn't mind.

While the meatballs dried, we made the colored pasta.

It was really simple to make.

I just used some cheap white spaghetti noodles, placed in boiling water and added food coloring to the water. I cooked it to al dente and let it cool. I then tossed it in some oil once it dried to make sure it didn't stick together. I think adding the oil was a really necessary improvement on the original Pin b/c the spaghetti would've just been a dry, sticky mess otherwise.

*Since trying ours, I have read that you can let the spaghetti soak in the food coloring water to get a more vibrant coloring. We didn't want to wait that long, but may try it next time.*

 The girls had a really, really great time playing with the colored spaghetti!!!

I was SHOCKED at how long this kept them occupied. 

Seriously, they loved it!

And, yes, our silly girls wanted to EAT it, LOL:)

I didn't let them, but it was so hilarious to watch them pretend to eat it!!
I was even able to cook their actual meatball and spaghetti dinner while they happily played with their rainbow spaghetti!!! That NEVER happens!

Whole wheat spaghetti and home made chicken and spinach meatballs---yummy!

Gotta love a cheap, fun and messy craft!

Are you going to make it?

Let us know how it turns out!

Blessings,

Aria:)

Elle's Cardboard Box House

We had some leftover cardboard cereal boxes from our Microwave Puffy Paint Craft, so Elle pulled them out and decided to create a little house for our "Little People." 

 I let her freely create and have fun designing their house. 

I love how she made books for them to read and she had her family co-sleeping!

 Elle did an amazing job problem solving how to get the legs on her tables and chairs to work.

She got a bit frustrated with it at first, but came up with a great solution and kept plugging along!

 She really enjoyed making this--all from some cereal boxes, LOL!!

Sometimes, simple is better. {NOTE TO SELF}

 Elle even made a blanket for them:-).
She authored two books, "The Book of Hugs" and "Different Hugs."
They are really cute stories!

Elle said she wants to decorate the house with pictures for the walls, 

she just needs to find the right stickers for it.

Now, I just wonder how long she will want to keep this before we can "recycle" it?

Hey, is there a 'rule' on how long you all keep your children's crafts?

As you can imagine, we easily gather a TON of STUFF. 

How do you rotate it out and know when it's time to throw things away?

***Update to add her wall pictures.***

Elle's house is really coming along nicely!

Blessings,

Aria:)

Summer 2012 Updates!! {Puffy Paint Tutorial}

Hi! I hope this post finds you well! I wanted to post a quick update on us.
{Click on any of the photos to enlarge them}
We have continued to do homeschool work this summer (mainly math and phonics) in preparation for officially starting our school year in a few weeks. I am so glad we never got totally out of the "school flow" so that it won't be such a shock when we delve back in 100%. Elle is about half way done with her first grade math work book and Em is starting to really get a hang of reading. She will turn 4 next week!

Here are some of our recent adventures and fun while learning!

Our family spent some time at the State Fair and had a wonderful time!

We all were shocked that the baby, Ce Ce 26 months, wanted to ride all of the "big girl" rides! None of us were prepared for that. She is the one that never even goes on the little pony ride at the grocery store, LOL. I guess she really is growing up!

Elle made a really cool obstacle course and all of the girls had a great time playing with that!

We have been doing lots of crafts this summer--tons of painting, collecting things on nature walks and observing beauty all around us. We made bird feeders out of rice cakes, peanut butter and bird seed and the girls hung them on the tree in our front yard. 

The birds really loved them-we need to make them again.

We also made Microwave Puffy Paint. 

We always love creating fun art using this technique!

You should try it! 

Microwave Puffy Paint Recipe

• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp salt
• food coloring

Add small amount of water to make a smooth paste.  

We like it pretty thick so it really puffs up well:).

Paint on pieces of cereal box cardboard and microwave for 20-30 seconds. 

 We L-O-V-E going to the library!!!!
We always check out 100 books and spend some great learning time down there.

We have strung popcorn for movie nights and such, but seeing this on Pinterest reminded me of making these cereal and pretzel bracelets. The girls had a ball making them and eating them! It kept them occupied in the mini-van for a long time!

We will be rounding out the summer with a kid's Cooking Class for the big girls, as well as Gymnastics Camp for Em (future Gabby Douglas maybe:) and a Church Day Camp for Elle! 

I pray your summer is going well and you are enjoying it!!

Blessings,

Aria:)

{Messy Mondays} Part 1

Our girls LOVE doing "Messy Mondays!" 

Every week, we come up with new and fun ways to have some Messy Fun!

Here are a few of our latest Messy Mondays!

Enjoy!!

~Top-Shaving Cream and Marbles Fun

~Middle left-sprinkler/water fun outside

~Middle right-Bath tub paint

~Bottom left-writing on the doors and windows with markers

~Bottom right-Homemade Play dough with spaghetti and wooden beads.

More fun to come!!!

What kinds of ways do your kids like to get messy?

Blessings,

Aria:)

Rainbows and Colors Unit

We love colors, though, our girls' favorite colors are pink and purple:). Yes, they wear a lot of pink. Hey, it makes the laundry a lot easier, lol. 

We studied colors and the rainbow. Here is the wrap-up. Enjoy!!

Our Bible memory verse for the week.

We had a rich discussion on how God keeps His promises!

We were even lucky enough to catch a few rainbows in our front hallway from our 

windows in the front door. 

 The girls all really enjoyed our rainbow fruit kabobs!

 We rarely eat food coloring, so I made an exception for this lesson.

We made Rainbow Toast using Organic Rice milk with food coloring in it.

 We read the book "I Can Eat a Rainbow" and gathered all of the colored play foods we could find.

 What a gorgeous rainbow!

We needed more purple and blues!

 Elle learned what ROYGBIV stands for and decided to draw what her interpretation of Roygbiv is.

What a creative little girl!

 Elle still loves creating math triangles with fact families.

Elle's vocabulary worksheet.

 We made gorgeous rainbow waffles!!

 We learned about primary colors and secondary colors.

I put blue, red and yellow glittered paint into ziploc sandwich bags.

 The girls had a wonderful time experimenting with making secondary colors!!

 This was the perfect activity for Ce Ce. She does not like to get messy:).

 We went on a nature walk and collected various items.

We painted the pinecones-the girls loved this!!!

 Em's worksheets on colors.

 Another wonderful free file folder game from mamaslearningcorner.

 Elle is really improving in her spelling and vowel usage!

Not perfect, but making progress!

Be a Blessing,

Aria:)