Pac Man Easter Eggs

Wouldn’t these be fun to make with your kids in anticipation of Easter? I had fun with my son. He’s only 2, but he helped me make these.

All you need is some Easter eggs, popsicle sticks (cut in half) buttons and glue. I used hot glue- because I got a new glue gun, but other glue will work too.

 

It’s as easy as it looks. Glue the sticks on first, making sure to center your egg so that the hinge is in the back.

Then, choose your accessories and glue them on too.

The Alien guy is the one Christopher made. Cute huh?

You can even make a whole family! Very fun once you put candy in their mouths. (The trick is keeping the candy there…)

Have fun, and Happy Easter!

Finger Painting!

We stopped by the dollar store this morning to get some safety pins for the Roadshow that I’m helping with tonight. We saw some finger paints! I couldn’t resist- because this is what happened when we tried to make our own finger paint!

I mixed flour with water and food coloring- and added karo syrup. It really wasn’t too bad, but just didn’t work quite like I wish it would have. Definitely good for an easy, do-it-yourself type of finger paint. But, I’m glad I found some at the dollar store today too!

 

I’ll tell you- one of the best things about having kids, is playing with them. I love finger painting! (I think Christopher enjoyed it a little bit too!)

Funny marshmallow teeth and sand!

I found this idea here! We couldn’t resist, and even added a little more with the whole pretzel hair-do idea. The pink is basic butter cream frosting made for a thick consistency. I explained to Christopher that when he gets a little older he’ll lose teeth, that’s why my face has a missing marshmallow!

 

He made one too! It was fun! (But, by the time I got out of the shower, after this, his was down to a paper plate licked clean!)

We also had some fun with colored sand. My mom went through some of her craft stuff and let me take whatever… the sand was not my choice- she added it to the stuff. But, it was fun, and not too messy either! Christopher enjoys squeezing the glue into the shapes he wants, then dropping the sand all over it!

Ribbon Dancer

I like to dance for exercise.

Christopher usually just watches cartoons while I dance. Boring! I try to get him to join me, but he just looks at me like I’m a lunatic. I suppose I probably am.

But, we had a lot of wrapping ribbon, that got messed up, so we decided to make a ribbon dancer wand. Hey, maybe Christopher will join me now?

Using an old paint stirrer stick, just cut ribbon, tape it on and curl it with scissors.

This was great for Christopher. He loves cutting- so he got to cut the ribbon. He helped tape it on and I curled it!

Paint and fold

Caleb has been feeling down lately and taking a lot of my attention. Christopher needed some fun Mommy-time. We decided to paint.

First- the paint smock:

Then, a plain block:

Then, we were ready for some real art.

I learned this fun painting technique in my Elementary Ed. Art methods class in college. It’s fun. And easy.

Step 1. Fold paper in half. (After you prepared the newspaper backdrop of course.)

Step 2. Drip paint onto paper. I let Christopher squeeze it—he poured a lot, but no biggie!

Step 3. Fold on top and squish.

Step 4. Unfold.

Ta-Da!

I suppose tempera paint is best for this. I just used craft paint, because that’s what I had.

Here’s my version:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instead of back-blogging

I decided instead of back-blogging, I'll just create a post, or a side bar maybe, that has links to some of my other craft/cooking/learning adventures, that I already recorded on my family blog. So, here you have it, in case anyone cares:

A Blonde's cookbook- gooseberry pie, gardening, manicotti, cucumber salad (my favorite!!!) and cranberry chicken. This was a fun post!

Basketball cupcakes- March madness 2009 celebration time! (Don't mind my pregnant self!)

Birthday cakes galore- Hubbies cake (BTS) and chicken pot pie... or the 2-year-old's mud and truck birthday cake.

Trace the kids- fun activity my Sister-in-law did at a family reunion- we did this in nursery too, they loved it!  Plus see pictures of our reunion quilt...

Spiritual Easter activity for teachign kids. And my little kiddo's apron is shown here too.

Mow strip in the back yard- Hubbies activity. It turned out great. See some gardening here too.

Halloween Dragon costume- My first attempt at a homemade halloween costume for the little guy! This turned out pretty darn cute!

Play-dough HEART Valentines

My son loves to play with Play-dough. I was trying to think of something he could make for his friends and family for Valentine’s Day. He’s 2, so cutting and pasting is more like… me making it. So, I came up with this idea:

It was really easy, and fun for both of us.

Step 1: Make the play-dough. My favorite recipe is Kool-Aid play-dough.

Bring to a boil: 2 c. water, 3 Tbs. Oil.

Mix together in another bowl- 2 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup salt, 2 pkgs, unsweetened Kool-aid. (oops, I just realized I only used 2 cups flour, oh well, it still worked.)

Add dry ingredients to boiling mixture. Reduce heat and stir in pot until ball forms.

I like to knead the dough right after you mix it into ball form. Be careful, it’s hot. This stuff keeps great, in a ziploc bag, or in a tupperware. It’s also very easy to clean up.

Step 2: Play with the play-dough. Roll it out, using a rolling pin, or if you don’t have one (like me) use a cup, or your hands.

Cut out hearts using cookie cutters.

Step 3: Place the hearts into small zipper baggies.

Step 4: Print poem, glue onto construction paper and staple onto baggie. My poem here is in the form of a picture- you’re welcome to save it and use it- I don’t mind. (Or, make your own poem, I’m sure it will be darling!)

Ta-Da! Valentine’s for all of your friends and family. (I am trying to convince Brant to let me make these for his 3rd grade students. It shouldn’t be hard. I know they would love them!)

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone. I sure am learning to LOVE this holiday!

Valentine’s Day decor/activity!

So, part of my goal with this blog is to learn to LOVE new things. I have never really been a fan of decorating extensively for every holiday. I haven’t decided if I want to learn to LOVE that or not. But, the boys and I did decide to have a little fun and do a little bit of decorating while we were at it.
Heart garland… made from magazine pages.

I got this idea from my friend’s blog. She got the idea from her friend’s blog. It’s a good idea.
It was very simple- cut out hearts from bright colored pages, tape them onto ribbon or string, and tape them onto the wall. Fun!

We also used a couple of hearts, and letters from the magazine to make Daddy a valentine. We mailed it to him at work. He got it today and said it was really nice. Ithought that was a fun way to let him know that we LOVE him!