Perler Bead Magnets

I l-ooo-ved playing with perler beads when I was younger. Turns out, I still do.

It was CB's idea to bust the beads out this morning, but I stayed at it long after they had moved on to other endeavors.

CB made a star so she could sing Twinkle Twinkle to it every night while she is lying in her bed and BBD made a "friend snake".


I made magnets.

That is a panda, ninjas, and butterflies unless you were uncertain.

I also made photo corners, but my magnets are too big so I need some smaller ones to complete them.
AND they glow in the dark.

Valentine Swap: The Giving

I participated in the Valentine Swap organized by Aunt Peaches. I am so glad she did this. I thoroughly enjoyed making them and waiting to see to who and where I would be sending them. I can't wait to see the Valentines I will receive in the mailbox!

While I made my Valentines, I put out a smorgasbord of Valentine-y materials for my kiddos as well.

Here they are with their finished creations:



Here are mine:

I stamped, colored, and applied glitter glue.
Oh, and I used pop up dots because I love them.

I also included a punny Valentine wish:


{I can't show you my made-for-family ones...not yet}

I am seriously hoping this can be a new tradition. I love it so.

Flower Petal Suncatchers

We gathered flowers from our garden.

My daughter wanted to do this outside which made the project even more enjoyable.

We pulled off the petals and got creating by placing them onto clear contact paper. We sandwiched the petals with another piece of clear contact paper and cut around the edges. We then taped them in the window.

I was pretty pleased with my butterflies.


Please note: The beauty of this project is temporary. The petals will still wilt.

Inspiration for this project was found at The Artful Parent.

Explosive Art

We made some explosive art using paint, baking soda, and vinegar in baggies. Directions found here at Share and Remember.


It was really neat.

But following the recipe and staying on the paper were only the beginning. Free for all is more our style.

After making several exploding baggies, CB declared, "And now, I'm going to experiment."

And they both did their own thing.


CB: It's thick. I didn't add in much vinegar. I added in lots of baking soda.
I'm being a scientist.
And for the grand finale!
The purple is the star of the show!


BBD: I'm mixin'.
This needs some red. {insert each and every color}
I need more vinegar.
I need more baking soda.

Prettiest puddle ever.


The paper became rather obsolete.


"Daddy's going to like all these colors on his concrete!"

Linking up:

Play Academy Idea Swap

Big Eye Puppets

These puppets are ridiculously easy to make and ridiculously fun to play with.




I was inspired by Fave Crafts.

I like the soft texture of the pom pons over Styrofoam and went for simplistic over fancy-fied, but the openendness and ease of design is the beauty of these bad boys.

I simply put hot glue on the end of a pipe cleaner and smooshed it into the pom pon. Repeat and hot glue on some large wiggle eyes. And ta da!

Crushed Chalk Sidewalk Paint

We made sidewalk chalk paint by crushing up chalk bits with a hammer.

The kids delighted in using the hammer all by themselves.

You control the thickness of the paint by how much water you add.

Note: If you let the 3 year old pour the water all on his own, the paint will be very liquidy.

The kids also used spoons to paint. CB took a drizzling approach, while BBD was into flinging and pouring.

Rocks were also submerged and scattered.


Our chalk "dust" had plenty of chunks as well so the texture turned out really interesting.

Inspiration from The Chocolate Muffin Tree.

Play Academy

Sidewalk Splatter Paint

Old socks filled with rocks and dipped in sidewalk chalk paint. There is dripping, splatting, rolling, throwing, spreading.

Note:

This activity is messy, slippery, wrecks havoc on the socks, and is so much fun.

Inspired by A Happy Wanderer