The 5 Days of Spring Break {day 4. basic watercolors}

What kid doesn't love to paint? I know mine do & watercolors are a perfect medium to work with.  Not only do they clean up easily & are inexpensive, it's easy to try different techniques.

Here are a few basics...

1. Tape your paper down {masking tape works best to keep your art intact}.  When you use water colors the paper tends to curl up, make sure you tape all the edges down to keep that from happening .  Use watercolor paper or paper made for paint and markers.

2. Lightly wet the entire surface of the paper.  This will help your water colors "flow".  Use a good amount of water when painting, water colors are not meant to be bright and bold.  Make a mistake, simply dilute it with a little water & paint over it...just be sure to not use so much water that your paper begins to tear.  Less water = brighter colors, more water = lighter colors.

3. Watercolors are a great way to practice mixing colors.  Paint stripes of two different colors near to one another,  see what happens when they meet & the colors begin to blend together.  Go beyond the basics of red & yellow make orange...or blue and yellow make green.  Experiment with your colors!

4. Use salt.  This is a fun and easy technique that kids love to watch.  While the paint is still wet, sprinkle with salt.  Try different types with varying coarseness. Allow your paint to dry completely, then brush the salt off. We used table and kosher salt...

5. "Secret messages"...as my 7 year old dubbed them.  Use a white crayon to write a message or draw a design before wetting the paper.  The crayon will repel the paint. 

6.  Try blowing the paint around with straw...or use a sponge after painting to pick up color & leave a design.  Be creative, water colors are very forgiving :)

 **watch for an upcoming tutorial on how to make your own gallery wall-- just like mine.  It's a perfect place to post all your kids' art work**

The 5 Days of Spring Break {day 2. pinwheels}

Pinwheels are perfect for a sunny spring day...and making your own is as easy as it gets. Simple enough for almost any age, if you can use scissors, you can make a pinwheel. Here's how...  

Gather your supplies.  You will need:

*squares of paper, ours are 6 inch squares

*un-sharpened pencils

*ball head straight pins

*scissors

*paper piercing tool (optional)

*sharpened pencil

*ruler

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1. Draw a line from each corner about 3 inches long toward the center.  Regular weight paper works best for this project.

2. Cut along drawn lines, erase pencil marks.

3. You now have 8 points on your square.  Pierce every other corner {one per section}.  This step is optional, but it makes it just a bit easier when pinning.

4.  Working  with the wrong side {white side} of the paper towards you.  Curl around the first point and stick your straight pin into the first marked corner, from the printed side of the paper. {The head of the pin should show on the printed side}.  Continue with every marked corner, holding the paper on the pin as you go around.

5. Push the pin through the center of the pinwheel and into the eraser of an un-sharpened pencil.  Place the pin in to the eraser near the metal, then push the pin downward until it hits the metal on the opposite side, so that the pin cannot poke through & hurt little fingers :).  Bend the pin slightly so that the pinwheel is parallel with the pencil.

And your done...have fun!

The 5 Days of Spring Break {day 1. Cornstarch Quicksand}

Cornstarch Quicksand

This is a super EASY and fun science experiment for kids.  It keeps my kids occupied for the better part of an afternoon, easily.  It looks super messy, buy believe me, it cleans up very easily with just water :)

Cornstarch quicksand is a Non-Newtonian Fluid, meaning it has properties of both a liquid and a solid.  Have fun testing how it reacts to pressure, when it is squeezed & when pressure is released...what happens when an object is placed on top or when an object sinks into the mixture...just have fun!

Here's what you need:

1 part water {1/2 cup}

2 parts cornstarch {1 cup}

food coloring...if you like...I opt to not add it :)

Just mix it up...It works best when you use your hands.

Then start experimenting!

It's hard to get a good picture of what happens with the quicksand, so here are a few videos of my kids in action {sorry about any baby babbles in the background} :)

Easter Re-Post {sugar eggs for easter}

For the eggs, you'll need:

1. Mix 1 cup sugar with 1 tsp. water and a few drops of food coloring.  Mix well with your hands until all the sugar is dyed (you can wear gloves for this if you like, but the sugar keeps your hands dye-free).

2. Press sugar firmly into your mold.  I used large, plastic easter eggs.  You can also use egg shaped molds found in the cake decorating or soap making aisle at your craft store.  You can also find them on Etsy.

3. Gently scoop out some of the sugar from the center, making sure you leave a good edge.  You will be able to make the egg thinner in the last step.  Make sure the sugar is still packed into the mold tightly.

4. Carefully turn eggs out onto wax paper (like you are building a sand castle).  Allow to dry for a few hours to overnight (I think overnight is best).

**Each batch of sugar made two of my easter eggs with a little left over...It made one large egg. If you like you can use the leftover sugar to make marbled eggs, by just packing in 2 or 3 colors**

5. When the eggs are comletely dry, use a table knife to clean up edges and scrape out the center of the eggs a little more.

Now we're ready to decorate, for the Royal Icing you need:

1. In a large bowl, with a mixer fixed with a whisk attachment.  Slowly mix together 1/4 cup meringue powder (available in the cake decorating aisle) and 6 Tb. of water.  Scrape down the sides as needed.  When mixed well turn mixer up to high and beat until stiff peaks form.  Add powdered sugar and beat until thick and fluffy.  It should look like this <---. 

2. Add coloring to your icing if you like.  Fit your pastry bags with couplers and decorating tips.  Fill bags with icing.  Royal icing dries very quickly, cover any leftover icing with a damp cloth.

3. Decorate...have fun and be creative :) I added little sugar pearls to mine...there are lots of sprinkles and decorations that would be fun to add.  Allow icing to dry and fill with jelly beans or small candies...Although the eggs may look tasty, I don't recommend eating them :) 

Happy Easter! 

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Chore Checklists

One of our family's goals this year is to have the kids take more responsibility in keeping the house clean. It's a lot of work for a family of 6.

To help them out...and make my life a little easier...I made chore checklists.  For each job they are responsible for there is a list of task that need to happen in order for the job to be done {these are for daily jobs...weekly (Saturday) jobs are more in-depth, because the deeper cleaning happens then}

They are super easy to make, here's what to do:

Print out each Room/job with the list of required tasks on your computer.  Use big bullet points to use as check boxes.  Also be sure to print them onto heavy duty card stock--they need to hold up to lots of use.

Cut out to desired size, mine are all about 8.5 x 3 inches,  

Laminate.  You can either take them somewhere or use clear contact paper (like I did).  The contact paper works great & is very cost effective.  

Cut out contact paper so it is a little more than the width x twice the height of the card, remove backing.

Place card face down onto bottom half of the sticky side of the contact paper.  Fold over and press (really press well along the edges), so both sides are laminated.

Trim extra contact paper, leaving a slight border.

Use a dry erase marker to check off finished tasks & wipe off when completed.

Happy Cleaning!

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Thanksgiving Crafty Countdown..Days 2,3,4...

So...time got away from me this weekend...between the craft fair, errands & everything else that had to be done--seeing Harry Potter was one of them :) I just didn't have time to blog.  So on Sunday afternoon the kids sat down & had some crafting time.  These crafts are all supper easy (and I think you can make all three for under $10)

"Stained Glass" Leaves

I remember doing this when I was in the first grade...only we put dry leaves in with the crayons and made colored paper frames.  It's amazingly easy & a good use for extra, worn out crayons that you might have...

You need:

wax paper

crayons (paper peeled back)

pencil sharpener

yarn or tape (opt.)

iron

scissors

hole punch

1. Fold a piece of waxed paper in half.

2. sharpen crayons over waxed paper.  Collect a good amount of shavings---use lots of different colors--on one side of the creased wax paper.

3. Sandwich crayon shavings in wax paper.  Run a warm iron over it quickly...it only takes a second, you will see the crayons melt instantly--the kids think this is so cool :) If you happen to get a little wax on your iron, quickly wipe it off onto a old towel.

4. Trace or draw leaves onto the cooled wax paper (it cools almost instantly).

5. Cut out leaves.

6. Punch holes, tie onto yarn & hang in front of a window. Or tape to a window so that they are lit up from the sunlight.

Indian Beads

 I know you could just string plastic beads from the store...but I think this adds a little more fun (plus you get hundreds of beads for about $1.00)

You need:

ditalini pasta (short tubes)

food coloring (liquid or gel)

yarn or string

1. separate pasta in to resealable plastic bags (one for each color you want to make.  Add a few drops of food coloring and shake until all the pasta is colored.

2. Pour pasta onto a glass plate or container and let it dry for a few minutes (so your fingers don't get stained).

3. String one pasta bead onto the yarn and tie a knot around it.

4. Wrap the opposite end with a thin piece of tape, this will keep it from un-raveling & will be easier to thread through the pasta.

5.  String as many beads as you like to make necklaces, bracelets, rings, napkin rings--or anything else you can think up :)

Leaf Napkin Ties

This is a fun craft for the older kids.  One set took my 8 year old only 5-10 minutes, start to finish.  Make sure they know to be careful with the needle.

You need:

felt, assorted colors

yarn or embroidery floss

large needle

fabric scissors

1. Cut two leaves out of felt.

2. Thread one end of yarn through the needle, knot the other end. Starting at the tip of one leaf, stitch a running stitch (basic in and out) down the center to the end of the stem.

3.  Keeping enough length of yarn between the leaves to tie around your napkins, stitch the second leaf onto the same yarn, this time starting at the stem and ending at the tip of the leaf.

4. Tie around your napkin.

Have fun crafting!