Oh, What do You do in the Summertime?

We were lucky enough to spend 75% of our first month of summer break traveling.  When we got home, my children were a tad high maintenance since they'd been over-stimulated with non-stop fun for a month.  I've been busy coming up with fun ideas to try to keep them busy while we're at home between days at the pool and other fun field trips.  Where do I go for ideas?  Pinterest, of course!

Just a few days ago, we made playdough.  I have posted my own recipe for glitter playdough HERE, and liquid playdough HERE. But this week we tried this no cream of tarter recipe found at To the Moon and Back.

The dough turned out perfect and is still in great condition several days later.  One batch is more than enough to split in two, though, so if you need multiple colors for multiple littles, one or two batches will suffice!


We also had fun with these robot prompts from Picklebums.  My oldest even ended up cutting his robot parts and pasting his new 'bots together.  The nice thing about this is that Picklebums was nice enough to offer it as a free printable, so we can go back for more anytime we want! ;)

Just before school let out for the year, some high schoolers came to my son's kindergarten class and did origami with them.  Since then, he's been obsessed.  So, we recently ordered this Origami Fun Kit for Beginners (Dover Fun Kits)from Amazon: (affiliate link)

It has been great for both my boys.  Obviously, I have to help them out a lot, but it is great for fine tuning their fine motor and critical thinking skills.  After they are done folding their origami, they color in the faces and any details they may want.  I currently have quite the zoo collection going on in my house.  Their imaginations have run wild...their cats have names and their pigeons now have nests...by far the best $8.00 I've spent all summer.

What about you?  How have you been keeping your little ones busy this summer?

Fizzy Fun!

Here's another super simple, super fun activity for your little ones!  All you need is baking soda, vinegar and food coloring!

Simply fill the bottom of a pan with baking soda, and give your children cups of vinegar with different colors of food coloring in them.

 Let them use eye droppers to drop the food coloring into the baking soda.  Great for hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills!  

They will have a blast watching the colors bubble and fizz in the baking soda! 

 My boys stayed outside with this for close to an hour, and they would have stayed longer if they hadn't run out of their materials!  I think vinegar and baking soda will be on my next Costco shopping list!  This activity was too much fun to not do many more times this summer!

Chalk Paint

I love Pinterest.  

And not just because I find so many fabulous new ideas, 

but because sometimes I stumble across ideas I already knew about but just forgot.  

This is one of them.

Chalk Paint

Equal parts of cornstarch and water, with food coloring (or liquid water colors) added. 

 I am out of red food coloring, so my colors are pretty boring...

But take it outside, give the kiddos some paint brushes, 

and you can enjoy quite a bit of quiet time while they are busy painting away!

I kind of wish I would have had some bigger paint brushes on hand, 

but they were happy with what they had.

And yes.  You may find that this paint is fun for fingers and toes too!

**PS?  Make sure all food coloring is safely tucked away before assuming your children are quietly having fun.  Otherwise you may be shocked to discover that your 2 year old was having fun...but in a way that dyed his skin green enough that he could be cast in Wicked as Elphaba's son.  Just sayin'. **

Glitter Playdough

This week, we made glitter playdough.

A practice run for our glitter snow dough we're going to make next month.

I was going to just do plain white,

But then decided that more colors would be more fun!

After all, we're not talking about sparkly white snow today!

I know that making homemade playdough isn't new to many,

but just in case you haven't found a recipe yet,

here's one for you.

Classic Playdough

2 c. flour

1 c. salt

4 T. Cream of Tartar

2 T. oil

2 c. water

Mix in a pan on medium heat until it forms into a soft ball. Remove from heat.

As soon as it's cool enough to handle, knead it out until it's soft and pliable and ready to play with!

You can add food coloring, Kool-Aid or Jello for different colors.

And glitter is totally optional.

My boys sure enjoyed having "special" playdough today!

(My 3 year old sat at the table quietly playing for well over 2 hours!! Worth the glitter, I say!)

Homemade Snow Globes

This year, I want to be sure to make homemade snow globes with my boys. This is another one of my all time favorite preschool activities, and they are both old enough this year to really enjoy it. Here's the step by step process in case you want to make one (or two) too! I will be using this project as one of our Christmas advent activities next month.

Homemade Snow Globes

You will need:

Baby food jar

Glitter

Super glue (hot glue works too!)

Mini Christmas tree ornament or other trinket

(be sure it will fit inside the mouth of your jar!)

Water

After washing and drying your jar, glue the ornaments to the inside of the lid.

And let them dry.

While the glue is drying, fill the jar about 3/4 of the way full of water.

Add as much glitter as you want, in any color(s) that you want.

Once everything is dry and secure, place a layer of super glue around the edge of the jar

and the inside lip of the lid. Carefully screw the lid onto the jar.

(Side note: I totally could have used a small baby food jar, but this is what I had. Also, don't ever throw away baby food jars!! They are good for a zillion different things. As soon as you throw them out, you will definitely find a need for one. I have learned that lesson the hard way many times.)

Voila! You have your very own little snow globe!

You can accessorize however you wish; ribbon detailing, painting the lid, it's really up to you.