Color Me Mine Playdate

Fourth of July Prep

4th of July is just around the corner and we have a lot of prep work to do around here. First things first we have to decorate and get our parade flyers delivered. Later today I need to make a phone call to the city to see if we can get a fire truck out again this year. And of course I will have to reserve the margarita machine soon too....




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2010 Winter Olympics

We love the Olympics around here and can't wait to watch all of the sporting competition and fun. Last night we enjoyed seeing the opening ceremonies. This morning we decided to make some Olympic Rings of our own that we could display in our front window during this exciting time. Using only markers, scissors, tape and paper plates we made these fun rings!

More Valentine Fun

It is amazing all of the fun things that are out there on the internet to do with the kiddos. Some are brilliant new ideas and others are fun ideas that you forgot about years ago. This was one of those projects that I used to do as a kid with my mom but totally forgot about it until I found it here. Basically you take fresh carnations, recut the stem to the length you want, place them in water, pour food coloring into the water and lastly watch the flowers change to that color. Not only do you end up with beautiful and colorful flowers but it is a science experiment too!!!!

My little ones thoroughly enjoyed doing this project. We did it the night before their Valentine parties at school so they could take them in for their whole class to enjoy. We also sent some home with the neighbor kids and placed a big bouquet on our dinner table. Simple, easy and fun - now that is my kind of a project :)

Hand Made Valentines

I love Valentines Day and I love making hand made Valentines with my girls. This year we used a method I found over at Let's Explore. You can find it here. It is a print making technique that is super easy and fun for kids to do. This is how it is done:

We used a small cookie sheet that I picked up at the dollar store and placed masking tape on it to mark out the size of our print. Using acrylic paint and a sponge brush my girls covered the area inside the square as carefully as possible with the paint. If we got paint outside of the square we just used a damp sponge to clean it off.

Next using a Q-tip the girls made a design in the paint. Then we took our card stock, placed it on top of the paint and pressed down hard. There you have it - a one of a kind print on each card! We found that each application of paint made about 2 cards.

Now for the extra fun part. Using glitter glue I let the girls go crazy decorating around the prints. This was messy but FUN!!!

Here are just a few of our finished products. We ended up having to make almost 70 cards!!! We have a lot of Valentines this year :)

Simple Fall Leaf Projects

Here are a few simple fall leaf projects we like to do around here each year:

1. Leaf People

This is as simple as collecting leaves, pressing them in some large books for a few days, glueing them to paper and then using a pen and your imagination to turn them into any kind of creature you want!

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2. Leaf Stamps

Yet again very simple. We used glittery squeeze paints to cover the leaves then we stamped them on paper. Easy and fun!

Andy Warhol Project

My daughter came home with this lovely piece of art from preschool yesterday. We have been extra lucky this year with her teacher who also happens to be an artist. Each day she excitedly tells me about each new art project that they are working on in great detail. Her teacher insists on using high quality mediums and explores different techniques with the children constantly. Not only do I get lovely pieces to frame in our house but I also get amazing ideas that we can continue to play with at home - I love it!!!! Here is an Andy Warhol inspired piece that I especially like:

Photoshop was used to print up the original pictures then the children used their imaginations to doctor each one up in a different way. So what do you think? I say it is just as good as one of Andy's original - although I might be a little biased :)

Scarecrow Days

GREAT IDEA: Start Scarecrow Days on your street!

Our entry

After a rather large cup of coffee earlier last month (it seems I get all of my good ideas after a cup of Peet's coffee) I came up with the idea of having our street make scarecrows and display them in front yards throughout the month of October. So I put my plan into action and believe it or not it worked! Our street is now lined with originally themed Scarecrows of all sizes and shapes and it looks oh so adorable and festive. If you would like to give this a shot in your neighborhood then read below on some ideas on how to make it happen. Plus check out my pics of the scarecrows on our street.

1. Send out a flyer.

I put together a simple flyer asking each house to build their own scarecrow of any size or shape and display it in their front yard on Sat. Oct. 3rd. My girls and I walked the street leaving a flyer on each doorstep and answering any questions people had.

2. Add some websites for inspiration.

I encouraged people to look online to learn how to build scarecrows and for creative theme ideas. It is amazing all of the information that is out there. Here are just a few websites I found:

http://kids-outdoor-activities.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_build_a_scarecrow

http://www.swycaffer.com/divpeg/July/scrow.html

http://www.allfreecrafts.com/nature/scarecrow.shtml

3. Build your scarecrow. Here are a few pictures from the day we built our scarecrow:

4. Wait for the big reveal day! Half the fun was waiting for the big day to arrive. All the kids on the street, and a few of the parents too, were so excited to put out their scarecrows and see everyone else's creations. The day ended up being such fun with the entire street primping and perfecting their own scarecrow while taking numerous walks around the block checking everyone else's out. I think this is a tradition that we will hold onto for awhile around here. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with next year!

Here are some of the fabulous entries: