box house

Yesterday we got a very large box delivered to our home... Nothing exciting, just a cat liter box and diapers. Big boxes however are a big win here! I dreamed up this little house idea, threw a crockpot meal together, and got to work while the babies napped. And almost 2 hours later I had a cute little cottage... I was so proud of it I was second guessing letting the kids paint it (or even play with it for that matter! Good thing I don't fit in it or I might have kept it for myself.)

So...1 box house, 10 Crayola kids paint in neon colors, and 3 paint brushes has made these kids pleased as punch. They devotedly painted for hours. I truly hope today is one of the days that sticks in their memory.

Nothing got done today, Cody came home to dirty dishes and a mess... But we did have our crockpot dinner.

And now I am enjoying these precious pictures from our fun day!

Monday Funday:: Felt Cupcakes + Icecream

 I cut out all these little felt cupcake pieces for Mae on Wednesday night, before we drove to the beach on Thursday.  I thought it would be a fun car activity... turns out it wasn't great for the cramped space.  Mae wanted to take everything out and see it all before she chose her flavor or topping. It was, however, quite fun to lay it all out today and let her create away.

 

Mae made everyone in our family their own dessert. I quite like that she is so thoughtful to include Ian and Jovie (: 

 

So if you think you'd like to make your own, I have included my cutting template. You can download the 

PDF here: Felt Cupcake + Ice-cream template. 

{The yellow circle came from the craft section at Walmart. It is very stiff and makes a perfect "plate" for our yummy creations.}

Monday Funday :: Snow Dough

 

This is so easy and was hours of fun for Mae.  All you do is mix shaving cream and cornstarch and the result is a fine powdery dough that can be shaped and molded.  It's the fun of snow without the cold! It really didn't stick to our hands but there was quite a lot of snow on the floor around Mae's seat at the end.

You would never guess that little girl has never seen real snow as much as she talks about it.  She is constantly having make-believe snow ball fights, making snow angels on the rug and building snowmen out of nothing. (Did I mention she's very good at imaginative play... and a little obsessed with snow.) So this is the closest she's been to snow, poor thing.

Monday Funday :: Paper Globe

 I found this neat little paper globe available for download here: La Paper Globe. 

You can go there and print your own and put it together. 

Today's project involved an X-acto knife so this was more for me than for Mae.  She did enjoy the end product though, and it's a great learning tool. I highlighted China in pink and the US in green.

 

• I used an X-acto knife, cutting mat, ruler, a bone folder, and glue —There are full instructions on the site

I chose to make my globe the easy way and only printed the first 4 pages.  The original design makes an inner skeleton that would make this globe super strong. I printed ours on thicker 100# paper and after gluing it all I feel like ours is plenty strong. 

 

As soon as Mae saw the finished globe she immediately started telling me where she thought Ian and Jovie were and how we were going to fly to get them.  She is ready to meet her brother and sister!!

Monday Funday:: Cork Boats

 

 Mae and I made little sail boats out of a few wine corks, some origami paper I had, a glue gun, tooth picks and a penny. These are so simple to make and were a fun activity for us today... since Mae's little pool was filled up. Mae loved to see her miniature boats floating around in her pool.  We tied a string to them so she could pull them around.  A couple times she tugged a little too hard and they turned over... eventually the sails were all wet and that made them unbalanced, so they didn't stay upright anymore.  We just pulled them out to dry for later.  I would like to replace the sails with something that could get wet though... any ideas? I was thinking of a colorful plastic package, maybe some sort of snack bag? I will keep a look out.

Monday Funday :: Magazine Beads

So to get into the summer spirit, this morning Mae and I crafted!  We started doing practice school work since she got out of school in the mornings... but who feels like work on Mondays?? So bead making it is. (:

 Here's what you need to make your own: 

1. scissors —optional (I was hoping we could do some cutting practice but Mae doesn't quite have enough control yet). 
2.  straws 
3.  Elmer's
4. old magazine

 

Look for nice bright colorful pages in your magazine. 

1:: You take the page and rip it or cut it— you want one side to end up wider and go to skinny.  

The smaller the strip the smaller the bead. 

2 :: I added a little bit of water to our glue so it would be easier to paint with.  

3 :: Figure out which side is more colorful side and add glue to the other side. 

4 :: Then wrap it around your straw, starting at the wider side. (Mae needed a little bit of help wrapping it tightly but she loved this.)  Just look at all of our beads!! 

5 :: Now they have to dry completely... we were impatient and used the hairdryer to help speed things up.

6 :: Some of the beads slide right off... but the ones that don't you can just cut them and leave the straw in the middle. 

 Now we were set to make the necklace.  

7 :: Tie a knot on the end.

 8 :: String them on!! And of course sing while you work. (:

Any ENJOY! Don't you want to make one now?? 

Mae sure loves hers; she is very proud she made it.