May 27: Rainstick



We usually use cardboard tubes as trumpets...



I think rainsticks are intriguing!  When I was teaching I had one I used to quite the class...I'm not sure what happened to that one, but I was excited to make one for this week's project!  I'd found this idea HERE at The Imagination Tree.  I wasn't sure we'd be able to make it, though, because you needed a thick cardboard tube, and we only ever have thinner ones from paper towel and toilet paper rolls.  And then my saran wrap ran out and in the center was a heavy-duty card board tube - perfect! 

Lovin' the hammer!



Tysen was SUPER excited to use Daddy's hammer for the project today, and he did really well with it, too!  I'd start the nail until it was secure and then let him pound it in.  I placed the nails at different levels and different angles so the rice, etc. falling through the tube would hit many of them to make the rain sound last longer.  We probably could have used more nails for this. 



Filling it with rice.



We used book tape to secure the bottom of the tube, and then I had Ty put some rice in the top.  His face lit up with a smile when he heard the rice trickle through the nails!  He quickly added more and more, giggling each time it "rained".  I also had him add dried pinto beans for a slightly different sound.  After adding those he asked, "What else can we put in here?  How about nuts?"  I wasn't sure I wanted nuts in there, so we found some macaroni noodles instead.  We sealed the top with more book tape and tried out the new rainstick.  Fabulous! 

 

So proud!

I asked Ty if he wanted to decorate his new rainstick with paint, paper, markers, or stickers, but he wasn't really interested in any of that.  He was waiting for his friend Ian to come over to play and that's just about all he could think about now that he couldn't use Daddy's hammer anymore.  I decided to wrap the tube in wood-looking contact paper just to protect little fingers from the nail heads...don't need any of those coming out!  Tysen was thrilled with the result!

May 25: Find that Animal!

Each Wednesday I suggest games to Ty and he's just not that interested in them.  Today, though, a "game" just kind of happened.  Brielle had a doctor's appointment today and of course, Ty was there, too.  While we were waiting for the doctor to come in, Ty noticed the wallpaper in the room.  It was based on the Noah's Ark Bible story and had pairs of animals portrayed...but in a more abstract form.  He initiated the game by asking me if I saw the elephants.  So we took turns asking each other to find different animals.  Some were familiar like the elephants, giraffes, birds, etc., but I was surprised to find that Ty knew ostriches and other more not-as-common animals.  Sometimes it's the child-initiated, on-the-spot fun that beats any plan I may come up with.

May 23: Healthy Apple and Oatmeal Muffins

This was certainly not the most successful kitchen experience as far as Ty was concerned.  He lost a lot of interest while we were soaking the oats for 30 minutes...who can blame him?  He didn't want to grate the apples, which I though he'd find fun.  And finally, he wasn't impressed with the taste...both he and Brielle  were finished after one bite.  Koen wouldn't even try them, and Seth wasn't impressed either.  They smell fabulous, but they are very dense.  They're either going in the freezer for when I'm eating carbs again or out to the birds.  On that note, here's the recipe. (Find the original recipe at food.com)

Healthy Apple and Oatmeal Muffins

• 1 1/2 cups quick oats
• 1 1/2 cups apple juice
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 medium apples, grated
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 4 egg whites, beaten  to soft peaks
• apple wedges for garnish

Soak the oats, apple juice, sugar, and vanilla for 30 minutes.  Mix in the flour, grated apples, baking powder, and cinnamon.  Fold in the beaten egg whites.  Spoon into muffin tins.  Top muffins with 2 sliced apple wedges (cut quarters of an apple into 3 or 4 wedges) and bake at 340 degrees (that's not a typo...340 degrees) for 25-30 minutes or until muffins are cooked through and golden.  Cool for a few minutes before removing from the pan to cool on a wire rack.  Yield:  12 (We got 18)

May 20: Pudding Paint

I got the idea for this fabulous project HERE.  The boys thought this was the BEST project!  Koen had a fever last night so he stayed home from school, though he seemed to be fine today.  He was excited to be a part of this.  Paint you can eat?  Too cool! 

All you need is a box of instant vanilla pudding, some food coloring, and a space to paint your picture.  We made 4 colors...all from the "neon" box of food coloring:  blue, green, pink, and purple.  I gave each of the boys a glass 9x13 pan to paint in, and Brielle even got into it! I wondered if they'd just eat the pudding out of the bowls, but they actually did paint designs...and then they ate it!  We spent 30 minutes playing with this paint...a great amount of time in my opinion.  The neighbor girls stopped over, too, and enjoyed playing with the pudding paint.  My guess is they'll be asking to do this one again! 

Here are the pictures to give you a sense of the fun!

 Getting started...

 

Having fun!

May 19: Baby Diaper Experiment

All the polymer from the diaper...not much!

We had a fabulous time at gymnastics again this morning, but today just needed a little extra fun. Now, I'm the first to admit that I am NOT a science-minded person, but I do appreciate it and want my kids to experience the amazing things about science.   A few days ago Koen saw I was looking at something on the computer and asked about it.  I was reading an idea from http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000064 to take apart a diaper and look at those tiny crystals that make the diaper so effective.  Koen thought it'd be great fun to take Brielle's diaper apart, so that's what we did today!  Ty was more of an observer than a participant for this project.

We followed Steve Spanger's directions:

• Line the table with newspaper.
• Carefully cut through the inside lining of the diaper and remove all the cotton-like material. 
• Place the stuffing material in a large plastic bag, seal it, and shake it to loosen the powdery polymer.  (There's not much so don't worry if you don't feel like you did it right)
• Remove the stuffing from the bag.
• Pour the polymer into a plastic clear plastic cup and fill with 1/2 cup water (4 oz). 
• Mix it with your finger until the mixture begins to thicken.
• Observe the gel!  Even turn the cup upside-down and see how it's solidified.  

Steve Spangler actually does more with the experiment, but we paused here with an "I wonder" side-track.  We wondered if we'd get the same results with Tysen's pull-up.  We cut open Ty's pull-up and that's about when the boys lost interest.  I, however, wanted to know the answer.  I assumed it'd be the same results, but that wasn't the case!  I added the same amount of water to the polymer from the pull-up but it never fully turned into a gel as you can see in the picture.  Strange!




Stirring the water and polymer
 mix with his finger.



After the polymer changed to gel Koen
could hold the cup upside down and no
liquid spilled!  He thought that was
pretty cool!

The cup on the left is the polymer from the
pull-up (never gelled) and on the right
is the diaper's results.



May 16: Flower Lollipops



All done making the flower!



Working so carefully!



The original instructions for the flower lollipops are HERE at busybeekidscrafts.com.  I thought this was such a cool idea!  It didn't turn out quite as I had expected, but the boys LOVED them!  One thing I never really thought about before making these was that each lollipop takes seven Life Savers to complete...which means your child will be eating seven pieces of candy if he eats the whole lollipop in one sitting! 

I purchased three rolls of hard Life Savers candy and we were able to create 5 lollipops using that candy.  If you don't have three rolls to work with you probably won't have all the same color petals on each flower, but that could be cute, too. 




All ready for the oven!

 Cousin Isaac was over for the afternoon so he made the red lollipop, Ty made the orange lollipop and I made the purple on as an example. 



Melted sweetness!

Line a cookie sheet pan with TIN FOIL (if you notice in the picture I used waxed paper since I was out of tin foil...not a good idea.  The waxed paper stuck to the lollipops!).  Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.  Place the Popsicle stick on the pan and then place the "center" of the flower at the top of the Popsicle stick.  Place another candy, also on the stick, underneath that.  Encircle the "center with the other candies, making sure they all touch each other so they'll melt properly.  Place in the oven for 11-13 minutes or until candy is melted.  Let cool and peel off.  Enjoy!

 

"It's so tasty!"



"Mmmmmmm!"

May 14 and 15: Koen's 6th Birthday Parties!!!

School friends!

Koen turned 6 on Sunday!  It was a busy weekend of celebration!  On Saturday afternoon we hosted five of Koen's classmates for a little party.  Having recently discovered a Tigger and Pooh movie at the library, he wanted to have a party based the the Super Sleuths those two characters play in the stories.  His idea actually turned out pretty well! 

We started with a game of pin the "X" on the treasure (I had taken grocery bags and created a treasure map).  From there we headed into the basement for a candy hunt -- they boys were super pumped about that one!!!  We all returned upstairs for a few rounds of hide-and-seek while Seth and I made lunch: hot dogs, chips, carrots, and the highlight -- rainbow jello.  After lunch was the much-anticipated scavenger hunt.  Koen had specifically asked to have one.  I'd gone online and found a little help for ideas, but ended up creating my own which turned out pretty cute, if I say so myself.  (I included it at the end of the post in case you were curious.)  :)  At each spot the boys had to do some kind of activity, partly for fun and partly to help the hunt take longer!  In the end, the boys were directed to the freezer for the ice cream and then back to the table for cupcakes which they were allowed to decorate themselves.  All in all, it was a special afternoon for the birthday boy!   

After a few hours of downtime we had a second celebration with some family.  No organized games at that party, but still a lovely time. 

Koen wanted a Tweety bird cake this year,
but when we found this candle at a garage sale
a few weeks ago he wanted to do that instead!  :)

Happy face...

...happy boy!!!

Koen’s Scavenger Hunt

1. Look for the thing that goes under your head, and that would be nice in Koen’s cozy bed.
2. Be careful when you get near me, I can be really HOT!  But I’m done making hot dogs so be off like a shot. 
3. I’m home for lots of things you really like:  a scooter, a wagon, and even your bike!
4. We’re so glad you’re here today, each with a big grin!  Go back to that spot where you came in!
5. You use me to watch your favorite show.  Race to me now…don’t be so slow!
6. My keys are black and white and aren’t on a ring, and when someone plays me you can really sing!
7. That’s the dirtiest shirt I’ve ever seen!  Don’t worry, I’ll get it all clean!
8. Knife, fork, plate, cup.  When you find all these things be sure to look UP! 
9. Have fun with the bubbles, have fun with the soap.  You won’t forget to play with toys, I hope. 
10. Ring, ring.  Someone’s calling you to say hi or hello.  Better pick it up before the machine starts to go.
11. If you’re looking for toys come on down and you’ll see, a great place to play for you and for me. 
12. Your clean clothes are all wet?  No problem, I say!  Put them in me…they’ll be dry right away! 
13. Brrr!  It’s freezing cold!  I’d rather hold ice cream, not silver or gold.
14. Great job!  You’ve found all the clues! Head back to the table for some really good news! 

May 13: The Life Cycle of a Butterfly

This week's project was decided upon earlier this week by Tysen after Koen came home from school with a butterfly life cycle set.  Koen's class has had caterpillars in their care for the past few weeks and watched the whole life cycle process, even setting the new butterflies free.  Along the way they made a book and finally did a project to help remember everything that happened along the way.  After seeing Koen's life cycle set, Ty wanted to make one, too.  (Once again, none of this was my idea...we completely copied Koen's teacher!)

I love it when things work out so beautifully!  We had a library book home this week all about the life cycle of a butterfly:  A Butterfly Grows by Stephen Swinburne!  Tysen and I read the book and made the project simultaneously...it was perfect!  He can actually talk you through the life cycle using his project.  Having The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle as background knowledge probably helped a little bit, but I'm still impressed. 

Beads on a pipe cleaner
to create the caterpillar.

We started with a puff ball for the egg.  Next we took part of a pipe clearer and Ty threaded beads on it to create a caterpillar.  I was going to have him work on a pattern, but the jumbo bag of beads I have didn't have enough similar beads to even try to create a pattern, so we just went with the colorful variety.  We then took a green piece of paper that I'd cut into the shape of a leaf and Ty punched holes in it to show the caterpillar ate the leaf.  Next was the chrysalis:  a toilet paper tube that we glued brown squares to.  Finally, the butterfly.  There are so many craft butterfly ideas out there, but we used the idea for the Coffee Filter Butterfly.  I actually had cone-shaped filters, so I just cut one apart and we used that.  He colored it with washable markers.  I encouraged him to make it the same on both sides since a butterfly's wings are usually mirror images.  We then sprayed the filter with a few squirts of water and watched the marker spread a little.  We let it dry and then pinched the middle and secured it with the remaining pipe cleaner. 

Koen's set came home from school and a gallon bag, so naturally Tysen's is stored in a  gallon bag.  But before he put it away he got lots of play time out of it!

Working hard to create a
beautiful butterfly!



Letting the wings dry.



The full life cycle:  egg, caterpillar, leaf to eat, chrysalis, butterfly!



Playing life cycle.

Catching the butterfly with the bug net.

May 12: Brielle's Fabric Bucket

I found the idea for a fabric bucket HERE at http://tinkerlab.com.  It's so simple and so brilliant!  One of Brielle's favorite activities is emptying and refilling things:  my purse, the laundry basket, drawers, toy bins, etc.  We had an empty animal cracker bin which might be a little big, but it works pretty well.  Since I don't sew, I snatched some material scraps from my cousin and cut them to a smaller size.  If I did sew I'd have taken a minute to finish the edges so I wouldn't keep finding strings around the house.  :) 

Well, it didn't take Brielle long to figure this out.  I put one scrap in the bucket and she took it from there!  She's played with this multiple times each day since it's been out.  A perfect activity for her!  I included some pictures so you can see how much fun she's having...

Clapping for herself!

May 11: Popcicle Stick Game





                                                

                                                                    Making the "T" was his favorite.

I found the idea for this little game at Ramblings of a Crazy Woman blog.  I pasted Popsicle sticks on construction paper last night.  Today, I gave Ty 6 Popsicle sticks and his own piece of construction paper and asked him if he could make the same shape.  He wasn't really interested in playing until I pulled out the old reverse psychology:  "I bet it's too tricky for a three-year-old!" (Is this bad?!?)  After that he laughed and wanted to try. 

The first page was two sticks in a line and the second one was the letter "T" for Tysen.  He got those just fine, but after that he was more interested in just making his own shapes rather than copy the ones I'd done.  I don't know if this was just him playing around or if coping the shapes was difficult for him.  In playing around with the sticks he did make a pentagon, so I showed him that he'd done one without even copying it...he laughed. :) 



And then Ty came up with a variation on another game we sometimes play.  Tysen has a tendence to fall asleep on the way to pick up Koen from school so sometimes we try find letters he can recognize, busses, count certain color cars, etc.  Ty had been talking about rainbows, starting with which colors are not in the rainbow (have you ever thought of the rainbow in that respect?)  When I asked him if he knew what colors were in the rainbow he said, "Purple, blue, green, orange, and red."  Funny that he listed them in reverse order from usual (and missed yellow).  Since he last mentioned the color red, I suggested we count red cars today, but Ty wanted to count rainbow cars.  It took me a minute to figure out what he wanted to do.  First he found a red car, then an orange car, yellow bus, green truck, blue car, and we had a little trouble with purple but we saw a somewhat grey-purple car and a dark burgundy car so we're calling it good.  Creative guy!

I need to be a proud/impressed parent for a moment, too.  Yesterday while the boys were playing Ty started counting...1, 2, 3, 4...all the way to 22 (!) only missing number 16.  I had no idea he could count that high!  I'd heard him count up to 11 with no problem but the others were a surprise.  I told him is was so proud of him and impressed and asked if he'd do it again...of course, then my silly Ty started counting 1, 28, 13...and laughed.  Silly kid!



May 9: Taco Munch and Ty's Seed Munch

It's birthday week over here with a birthday party this past weekend and two birthday parties coming up this next weekend.  Needless to say, we have half of a cake left over and will be making cupcakes for the upcoming festivities.  I did not want to make any more sweet snacks for our kitchen activity today.  I searched and searched for another snack idea that we could easily make with the ingredients we already have at home.  This was tough as I need to do some grocery shopping.  Finally, I landed on Taco Munch from familyfun.com.  It didn't come together quite as planned, but I think it still turned out OK.  For starters, we made a half-batch, we didn't have the Corn Chex so substituted Cheerios, and didn't read the directions 100% accurately so we mixed the Parmesan cheese in with the taco seasoning and butter instead of sprinkling it on, nor did we add the cheddar cheese...yet.

Taco Munch
6 cups popped, unsalted popcorn
3 cups toasted corn cereal squares

1 cup mini-pretzels

2 Tbs. butter, melted

2-3 tsp. dry taco seasoning
2 Tbs. grated Parmesan cheese
4 oz. cheddar cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (we only have shredded cheese so we'll be adding that)

Combine the popcorn, cereal, and pretzels in a large bowl.  Combine butter and taco seasoning in another bowl and drizzle over the popcorn mixture.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and toss to coat.  Store in an airtight container.  Toss with cheddar cheese before serving.  Makes 10 servings.

Since I'm back on my restricted food diet I can't try it, but Ty did.  The first bite was popcorn that had TONS of seasoning on it...he ended up spitting it out.  I was actually surprised he went back for more, but he tried a pretzel and a Cheerio and deemed them OK.

Let's add water!!!

After we finished the Taco Munch was when it got really fun!  I was cleaning up and Ty was eating the left over popcorn when he came across some unpopped seeds.  He found a bowl, put the seeds in, grabbed a spoon and stated mixing them.  Tysen told me he was making Seed Munch!  He decided to add popcorn, pretzels, and the proceeded to the fridge to find more ingredients for his recipe.  I probably should have let him use more food, but not knowing when he would stop I told him he wasn't going to get ingredients from the fridge, so he assured me it was just pretend.  He added pretend brown sugar and pretend cheese to the mix.  Then he asked for water.  I figured that couldn't hurt anything, so he dumped a cup of water in...and we watched the popcorn shrink before our eyes, accompanied by muted fizzing sounds.  And then he noticed the pretzels were getting puffy.  After more mixing, he wanted to heat it up on the stove top, so using our pretend skills again, he made it "hot, hot, hot!"  Naturally, he had to taste it...and thought it was wonderful!  I've included his recipe --I had him retell it to me -- for your enjoyment! :)



Adding the water.



Seed Munch

Mix using 3 spoons.



unpopped popcorn seeds

popcorn

pretzels

pretend brown sugar

pretend cheese

water



Taste test.



Mix with 3 big spoons.  Eat.  Put on top of the stove to make it hot, hot, hot!  Eat again.



Seed Munch after 30 minutes.  Of course,
we had to keep it to show Dad so the pretzels kept
growing and growing.



 P.S.  When Koen got home from school he did try Taco Munch and wasn't impressed, though he did qualify it and say he just doesn't like things mixed up like that.  Once he heard about Seed Munch, though, he had to make his own version. :)



May 6: Animal ABC Book -- part 3

We spent 15 minutes gluing some animal pictures in Ty's ABC book so we're not near finished.  He's sick of the project, though, so I suppose we'll take a break from it for a while and finish it another day.

Brielle had a fantastic time playing with the (unopened) glue sticks!

May 5: Back to Gymnastics!

As far as the boys were concerned, we couldn't get out the door fast enough to return to gymnastics class!!!  We're back at For the Kidz with Mr. Randy and loving it!  There are only six-weeks left in the school year session, though, and once the summer hits there's not a 3-4-5 year-old class.  So the plan is to enjoy another few weeks of class and then spend some time burning energy outside this summer.  We'll see what the fall brings...

May 1: Baby Treasure Basket



Oooo!  What's this?



In the past few days I have spent hours online reading other blogs and gathering ideas to do with the kids.  I am so excited to have found some ideas for Brielle!  I spend tons of time with Ty and Koen and am sad that I've "neglected" her when it comes to activities and projects.  Now that she's one-year-old I'm going to try to include her more often (though it's often just plain easier to do things with the boys while she sleeps).

Her first activity:  The Baby Treasure Basket (original idea found HERE at "The Imagination Tree").  Of course, there are themed basket ideas, but I just went through the house and found 20 interesting items.  Maybe I'll be organized enough in the future to do a themed basket, but for now this works just fine.  In Brielle's Treasure Basket is a:

• Funnel
• Spatula
• Rice in a Tupperware container to shake
• Stuffed animal
• Play-doh shape
• Clapper
• Cup
• Duplo block
• Toy giraffe
• Textured ball
• Little People pig
• Soft football
• Toy eye glasses
• Wooden goose
• Truck
• Plastic pot
• Wooden play cheese
• Pez
• Teaspoon
• Enclosed bead game (garage sale freebie)

I placed these items in a basked we already owned and let her begin exploring.  She played with the items and the basket for a good half-hour, with the spatula and the rice container being her two personal favorites. 

Koen was intrigued by the idea of a treasure basket and thought he should have one, too!  Personally, I think he was excited about the "treasure" prospect.  He found another basket and begin filling it with some of his favorite things:  his stuffed puppy, a rubber band, a musical toy, etc.  He may not need to discover, explore, and experience things like his little sister, but I thought it was cute that he created his own.

Big Brother helps take everything out of the basket...inspecting everything as he goes.



The spatula:  a perfect teething toy!