Kool-Aid Paint

 My kids think kool-aid is an art supply and that is all. I think it's pretty fantastic, but I am sure someone will burst my bubble soon and fill them in on the joys of drinking pure sugar, but in the meantime we continue to make kool-aid play dough and kool-aid paint with our very common "art supply."

 This is so easy to set-up. All you need is those little colorful packets and water. I usually use an entire packet to about 1/4 cup of water or so. Warm water helps dissolve the kool-aid a little faster.

 That green one was actually a frosting add-in (yum!)

 Em loves to help make these paints and she loves that her paintings smell so good! When we were using these paints the other day we thought this would make the perfect yummy smelling Valentines for friends. I'm thinking red kool-aid painted hearts on card stock. What do you think? It's almost a treat!

 Happy Valentine crafting!

I shared this over at Kiwi Crate. Head over for more Valentine's Day fun!

3-Year-Old Art and My Boy

It has been on my mind to write about the art I do with this adorable little guy. I don't write about it very often because it's usually very rushed and very simple, but then what art with a 3-year-old is not, right?
Recently, we had a little health scare with G. He had some extensive testing done for leg numbness and pain he had been having and in the end (of what seemed to be the longest road of my life) we found out it was all caused from a gluten allergy. Crazy, right? At one point MS and MD were brought up and you can imagine my fear. Who would have guessed that the pb&J that this guy so loved, was the culprit?! Anyway, my reason for telling this is mostly because I think of my blog as a journal for my children to have one day and also because writing about these things helps me so very much, so thank you for listening.
Sometimes, we take for granted simple things in life like kids that can run too fast or scream too loud; boys that like to wrestle and jump all day long and just being able to watch our healthy children grow up. I realized this when I was being referred to a doctor for a muscle biopsy on my three-year-old son to tell me whether or not he would continue to be that kid that always runs too fast and jumps too hard. 
Thankfully we were able to fix G's problem with simple diet changes, but some people are not so lucky. So, I try and remember this every time my kids are running circles through my kitchen and racing up the stairs. We are lucky, so very lucky.
OK, OK...onto the art!

 

This is one of his favorites. We add foam stickers to a rolling pin and roll it through paint to make prints. I think he appreciates being able to use the rolling pin! Check out full details at Kiwi Crate.

 

Stamping with legos or really anything other than stamps is a favorite for my little guy!  He's an inventor and who needs actual stamps anyway, right? Lego Stamping

 

Yep, those are just foam sheets cut up into shapes and thrown into the bath. Success! He loves it.  Foam Sheet Bath Art

 

Anything that you can turn into an animal wins for this boy! This milk carton turned pig has been a highlight in his life (seriously!)  Milk Carton Animals

 

This is a fun matching game that is simple to put together and loads of fun for the little ones to play. Color Match Caterpillar

 

Lastly, he may not be able to eat it, but he sure can play with it! G is big on sensory fun and it is probably the activity that keeps him busy the longest. Colored Spaghetti Fun

These are some of the things G and I love to do while hanging out and creating some art. He is a busy busy boy and I wouldn't have it any other way because when you are faced with that changing you realize how lucky you are.

My Sweet G, 

I love you more than you could ever imagine.

xoxo

Snow Bake Shop

 Snow day!!!! I always wanted to scream that while running through the house at 5am, but unfortunately my parents raised me in Southern California (the nerve!) and I never did have that opportunity. Lucky for my kids I changed that for them. Yep, moved them to entirely different state just so they could have a snow day. OK, so maybe that is not entirely true, but today on our very first snow day since making our big move, it was all worth it!

 So, I had this long list of things that I have always wanted to do with the kids in the snow, but sledding overrides most of my ideas (with good reason) and we only got to our snow bakery during the "down time."

 I gave the kids liquid watercolors, cookie cutters, scoops, silicone cupcake liners and glitter, of course! I had to remind G that this was not a snow cone, several times. They sure did look tasty enough to eat. That reminds me of another idea I have been wanting to try, snow+honey+lemon= yum!

 They did this for quite some time before getting back to the snow covered driveway............

 Yahooo........and..........

Wipe out! Don't worry, our sweet neighbor A was all smiles when he popped his little head up.

Today I will try frozen bubble blowing, I will, I will, I will.

Gingerbread Playdough

 We made some gingerbread playdough last week for our favorite kindergarten teacher and had to keep a batch for ourselves. When I put it out for the kids I gave them a few gingerbread men cookie cutters and little trinkets to decorate their dough cookies with. To my surprise they had much bigger plans for their new heavenly smelling dough-- gingerbread houses, of course!

Ingredients:

2 cups flour (+ 1/4 c for kneading)

1/2 cup salt

2 tbs cream of tartar

4 tbs oil

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg 

1 tbs. brown liquid watercolor paint (optional)

1 cup boiling water

1. Add all ingredients to a large mixing bowl in order as listed. As soon as you add the boiling water begin mixing well.
2. Dump dough onto a flat surface and add remaining flour while kneading. 
3. Build a gingerbread house!

**This recipe varies a bit, if your dough is too dry add more hot water, too wet add more flour.

Halloween Sensory Play--Pumpkin Treasure Hunt

 When the kids saw me pull out the small sugar pumpkins (that I had planned on roasting to make some pumpkin curry soup) they squealed with delight. Not because of the pumpkin curry soup (go figure,) but because they thought it was time to make jack-o-lanterns. I didn't want to crush their happy little pumpkin moods, so I had to think fast.

 I grabbed some little Halloween treasures that I had from a few years ago when we made a Halloween sensory bin and I gave them a good washing.

 Next, I cut the top of the pumpkin off and added all of my treasures to the inside of the pumpkin. You have to use your hands to get them good and covered with pumpkin mush. Once they were all hidden I called the kids over for a pumpkin treasure hunt!

 They weren't exactly sure what their crazy mom was talking about, but quickly caught on as they pulled out the first orange gem.

 We had a bowl for seeds and a bowl for treasures. Grayson really enjoyed separating the seeds from the treasures.

 He didn't want to believe the treasures were all gone, so he continued to look. I think he might have climbed in if he could.

We love sensory play and this was a fun way to make it festive. Now what will I do for Thanksgiving? Definitely not a turkey treasure hunt. Definitely not.

We made pumpkin seeds with coconut oil and sea salt (so yummy) and I got my pumpkin curry soup after all.

Ocean Sensory Tray

It's amazing what a little colored water and a few toy sea animals can spark in children. Em and G played with this for hours and had an entire story line happening.

 I used a large Rubbermaid storage container and added liquid watercolors to turn our water ocean blue!

 The kids loved to help get this set up. It only takes a few drops of the paint to get that great blue color.

The fun started when the animals started getting names! I love listening to the little stories that a 5 and 2 year-old can come up with. Imaginations are the best toy a child has. What a great way to cool off on a hot summer day!
More details on this and more summer crafts over at Kiwi Crate.

Cornmeal Sensory Play

 Looking in my pantry is always the best way to create some fun sensory play in our house. New textures and smells are so engaging and fun to play with. On this day, Grayson had so much fun with some cornmeal and dino's!

 I started out using a cake pan for this, but Grayson needed much more dinosaur digging room, so we switched to a baking sheet. It was the perfect size. Emma took over the cake pan and pretended to be a little chef mixing away on her batter. 

This was the perfect solution for indoors with my sand loving boy and the cornmeal is a great new texture that he thoroughly enjoyed. When he was finished we saved the cornmeal for another day of play and vacuumed up the floor. It was pretty easy, but if a cornmeal mess scares you, you can easily take this activity outside.
Check out my full tutorial here, Cornmeal Play.

The Real Mr. Potato Head

 Play with your food? Yes, please! That's how my kids feel. I always thought how neat it would be to make a "real Mr. Potato Head"--and today we did! We built, laughed, ate, and got silly. (You can't help but to get pretty silly when you're adding mushroom ears onto a potato.)

 To start this out I broke toothpicks in half and placed them into the potato. It takes a strong hand and since they are sharp I suggest this be a grown-up only step.

 Next, Emma helped me cut up a ton of fruit and veggies. We have some great kid-safe knives and she's been practicing her cutting skills, so this was perfect.

 Time to make some potato faces.....

 and some silly kid faces, too!

 Grayson got in on the fun.

 Pretty cute potato heads if I do say so myself! The kale eyebrows gave me quite the laugh.

 And then we ate! Being exposed to healthy foods in new ways is a great way to get kids trying new things. I don't think I ever had raw brussel sprouts until this day when the kids decided to try it out. Gotta love that!

I shared this yummy project over on Kiwi Crate. Join me there for the full tutorial.

Pond Themed Playdough

 Emma's class has just started a pond study (I know, pretty cool, right?)  To go along with this fun theme I made some pond inspired playdough for her to explore with after school today. She was thrilled and had so much fun building little ponds and showing me all the things she has been learning.

 What does pond playdough smell like you wonder? That was my dilemma at first and then...of course! Tea tree oil! Perfect to give the dough an earthy sort of smell. Tea tree oil is also anti-viral and a natural lice repellent...oh yea, tea tree dough is looking good for a kindergarten classroom!

Recipe for Pond Playdough

2 cups + 1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

2 tbs cream of tartar

3 tbs oil

4 drops of tea tree oil

1 cup boiling water

liquid watercolors

1. Add 2 cups flour, salt, cream of tartar, tea tree oil and oil to a large bowl.

2. Add the boiling water and quickly mix everything together. The dough will be sticky and seem too wet at this point.

3. Dump the dough to a flat surface and slowly add a little bit of the remainder flour at a time while kneading. Once the dough is a nice soft texture and no longer sticky stop adding flour.

4. Divide dough into 3 balls and knead watercolors into each ball. We did brown, green and blue to keep with our pond theme.

DIY Dishwasher Detergent Pods

 I know this is not the typical children's craft you see on my blog, but I started making these dishwasher detergent pods and Emma was all over it and wanted to be apart of each step. So, I thought, well, why not? This is a great opportunity to teach her about being resourceful and sustainable.

 To get the full instructions, join me at Family Sponge today. It's basic and simple and apparently kids love to make dishwasher detergent!

 Our new sensory play. It was like a new form of playdough.

Wouldn't these jars make great Mother's Day gifts? I just used chalkboard paint on a mason jar and stamped my letters on with white ink. Some twine around the top and you would have a pretty unique gift that smells wonderful.