Moon Sand

Today's project is a messy, but fun one! Did you know you can make moon sand at home? It only takes two ingredients too (unless you want color)!

All you need is cornstarch and shaving cream. You can add food coloring or other natural dyes you might find around the house, such as beet powder or turmeric. We used turmeric and it turned our moon sand into a pretty, earthy yellow.

I just eyeballed it and added more shaving cream and cornstarch as needed. We started with about a cup of cornstarch on the table. Feel free to put it in a bowl if you want to keep the mess under better control. ;)

Stress Balls

One of my children is a skin picker. This child has been a skin picker their entire life. They pick at their skin when they get bored, or just to keep their hands busy, until it bleeds. And then they pick at it again. And again. I am often getting asked for band-aids. One of the worst episodes took an entire month before it finally healed completely.

I have racked my brain for ways to get my child to stop the habit. I feel that it is a self-soothing technique and don't want to trade one bad habit for another. I don't want to take away any comfort my kiddo might get from it as well. Then I realized they need something to keep their hands busy. When I suggested making stress balls they were all for it. Hoping that it will help.

To make the stress balls we used:
balloons
cornstarch
funnel

Making Mummies

I don't know about your house, but at ours we've got plenty of empty toilet paper rolls stashed all over for spontaneous crafting. They came in handy for these little guys. All you need is the TP roll, paper towel cut in 1/2 inch strips, googly eyes, and some glue.

Happy Halloween!!

Pom Pom Catapult

Bombs away! For this project you will need:

Eight popsicle sticks

Six small rubber bands

Spoon

Pom poms!

Me Boards

     I am always trying to find ways to build children's self-esteem. If kiddos aren't able to express who they are and explore the world without criticism, chances that they will grow up to be confident adults are pretty slim. I have laid awake in my bed many nights worrying that I am not doing enough to make my babes feel good about themselves, but I am a worrier and that is a whole other story.

     So on a lovely, warm Ventura afternoon, my children and a friend were having a playdate. A brother from another mother had given us these scraps of wood that we've used as firewood and interactive play (they've become dams, the floor of forts, race tracks, etc., etc.). On this day they became the canvas of our Me Boards.

     First, we painted.

 

 

     As the paint dried, we cut out words from magazines that best described qualities of ourselves and things that we love. For my younger, he cut out pictures rather than words.

   We mod podged our words and photos. After the glue dried I sprayed the boards with Polycrylic. I think it would be pretty simple to attach the little picture hangy thingys to the back. I imagine you could find them at Michaels. Or just rest them up on a shelf to admire daily. :)

Playing Card Holder for Little Hands

Okay, I know this is not so much an activity, but it's a handy little trick I had to share. My children, like countless others, struggle to hold playing cards in their sweet, little hands. We usually resort to laying them out on the floor for all to see. We've tried taping two margarine lids together, but that proved unsuccessful. I've seen the holders for sale online and in catalogs, but never wanted to make the little leap to order them. Then came the egg cartons. This works so, incredibly well!! I just made small slits on the bottom side of the egg carton with a sharp knife. The cards slide right in, don't wiggle around, and are held up well for kiddo to see. No more frustration from the babes! Yes!

Alphabet Hunt

So our first days of summer were spent inside, away from the warmth and sun, sick as a dog. We finally start to feel like ourselves again and California does what it likes to do in the early days of summer~ June Gloom. Hello fog and chilly air. Goodbye summer beach days. Needless to say, I've been trying to cook up some indoor activities for the kids to do. This one was met with great success!

I wrote every letter of the alphabet onto squares of paper. If you have magnetic letters that would work great too. Lay them out where you have some room for your collections. Let your kids roam the house hunting for items that begin with each letter!

This is a great activity for kindergartners learning beginning sounds of words.

For older children, it's great to practice ending sounds of words or just to enjoy the thrill of a hunt!

TA-DA!

Wasn't so sure how the kids would get Q and X. I knew we didn't have a xylophone, but unbelievably, we actually had an x-ray!