Kiwi Crate: Summer Discovery Series

Ok, friends, how many of you have little people in your house who are home for the summer and already saying, "What should I do?  I'm bored!"  My Little Crafter is one of those kids who thrives when he has lots of fun hands-on activities to do all day long, but sometimes this Artsy Mama just runs out of ideas.  So, both of us were super-excited about this sample Kiwi Crate we received in the mail.  If you've never heard of Kiwi Crate before, here's a quick description of what they're all about:

Our Parasailing Adventure with Ocean Watersports

Memorial Day Roadtrip {and Snacks from Giant}!

How many of you have fun plans for Memorial Day?  We do!  All three of us in the Artsy Family absolutely love being outdoors and exploring nature together, so we're taking a road trip to Catoctin State Park.  There's lots to do and see there that we all enjoy, like hiking the trail to see Cunningham Falls.  Last year, Little Crafter insisted that he needed a walking stick to be a real "mountain man."  

"Got a Minute" CD Review and Giveaway!

Hey, friends!  Raise your hand if you have young kids or grandkids.  If that's you, then you are probably all too familiar with the feelings that come with most of the children's music out there these days.  You know, that feeling that wells up inside you as you're listening to it that makes you want to scream, hit random objects, or hurl yourself out of a moving vehicle. ;)  But despair no more, I have wonderful news for you.  There's a band called Milkshake that's about to change everything.

Milkshake began in 2002, when Lisa Matthews and Mikel Gehl, members of the Indie Rock group Love Riot were inspired by the birth of Lisa's daughter and Mikel's son to create a new kind of kids' music.  Five CD's and a Grammy Nomination later, Milkshake is known around the country for their energetic pop-rock style that kids as well as their parents enjoy!

Honest.

I speak from experience.

Fun in the Sun: Eva

Hi One Artsy Mama readers!  I'm Eva and I blog over at Tales of the Scotts.  I am the wife to a really kind and very patient husband and mom to a wiggly three-year-old son and an equally wiggly almost one-year-old daughter.   Life around my household is exciting to say the least!  Amy is just the sweetest.  I'm not sure how I started following her blog but one time she responded to a comment I left on one of her posts.  I was kinda-sorta new to blogging at the time and I didn't know how to respond to a comment through my email.  So, I emailed her and asked her how she did that.  We emailed back and forth while she walked me through setting up my profile the right way.  So sweet!  I'm excited to be here with you today to share some fun Kids' Activities.

Unlike Amy's son, my son doesn't care for crafting (he's breaking his crafting mama's heart - hopefully he'll grow to at least tolerate them with me).  So, I'm always on the lookout for hands-on activities to help direct his rambunctiousness.  Here are a few activities that he's particularly loved this summer.

This was a huge hit.  I got the idea here.  Basically, I put some little dinosaurs and sea animals I picked up at the Dollar Tree a while ago in the bottom of a Tupperware.  I filled it up half way with water, then added some blue dye and froze it overnight.

We grabbed a meat mallet and headed outside.  I just gave it a little squeeze to get it out of the Tupperware.  We dropped it on the ground and he went to town rescuing his dinosaur friends.

I made him wear his sunglasses so no glass flew up into his eyes.  He kept saying, "This is cool!"  Mom brownie points!  

Something else that has been a huge hit is water beads!  I admit, I'm obsessed with these.  For some reason, just running my fingers through them makes a difficult moment that much better.

I've seen them all over blog land.  Basically you buy a little pack of beads.  I got mine at Joann's for $5 and used a 40 or 50% off coupon making them cheap fun.  Let them sit in water for 4-6 hours and watch them grow.  This was fun to do throughout the day.  We'd go back and forth seeing how much they'd grown.  Then we used measuring cups to move them from one bowl to the next, we played with them a big bowl of shaving cream.  He really loves playing with these.  I just keep them in a sealed container but even if you left them out, they'd dry up but you would just need to stick them back in water.

One of the best things we made recently was Gak!

This has been super fun.  I'm not sure if I've ever played with Gak before.  It's beyond fun.  We took some household items, like a straw and a fork and had fun poking the Gak.  What's cool is it just molds back together.  Hosea likes to put it on the edge of the table and let it make a "waterfall" down to the chair.  He loves to make it the "monster" as it covers his Avengers and then his Avengers have to escape.  Oh the mind of a child.  We used this recipe by Lil' Luna.  We loved it so much, we decided to bring a Gak gift to one of his friends.  We also used Lil' Luna's idea and free printables to put together a gift for him.  His mom said he loved it too!  This is a big hit, really easy and a definite must if you've never made Gak before.

Then we made some Baked Cotton Balls.

I pinned this idea a while ago, then saw it somewhere else recently so decided to give it a whirl.  Basically, you take a cup of water, a cup of flour and mix it together.  Then we divided it into three bowls, added some food coloring, mixed it really well and then dipped cotton balls in the mixture and placed them on foil-lined baking tray (do this to avoid clean up).  Then we baked them for 45 minutes at 300 degrees.  

After they cooled, we grabbed some goggles, his toy hammer and my meat pounder and went outside.  He really enjoyed "bashing" them and flattening them.  This was great way to reiterate soft and hard textures.  I love this face in this picture.

Something else we do often are have Dance Parties.

Don't ask why he was holding his toy needle-nose pliers.  Who knows!  Dance parties are especially great if you have an active, rambunctious kid on your hands like I do!  When I can see that it's time to exert some energy and maybe it's too hot to go outside, we just crank up the music and dance our hearts away.  A lot of times I'm holding my 11 month old so she can participate as well but my son loves when I can dance crazy with him without holding her.  It ends up being a contest on who can do the craziest move.  He usually wins.

And lastly, we used our imaginations while playing with some Story Jars.

This is a really great idea that I got from Play At Home Mom.  She's got tons of great ideas.  Another friend of mine held a playgroup and the kids each made one.  We weren't able to attend but I still wanted to try this.  My son loves for us to tell him stories and he loves to tell stories too.  I don't have a really great imagination so these are great for me.  Basically just take out all of the objects and start telling a story using up all of the objects.  The first time we tried it, he was a bit iffy on it.  He didn't use all the objects and then wanted to quit.  He liked when I told him a story though (as usual).  I really think these are great and we're going to keep trying.

Here is what's in my two jars.  You can see that they are random items I grabbed from his room and from the craft closet.

Because I feel like I'm not imaginative, it's really important to me to foster that in my children.  One of my favorite things is to overhear my son talking to himself or to his toys while he's playing with them.  I love that he creates stories and scenarios in his mind.

These are some really easy, really cheap ideas for you and your kiddos too.  I shared a few more activities on my blog here and here.  I hope these ideas give you a starting off point to fostering creativity within your own kids.  


Thanks again for having me Amy!

Dinosuar Excavation for Kids

Hey friends...check out this fun idea!  Last week, Heather Smith emailed me and asked if she could share this fun activity with you and I thought you'd enjoy!  Here she is...

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/10/13548614_8e96a03d62.jpg

On a sweltering summer day when kids are bored and tempers running as high as the temperature, don’t you wish you had some fun outdoor activity that could keep the kids entertained and also teach them some kind of lesson? Well, if that has ever been a problem for you, then here is the perfect, easy activity.

A dinosaur excavation, complete with archeology, geology, paleontology, erosion theory, and any other ology you’d care to throw in. Not only can you cover many lessons at once, but kids can learn the value of patience, strategy, and cooperation with this fun activity.

For parents that are just looking for an easy, fun activity, I included a simple version.

What you need:

·         Water

·         Plastic container that will fit in your freezer

·         Food coloring

·         Plastic dinosaurs and other animals

·         Leaves/plants (plastic or real)

·         Spoons or butter knives

·         A water hose or bucket of water

·         Notebooks and pencils

·         A dinosaur guide

·         A geology guide

Creation (full version):

1.      Using a plastic container that will fit in your freezer, fill one quarter full of water. To the water add a dark food coloring. You will be creating four gradual layers, so it is up to you whether to use one color and gradate it, or use multiple colors. The bottom layer should be the darkest color. If you choose to do more than four layers, plan accordingly.

2.      Using your dinosaur guide and geology guide, put the oldest dinosaurs in the bottom layer, along with representative food sources. Let sit in freezer until hardened.

3.      Continue to layer the colored water and dinosaurs according to the guides. When the top layer is finished, if desired you can add a thin layer of clear water with cows, etc, to represent the modern day.

4.      Once solidly frozen, remove the ice from the container outside, somewhere that will not be stained by the food coloring.

5.      Have the kids use the spoons and water to excavate the dinosaurs, keeping a log of their findings. Have them look up what each dinosaur is called, what they ate, and when they lived. They can also make notes on which worked best, the water (through erosion) or the spoons.

 

http://boingboing.net/2012/03/19/kids-summer-activity-frozen.html

Easy version:

1.      Using a plastic container that will fit in your freezer, fill full of water.

2.      Add plastic dinosaurs and blue dye if desired.

3.      Once frozen, remove from bucket outside.

4.      Have children excavate the dinosaurs using water and spoons.

This activity is fun for all ages, from tots to preteens. No matter what kind of kid you have, they will love getting outside and digging up their own dinosaurs. Remember to have fun and keep cool this summer with easy learning activities that everyone can enjoy.

Author Bio

Heather Smith is an ex-nanny. Passionate about thought leadership and writing, Heather regularly contributes to various career, social media, public relations, branding, and parenting blogs/websites. She also provides value to nanny service by giving advice on site design as well as the features and functionality to provide more and more value to nannies and families across the U.S. and Canada. She can be available at H.smith7295 [at] gmail.com.

Stop, Drop, and Roll

I think we officially have the coolest library ever.  Not only do they have fantastic weekly storytimes for various age groups, bi-weekly learning and literacy programs, and amazing employees in the children's department, they also brought in FIRE TRUCKS for a special visit!

A certain little someone I know couldn't wait to see them!

The program itself was really well done.  Six of the fire fighters and EMTs came to talk to the children, reinforcing what number to call in an emergency and what to do if your clothing catches on fire.  One of the volunteers put on his uniform piece by piece so that the kids wouldn't be afraid of how he looked.  They described the purpose of each piece of equipment and even turned on the oxygen tank so the kids would hear what it sounded like.  Then, they invited all the kids to come hug and high-five him, touch his uniform, and talk to him so that they knew there was nothing to fear.

They stressed the importance of running TO a fire firefighter dressed that way rather than away from him or her in an emergency situation because that's the way to safety.

Then, the kids got to go outside and climb all over the truck and the ambulance.

The EMT showed them a pair of scissors and actually cut a penny in half with them!

...and they even gave out fun hats!

Little Crafter had the best time and keeps talking about how fun it was to see a real fire truck and fire fighters.  I really appreciated how educational it was and how well they tailored the presentation to make the kids feel safe and prepared.  Of course, we wanted to send a thank-you to the guys and gals of the fire department who participated in such a special day, so we made this fun firetruck card.

All you need is cardstock, pipe cleaners {provided by Craftprojectideas.com}, craft glue, and scissors or a paper cutter and punch.

I pre-cut two red rectangles and one white rectangle, and punched three black circles.

Little Crafter glued all the pieces in place to form the fire truck.  Then, we cut the pipe cleaner into pieces and used craft glue to build a ladder.  We're going to send it to them along with a few of the pictures so they can see what fun he had!  What's the coolest thing your library has ever done?

Don't forget to enter the pink jewelry giveaway here, and stay tuned for a very special "un-giveaway" coming your way on Wednesday!

Little Big Deals

You know how sometimes something happens that's kind of a little thing in the grand scheme of life, but it's a big deal to you?  Well, this past week has been just chock full of those kind of things for me and I wanted to tell you about them.

1. Potty Boot Camp...was a success! 

Little Crafter has used the potty twenty-six times since last Saturday, two of which were in public restrooms.  He hasn't had an accident in four days, and the one last Thursday was only because there was someone in the one-person restroom at Starbucks.  He told me he had to go, but he just couldn't hold it long enough for the other person to come out, which is totally not his fault.  Meanwhile, whoever designed one-person restrooms was obviously not a parent.

2. Little Crafter is {going to be} in Family Fun magazine!

Well, the digital edition, anyway.  We submitted this photo of him with his friends Owen and Ella after making the pom pom tree featured on the cover of the September issue.  They liked it so much, it's going to be in the digital edition of the magazine sometime soon.  How cool is that?!

3. A super-blogger knows my name!

I link up at a LOT of parties.  I mean a lot.  Want to see how many?  Click on my "Places I Party" tab.  See, told ya!  I've been so honored to be featured on many of those fabulous blogs from time to time for various projects.  But there are a few places I link up that I consider super-blogs.  You know, the kind with thousands of followers and hundreds of links at every party.  I never even bother checking to see if I've been featured there because I figure there's no way my stuff will get picked out of all that inspiration.  But....this weekend I got an email from Allison Hepworth...you may have heard of her blog, House of Hepworths!

She has close to 2500 followers through GFC alone, and over 600 projects were linked to her last party.

She was doing a post all about pumpkin crafts and featured our Pumpkin Pots!

Then, imagine my surprise when two days later, she emailed me again saying she was going to feature my Fall Wreath!  This one was even more exciting for me because it was a "big girl craft" and I came up with it all by myself.  Yes, there are other fabric flower wreaths and monogram wreaths out there, but I haven't seen another ribbon wrapped one anywhere {no need to mention that I did ribbon in place of yarn b/c I was feeling lazy}.  The color scheme, the flowers and arrangement, all were mine, and it blows me away that this wreath hanging on my front door is enjoying its five minutes of HOH fame!

4. Four hundred.

As I type this post, I am five followers away from 400.  Which is huge news since it means our little community here has doubled in size since September 3rd when I hit the big 200.  Amazing.  Last week's pumpkin challenge had 96 awesome projects linked up, and this week's kids' crafts party isn't far behind.  It blesses, encourages, and inspires me more than you know to have you all following and participating in what goes on here at One Artsy Mama.  I am so excited about this amazing growth and about what the future holds!

5. Punkin' Pickin'!

On Saturday, we went to the local pick-your-own orchard, which also has several huge pumpkin patches!  It was a fantastic, fun family time, complete with a hay ride!  Just one more reason Fall is the best time of the year.

6. Free Starbucks!

Yup.  That's what I'm talkin' about!  We went Friday night for a family "treat date" and the girl who took our order accidentally forgot to convey it to the barista baristo teenage boy making the drinks.  We kept waiting and waiting and finally hubby went to check on them.  They figured out the oversight and to apologize, gave us coupons for two free drinks...which was super-awesome since we didn't really mind the whole situation anyway and weren't in any hurry.  So, Sunday afternoon, I got me one of these lovelies for free: Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate, I heart you.

7. Paint Shop and Picnik Fun

The fabulous and talented Rachel over at I Heart Crafty Things hired me to make seven sidebar headers and four social media buttons to brighten up her fun blog.  I had a blast creating them, and my favorite part was how much she likes them!  Go take a look!

8. ...and last but not least, my bloggy buddy Nicole is including me as part of her

Small Business Month Giveaways

Hope on over to her blog, Threes{4}Me for your chance to win a FREE blog button design PLUS credit to the One Artsy Mama Etsy shop!

What about you?  What little things have been big deals for you lately?

Happy Crafting!

Lunch Dates and Milkshakes

This year, the Summer Reading Program at our local library is giving kids tickets each time they log 50 minutes of reading time.  The children then get to use their tickets to enter one of several prize drawings for things like mini-golf passes, movie passes, Toys R Us gift cards, and horseback riding lessons.  A few weeks ago, we got a call saying that Noah had won two tickets to see the Grammy nominated Milkshake Duo in concert at our local Arts Center on Thursday, July 21st.

Noah was beyond excited to have won a prize, and we decided to make an all-day Mama & Noah date out of it.  Here we are, all dressed up and ready to go.  He actually picked out that shirt for today...honest.

We started out by having a lunch date at Panera.

{I have to insert a funny story here...while we were eating, Noah accidentally kicked me under the table.  He then thought it was hilarious and started kicking on purpose.  I said, "Hey!  No kicking!  That's not how to behave on a date, silly boy.  If your daddy had kicked me when we were dating, I wouldn't have married him!"  At which point the couple at the table next to us burst out laughing.  I guess Noah isn't the only one who needs to use a better indoor voice.}

Anyway, after lunch, we went to Michaels to make the craft of the day, which was a Grecian-inspired decorated flowerpot...he got to paint the pot blue and stick square 'mosaic tiles' made of adhesive foam all over it.  We followed that with a 'treat date' at Starbucks where we read a book and Mama got her beloved Mocha Coconut Frappucino, and finally it was concert time!

The one and only fail of the whole date was that poor Little Crafter wasn't heavy enough to hold the auditorium style seat down, so it started to fold up on him almost as soon as he sat down...it reminded me of the Charlie Brown Christmas movie when Marcie gets folded up and her feet are sticking out...:)  Anyway, he sat on my lap, which was perfectly fine with me. 

I wasn't sure what to expect because I have to confess, I'd never heard of the Milkshake Duo before we won the tickets.  But boy were we in for a treat!  Mikel and Lisa were funny, talented, energetic, and engaging.  They had all kinds of ways to interact with the kids in the audience, including sending about a dozen inflated balls out during a baseball song, dumping yellow confetti off the stage during a song about a jarful of sunshine, and having the kids follow Lisa around the auditorium during a song about the Love Train.  Noah was glued to the stage.  He wanted to go down to the front to catch confetti, he participated in the train, and at the end, all the kids got to go up on stage and dance with Mikel and Lisa to a Milkshake Rock song.  It was absolutely priceless seeing him dance up there.

After the show, he got to meet the stars and he asked me to buy him a CD so that he could listen to the songs "every day and every night."  I willingly obliged, since unlike most children's music I've heard, the Duo doesn't make me want to jump out of a moving vehicle {which I've threatened to do more than once while being forced to listen to Larry the Cucumber singing praise songs in his ridiculous voice}.  In fact, I actually enjoyed their music myself.  They have several CD's out, so we picked the one that had the most songs I thought he'd recognize from the concert {and the ones I liked the best: "Bottle of Sunshine," "Boom Boom," "Space Song," and "ABC of Me"}.  I also particulary liked "Go Wild," "Baseball," and "When I'm Old," which are featured on other albums.  I'm thinking maybe we'll ask for another CD for birthday or Christmas since he really seemed to like the music a lot.

All in all it was a fantastic day.  Lunch, crafts, coffee, and a concert...all with my favorite little man.  What more could an Artsy Mama ask for?  Hope your day was a Bottle of Sunshine too.

Painting and Planting

Family Fun Week: Day 6

After a "breakfast date" at Starbucks and a brief detour to Michaels for flowerpots, we headed to Spring Meadow Farms, a local garden center.  My wonderful mother-in-law gave me four different herb plants when I saw her on Thursday, and I wanted to get them potted today.  We also wanted a few more flowers for the front garden and some mulch.  At first, Noah said he didn't want to go, and wasn't even tempted by the promise of a wagon ride.  So, I asked him if he'd pull me instead.  He thought this was hysterical and it was enough to convince him that this would indeed be a fun trip.

He also got to see more animals at their petting zoo {more goats, sheep, and chickens, plus a turkey and horses} and he got to ride a cool little-man-size tractor.

He was happy, I was happy, everyone was happy except Daddy who bumped into a hanging basket and got water all over himself.

After we got home, I put my little helper to work.  His job was, according to him, "Put dirt in da pot."

Which he did.

He also put it ALL over himself.

Sometimes he's just too cute for words!

He also helped me to paint garden signs just like the ones in his vegetable garden for my various herbs.

Click HERE for the tutorial on how to make your own.  Oh, and I highly recommend super glue if you give it a try!

Here they are, successfully planted in these cheerful pots I got on sale {$2.99 each!} at Michaels.

I love how bright and cheery they are!  And I'm so looking forward to having fresh herbs to use in the kitchen!  Thanks, Mom L.!  Now, hubby and I are going to tackle the front garden while Little Crafter naps.  Hope you have a great afternoon!

Linked up to: Delicately Constructed Fridays, Debbie Doo's Newbie Party, and other parties on the sidebar.