Crayon Rubbings with Wikki Stixs

On our recent family trip, the kids became enthralled with crayon rubbings at a few of the museums we visited.  Today, we discovered that you can use the homemade wikki stix we made to do our own crayon rubbings!

Step One-  Form a shape.

Step Two- Put paper on top and rub.

Step Three- Admire!

I love the endless possibilities for which you could use this!  Letter/word formation, shapes, whatever theme or holiday you're studying, free drawing...  There's a lot of potential for hours of fun!

Working Man

One of the best parts of being a stay-at-home mom has been getting to help my children expand on their play and interests!  Micah has been very interested in construction lately.  They had been playing pretend with plastic hammers, but we decided he was ready for the real thing!

I found the cutest little hammer at Wal-Mart!  It's a real hammer in the real hammer section, but it's really short and pudgy.  Perfect for little hands!

He set to work pounding nails and screwing screws into a 2x4.  I thought he was just getting practice using tools, but he decided he was "making a toy."

It's some sort of a droid carrier.  And of course, the only thing better than one droid carrier, is eight droid carriers.  He wouldn't stop building them!!!  At one point, Jeremy and I looked at each other in horror at the realization we'll be moving all of these "priceless treasures" back to Iowa with us!

The fun didn't stop at hammering though...Micah decided he wanted to build a chair.  My response?  "Go ask your father."  Now most dads would probably blow this off, but Jeremy is amazing and he totally helped Micah use a saw and build a little chair!

Which Liliana promptly decided was perfect for Rex.

So yesterday, Jeremy gets a call at work from me asking where he keeps his drill bits.  I can only imagine the combination of curiosity and fear running through him when his girly wife inquires about using power tools.  Micah and I decided to learn together how to drill things!

Once again, I thought we were just practicing using the tool, but he decided we were making a marble golf game.  (You have to try to roll the marble into the holes.)

The end result of all of this construction work is that Micah has decided he wants to be a "construction worker boss man."  That way he "can still do the fun stuff but if there is something icky I'll make someone else do that job."  Smart boy.

Pinterest Week!

I declared last week "Pinterest Week" at our house.  The kids are always looking over my shoulder while I'm on the computer and love to ask me about everything I pin and when we can make it.  Usually I just vaguely reply "sometime."  Last week was the time!

Sunday

The Recipe:  Quinoa Stir-Fry with Vegetables and Chicken

Originally Pinned From:  Handle the Heat

The Verdict:  Fab!!!  I will definitely be making this again!  Perfect for those days when you know you should really be eating a salad but are craving comfort food instead.

The Project:  Handprint Chicks

Originally Pinned From:  Handprint and Footprint Art

The Verdict:  I love that my kids no longer fuss when getting paint on their hands!  They enjoyed glueing everything together.  The chickens now grace our kitchen cabinets.

Monday

The Recipe:  Clean Eating Cinnamon Rolls

Originally Pinned From:  The Gracious Pantry

The Verdict:  FAIL!  If you're 100% clean eating, then you'll love these...you can now eat cinnamon rolls again.  If you're 90% clean eating, like me, then use one of your passes to make these rolls instead.  The clean eating rolls were expensive to make, ridiculously messy, and not great.  

The Project:  Do a Dot Activities

Originally Pinned From:  Simply Montessori

The Verdict:  She loved them!  The only problem is she whipped through it in about 15 seconds each page, which ended up being a lot of paper.  

Tuesday

The Recipe:  Yodalicious Apple Snack

Originally Pinned From:  Kitchen Fun With My Three Sons

The Verdict:  Mine didn't turn out as cute as hers, but both kids recognized Yoda right away, so good enough for me!  They were delighted, I felt like supermom, and it was healthy and fun.  I realized I didn't have any marshmallows so I whipped up a bit of frosting instead for the eyes.  (Tangent- I can't believe how much my cooking skills have improved in the last three years.  I used to burn frozen pizza and now I can whip up frosting without a recipe.  I'm all domesticated.)

The Project:  Big Bubble

Originally Pinned From:  Play at Home Mom

The Verdict:  At first, I wasn't sold on the idea of spending $11 on the plastic sheeting to make this, but it has entertained them for hours and the memories they'll have from it are priceless.

Wednesday

The Recipe:  Key Lime Pie Paletas (I made half as paletas and half in a dish)

Originally Pinned From:  theKitchn

The Verdict:  There are no words to describe how heavenly this treat is!!  Just imagine a long deep moan here instead.  The world is a better place simply because this dessert exists.  Background- when I was pregnant with Liliana, I got totally addicted to DQ's Key Lime Pie Blizzards.  YUM!  Then, they went ahead and discontinued them.  WTH?!?  Picture me, 8 months pregnant, bawling my eyes out in the middle of a shopping mall while yelling at some teenage fast food employee...because that's what happened.  This dessert is so close to that blizzard:  tart yet sweet, cold and creamy, pure awesomeness!  I'm not even going to calculate the calories because A. I don't want to know and B. I'm not sure it would even make a difference.  I'm just going to keep making it and eating it over and over and over again.  TRY IT!

The Project:  Homemade Sidewalk Chalk Paint

Originally Pinned From:  The Idea Room

The Verdict:  Liliana loves to paint and she loves sidewalk chalk, so this was a big win!  She decided to paint letters, which I thought at first was just going to be her scribbling and it turns out she knows how to make over half her letters!!!  We've been working on identifying them and somehow along the way, she picked up letter formation as well.  Exciting day!

Thursday

Thursday was a wash-out.  Our pet guinea pig had been missing outside for two days and we found her, Praise the Lord!!!!!  So rather than doing any cooking or projects we just sat by her cage and told her how much we love her.  Cause we're mushy like that.

Friday

The Recipe:  Sesame Soba Noodles

Originally Pinned From:  Annie's Eats

The Verdict:  Besides actual granola, this is the most "granola" thing I've ever made.  It's organic.  It's vegan.  And it contains things like buckwheat noodles and edamane.  Was better than I expected, but I won't be making it again...it was really salty and the kids wouldn't try it.

The Project:  Coffee Filter Butterflies

Originally Pinned From:  Make it and Love it

The Verdict:  Easy.  Fun.  Kept Liliana entertained for a long time and she loves looking at the butterflies which brighten up our basement.

Saturday

The Recipe:  Bacon/Egg/Toast Cups

Originally Pinned From:  Cut Out and Keep

The Verdict:  My husband has never loved me more!!!  Heck, I've never loved me more!  These bad boys are AMAZING!!!!  Even the kids adored them!  We will definitely be making these again.  Weekly.

The Project:  Hand/footprint Lobsters

Originally Pinned From:  Crafty-Crafted

The Verdict:  Meh.  I really REALLY like handprint projects.  But I'm kind of ODing on them.  Notice how close my kids are in size though.  2 years, 3 months apart...and they both are in 4T clothes and are 1 shoe size apart.  Crazy!

While I won't be doing anything this insane for awhile again (just keeping up with the kids, housework and Pinterest occupied my life for the week!), it was a lot of fun to try new things and I definitely found a few new favorites!  

Homemade Wikki Stix

Wikki Stix are strands of yarn covered in wax that can be formed into different shapes.  A lot of teachers and homeschooling moms use them to teach letter formation or just as another material to create with.  But....they can be expensive.  Amazon has them for $6.99 for 48 strands.  But I just made 200 strands for $2.49!

Here's how you do it!

You need yarn, a toilet bowl gasket (thus the $2.49) and an old candle.

Cut the yarn into your desired length.  Ours were about 8 inches.  Micah and Liliana did most of the cutting for me.

Melt the wax together using a double boiler system.  I used the entire gasket and about 1/2 c. of candle wax.  Do yourself a favor and use a coffee can instead of a pot or you'll be cleaning the wax out of your pot for a long time.

When melted, dip the strands of yarn in the wax.  Use a tweezers to fish them out.  Hold the strand over the pot until all the excess wax drips off.  (Don't skip that part.  I was in a hurry and just flopped them out straight onto parchment paper instead of letting it drip...later I had to sit there and pick wax off the strands which was a pain.)

Lay on wax paper or parchment paper to dry/cool.  It only takes a few seconds for them to harden up so they're playable.

Ta-dah!!!

Here's a few ideas of things you can do with the Wikki Stix!

Letter formation

This would be an army man going through a training course.  Micah has a one track mind.  If there aren't explosives involved, he's not interested.

Stick 'em to the window. 

Make jewelry.  Jeremy proposed!  I guess since he's recovering from surgery I can overlook the fact that he didn't get down on one knee.  ;-)

Make your guinea pig a harness and a bow.

And if you're a future PK, I guess you make Jesus on the cross out of Wikki Stix.  :-P  I can't believe he chose to make this.  He was really proud.  I guess we've been talking about Easter a lot.  Poor Jesus has a huge frowny face.  :-(  

A word of warning:  Just like commercial Wikki Stix...these can leave behind a residue.  If that happens, use a DRY paper towel to wipe it up.  At first I was really distraught about it not being completely mess-free and then I realized it's no harder to clean up than playdough or fingerpaint.  Sticking them on the windows kept Liliana entertained for 30 minutes and took me less than 2 minutes to clean up.

My First (and probably last) Bento

Bento is a Japanese way of arranging food in an artistic manner, sometimes incorporating popular characters.

Want to be amazed (and feel completely inadequate)?  Do a Google image search for bento.  It's ridiculous.

This was my first attempt at bento.  An "Angry Birds" meal for Micah (and one for Liliana so she wouldn't feel left out.)  It was inspired from the mama at Another Lunch (but hers is so way better!)

Pigs, birds, you get the idea.  I just realized looking at this pict. that one of the pigs lost an eyeball from the walk from the kitchen to the table.  How on earth are you supposed to send this to school?!?!

Micah knew I was working on a surprise in the kitchen and kept trying to peek in.  Here's his face when he finally got to see what it was.

He was pretty stoked!  Liliana liked hers as well!

They were supposed to be for lunch the following day, but the Nori that I used for all the details has a fishy aroma and I'm really sensitive to that...so I let the kids have them for bedtime snack instead.

It was a fun creative outlet for the evening, but I could not see myself going through all of that work every day for lunches.  Guess my kids will have to settle for sandwiches cut out with a cookie cutter.  ;-)

Squishy Bags

Dollar Store hair gel in a Ziploc bag...

plus neon food coloring and some glitter (OMG Glitter!!! <3)...

Makes a Squishy Bag.

Put over a white piece of paper for practice drawing letters or just plain sensory fun! 

With Micah, I would say a sound and have him write the corresponding letter (good practice for spelling later).  With Liliana, we just let her play with it.  After they get bored, I'll add in some foam ocean characters for them to squish around.

You could also use two different colors of gel to practice mixing colors or put the bag in the fridge for a bit or heat the gel a bit for a different type of sensory experience.

From Old Dresser to New TV Stand

Santa was good to us this year!  We've been wanting a new TV forever, but can't ever justify replacing something that isn't broken.  Thankfully (???) we have a very active three year old who was willing to help the cause and held a magnet wand up to our old TV.  Do you know what happens when you hold a strong magnet up to a TV...I didn't, but I sure do now!  You get a new TV, that's what.

So since we were splurging on the TV, we knew we needed to be thrifty about the stand to put it on.  I got the idea online to turn a dresser into a TV stand...so we started stalking Goodwills to find the perfect dresser.  And then we found it...

Isn't she a beaut! 

And because she was in such lovely condition (destroyed finish, chipped pieces, missing drawer slides, etc.), she was only $10!  $10!!!  And she came with two matching end table things that we're going to eventually refinish and turn into nightstands! 

We were ecstatic.  The people who sold her to us were confused. 

I happen to have an extremely handy (and handsome I might add) husband who went right to work. 

He took out the top drawers, pulled the slides off to use on the ones that were missing them, added a shelf in where the top drawers were, sanded it down, replaced some trim, filled some holes and painted it. 

And the finished product:

Ta-da!!!  Our $10 TV stand. 

It seriously rocks my socks off!  I totally love it!!  Well done husband.  Well done.

Christmas Crafts!

Where was Pinterest when I was doing daycare?!?!  There are so many awesome ideas for fun projects, and we've been working our way through the Christmas ones.

Our first craft project would have been a success, if some of us had a little more self control.

 This was the concept:

Cute, right?  They had a blast gluing the marshmallows!

Sometimes I'm just in awe of their adorableness!

After the marshmallows were glued, I set them on the counter to dry.  Now, before I state what obviously went wrong, let me tell you that I let them eat marshmallows while they were doing the project.  We talked about how the ones with glue were icky, but how they could have all the clean marshmallows they wanted.  They were not deprived of any sugary goodness...and yet...still....Liliana felt the need to climb onto the counter and eat the glued on marshmallows off of the paper.  That girl.  I tell ya.  So with that project down the drain, we moved onto less tempting artwork.

Hand print wreaths:

And hand print reindeer:

I'm a sucker for hand print projects!  They're just so cute and make me smile every time I see them!!!  And I love looking back and seeing how their tiny hands have grown.  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the Johnson house!

Off topic mild rant about craft projects with kids:  So there are those in the child development field who think that it's never ever okay to tell a kid how to do their art.  It's their art.  If they want to have an orange wreath and put it in the shape of a triangle, by all means, that's their option.  I agree with that to a point.  My kids have plenty of free play time to create whatever they would like to, in any fashion they would like to, without any input from me whatsoever.  But, in this world, there are times we need to conform.  There are times we HAVE to follow directions and do things a certain way and kids need to learn how to do that too.  In my opinion, I think it's perfectly okay to have outcome based projects occasionally, as long as you have plenty of process focused projects too. 

Tray Time

Every year around this time, I start freaking out about winter.  The idea of being trapped inside my house for five months (nine when we lived in Duluth  :-P) makes me start frantically coming up with plans to keep the kids and myself occupied.  Thank goodness for Pinterest!  If you haven't checked it out yet, you totally should!  Zillions of amazing ideas.  I spent most of the day today gathering up and shopping for supplies for various craft projects/sensory tubs/fine motor activities.

Speaking of fine motor activities...I've been putting together trays for Liliana to work on.  The challenge with Liliana is that she is so busy and so constant that I don't have time to clean up the first mess she made before she makes three additional messes.  My solution for this lately has been to turn on Barney, but there are so many better ways to keep her occupied and since I'm trying to be the best I can be (backstory here), I've started putting together trays for her.

I prep the activities ahead of time, so I can quickly pull it out at a moment's notice.  I make sure they are things that will:
1.  require her full concentration and/or teach/refine a skill
2.  be easy enough for her to do on her own or with minimal assistance
3.  keep her occupied long enough to make it worth the effort to put together
4.  be fun and exciting!

I keep the trays hidden away in the office, so they are new and interesting when brought out.  The rule is that everything needs to stay on the tray while she plays.  I brought out this one this morning and it kept her busy for almost a full hour!

Orange is her new favorite color.

She figured out what to do on her own and started making necklaces and bracelets for us. 

Check out her concentration!

Here are a couple other trays I had prepped for this morning.  I ended up not needing them since we decided to go shopping instead (mother/daughter shopping...LOVE IT!)

Old strawberry container with a hole cut in the top (masking taped to be safe), cotton balls and a chopstick to push them through the hole.

Bingo dabbers and paper with different lines drawn on them for her to put the dots on (great pre-writing activity).

Just knowing that I have fun and educational activities all ready to go, makes me more patient when she starts getting "busy."