Finger Tracing Paint Bag

I picked up some tempera paint at Michaels this morning when I was picking up more birthday party supplies (it's getting close! One week from today!). I saw this idea over at Confessions of a Homeschooler and have wanted to try it ever since. Mostly because it looked like a non-messy way to play with paint! :)

You just squirt some paint into a gallon sized freezer bag. You probably don't need to use a freezer bag, but I figured the thicker the better! I had Roman help me squeeze the paint into the bag. Then he used his finger, a paintbrush, and a closed Sharpie marker (with a rounded edge) to draw on the bag.

Roman made squiggles and drew some letters.

Roman really wanted to use an eraser and lo and behold it worked like a charm! If he lightly and quickly moved it back and forth it would settle the paint so he had a clean slate to draw on. A fun activity!

Lava Eruptions

Today was a day I branched out and did a little science experiment with Roman. It was extremely simple, but I think he learned something from it. We started with 4 small jars and filled each one with 1 cup of water.

Next I had Roman use food coloring to dye the water different colors.

Then we put 1/3 cup of vegetable oil in each jar...

We watched it as it settled to the top...(we talked about why oil and water doesn't mix)

then we took Kosher salt and dropped it into the jars by tablespoonfuls.

Then we watched the "lava eruptions."

It was a pretty clean science experiment and although Roman would have enjoyed an explosion of colored water everywhere better, this kept him occupied and got him asking questions. :)

Happy Presidents' Day!

This morning we celebrated Presidents' Day by doing a few crafts and activities. First, we started by making Mount Rushmore by taping a penny, nickel, dime and quarter to the back of a sheet of white printer paper. Then I had Roman rub a colored pencil over the faces to make the faces of Mt. Rushmore (note: the Roosevelt on the dime is not the same Roosevelt as on Mt. Rushmore). I had to help him with that part because he was rubbing too hard. Then I had him color in the rest of the mountain with a brown crayon.
*I had read online that colored pencil does a better job than a crayon does when making rubbings.

He cut out it out and glued it down to a blue sheet of construction paper.

It turned out pretty cute! I taped the coins on backwards (Washington should be on the left and Lincoln on the right). He had a good time making that.

Then we practiced naming the Presidents on the coins. He got Lincoln and Washington down, but Jefferson and Roosevelt were more difficult to remember. That might be because the coins looked similar.

Next we played with Lincoln Logs! I hadn't pulled these out to play with in a while, so that was something new and fun to do.

Titus decided to take a little siesta on the Lincoln Logs. :)

We had a snack of pretzels or "logs." heh heh.

Then we made Lincoln's stovepipe hat! I put a paint shirt on Roman and had him paint a paper plate. I cut a hole in the center so the kids could actually wear it once it was dry.

After the paint dried I took two pieces of black 12x12 paper and taped them together to fit the size of the hole. You could use black construction paper as well. The instructions I found online said to use just white craft glue to glue the top to the plate, but I ended up using hot glue so we didn't have to wait for the glue to dry.

It was precariously positioned on his head, but here's President Roman! :)

Tie Onesie & Homemade Bubbles

I absolutely love the shirts and onesies for little boys that have the faux ties on them. I had one for Titus and it was the 'cute' outfit I always chose for him to wear out. So when I ran across an online tutorial over at The Crap I've Made blog, I had to try it. Above is what you need to start: a onesie (I purchased mine at Hobby Lobby for $3.99), cute material (Hobby Lobby again), Wonder Under (that's what she used in the tutorial, but I found Heat n Bond at Michaels [shown below] and it is the same thing I think), scissors, the printed template from The Crap I've Made blog, and of course an iron/ironing board.

I started by cutting a small piece of fabric and laying it over the Heat n Bond to cut a piece of similar size. You actually want your material a little bigger than your piece of Heat n Bond.

Then you lay the material face down on your ironing board and iron over the Heat n Bond (the side with the sticker facing up-it explains how to do this step on the package).

This adheres the Heat n Bond to the material and now you're read to cut out the tie. I wanted the stripes straight on the top piece and the stripes diagonal on the bottom piece.

I just traced the tie onto the material with a pencil.

Then cut it out...

Then you peel the sticker off of the back...

And lay it on the onesie where you want it.

Then you iron it down (it will tell you how many seconds to hold the iron on there on the Heat n Bond package).

Marvy!

Such a fun, cute gift! This one is going to my husband's co-worker who just had a baby boy. Once you have purchased the material and the Heat n Bond or Wonder Under you can make numerous ties. The only recurring cost is for the onesie or t-shirt you use. I think I might make my boys a couple of these t-shirts!

HOMEMADE BUBBLES

Since the weather has been so nice we've been playing outside every chance we get. I had one little bottle of bubbles left from last year and we used those up very quickly. I looked up a recipe for homemade bubbles and this one worked pretty well for the wands we have (I say that because we have a really big wand and the consistency was too thin for that wand. We didn't try the little tiny wands that fit inside the bubble bottles).

1 cup water

2 tablespoons light karo syrup or glycerin (I used karo syrup)
4 tablespoons dishwashing liquid (I used Palmolive)

You just mix it all together and have fun!

Birthday Preparations

Roman's birthday party is coming up and I love planning my boys' birthday parties. :) He is so into rockets right now that it was an easy choice when it came to what theme to choose. I found a picture of these super cute rocket invitations online and decided to try them. They turned out pretty cute. I just used cardstock scrapbook paper. It cost about $6 for 20 sheets - thank you POGO card and Ben Franklin! I doubt I'll use that much, but I can always use it for scrapbooking later. I need to make 5 invitations for our family.

I looked around for some cute wording (you can see what I decided on below). I just free-handed a template to use for the invitations and cut them out with scissors. They aren't perfect, but I really liked how they turned out. Roman's birthday isn't until March 21st, but it just worked out for family to come to have the party early.

Just thought I'd share my "crafting" with you!

Homeschool Group!

{total cheeseball!}
I have been searching for a homeschool group with mostly preschool/lower elementary-aged kids for a while now. I finally found one and today was our first time hanging out with the group. They had a Valentine's party for the kids. They started out with a fun craft which was a box where they could put their valentines. It was a cute little choo choo train (if you can't tell from Roman's). :)

They played several games. There were some older siblings there to help and play, too. :)

Titus was playing his own game with a wet wipe. :)

They frosted heart-shaped cookies and decorated them.

Roman did a great job on the decorating!

Then it was time to pass out valentines! There were about 25 kids there.

Roman looking through his loot. :) He really enjoyed himself and even made a couple new buds. Can't wait for next month's field trip to the stadium!

Happy Valentine's Day!

My husband took Roman to the store last night to do the weekly grocery shopping. When they got home and we were unloading groceries Roman blurted out "we have a surprise for you in the car but we can't tell you!" :) He was so excited. Like, more excited than I have ever seen him. It was so sweet. So after he went to bed, Caleb brought this balloon in and told me Roman picked it out. This morning I was sitting in the living room when Roman got up so I told him that daddy put the surprise in the kitchen and he was to show me what it was. :) He was thrilled! It was such a fun moment to share with him.

The boys made homemade valentines for daddy this morning. We then loaded up and stopped by the store to pick out some candy on the way to visit him at work. It was a fun surprise for him! Here's Titus already helping daddy eat his candy.

Here are the boys' homemade valentines. They each picked out a little chocolate for their dad to go with their valentine.

Here they are with their mouths full of chocolate!

Caleb's probably loving that we brought him this much candy, but he needs to put on a few pounds to make this growing momma feel better! Kidding! :)

Wishing all of your a very Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you are able to take the time to do something special today.