So, what fun things have you done with your children lately? Arts~Crafts~Play~Etc
 

I'm looking for more ideas on fun stuff to do with the girls. We've had over a week of blustery weather, and we're getting a little touch of cabin fever. I'm running low on arts and crafts ideas, and could use some inspiration there as well...

I love reading about what everyone else is doing... :)

We've been baking lots of bread!! At least a loaf a day, if not two... The girls love to help measure, mix and knead. And they are so good at helping clean up, too!

I also give the girls mixing bowls, flour and water, and let them make their own "batter", a good lesson in consistencies.

We made some of those bird feders out of oranges yesterday. You cut an orange in half and scoop out the insides. Poke two holes up by the rim and attach some yarn to make a hanging loop. Mix birdseed and peanut butter (natrul PB is best, not loaded with sugar) together and scoop into orange cups.

We got some butcher paper at the store, and the girls have had fun drawing on *big paper* on the kitchen floor. I traced each of the girls and they had fun drawing on the faces and clothes.

I've been setting up lots of obstacle courses and the girls love to go through them! We have a set of 4 tables (I think they're actually called TV trays?) and the girls crawl under those, over big stacks of pillows, behind the couch and so on.

We've also been playing a lot of "basketball", which is actually just beanbags and felted wool balls being tossed into a bushel basket.

Other than that, it seems like we've just been doing the usual homeschooling, drawing, reading, dancing and having fairy princess tea parties... *lol*

What fun things have you been doing with your children??

Unfortunately since we are packing
 

its been more worksheets(he loves them) and computer learning(reader rabbit). We did keep out some foamies and glitter glue and he still has his any farm and worm terrarium going. I can't wait to get to CO and get all his art stuff set up again!

Anyone got any good idea's for travel crafts and hotel crafts activities for a 3yo? We most likely will be driving for 3-4days and displaced in a military hotel for a few weeks till our stuff meets us there.

Normally though we have kind of a station system in the house...A craft at the table, a worksheet, his math computer game, his rice bucket with measuring cups, his WORMS, and usually some kind of dexterity project(clay, beads, something for him to sort/stack). He helps with the cooking now also. I so miss all this but 3 weeks notice to move has made this a mad house!
Many Blessings
Jennifer

WHere do you ahve all the energy???? Oh yeash I forgot you are a young thang *lol*

Well I love this mild winter days. Our dryer is broke so we are hanging all our laundry on the line. Thank goodness for sun and a breeze! My toddler comes out and pees in the trees and stuff, but it has helped his potty training so much!
Since there is no snow on the ground he jsut loves to play with the leaves.

Then on days we are able to, we walk around the lake. THere are Canadian geese that live there and a small forest to walk through and a few bridges and twice we walk over a river. It is a wonderful walk that is aobut 2 miles long.

I bvought oranges the other day and thinking of doign the bird feeder thing too when I find my bird seed. Dont know what happened to it.

Good question!!
 

We made some paper 'anew'! It was a lot easier and a lot not messier than I thought! (Is that even a word?) We made green glittery paper. Very cool!

Last night we...TIE DYED!!! Woo-hoo. After we were done last night, I thought that was a lot of work, they are gonna look stupid, and then tonight after they went to sleep, I went in to rinse them and wash them and they are so COOL!! I am gonna do it again, and invite friends to bring their own stuff to dye. It was awesome! (I think I was stressed because I had never done it before, and wasn't sure how it was gonna look.)

My oldest dd (4) helps me cross-stich. She pulls the needle through.

Those are the coolest things we have done lately, hope to read some more cool stuff to do.

~Amy

We made goop with cornstarch and water.
snowflakes out of coffee filters
little animals with pom poms and pipecleaners
bath fizzies (from a kit)
We may make borox snowflakes this weekend

Gabe got a TON of art's and crafts supplies for Christmas per my request, so we have been making all kinds of fun art projects!
He really really seems to like eyeballs. :p I keep encouraging him to glue some other things on the paper... we have feathers, little foam bugs, puff balls, etc... so he'll glue a feather on the paper and then glue 4 eyeballs onto it. LOL!

We just finished our play room, just in time to move, so we have been bowling and playing basketball and tea parties.

We have been playing with Gabe's Grow with Me RC for hours, kids love cause and effect! They just keep stacking things up and running them over with the RC car :p

Oh, I can't forget the coloring... ohhhh... the coloring... I got out of the shower today and found my kitchen floor redecorated! Beautiful blue and green swirls, it was lovely! I asked Gabe where he was supposed to color and he said, "on the paper.". I asked him where the paper was, he said "on the floor.". *smacking forehead* Thank God for the Magic Eraser, it all came right up.

We were able to make a snowman last week in all of our snow! It slowly fell over this week, I have some pretty funny pictures of its demise...

Gabe has been digging his wooden train set. Everyday we have to make a track, no matter how small... tha baby has fun playing Baby Zilla. Hee Hee

Washing dishes is always fun around here as well... It does double duty because I always have to wash my floor afterwards...

Lots of books, I should post the pic of all boys in bed at night reading, it's just adorable!

I love winter for its quiet days and calm nights...

Jessica

us
 

We've been creating a life-size replica of the Taj Mahal in our backyard, out of macoroni, glue, string, and dixie cups. Next up...the Eiffel Tower! :D

Mainly we color.
It's not crafty, but we plant a lot in the Winter. We have reverse seasons here in Central California. Winter anywhere is a good time to start indoor seedlings.

FORTS! When we were stuck inside for days we made lots and lots of forts. Pull out all the sheets from your linen closet and see if you can make the entire room into a fort. We accomplished that with our living room - it was SO much fun! And just about anything is more fun in a fort ( hee hee okay, so you might need to save some fun for after the kids go to bed ;) ), but- even the book they ask to read a million times over is more fun in a fort! We took naps in our fort and had a picnic in it.

:thumbsup:

My ds could keep himself busy all day with the cushions from our couches. They can be caves, water, pirate ships, anything!

He also *loves* to cut up my junk mail. I just give him a pair of kid scissors and let him go to town.:D

Making people out cardboard toilet paper rolls is fun too. Just cover the roll with construction paper (or leave it plain) and color faces and clothes on it. Cut out strips of paper for arms and legs and glue them on. We made Peter Pan and Captain Hook a few weeks ago and have had lots of sword-fighting fun with them.

When I am all out of ideas I let him play in the tub while I sit in the bathroom with him and read a magazine.

Thanks for the orange bird feeder idea. I'm gonna have to try that!

We were watching one of DS's friends for a few hours this afternoon so together the 3 of us made 5 batches of homemade playdough and then spent hours playing with it all. A great activity for a cold. rainy/snowy day. And personally, I find that I prefer the homemade stuff to the "real" playdoh.

DS has also been doing plenty of coloring, cutting, pasting, etc. and we as a family made a ton of paper snowflakes and hung them on our front window.

fun fun
 

2 nights ago I covered the bathtub walls in foam paint and let the boys go at it. They love that. Then I just turn on the sprayer and wash it all down and give them a bath.

Yesterday DS pulled out his collage box I made at Chistmas. (Big box with tons of chinese food containers filled with all sorts of collage doo dads). He used glitter glue and the collage stuff to make cards for the grandmas.

Today we pulled out clay and I hid little treasures in it while they pulled it apart looking for them Great fine motor play! Also made it out to the park and library to enjoy this beautiful southern cali weather!

I just love playing and creating with these boys. i love hearing about everyone elses adventures as well! I feel very very lucky to be able to stay home with them right now.

:)Jenn

Well, nothing too 'natural'. lol My brother, who is a film student, is working on a stop -action clay animation film with my kids. My middle children created femo clay people and my brother is filming each bit of action. lol . They did these awesome cartoon boards and all. It takes about two days to film each scene in clay animation, but my oldest daughter is so into it lol I think they are at about frame 5. Maybe you will see them at Sundance someday. About 2010! lol As if! lol They are having a blast and I love to watch their delight. My brother has so much patience!! Bless him. :)


Laurie

we have been making flower fairies, painting the windows with window crayons, working with clay and we are going to try silk painting when i get a chance.
Great thread! Keeps me on my toes! LOL!

Hmmm, 125 Mamas have read this post, and only 12 have done anything fun with their children??

I don't believe that!!

I love collages, we're going to have to get out our collage box again too! Our library had used magazines for 10 cents a piece, so I always pick up the Mothering and photography mags for collages... I also get a catalog from www.pyramidcollection that has some neat collage material.

Laurie, that clay animation sounds so awesome!! What a great project!!

I love all of these great ideas!! Let's keep them coming!! :D

I just love when you do these posts Meeshi...
 

it actually motivates me to get off my butt and do something new! LOL

We have been coloring noodles this week, to make necklaces next week, and pictures, or whatever else the kids can think of with the noodles.

And dd has been stuck on making cupcake wrapper flowers. We have made 2 packages worth of them this month :rolleyes:

She just glues the cupcake paper thingy to a piece of paper, than decorates it a bit, adds a stem (Sometimes we use pipe cleaners) and voila!