Announcing a New Blog!!

So after doing some thinking, I realized that I wanted to take this blog in a different direction. I wanted to incorporate more of my love of books--particularly my love of children's books--into my blogging. So I've started a new blog. It's called Storybook Party and you can find it at http://storybookparty.blogspot.com/ 

The blog takes a children's book and then has songs, activities, crafts, games, etc., to go along with that book. Almost all the activities will make sense if you haven't read the book though. 

My goal is to have a variety of activities ranging from ones that take a bit more preparation to ones that take little or no time at all to get ready. Eventually I'd like to have interviews from authors/illustrators and contests and other fun activities. 

So check it out and if you have a link to this blog, please change it to http://storybookparty.blogspot.com

Thanks!

Instruments

The other day, my kids and I made some simple home made instruments. We put rice inside two paper plates and stapled them together (I'd recommend beans instead, the rice tended to sneak out.) We also put rice into a plastic cup and put another plastic cup over it--so that the two mouths? of the cups were together, and taped them together. Presto-chango, maracas instead!

Then I got out my violin and the kids and I had a hootenanny. (Isn't that a fun word? If you use it at least once a day, it makes life a lot funner.) I was surprised at how much the kids liked to shake their instruments while I played. Lucy, being the princess she is, would throw a temper tantrum every time I wasn't playing fast enough. And ho-boy, did she want me to play fast. If you are not an amazing violinist like myself (said with copious amounts of sarcasm), that's okay, you can just play the piano like my sister, who is amazing with no amounts of sarcasm at all. And if you can't play the piano, you could play the harp or the bazooka or the banjo or an mp3 or a CD if you have to. I was going to say something about trombones, but it wasn't appropriate for children, so I picked bazooka's instead. Because those are so much more appropriate. (Yes it's late. I know it's only 9:30, but for a mommy of three, that's late. Do you know my children woke me up more than ten times the other night?)

Anyway, play some music and shake and dance with your kids. By the way, you can also buy instruments from the store, if you prefer. They have some fun ones. Just remember--the louder they are, the more the kids love 'em. And your neighbors all love happy children, right?

Some other games you can play--stop the music every once in a while and your children have to stop too. Or else have a music parade. Give someone a baton, or a stick, and let them conduct. Play faster when they conduct faster, slower when they conduct slower. Stop when they do. And march around the house while you do it.

What other games can you play with musical instruments?

Contact Paper Stained Glass

So the title of this post is pretty boring, especially considering what a cool craft this is. But I don't know what else to call it. First one to come up with an awesome name--to match the awesomeness of this craft--gets an awesome feeling inside.

Part of why I like this craft so much is because it's fun for most kids. My six-year-old loved it, and so did my two-year old. And we had a fourteen month (I think, I keep forgetting ages) friend over and she had fun doing it as well. Even my four-year old liked it, for as long as he can be expected to like a craft. He's not really into art.

Basically what you'll need is some clear contact paper and some stuff to stick to it. Tissue paper is really fun, and I think cotton balls are a must. Glitter works well, if you don't mind a bigger mess. We took apart some fake flowers so they would lie flat. Ribbon and paper would work

too.

If you have a short table, like a coffee table, that is the most fun. For optimum fun, take a piece of contact paper as long as the table. Start to peel off the back, and then tap it to the edge of the table, sticky side up. Once it's taped to the table, it's a lot easier to peel the rest of the backing off. Once the back is off, tape the other side to the table.

Then let the kids decorate. The cotton balls are really fun. Just stick the cotton ball down on the paper, then bring it back up. It will leave behind a fluffy little cloud. Just let the kids go at it and have fun. For you up-tight Moms out there, relax, let the kids do it there way, it's okay. There is no right or wrong. ;) (Sorry, just thinking of a kid's craft class I went to where it turned out to be more of a You-just-watch-while-mommy-does-it-because-you-will-probably-do-it-wrong class. Really, who cares if the pumpkin looks wonky?)

You can reference the first picture so you can hopefully see what I can't explain very well.

Once they are done decorating, you will need the help of a somewhat more coordinated person. No, I'm not saying you're not coordinated. I just meant that in addition to your wonderfully talented self, you will need another person who is probably not your two-year old to help you. Cut another piece of contact paper the same length as the one on the table, peel off all the backing, and then stick it to the contact paper on the table. Sticky side down, in case you were wondering. When you are done, this should not be sticky at all. If you are sticking to the artwork, you did it wrong. The easiest way to stick the contact paper together is to hold it over the paper on the table and line it up before you press it down.

And then when you are done, you can cut it into smaller pieces. I think these would make fun place mats, especially if you edged them with something. They're also pretty fun in a window. And that was our awesome craft for the day. It made me all happy, like I was being a good mommy. That way I could let them rot their brains in front of the TV with a clear conscience.

Necklaces and Bracelets for Charity

I've decided that I want my children to be more service oriented. Wow. That sounds like fun. You can bet my kids were thrilled when I told them.

I figured one thing we could do is make crafts for the Festival of Trees. (also here.) For those of you who don't know, the Festival of Trees is awesome and all the proceeds go to benefit Primary Children's Hospital. And everything there is donated--all the crafts and trees that they sell, the people that work there, the guys who drive the trucks to deliver the trees--yup, all donated. Plus, when I was younger one of those close peoples-I-knew stayed there for several days when (s)he found out (s)he had diabetes. (I'm being vague so I don't get accused of disclosing confidential medical history.) So anyway, good cause and all.

I even made my poor children watch a few clips off the internet about sick children in hospitals. I found a few commercials--not from Primary Children's, but that's okay. And then we talked about those less fortunate than ourselves and how we can help them.

And that used up my good mommy quotient for the month so it was TV shows from then on out.

Anyway, I figured we could do some simple crafts. I found some wood beads that had large holes in them and some of that fancy beading-type string. The necklace above used some fake hemp, I think. My kindergartner has been learning about patterns in school--which he loves doing--so this was right up his alley. I told him to pick a pattern and stick the beads on. Then I helped him with the middle bead and he reversed the pattern back the other way. I helped glue on the clasps and voila! (sorry, too lazy to figure out how to get that slashy thing on the a) a pretty good looking wood necklace, if I do say so myself. Yup, that necklace pictured is the one my kindergartner made. I'm pretty proud, actually. (And just for the record, he decided to give that one to his teacher, which I also figured was a worthy pursuit. We'll make some more for the festival.)

For my four-year old, I got some plastic beads (again, with large holes) and some of that stretchy plastic string stuff. I just let him put the beads on in any pattern he likes and he made a stretchy bracelet, intended for a little girl. I figure we'll stick several of the bracelets together and that should be good. I know I've seen random-patterned beaded bracelets in the store before. Right? Right?

Here is one of my handsome men beading his bracelet.

And here is my other handsome man proudly displaying his creation. My two-year old actually beaded a little bit, and if I had been there to help her, it probably wouldn't have fallen off the string and she too might have had a bracelet to show. That's the problem with trying to do things with three kids and only one me. I'm a few hands short.

And if you want to do this craft without sending it to The Festival of Trees, I suppose you could do that. (But just think of all the warm-fuzzies you'll be missing out on.)

This would also make a good present for Grandma. (Hey Grandma--would you like to specify your design before we make you these for Mother's Day?)

Life-size Self Portrait

This is a fun and fairly simple project to do. Pretty much all you need is butcher paper or any other type of paper that comes on a roll--you can even use the wrong side of some wrapping paper--and some markers.

Roll the paper out on the ground so that it is a little longer than your child. The paper we used wasn't quite wide enough, so we had to tape two sheets side by side. Have your child lay down on the paper and trace around their body. Then have them decorate it. You can even label body parts, if you want. My oldest son did a pretty good job of making a self portrait--right down to the yellow swoop on his shirt.

He really loved this project. That is a 100% genuine huge smile on his face. He was so excited to do this--said it was his best artwork ever and called this his masterpiece. So of course my two-year old started calling her picture her masterpiece as well. After they were done, we hung them up in their rooms.

My four-year old has never been into drawing or coloring much, but he does love his scissors. Originally, his did look much like the other two, with his body traced on a sheet of paper, but he branched out a bit more on his and this is what he ended up with. He will probably be more of an abstract artist when he grows up.

And of course, you can do this on a sidewalk/driveway with sidewalk chalk. A little less permanent, but a little easier. Not that this was all that hard.

Training Dummy

Okay, so the real dummy was mom for buying her sons costumes that involved swords. Especially when she knew that the swords would inevitable be used on each other. But the boys were so excited and the costumes were cheap...how could I say no?

Obviously, I couldn't. And even though I knew it would happen, I still wasn't too happy with their sword fights that always ended with one of them crying. And me yelling. And one or the other seeking revenge.

So my brilliant idea was to build a training dummy for them to hit instead of each other.

Now, I know it's past Halloween, but my kids love wearing their costumes any time of the year. It makes for a good dress up. So if you too were silly and bought costumes that involved a sword, here is a chance to put them to good use. And if you were smarter than I, your child can use a stick or their bare fists or whatever else you've got.

So, to build one of these very cool training dummies, grab a long sleeve shirt and a pair of long pants. (Preferably ones you don't care about) Tie off the legs and arms and neck hole. (I just tied knots in the sleeves and legs, but you could use string if you want.) Now stuff the shirt and pants. Crumbled-up newspaper would work. I used plastic grocery bags because I have a million of those under my sink. I'm too cheap to buy those reusable bags, but I still feel guilty throwing away the plastic bags. I figure if I reuse the plastic ones, then that makes it all okay, right?

Anyway, stuff the shirt and pants. Then tie off the bottom of the shirt and top of the pants. I'd recommend string or yarn, although I used ribbon because that's what I could find. Then tie it to a chair. I used a trick or treat bag for the head, but you could use a paper plate or a stuffed pillowcase, or whatever else you can find.

Now comes the fun part!!!

Beat it up until it falls apart! Yay!!

My oldest was a ninja for Halloween, just in case you couldn't tell.

The other two were pirates. Since I know you want to see how cute they were, I've included their pictures as well.

Butterfly Clothes Pins

B is for Butterfly!

My little boy is growing up! My oldest started kindergarten last week, and goes all day. Well, until 2. But he starts at 7:55. Does that seem a little early for kindergarten to anyone else? I have to get the poor kid up at 6:30. Which means that my alarm goes off at 5 so that I can eventually roll out of bed at 5:30 so that I can get my scripture study done, get dressed, and do a few (very few) other things before he wakes up. (We have two separate rooms in the hotel so I can thankfully get up without waking up the kids.)

Anyway, the main reason I mention this, besides because I enjoy complaining, is because you will probably notice fewer pictures of my oldest now that he is no longer with us during the day. Yesterday it was just me and the Wumbumpagus (That's my four-year old, poor guy. I suppose we'll stop calling him that before he's old enough to be embarrassed by it). Which is good for him. Being the poor middle child he doesn't get enough attention. I'm actually really excited to be able to play just with him while his sister takes his nap and his brother is at school. I'm hoping it will be really good for him at that he will stop taking out his aggressions on his sister and brother and mother. If that doesn't work, I'm thinking some sport where he's actually suppose to hit or kick o tackle other other people or run around screaming. Football? Wrestling? Karate? Water polo?

Anyway, back to the craft.

You will need:

~clothespin

~tissue paper about the size of a sheet of paper or napkin

~marker

Draw a face on your clothespin. If you want, you can use markers to decorate your tissue paper or napkin. If you do this make sure to put a piece of paper underneath your tissue paper. I seem to remember using food dye perhaps mixed with water when I was younger to kind of tie dye the tissue paper. Unfortunately we don't have any food dye in the hotel room, so I can't try this out. Anybody know how to do this?

Lie your tissue paper flat and pinch it together in the middle. Stick it inside your clothespin.

Now you can play with your butterflies. WeI had fun trying to hit the ceiling with them. When I was little, my sister and I drew swimsuits/bikinis on our butterflies and made them several pairs of wings--one for the swimsuit competition, one for the evening gown competition, etc. Then we had a butterfly beauty contest.

I was surprised at how excited he was to play with his butterfly.

As a side note, we bought some markers to decorate our butterflies. Fortunately for us, the store was out of normal markers so we bought some Pip-Squeaks Mix-'Ems. They were super fun to play with--you can mix two colors together and then either draw so that you see both colors at the same time, or else make it more like a gradient.

I've seen so many different types of markers at the store. What ones have you tried? What ones do you really like?