Make your own 4th of July Shirts June 21, 2008

In my pursuit of getting into the whole summer thing with my kiddos, I figured what better than to make our own shirts for the 4th of July! They were soooo easy to make, the kids love em (they’ve worn them for 2 straight days now)…but they are messy! Which I think added to the fun factor for the kids!!!

 

Materials:

Fabric Paint

Squirt Bottles (I used condement bottles from the dollar store)

Shirts

Rubber bands

 

Step 1:

Mix fabric paint with water in the squirt bottles for a runny consistancy.

 

Step 2:

I used rubber  bands to mark where I wanted to put different colors. This is basically a guide. Younger kids may ignore the rubber bands and just squirt the paint where ever they want (including their baby brother…btw make sure it is non-toxic).

 

Step 3:

Allow the paint to dry a bit before removing the rubber bands. Remove rubber bands and hang to dry. As some of the paint will still be wet, use caution as your hands will get some paint on em!

 

Step 4:

Enjoy!

 

I was hoping that this would produce more of a tie-dye effect, but the paint was a bit too thick. The more you saturate the shirt with the paint, the more bold/dense of a pattern.

 

Have fun! If you make em, I would love to see em!

Kid sized greenhouse June 17, 2008

What says summer like a sunflower? Just the name alone implies the bright skies and beauty that fills the summer! To kick off our summer activities, we made our own little greenhouses (out of recycled materials) and planted sunflower seeds.

First we (I say this loosely, cause I actually did it) cut the top off of 3 plastic jugs. We used two mild jugs and one 2 liter bottle…just happened to be what I had handy.

 

Then we grabbed some dirt…Maddy decided to hit up the “bald” patch we have in our yard! Really made hubby realize that something needs to be done about that!

Now the seeds…I suggested that they space them out…but I think Benson stuck em one on top of the other!

Give it a good pat a bit of water…stick the top back on it and pop it in a window. For the mild jugs, I just covered the top with celophane.

Fingers crossed! These are mamoth sunflowers, or so the pack of seeds said…could grow up to 10 feet! With the left over seeds, I am going to glue them on the bottom of a sheet of paper and have the kids draw what they think will come out of their “magic” seed! I’ll post pics of that project later!

***Mom confession: When the kids went to bed, I drained the soil as it was WAY over watered.

Bye for now!

I picked up a few supplies June 9, 2008

Okay, so I know that I am about ready to jump out of my skin to get this summer going!!! I took my dd (5) and ds (3) to the carnival, ds (21 months) stayed at home with hubby. We had a great time, but it made me long for this next week to be over so we can officially welcome summer vacation!

So in my desire to be a Type-A personality, I grabbed a few books. I haven’t been able to shift through them all yet. Just basically scanning through and getting some ideas for now. I hope to come back and give a review of the book with pictures of some of our completed projects.

 

 

Needless to say I will have my hands busy shifting through and sorting out what activities will go onto our summer “to do list”. Well, I hope to be back soon with some reviews…off to go read!

Kids need structure June 7, 2008

One thing that will make or break your summer or your sanity for that matter, is providing your kids with some type of structure for the day. Kids thrive on predictability. There is a sense of safety and security knowing what to expect.

 

This is not only true for the days activities but also for consequences for behavior. If a child is only disciplined periodically for misbehavior, well then guess what? They are more likely to roll the dice and try to see if they can get away with what ever the offending behavior of the day is…

 

I speak from experience on this topic. If there is any type of loop hole then my kids will find it. They can sense when my hubby and I are at our weakest moments, when we are frazzled, and when we are likely to cave and give in. Sometimes I feel like I live with mini-terrorists. They take over my house and have a list of demands! Well, I refuse to give into terrorism!!!

 

In an effort to ward off the ambushes and plots to foil my sanity, I am going to intiate a heightened alert. I am going to establish a routine with outings, activities, and books. Of course there will be plenty of time for my kids to have “free play” where they can explore and play on their own. But hopefully, by planning out part of their day I can limit some of my husband’s and my casualties.

 

To assist my efforts in staying organized and my kids on task, I googled “free calanders”. I couldn’t believe all of the choices out there. I saved a jpeg (or picture file) and edited it with Photo Shop Elements 5, a photo editing program. I have printed calanders for both the month and the seperate weeks. Here is what I have so far for June.

This is the plan anyway…

As summer quickly approaches, I realize that I need a plan. I have 3 little ones. That means 3 sets of eyes, ears, hands, and feet that need to be kept busy and out of trouble. From my 5 year old daughter to my 21 month old son, they sure do keep me busy! Now I would like to keep them busy!!!

I want to use this gift that we have of spending the summer together. The summer shouldn’t be a time to turn off your mind and veg out, it should be a time to explore, create, and grow closer as a family!

My mother always worked a lot of hours. She would spend time with us when she wasn’t working and took us on vacations, but most of our time was spent with my brother and I entertaining ourselves, sure we had the resources to explore, create, and bond together…and we did for the most part. But where could it have gone had it been organized?

My parents did a great job in instilling a passion for learning, the environment, setting goals, and helping others. I hope to recreate some of the experiences I had as a child and enrich those activities and outings with my own twist of making it “our family time.”

So here is the grand plan…(specific details have not been completely ironed out)… Through out the whole summer I am planning on conducting a   preschool with my kids, ages 5, 3, and soon to be 2.  We will focus on art, language, science, and math through the use of hands on experiencal activities. That’s the plan anyway.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a supportor in public education. I guess I would have to be since I am an elementary school counselor! But I digress…more about that to come as I go through my own adventures in parenting!