Indoor Olympics- Beanbag Toss and Bowling

Watching parts of the Olympics has been fun for my kids.  Their favorite events are figure skating and bobsled.  We created our own easy indoor Olympic fun yesterday and kept track of scores so we could 'medal' too!

Beanbag Toss 

REUSE an ice cream bucket for your beanbag target.

beanbags- Make and Takes shows an easy way to make little felt bean bags and I have beanbag links on my Let the Games Begin! post.

Mini Bottle Bowling

 REUSE water bottles or fruit juice bottles to have mini bowling fun!

POM Wonderful- Sugar Cookie Frosting

.....continued from Fall in Love with POM Wonderful.  

 Isn't this sugar cookie frosting color just gorgeous?  It wasn't achieved with food coloring-- nope!  I used P♥M Wonderful 100% juice.  I added it mostly for the color but the SMALL hint of pomegranate taste is yummy too!  Share the love during February by giving heart cookies to neighbors or friends!

POM Wonderful Sugar Cookie Frosting

2 ¾ cups powdered sugar

4 Tbsp. softened butter

4 Tbsp. POM Wonderful juice

1 Tbsp. milk

Mix and heat a little in microwave if needed.  Frost some yummy sugar cookies!  Frosting will glaze over making the cookies easy to store in a container.  Keep unused frosting covered in fridge and warm up to soften when needed to frost cookies.

Print the recipe for the soft sugar cookies pictured.  It's the only recipe I use.

♥ See all POM Love ideas! ♥

POM Wonderful- 'Sweet' Drink

.....continued from Fall in Love with POM Wonderful. 

Simple and sweet, make a dinner even lovelier with P♥M Wonderful heart ice cubes in Sprite!  And in the February 2010 issue of Parents they made a 'Love Potion' with pomegranate juice heart ice cubes in a tangy fruit smoothie.  There are  many 'sweet' drink possibilities when you use pomegranate juice!

Stick Card Puzzles

This post is similar to my Stick Puzzle post.  I found the original idea on makingfriends.com.  You REUSE a greeting card front to make a card puzzle for a holiday or just for fun.  I used my own paper creation and made a Valentine card puzzle to give to my kids at breakfast.  This would be a fun idea for a kid birthday card too.  I used Mod Podge instead of tacky glue and I covered the top of the card as well.  If you make your own card be sure to use stamp pads or markers that won't smear when you put the Mod Podge on.

Instructions: Tape the back of the big woodsie sticks, cut card to size, paint a thin layer of mod podge on the sticks where the card will be, place card on top and smooth down really good (important- let this step dry first with a book on top of it to keep it flat), mod podge top of card and smooth down well, let dry a little and then place heavy objects on sides of sticks while drying so it doesn't curl (I used my metal crafting tool tin so it wouldn't stick to any mod podge), dry for a long time (overnight is best), untape sticks, use another stick as your guide to cut card with exacto knife very slowly and carefully

Stick Card Puzzle Gallery:

▬ linked to Fireflies and Jellybeans Strut Your Stuff Party ▬

POM Wonderful- Jello Jigglers

.....continued from Fall in Love with POM Wonderful.  
♥ This recipe is full of healthy juice and love for the kids.  And it tastes so yummy!
A fun activity and after-school snack for the month of February. ♥

POM-Strawberry Jello Jigglers  
adapted from Jigglin' Juicy Juice Snacks

♥ makes 6 thicker good-sized jello hearts ♥

1 cup P♥M Wonderful

½ cup water

2 (3 oz. each) packages or 1 (6 oz.) package strawberry gelatin

Boil POM and water.  Remove from heat and stir gelatin in completely.

Pour in 2 quart casserole dish.  Refrigerate for 2-3 hours until set.
Run bottom of pan under hot water for 10 or so seconds.  Cut jello with
heart shape cookie cutter. Remove hearts with flat spatula.  Eat!!

♥ You could also double the recipe, use a different flavor gelatin, and use a different pan size!

*Linked to The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap 2/18/10

Bookworm Beginnings-- Penguins

I checked out a large stack of penguin books in January.  I think penguins are adorable and a must read for winter!  We had fun reading all of them and choosing our favorites.

Augustine by Mélanie Watt

-Image from amazon.ca- 

This book has bold colors and kid-like drawings.  Little Augustine doesn't want to move away to the North Pole far from all her friends and family in the South Pole.  She is very artistic and expresses herself through art.  Every 2 page spread looks like this:

 

I really hope that Augustine can be found on your library shelves!!  I will be adding it to our bookshelf!

Second Pick-

Turtle's Penguin Day by Valeri Gorbachev

   -Image from amazon.com-

This was my son's favorite and we read it 3 times in a row one night!  We loved Turtle's imagination.  His dad read him a penguin bedtime story and the next day he was all about penguins!  He 'dressed' like one for school and the whole class joined in on the fun!  Silly and superb!  It even has extra penguin facts at the end of the book!

The rest of our picks can be found on past posts with the penguin label!  Happy penguin waddling!

                                                   

** Last year we read Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers.
We loved the sweet story and simple drawings.  It's right up there with our top pick!  Silly Eagle Books has a great post about this book and two fun snow/ice activities to go along with it! 

-Image from penguin.com-

S is for Snowman

A winter tradition we have is to make a SNOWMAN!  Our snow was wet enough to pack earlier in the week and my daughter happily made a snowman with only a little help from me. We have a wooden kit with a long carrot nose perfect for a larger snowman.  This smaller snowman has a nose like Pinocchio!

A snowman looks great no matter what you choose to build him with! Here's two more of our silly snowman pics:

Three fun kits:

▬ Buy a Snowman Building Kit from Bronner's
▬ Make a Snowman on the Go kit from Make and Takes

▬ Make a Snowman Kit from Make It Do

You can have fun indoors too with snowman stuff!

○ Frosty and Friends craft on Parents

○ Frosty the Snowpuddle treat from Gourmet Mom on-the-Go

○ Snowman on a Stick snack on Family Fun

○ Smiling Snowman Cake on Family Fun

○ Snowman Cake Pops from Bakerella

○ Once There Was a Snowman song with Music from LDS.org
○ one, two, and three online Build a Snowman activities on akidsheart.com

Stick Puzzles

I babysat a lot as a teenager and had a fun bag that the kids enjoyed.  In my bag was videos, puzzles, treats, books and games.  My senior year of high school I was a preschool teacher and more good things were added to my fun bag like file folder games and popsicle stick puzzles.  My little sis was my artist back then and did the cute elmo and worm puzzle. Stick puzzles are a simple and fun craft!

•Tape, number/add a symbol, draw/color, untape/stick in labeled baggie•

I like big Woodsie craft sticks for these puzzles much better than popsicle sticks. My daughter's the artist of this robot puzzle.  She sometimes 'cheats' when putting the puzzles together by looking at the numbers on the back.  The numbers/symbols are also good to keep track of which sticks belong where if you get more than one puzzle out at a time.

▬ linked to Kiddos Create and Friday's Showcase ▬

Reuse a Box for Organizing

I have an organizing fetish and like to think 'outside the box' for cheap ways to do it!  I hold on to a good cardboard box for a while before I recycle it just in case I come up with an idea. 

Three ways I've reused a box to organize:

I was tired of straightening my son's coloring books on his big bookshelf so I found a solution with a diaper wipe box. I covered it with foam from the dollar store and let my little dude paint on two sides.  I'm happy with the results.






My crafty area can get pretty messy.  Baby/toddler shoe boxes hold little things like glue and embellishments perfectly.  I keep the decorated boxes on top of my scrapbook compartments.  Find some cheap patterned papers and go to town!




My head goes nuts when toys don't have a place!  When we lived in a 2 bedroom apartment I had to organize my kids small bedroom/playroom so I felt calm while in the room.  Cheap card stock along with packing tape was how I covered some good boxes for toys.


I also like to get rid of things while organizing.  This week's resolution for the Happiness Challenge was to toss and organize.  It was way too easy for me and I already had it on my big list so I tackled my storage room piles!  Gretchin says, "For most people, outer order contributes to inner calm."  Yep, it really does!

▬ Linked to Works For Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family

Friendly Blogger: Vanessa from Silly Eagle Books

Vanessa is the 'author' of the blog Silly Eagle Books.  She's also mom to a 3 year old girl and an avid children's vintage book collector!  Through reading her blog I know that she is a dedicated mom who spends quality time with her daughter.  She lets her former English teacher/writer/editor background shine through in her blog writing.  Some of my favorites about Silly Eagle Books are the photos Vanessa shares out of books, the book posts that have a suggested activity (easy preschool time ☺), and the simplicity of the blog.  There's a sweet story behind the naming of the blog and you can read about that on her FAQ page!

I wanted to get to know Vanessa a little more so I asked her some questions:

Head on over to Silly Eagle Books for good book reading suggestions and easy crafts too!

Two Fun Ideas for Playing in the Snow

Our snow is dried out and crusty so we can't make snow angels or a snowman.  That won't stop us from having fun outside though!

I found this colored ice cubes activity on Parents.com-- 20 Games to Play in the Snow.  My kids ask often to have a colored ice cube scavenger hunt.  I keep the colored ice in a bag in the freezer.  Salad tongs add more fun and help prevent gloves becoming soaked.  If you don't have ice cube trays use small plastic containers.  A scavenger hunt for colored ice would be fun in any season!!  In the summer it would be a race to find them before they melt!





A home preschool activity in January '08- color the snow.  My daughter had a lot of fun!  All it takes is food coloring and water in a good spray bottle.

Dress-Up Capes

Capes are so much fun for kids to have in their dress-up box.  My little dude has 3-- one cut from an old sheet, a super tee (link to SuperMom Central below), and a Klutz cape.  He 'flies around' the house as a SUPERHERO quite often saving the day and being imaginative!

CREATE

▬ super easy, super fast, super hero capes from Creative Kismet
▬ Simple Superhero Cape Tutorial from Creation Corner  
▬ make an easy Custom Cape on Family Fun
▬ sew a Hooded Play Cape from Dollar Store Crafts
▬ simple Super Tee from SuperMom Central
▬ Superhero Cape from puking pastilles 
▬ Superhero Costume from Get Your Craft On
▬ Easy Sew Super Hero Cape on Craft & Fabric Links

BUY

▬ Capes and Masks from babypop designs
▬ The Superhero Starter Kit from Klutz
▬ Super Capes from the Dress-Up Drawer

Crafty CD Case

 Last month on Making Memories blog I saw a CD Holder idea made with paper that I knew I had to make.  I've downloaded lots of free music specifically for my mom and needed something to hold the CD's.  I love how these turned out.  I tweaked the measurements after I made the first one.  My husband mentioned that he thought paper could scratch CD's so I also added the foam circle.  The foam helps the CD to stay in the case a little tighter too.

Here's my picture tutorial.  Click on each pic for instructions.:

 

 

 

 

**Skip step 3 if you want to make the case with one piece of cardstock.

National Bird Day

Today, January 5, is National Bird Day!

◘ Make a craft to watch and feed the birds:

     -easy t.p. roll binoculars 

     -bird feeder with a bottle or a pine cone

◘ Take a Bird Call Quiz!

◘ Do you know your State Bird?  Utah's is the Common American Gull (a.k.a. Seagull) and they eat trash and are noisy! ☺

◘ Print a bird picture for coloring!

Peep and the Big Wide World

-Image from uen.org-

Peep and the Big Wide World is a fun learning show for preschoolers and recommended for ages 3-5.  It explores basic science concepts with nature.  A little about the show: "Set in and around a pond, a bush, and a tin can, the show follows a newly hatched chicken named Peep, and his friends Chirp and Quack (a robin and a duck), on their daily adventures. Surrounding them is a large urban park — a place of great wonder and mystery, a place they are forever eager to explore, a place they call "the big wide world.""

We've checked out Peep DVD's from our library many times and enjoy it!  A new season begins Jan. 2010 on public television- it's a WGBH program.  In Utah you can watch Peep and the Big Wide World on digital channel 9.1 (uen).

For every story there are 2 recommended books!  Just like Sesame Street, this can be an easy and fun preschool time with your child.
* Play games with Peep and Friends or find some activities!
* It's narrated by Joan Cusack.  See why she loves this show!