Frozen Fun

So it has been quite a while since I posted, but I suppose that’s what happens when you have a newborn and a husband recovering from back surgery. 

We’ve had some cold weather the last few days.  Like -20 actual temperature cold.  Because of this the girls haven’t had school and have been cooped up inside the house (for way too long), and I thought some fun winter activities were in store.

Glue Snowflake ornaments

I saw the idea for these at Factory Direct Craft Blog http://factorydirectcraft.com/factorydirectcraft_blog/diy-glue-snowflakes/  Unfortunately, I never got a picture of them finished and they are now packed with the Christmas tree decorations.  The only ones that worked were the two that the girls made.  I had made the glue extra thick and they use a large amount of glitter which I think helped it stay together.

Tortilla Snowflakes

I had seen the idea for these a few different places such as http://abirdandabean.com/2010/12/tortilla-snowflake.html.  Instead of powdered sugar we used melted butter and a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.  The girls thought this was a fun treat!

Clay Snowmen

I have been looking at a number of activities at education.com, and this is just one that we tried this week. http://www.education.com/activity/article/sparkle-snow-men/?cid=80.89  The girls had fun forming the clay as well as painting the snowmen.

The girls making the snowmen

Baby Olivia taking a well-timed nap so we can do our crafts

Ice Marbles

I have been excited to try these out since I saw the ideas this summer, and this week was the perfect time to try them.  http://queenvannacreations.com/blog//2012/02/01/ice-ballons/  It is definitely a messy project – my fingers are still dyed pink from opening up the balloons this morning – but still worth it. 

Snow Pictures

http://www.education.com/activity/article/snow-scene/
Another ideas from the education.com site.  The girls had fun painting and I’m proud of Ella for making her own trees :)

Boiling Water Freezing in Air

If you haven’t seen one of these videos, watch it and test it out yourself as soon as you can.  We had fun doing it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QosaLPaC7Do

Crystal Gardens

http://babbledabbledo.com/science-for-kids-crystal-garden/

Here was a really cool experiment from Babble Dabble Do.  We used ½ cup water and ½ cup Epsom salt and I loved how they turned out!

Crystallizing Watercolors

http://www.funathomewithkids.com/2014/01/homemade-paint-recipe-crystallizing.html

From the Fun at Home With Kids blog, these made some pretty amazing pictures!

Salt Painting

http://www.education.com/activity/article/snow-paint/

Yet another fun activity from education.com. It was a simple and easy project for the girls to work on and was consistent with our snow and ice theme.

Paper Plate Snowman

This was actually a family homework project for Ella’s 4k class, but it fit in so well with our theme and provided another much needed activity for the girls.

Olivia helping out - it is a family project after all

Our finished snowman: complete with butterflies, a crown, and a wand

September Family Fun

First Week of September Fun

When baby’s due date came and went with no sign of baby, I decided that I was going to try to get as much fun in as possible with Hannah and Ella.  

The weekend before (Labor Day weekend) we spent Saturday morning at the Cow Chip Festival and then they took off for the cottage with Grandma and Grandpa the rest of the weekend.

Ella's throw

Hannah's throw

Protecting their hearing during the parade

Yarn Bowls

On Wednesday, we decided to try out yarn bowls.  I had a number of different colored partial skeins from previous projects that the girls and I could choose from.  We also had a few different shaped bowls to experiment with.  We initially tried to accomplish this with a glue-water mixture, but it did not work out.  The yarn was still soft the next day.  We re-did the craft with only glue, and while it took two days to dry, it worked! We followed the directions from Pretty Prudent http://prudentbaby.com/2009/10/prudent-home/diy-spooky-yarn-bowl-2/ and really enjoyed the craft.

Yarn Bowl Supplies

 Cutting their yarn

Bowls covered in plastic wrap and cut yarn

Finished Bowls

Fireworks in a Jar, Dance Recital, Park

On Thursday, we decided that the Fireworks in a Jar from Money Saving Mom (http://moneysavingmom.com/2012/06/4-weeks-of-frugal-family-fun-fireworks-in-a-jar-day-10.html#_a5y_p=650674) sounded like a fun idea.  We had plenty of jars and put our oil and food coloring in a bowl ahead of time like the post said.  However, the food coloring all stayed in the bowl when we poured the oil out.  It worked out much better for us to pour the oil directly into the jar after putting the water in and then dropping the food coloring on the top of that oil.  The food coloring eventually sank to the water to produce the “fireworks” but we also found that we could help it along by pushing it down through the oil with toothpicks.

The girls also decided that they wanted to put on all of their dance gear and perform some wonderful dances for us when their Daddy got home.  Hannah starts dance class next week and is very excited. 

Ballet

Tap

After their wonderful dance recital, we decided to have some family time at one of the local playgrounds.  I’m not sure who had more fun, Daddy or the girls!

Glitter Sidewalk Chalk

The girls have been looking forward to trying this out since I first found this recipe on Pinterest from The Imagination Tree http://theimaginationtree.com/2013/07/rainbow-glitter-sidewalk-paint-recipe.html .  They enjoyed mixing in the food coloring and, of course, picking out and mixing in the glitter.  They had so much fun painting in on the driveway.  I think we will definitely try this again, but with fewer colors.  We ended up washing quite a bit of it down the drain.

 

 

Supplies needed

Soccer Game, Origami Cats

On Saturday morning, Hannah had her first soccer game of the year.  It was a hot one, but she had a lot of fun.  Last year, she wasn’t sure she wanted to keep playing anymore, but she seems a lot more into it this year. 

After soccer, we were pretty low-key.  I even managed to get in a long nap.  We worked on getting ready for Hannah’s Daisy troop meeting the next day by reading through her Journey’s book and found directions on how to make origami cats.  We decided to make it a family activity and the girls got us to cut out different sized paper so they could have kittens too.

International Crane Foundation

Sunday afternoon, Hannah’s Daisy troop took a trip to the International Crane Foundation https://www.savingcranes.org/ just north of Baraboo.  I had never been there before and Christopher hadn’t been there since middle school, so we and Ella decided to tag along.  It was so interesting!  I definitely recommend anyone in the area who hasn’t done so yet to check it out.

Now, I don’t know for sure if it was walking around for a couple of hours there on Sunday that did it or not, but it definitely didn’t hurt.  Baby Olivia was born the next morning!  We’ve been off schedule as you can imagine all week, but I am hoping to get more projects done with the girls – although they won’t be every day.