Summer Time: Fun Fort

Boys love forts and they are so easy to build.

My boys really enjoy climbing through blankets and dark places. We made a fort using my stash of blankets, the sofa, chair and coffee table (more like a hiding place for blankets).

Mr. I helped me round up the blankets and over lap them onto the sofa and coffee table to make an area where they could crawl through. 

Mr. E enjoyed playing around in it and trying to pull it down. He's kind of like Godzilla. 

This is Mr. I peeking out.

We also found another fort idea on Pinterest and like doing it too. You just use a fitted sheet and cover your couch or as my mom use to say it, "sofa". I tried finding it again to post it here but can't seem to find it.

Summer Time: Silly Putty

Here's some gooey fun for the summer. My son loves to do science experiments and here is one that is sure to please any little guy. It's sticky and messy just what every boy enjoys. 

We used school glue and liquid starch. We got the starch at Wal-Mart in the laundry aisle. 

We started by adding equal parts but ended up having to use more glue and starch to get to the right consistency. 

We started by adding glue into a bowl with a little food coloring. Mr. I loves the color red so we had to use it. 

Then I added the liquid starch and just started mixing and kneading it into my hands until it turned into something like silly putty. 

We had fun making it and playing with it as we mixed it up. It also worked on newspaper however ours was a little sticky. 

Summer Reading Programs

Barnes and Noble - Read 8 books and get a free book.

Half Priced Books - Read 300 minutes and receive HPB Bookworm bucks.

Local Library - The Metropolitan Library System is doing a summer reading programs for children birth and up. The offer prizes and coupons as you reach your goals.

The Daily Oklahoman - For ages 5-12. Win prizes in random drawings when you send in the answer for the week.

Scholastic Summer Challenge - Children log minutes and complete challenges for daily prizes.  They can also read for the World Record.

Book Adventure - Children read books and take quizzes to earn prizes.

Chuck E Cheese's - Earn 10 tokens for reading for two weeks.

Summer Time - Magic Mud

Today we got our hands messy with magic mud. 

Mr. I and Mr. E loved playing with it. They used the cars to drive through it. Mr. B even enjoyed it. (14 yrs.) 

The magic mud is like a goppy liquid but hardens when you poke it. 

To make it all you need is corn starch and water. I also added food coloring but it's optional. Add about 5 tablespoons of corn starch and about that much water or more and mix. 

Summer Activities: Sidewalk Chalk Paint

Supplies:

Chalk pieces

Water

Cups

Rolling Pin or hammer

Teaspoon

Paintbrushes

Plastic storage baggies

Directions:

Gather all the chalk pieces and put into a zip-loc bag. Separated by color.

Next use a rolling pin to finely crush the chalk up. (Make sure children use a hammer with supervision)

Put 1 teaspoon of chalk dust into a small cup and add 2 teaspoons of water. Add more or less water and chalk dust to make yours darker or lighter.    

Next let your child use a paintbrush to paint with the new water colored chalks. 

You can also paint on paper or pine cones. 

 

Summer Activities Week 2:

Sunday: Sidewalk Chalk Paint

Monday: Story Time

Tuesday: Place mats

Wednesday: I Spy

Thursday: Websites for Kids

Friday: About Me Collage

Saturday: Celery Science Project 

 

Summer Activities: Pet Rocks

Rocks are neat. They come in many shape and sizes. The texture is different on each one. They make great pets and gifts.

Here's what you need to make your new friend. 

Supplies:

Rocks

Google Eyes

Glue (hot glue optional)

Paint, markers or crayons

Directions:

Give the rocks a good bath. Lay them outside to dry.

When the rocks are dry decorate them using paint, markers or crayons.

Let them dry. 

Glue on the eyes, if you are using them.

Put your friend in a special place. Pet rocks have fun playing in the garden, on your dresser or on top of your desk. You could make many rocks and give them to friends and family. Make your Dad or Mom one for their desk. A great paper weight. 

Summer Activities: Root Beer Floats

Nothing says summer better than a root beer float. They are so cold and yummy. Perfect for a summer day.

Ingredients:

Can of Root Beer

Vanilla Ice Cream

Frosty Mug

Straw

Directions:

Take the frosty mug and put 2 scoops of ice cream or more if you like.

Pour the root beer in slowly. It makes a lot of foam.  

Put the straw in and enjoy.

Frosty Mug:
Take the mug and run it under the water. Don't shake the water off. Put it directly in the freezer and let it sit for about an hour. You got yourself a frosty mug. Don't have a mug use another glass.

Summer Activities: Local Library

A trip to the library is free and fun. It’s a great place to take your children this summer. They have tons of programs available for children of all ages and resources for everyone in the family.

Libraries are great places for everyone to learn about something new. Most libraries have  DVD’s, CDs, magazines, audio books, computer usage and more. Check your local library to see what they offer. 

 Our state has the Metropolitan Library System and each library is joined together so you can get resources from all of the libraries. If there is a book or something else that you want to check out and the current library doesn’t have it available, you can get it sent to your nearest library and pick it up a couple of days later. They can do this with almost any media they have.

Libraries offer programs for all ages. They have concerts, craft classes, animal classes and educational classes too. They are free to the community.

During the summer months the libraries offer a summer reading program for kids birth-teen. The children get rewarded for how many books they read and get entered into drawings for prizes. Over the years we have gotten coupons, trinkets and tickets to our local museums and sports games.

The library system also has an app that you can download on your smart phone to check out audio books. It’s a free app and free downloads. You check them out using your library card and listen to them and after the lending period is up they get check back in automatically. The app is called Overdrive. Download it to see if your local library is available.

If you haven’t been to your local library lately, check it out. It’s full of exciting things to learn about and I promise your kids will find something they like. If you have kids that don’t like to read the library offers comic books, craft books, magazines, art books and books on drawing. They are sure to find something fun.

What’s your favorite thing to do at your library? 

Summer Activities: Travel or Nature Journal

Here's the first installment of Summer Activities. I hope that you enjoy coming back everyday to find out what's new and follow me on Pinterest to see all the activities I have. 

This summer I plan on going to quite a few places around my city and nearby towns. We also have one big trip planned to Big Sky Montana too. It should be a lot of fun. I wanted to make sure my kids had something to write down their new discoveries and journal about their days. 

Here are the directions on making a journal.

The little travel journals I made here are the done the same way just in a smaller size. I let the kids decorate them with letters and stickers.

 The Happy Gang with the Nature Journals

Here's this weeks line up.

Week 1:

Sunday: Travel/Nature Journals

Monday: Library Trip

Tuesday: Pet Store

Wednesday: Summer Reading

Thursday:  Binoculars

Friday: Root Beer Floats

Saturday: Pet Rocks

Crafts: Sun Prints

 

Last summer I had my nephews over at my house and had them make sun prints. They really had fun making them and while we waited we had Popsicles. 

It was a great summer activity.

Here's my post on MetroFamily Magazine to find out how to make your own prints. 

Note: If you use scissors please supervise the children.

Here's our day of fun. 

Popsicle Time

 

Our Finished Prints

 

10 Steps to Finger Weaving

I remember doing this when I was in grade school. My friends and I would set on the steps in front of the school and make a ton of bracelets and necklaces. One year my mom made me make some for our Christmas tree. It took forever to make it long enough but I did it and it made a nice addition to the tree.

Over the years I’ve made these with my nieces and taught them how to do it too.

Step 1

Wrap around your thumb about 3 times. Take the yarn and weave it in and out of each finger. Start behind your index finger and go back and forth. 

Step 2

Now take your yarn and go around back and wrap it around the front. Lay the yarn just above your bottom yarn. 

Step 3

Take the yarn from your middle finger and pick it up and go over the yarn above and put it over your finger. Do the same with your picky finger.  You should now have all four fingers wrapped. 

Step 4

Now take your yarn and go around back and to the front and over all four fingers. (like shown)

Step 5

Take the yarn from your index finger and pick it up and go over the yarn above and put over your finger. Continue until all fingers are done. (your fingers should look like what is shown)

Step 6

Continue Step 5 about 3 more times. Take yarn off thumb and pull the string to see the length. Continue step 5 until desired link. 

Step 7

When you reach your desired link stop. Take the yarn you are using to wrap around your fingers and this time take the very end of the yarn and put it through the bottom of your wrapped index finger. (like shown)

Step 8

Take the wrap off your finger and continue with the rest of your fingers. You should have nothing on your fingers when you’re finished. 

Step 9

Pull the string to make the end tight. Take other end and pull it too.  

Step 10

Take the ends and tie it together to make a bracelet, necklace or whatever you like. 

 Note: In case your wondering what happened to my hand, I fell on the floor furnace when I was about 1.  

Do you finger weave? What have you made with your finger weaves?

Kool-Aid Popsicles

I was thinking about my mother the other day and it reminded me of things she would do during the summer. She would make Kool-Aid Popsicles. When it was hot outside this was one of my favorite treats. It’s easy to do and it costs little money. If you have 7 kids like my mother you learn to be thrifty and creative.

Materials:

Ice cube tray

Favorite flavor of Kool-Aid

Toothpicks

Foil

Instructions:

Make Kool-Aid according to package.

Next pour Kool-Aid slowly into the ice cube tray.

Cover tray with foil.

After you get the tray covered. Take a toothpick and punch a hole inside each ice cube. 

Put the ice cube tray into the freezer. It will take about an hour or longer for ice cubes to form.

When the Kool-Aid freezes take cubes out and eat. Toothpicks can poke you a little when your eating so be careful and make sure to dispose of your toothpicks so no one gets hurt.

Sidewalk Chalk Paint

Summer time is the best time to get out and play with chalk but what are you going to do with all those little pieces of chalk that end up in the bottom of the bucket? Don't throw them out instead turn them into something even more fun for the kids.


Sidewalk Chalk Paint

Click here for directions.

Most of the recipes I've seen tell you use cornstarch and other things but with this recipe all you need is chalk and water. 

What else can you do with your sidewalk paint? Paint pin cones or make a picture on paper.

Note: This is from my MetroFamily Magazine Craft Blog.