Spring showers bring...

..plenty of chances for fun times together while waiting for warmer temps and dryer days!

A few ways to make the most out of these changes...

Make "rain art!" Stand outside with a paper plate and a few tubes of food coloring.  As the rain drips on to the plate squirt a few drops of food coloring onto it and use a brush to blend and swirl the colors.  To personalize the art project, before you go outside use a white crayon to write your name or make a fun design on the plate. Once the plate is colored bring it inside and lay on a flat surface to dry, enjoy your creative "rain art!"

Make an Umbrella! Open up a plain umbrella inside, use waterproof fabric paints to decorate the inside and outsides of the umbrella to create an original and personalized umbrella to last all the wet days of the season.  

Listen and learn about the water cycle! Water cycle song

Create a rain gage! Using an old pringles container (or something similar), measure once inch intervals from the bottom up and stick toothpicks into the tube at each interval.  Glue beads or buttons on the ends of the toothpicks so they don't prick any fingers. :) Each time it rains place the homemade rain gauge outside to keep track of how many inches of rain are falling to the ground.

Celebrating a sweet spring!

Create these easy and kid friendly desert recipes to satisfy your spring time sweet tooth..together. :)

Little spring birds nests; Make a basic rice krispie bar recipe and shape these into nests, fill with your favorite spring time candy.  It is also fun to use popcorn in place of the rice krispie cereal, add peanut butter, or oats for a healthier nest.  We also love these nests from the Two Peas & Their Pod blog.  Our modified version includes pre-made pastry cups for the nests, nutella, and plain m and m's. YUM!

Sugar cookies; Christmastime isn't the only time for basic cookie cutter sugar cookies. :)  Use pre-made sugar cookie dough, flower shaped cookie cutters, frosting, and whatever colorful decorations you have to create yummy treats to munch on or to give away.

Carrot cake cookies; Mix together a basic carrot cake mix, 2 eggs, 1 stick of butter, 1 cup of tap water, and 1 cup of granola cereal.  The recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies.  Shape the dough into balls and bake at 375 degrees for 8-9 minutes.  Once they have cooled spread a cream cheese frosting on the top and decorate with mini chocolate chips, raisins, or make bunny faces with whatever you have on hand.  There are also great recipes from Martha Stewart.

Simple Dirt cake; Toss these ingredients into a blender; 20 oreo cookies, one 8 oz container of cool whip, 5 tsp of chocolate syrup, and a splash of milk.  Blend until all ingredients are incorporated.  Serve in mini flower pots with gummy worms poking out of the top to make an fun and springy sweet treat.

Little gardens; Bake a plate of brownies from a basic mix.  Use a 9x13 pan so that the brownies are thinner than usual, and increase the cooking time by 5 minutes so they are a little less gooey.  When the brownies have been cooked and cooled, cut them into 2' square pieces and place on a cookie sheet.  These will become individual little garden beds.  Use vanilla frosting to attach vanilla sugar wafers to create the "sides" of the garden.  Use juju fruit candy (or whatever candy you prefer) and sick them half way down into the brownie to create the look of colorful flowers.  These are so cute and VERY tasty...everyone is sure to love. :)

Celebrating Easter..together!

Each family has their own way of celebrating Easter.  We came up with a fun (and easy, and cheap) way to create meaningful gifts that share the joy of Easter and spread the sweetness of spring.

Our project was simple..

Step 1) We started with an empty 18 pack egg carton and carefully cut it into 5 pieces to create 5 small "baskets."  Then we mixed some colored tempura paint with white to create several festive pastel colors to paint the outside of the egg cartons.

Step 2) While the paint was drying (1-2 hours), we mixed the following ingredients; a16 oz package of milk chocolate chips, a 14oz can sweetened condensed milk, a dash of salt, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract.  We heated the mixture in the microwave at 30 second increments stirring in between until it was a thin fudgy texture.  We poured the chocolate mixture into bunny shaped candy molds (cookie cutters also work), and let the mixture cool (30 minutes) then removed the chocolate from the molds.

Step 3) We used the names of family members to create personalized acrostic poems and wrote them on small squares of scrapbook paper.  This was a lot of fun for my older daughter to do, and I think our family will appreciate her effort.

Once the basket was dry we filled it with the chocolate bunnies, acrostic poems, and other little Easter crafts. We added plastic eggs (filled with sweet treats of course), some Easter grass and viola! A fun (and easy, and cheap) Easter basket that kids, grandparents, teachers, friends, or anyone is sure to love.

To emphasize the true meaning of the Easter holiday season it is nice to teach kids about the story of Easter as told through a kids perspective.

There are helpful kid friendly stories at websites such as Focus on the Family, and at What Christians want to know.

Have a Happy Easter!

Spring has (almost) sprung!

It may feel like winter has overstayed its welcome, but thankfully spring is right around the corner.  Get ready for the upcoming season and celebrate growth, renewal, and hope by creating handmade springtime gifts to give away!

Here are a few fun ideas..

* Decorate paper lunch sized bags with crayons, markers, stickers, or whatever you have at home.  Create original spring designs by drawing flowers, grass, sunshine, a scene at a park, a kite, or whatever spring time fun you are daydreaming of.  Donate your colorful bags to a local assisted living facility, Meals on Wheels, or to your local food shelf.  Let your inspired creations be an inspiration to others.

* Make fringe fleece blankets to donate to the birth center at your local hospital.  These are simple to make, and help to keep little hands occupied, and minds absorbed with helping and giving.

* Gather a single blossom of a spring flower, (orchids, cherry blossoms, peonies, zinnia, and larkspur are all early spring bloomers), and tie a pastel colored ribbon around the stem, attach a small card with a hand printed couplet poem.  Make one for everyone you know.  These inexpensive gifts are well received by anyone with an appreciation for nature and sentimental gestures.

Here is our original spring couplet poem:

May this blossoming flower, remind you of spring, 

and may the love that comes with it, make your heart sing.  

* Make cards decorate with a spring theme to give to friends and family, or send to national organizations such as; Hugs & Hope, Support our Troops, or, the United Way.

The act of delivering these gifts is far more rewarding than the sacrifice of time and materials that it took to make them.

Have fun, think positively, and enjoy the start to the spring season..together. :)

Draw your heart :)

With the loving atmosphere of Valentines day still looming in the air, seizing more opportunities to express love and gratitude is even easier.  By using an artful metaphor, it is easy to communicate honest feelings, and create a meaningful keepsake to capture the special elements in life.

Together with your kiddo's, draw a big heart shape on a full piece of paper; this will represent your own heart.  Using pencils, markers, crayons, stickers, or whatever basic art supplies you have on hand, decorate the space within the heart to represent the special people, events, memories, or unique qualities that are found within your own heart.

It is also fun to draw puzzle pieces within the heart, decorate each piece, and then cut it out.  It is an interesting exercise to put your heart puzzles together.

This activity is a fun way to hone in on artistic abilities, regardless of what level they are, in order to share feelings and express love and gratitude.  It is also a fun way to learn more about what exists in each other's hearts, and can be a meaningful personal experience as well.  

It is fun to do draw your hearts periodically and keep the drawings; kids will love looking back on the evolution of what is found within their hearts.  :)

Light a candle for Valentines Day!

After putting away all of our holiday decorations I realized we had several tall white candles that were chipped or had the wick buried in the wax.  I didn't want to store them, they wouldn't be able to be reused, but throwing them away seemed like a waste.  I had heard about people melting down their old candles and molding the melted wax to create new ones.  Since this seemed like an easy and safe activity, we decided to spend a chilly afternoon remaking our old chipped candles.  With Valentines day looming in the days ahead we used the opportunity to turn this craft into a special Valentine's day gift for our extended family members.

What you will need;
Old scent-free candles
Microwave safe large bowl
A few drops of food coloring (optional)
Clean glass jars (empty baby food jars, shot glasses, or any glass container works great)
A few drops of fragrance oil

Several pre-waxed wicks

Valentine themed stickers, ribbon, markers, etc.

Step 1: Use a knife and vegetable peeler to cut or shave the old candles into small bits.

Step 2: The best way to melt the wax is to pour the pieces into a double boiler and heat the wax to 180 degrees.  The simpler and kid-friendlier method however is to heat the wax pieces in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time until they are completely melted.

Step 3: Add a few drops of food coloring and fragrance oil and stir into the melted wax.

Step 4: Pour the melted wax into glass containers and gently set the wick in place.

Step 5: Once the new candle has cooled (about 30 minutes), decorate the outside of the container to create a thoughtful Valentine gift.  We included this poem in a card...

"May the light of this candle, brighten the love that will stay..

 Between you and me forever; Happy Valentines day!"

Enjoy creating these personal and festive candles to celebrate Valentines day together. :)

Sharing the joy of "Love day" together..

It is hard to believe that it is nearly Valentines Day!  There are many fun ways to stretch the love throughout February and to show your little Valentine's how much you love them, while teaching fun ways for them to express their love for you, themselves, and for all the things they appreciate in their world.

Here are a few ideas..

Create Crafts & Keepsakes ~

* Keep all your Valentine cards; decorate an old shoe box, oatmeal container, or anything clean and sturdy with paint, stickers, feathers, or anything red to create a Valentines themed keepsake box.  Save the Valentine cards your kiddo's receive from you and from others.  This also makes a great festive decoration to set out in February and collect more Valentines throughout the years.

* Make heart shaped personalized garland; cut out construction paper hearts and write messages of love and gratitude on each heart.  Use a paper clips and string to  a display the garland on Valentines day. :)

Make simple, easy, & cheap home made gifts ~

* Using old Valentines cards, construction paper, markers, stickers, stamps, or whatever supplies are around the house to create homemade cards and write personalized messages to family and friends.

* Share the love outside your home by making Valentines day cards to give away; sites like, Give Kids the World or Hugs & Hope share the stories of chronically ill children and their families who could use encouragement.

* Decorate plain white paper or lunch bags with festive Valentines day designs and donate to a local assisted living facility or to meals on wheels. 

* Decorate a mug; Using porcelain paint and a plain white mug, decorate the outside of a coffee mug with creative Valentines designs, place it in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degree's to set the paint.

* Write a poem together; create a simple couplet with unique details about your family or an acrostic using your names. 

* Make winter potpouri from items you can easy gather from items you can find easily indoors and outdoors; combine dried oranges, lemons, or limes, a few whole cloves, cinnamon sticks, pine cones, and a few drops of fragrance oil (or baby oil also works to bring out the natural scent of the materials).  

Teach the "kid friendly" history of Valentines day ~ (or let us summarize)...

* During the 5th century in Rome, a religious Martyr, who the Catholic church would eventually recognize as Saint Valentine, was imprisoned because of his religious convictions.  The legend is that he fell in love with the prison keepers daughter, and sent her a love letter signed, "love, your Valentine." This saying is still used today.  Februrary 14th is believed to be celebrated as "Valentines day" to acknowledge the death of the Roman patron Saint Valentine.  For centuries February 14th has been acknowledged as an opportunity to share our gratitude for the ones we cherish and love.   

Many more ideas for ways to enjoy Valentines day together at websites ~

Pinterest, Martha Stewart, frugal family fun, and spoonful.