Pet Frog

 Since the weather has warmed up here we have been hearing a chorus of frog friends singing melodies each evening to us. It sounds as if there are a thousand frogs outside our home, but have still yet to see one frog. We decided to make our own!

 My favorite crafts require a little nature walk. We took a nice long walk and collected things that the kids thought would make good frog building materials. Rocks and leaves seemed to be the best nature goods among the two!

 

 With a little glue, googly eyes and felt feet our rock became a new pet for the kids to play with.

This guy got well taken care of since everything in our house gets a name, a bed and of course some frog food. Although, Emma made this one a vegetarian since she was not willing to collect bugs for her new pet.
My full pet frog tutorial is over on Kiwi Crate.

Georgia O'keefe Inspired Art Lesson

 With all the beautiful blooming flowers around us I thought it would be the perfect time to teach the kids a little about an artist I just adore, Georgia O'Keeffe, most famous for her beautiful paintings of large and very detailed flowers.

 We picked up a few books from our local library on O'Keeffe. The kids loved flipping through the pages and looking at all of her infamous artwork. Em enjoyed seeing actual photos of O'Keeffe and hearing all about her life.

 After we browsed the books I talk to Em and G about her painting style and showed them a few examples. I gave them each a real flower and a magnifying glass to observe all the details they could find in each flower. They noticed a lot more then I had expected!

 I gave the kids a black oil pastel to start their drawings. I was sure to point out to them that O'Keeffe's flowers often extended off of her painting and allowed us to use our imaginations to see the rest of the flower.
After they finished their drawings they chose just a couple colors on tempera paint to complete their flower. I encouraged them to paint the background as well as the flower.

 Em and G both enjoyed this so much. They were very intrigued and excited to learn about the artist and I just love that. I see an artist series in our future.

A few books we enjoyed during this lesson:

My Name Is Georgia: A Portrait by Jeanette Winter

Through Georgia's Eyes: by Rachel Victoria Rodriguez

Wideness and Wonder: The Life and Art of Georgia O'Keeffe

 

 

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.

Mason Jar Terrarium

 I love anything that gets my children outside and enjoying every bit of beautiful nature they can soak up. While making terrariums in our yard we searched for rocks, dug up moss and covered our hands with soil. It was a wonderful day. In the end, we were able to bring all of that right into our home to enjoy each day. This is why I love terrarium jars.

 Materials:

Mason Jar

Stones

Dried Moss

Soil

Plants- Moss, Succulents, Step-Ons

Most of the materials for our jars were found right in the yard. We went on a little nature walk to start off our adventure and collected rocks and moss and even scooped some soil from our own garden.

 We started by adding a layer of dry moss. You can find dry moss at even craft store or even the dollar stores.

 Next, we added our collected stones. These first two layers help with drainage, since our jars don't have holes at the bottom.

 Adding our soil was the most fun for both my children. Any reason to play with dirt is always exciting!

 Once we had our soil in, it was time to begin placing our live moss and plants in the jar. This moss came right out of our yard. It is very easy to dig right up.

 Em decided her terrarium needed a little friend. This sweet little deer figurine was the perfect finishing touch.

 They came out so beautifully! We love how you can see each layer. My kids love to care for their little gardens with just a spritz of water every other day. Terrariums make great gifts and are lovely to have around the house.

I shared this tutorial and more over at Kiwi Crate.

Beach Crafts

 A walk along the river or a trip to the beach has become so much more for me since having children. Watching precious memories be made is a beautiful experience. I have these sweet memories that I hold special from my childhood. Knowing these are the days that Emma and Grayson will think back to as adults is an amazing feeling and I love being a part of it all. It's one of those unexpected cool feelings that you never thought of before becoming a parent.

 To add to the magic of the beach we usually make a few crafty things to keep as treasures, because we all know wherever children go they will find treasures.
Our Summer Treasures are simply shells we found on the beach and decorated sea side with markers. They came out lovely and were pretty fun to make while listening to the waves.

 While we are talking shells these fun Seashell Friends are super silly. With a few simple glued on additions our shells got names, homes and became little ocean found pets to the kids.

 Is this guy cute or what?! Although, we made our Starfish Friend at home, I wanted to add him to the mix. We used craft sand, but it would be fun to create this star guy on the beach with real sand. Some air dry clay, a star cookie cutter, sand and googly eyes is all you need for this.

Lastly, as a way to keep all of our findings and memories we made these cool Vacation Jars. A retired pickle jar will do. Just fill it with anything special from your trip. This works for any kind of vacation. We used some washi tape to date and title our jar.

Here's wishing you and yours some wonderful summer memories.

Easy Bird Feeder Crafts

 

 Making offerings to our sweet backyard birds is a great way to teach children about nature and compassion for all living creatures. It is something I have done with the kids since they could walk. Here is an easy one to start with. The Pine Cone Bird Feeder is the perfect bird feeder for little ones to make with confidence. All you need is a pine cone, string, nut butter (you can use sun butter if your child has allergies) and birdseed.

 First, we used a small spoon to get the butter into all the crevices of the pine cone.

 This was the fun part--into a bag of birdseed it goes! Shake, shake, shake! This went on for quite awhile.

Pretty proud of his little bird feeder. We tied it to a tree in the yard right near a window and it didn't take long before we saw sweet little birds stopping by for a snack. The kids loved watching their success! We first tried this feeder when Emma was given all the supplies as a gift from a good friend. Isn't that a sweet DIY gift? I thought so!

 This started out as a salt container. With a few cuts (by me) and some pretty details (by Em) this little house came together very nicely.

 We used a found branch for the perch, cute, right? Even cuter when we saw it being used by the sweetest little bird.

 Windows and flowers are a must for any bird house!

We filled it with birdseed and hung it in a tree with some floral wire. For all details check out my full tutorial here, Salt Container Bird Feeder.

 So, this Slinky Snacker started out as a little treat holder for our backyard squirrels, but we were surprised when it was emptied by another local friend.

 Using a slinky and pipe cleaner we filled our snack holder with peanuts and used twine to hang it from a tree.

This beautiful bird spent all afternoon taking every single peanut out, shelling it and bring them to her nest only to return for more until every peanut was gone. Wow! What a great way to observe nature. I hope you are inspired to feed the birds today!

School Replica Fairy Garden for Teacher Appreciation

 I was first introduced to Fairy Garden's from the fabulous (blog crush of mine) Pink and Green Mama. That's one of hers above, isn't it sweet? And guess what that beauty is planted in, a salad bowl! Genius! Since being inspired over on MaryLea's happy blog space I have been really enjoying (OK, more like addicted...alright, alright a little obsessed) with my fairy garden building. I mean really who doesn't love all things fairy, miniature and sweet as can be?

 I hosted a fairy garden workshop party to benefit Emma's school and well, of course I needed a sample garden for the kids to see. I decided a little replica fairy version of their school would be fun. And who better to give our fairy school garden to than Emma's wonderful teacher...oh and teacher appreciation week is around the corner...perfect!

I drilled holes in a large salad bowl (thanks Pink and Green Mama!) and we got to work making all the details of Emma's school very very small. Our school is pretty awesome, it has chickens and a climbing rock, but what I love most about this fairy school is the tether-ball, holy cuteness! We used one of those paddle ball party favors for that gem.

 Grayson has some pretty great teachers, too! He loved helping me place the rocks on the little tiny path to his school house.

It's amazing all the miniature findings you can find at the craft store now. Who knew? This new hobby can get a little dangerous!

 And here is one that stayed in my yard. 

Teacher appreciation week is this week! Be sure to tell your teachers how amazing they are. Be sure to thank them for teaching, guiding, watching and loving your children.

Thank you to the special teachers in my children's lives. These are the teachers that are setting the bar high for years to come. 

Thank you to my amazing brother and sister-in-law(s) who teach with all they got each and every day.

Thank you to all who teach with love each day. I admire you all so very much.

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.