Play Structure April 2, 2007

Outside is still a bit chilly and the ground is wet – especially at the park. Let’s face it, April around here has been quite rude and unweatherly. However our biggest dilemma for Mad is that Baz naps through her free time, often restricting her from doing much in the afternoon.

Figuring it was well worthwhile for a kid who adores the outdoors, I sought the advice of Grandpa to put together something for the backyard.

With limited space and resources we thought up and small would be the best idea.

With a free slide, stray logs and left over deck screws I went to work. A few afternoons later and a little extra help from Grandpa to get it straight, we even had a sandbox underneath for whenever Sebastian woke up.

Groundhog Day February 2, 2007

Fun for all ages.

Believe it or not we found a “holiday” Mad was not familiar with, at first.

She’s now an expert and has informed me she has passed on her new learnings to her classmates by insisting it was added at calendar time.

Like I’ve mentioned, ANY excuse for a party – and this having Groundhog Day fall on a Friday, well, party on, so they say.

I was more apt to a shadow puppet project but after a quick search, I found these. I don’t know if I’d call it adorable and I think I’d try to make it a bit more furry, but either way, we found ourselves laughing all the way to the craft table.

We attempted shadow cut outs of our heads, but some of us moved a bit too much… so we put on a groundhog and dog show instead.

Incidentally, Phil DIDN’T see his shadow and we are among the masses cheering him loudly as we welcome an early spring… nice thought as we enter a deep freeze this week.

Peanut Butter Bird Feeders January 27, 2007

We had a super extended autumn around here, that and the waistlines of the squirrels. They obviously didn’t know when to stop preparing for the winter that never seemed to come.

But when winter finally hit a while back it stayed.

Severe cold and snowstorms left Mad wondering where all the birds and squirrels were. Figuring that the many creatures had gotten so used to eating, they might wonder where all the food went.

Tearing the old pine cone decorations from our wilting wreath she went to work on nut butter spreading and seed squishing,while I cut the opposite sides of a 1L milk carton to create flaps going up.

To the flaps we punched out two holes on either side as well as to the top of the carton.

We tied strings to hold the flaps open and to hang the feeder.

We punched two additional holes to the bottom to run a perch through (a take-out wooden chopstick) so the birds would have somewhere to land.

Baz has really discovered his love of birds… or, being 21 months, he’s just repeating his newest phrase “Wow! burds at the pheeder.”

Countdown to New Year’s Eve December 30, 2006

Another year has flown the coop and here we are again on the brink of a new one.

In the years that have crept by, especially now with kids, I couldn’t help but notice our New Year’s Eve’s turning into those of my parents.

I have a fond memory of the build up to the stroke of twelve. Each year was notable and unique. However, now with kids babysitters are scarce, not to mention most friends are in the same boat so…

I’ve compiled a list of possible ideas of what to do to bring in the New Year and party like it’s 2007!

10. Break out the puzzles and board games. It’s probably been years since you’ve had this much fun!

9. Put the kids to bed and order in sushi. Go out for a nice dinner at home.

8. Do the drop off at Grandma and Grandpa’s. You might have to drive around a strange town without any reservations, but trying to find something to do might be adventureous.

7. Watch the CNN Year in Review, Dick Clark or Carson Daly/Seacrest – whoever it is that drops the ball now a days. Then use Skype to call your friends in the different time zones.

6. Keep the kids up. Ring in the New Year kid style with all the bells n’ whistles, sparklers and a piñata. You may want to consider settng your clocks back to a different time zone though.

5. Drive anywhere. No where common or too populated and grab a hotel room. You’ll know that you went somewhere and did something while the kids will be thrilled to go swimming and jump on a bed.

4. Invite some other parent friends over with their kids. The kids can have a party and bunk up while you dine on Chinese Hot Pot, sukiyaki, shabu-shabu or fondu.
The meal is supposed to take time since so will everybody’s kids.

3. Get the candles and dim the lights. Open the champagne early and … just talk with your partner. Talk about your resolutions and goals for the New Year. Write a letter to yourselves to open for 2008 or whenever to map out your plans.

2. Rent a cottage, wherever you can at the last minute. Call it “covered” camping. Call it memorable. Call it fun.

1. Be a parent. Go to bed at 10:30 and get a fresh start on the New Year, you know your kids will!

Whatever you decide I hope yours is happy & healthy.
All the best, Everyone.

Paper Tube Tree December 15, 2006

Now that Mad and I have made some great paper, I’ve finally got to wrapping some gifts. It left me with some tall, empty paper tubes and to thinking what we should do with them.

This being what we think is the big, breakout Christmas year, I wanted to surprise Mad with a small tree of her very own to decorate her bedroom. After mentioning it to J yesterday morning, we both realised a real tree might be a bit over the top.

Mad loves cutting, so I figured with a little help from her I’d surprise her as we made one for her very own.

Here’s what we used:

Three long, empty, brown paper tubes from the wrapping paper

Two green sheets of bristol board (or card stock)

Scissors

White glue

Green painter’s tape (or masking tape will do)

(Just to get fancy, a tall terracotta pot, stones, and some white polyfil stuffing.)

Here’s what we did:

The first sheet of bristol board I cut in half and the other I cut the top 1/3. Both I lengthwise.

Each piece was into the centre and cut down the middle, making 8 pieces.

I cut away about 1″ in and 3″ from the top, bottom and middle, leaving to connected tabs.

We traced fir tree shapes to the remaining piece and Mad got to work cutting.

We opened the cut pieces to reveal the two sides and the tabs in the middle.

We put glue on the tabs and placed the tube in the centre, spacing the “branches” down the trunk.

once everything was dry enough to handle, we dotted glue along the backside of teach tube, secured the base with the tape and allowed to dry.

The tree was placed in the pot and made sturdy by dropping stones through the hole in the tops of the tubes and centred (and decorated) with the polyfil stuffing.

Mad set forth and decorated with cotton balls, stickers and other (light) found objects

Potato Print Wrapping Paper December 14, 2006

Mad didn’t quite understand the use of the potato until it was into the paint, and even then I think she found it a bit confusing. Needless to say she did like the clever use of her art as she scratched stars and candy canes onto the open faced potato.

What we used:

A roll of brown paper package paper

1 medium potato

A paring knife

A pencil

Assorted tempra or poster paint colours (& a spot of glitter paint for festive sparkle.)

Paper plate

What we did:

I cut the potato in half

Mad drew a festive symbol on each (Star, tree, candle, holly, snowman, candycane… you get the idea.)

I traced around her drawing with the paring knife, then removed the outer edge, leaving only the raised shape which she’d drawn.

We rolled out the paper and secured it down on a flat surface (in our case the floor).

We squirted a blob of our first desired colour on the paper plate.

Lightly dipped the potato pattern in the paint, blotted the blobby extras

Mad then went to town on the paper, creating a random pattern for one, and a more uniformed distribution for the other , until she ran out of paint on the potato having to repeat the above two steps.

We left everything to dry for acouple of hours. Our paper was ready for wrapping by the evening.

Gingerbread Train December 13, 2006

All aboard?

Careful, Mad just might gobble you up. She and I had quite the experience with this train. It was made from a store bought kit which we quickly renamed the “Derailment”. The instructions were confusing and I think we had an extra piece… bonus you say? Yes but we still couldn’t get the thing to stay upright until the icing dried. Mad’s suggestion was to just make a series of small shacks and cottages with the wreckage, but with he “hold tight tray” patent pending, our little dwellings still ended up resembling Seussical box cars.

Who knows, next year we’ll have a kitchen again so we might just make it from scratch and know where the puzzle pieces are supposed to go.

Glitter Ball Orniments December 11, 2006

I don’t know what’s better for a kid than free form play, glue and glitter?

That’s just what greeted Mad at a birthday party this past weekend where the activity was the art of the craft. The kids were free to stick, glitter and adorn various styrofoam balls with paint, rick rack, ribbon, buttons and of course, GLITTER!

By the end of the afternoon there was glitter just about everywhere in the house, but the kids were thrilled and we walked away with FOUR new sparklies for our very own and a loot bag to boot!

Puppets December 10, 2006

Mad is an avid drawer. I absolutely LOVE her little characters and creatures. So much I sew them up every so often. Today wasn’t much exception although we chose to use a bit more glue than thread. Mad seems to be on a big glue kick lately anyway… must be the JK influence.

First I let Mad doodle. She did snowmen, Mr. & Mrs. Frosties, a Santa and one wicked cool reindeer. (Which I can’t resist sewing together at a later date.)

We transferred the drawings to doubled felt squares at a size that would fit our hands, allowed an extra 1/2″ boarder around the edge for gluing.

For Mad’s pieces, I pinned the two felt squares together to make it a bit easier for her.

I chose to stitch on some of the facial features (for accuracy) and for the others we cut out pieces to glue on.

From the way it was cut, we just flipped over the top piece of felt and glued around the outer 1/2″ edge that we allowed for and replaced the top, straightened, secured, added any gluable features and left flat to dry.
Once everything was done we celebrated by reenacting Frosty the Snowman meets Santa.

Too fun.

Candle Making December 9, 2006

What Holiday would be complete without candles?

I think that Mad liked today’s craft as it took place in the kitchen and included changing forms, which is lucky, since it wasn’t entirely a “hands on” craft for her.

We went for a molded candle. Easy and uses recyclable material.
Supplies you will need:

Old melted down candles (or whatever you have extra kicking around your house)

Coloured crayons (paper removed:)

Store bought wick or a 6″ – 8″ piece of kitchen twine

Old camping pot (or make a run to your version of our local Goodwill store.)

Empty (and rinsed) egg nog (or milk) carton

Chop stick or a pencil

Pot lid and/or a fire extinguisher

Cut the milk carton about in half and notch groves from two facing sides.

Clean and dry the carton well.

Tie the twine to the centre of the pencil and check the length by resting the pencil in the notches.

On a low heat, melt the candles in the pot. Swirl the pot to get it to melt, occasionally removing it from the heat to keep it from getting too hot. At this point, you may add the crayons, if you’re using them, to obtain the colour of your choice.
*Please be cautious melting the wax, not only is melted wax really HOT, it’s really flammable. Wax has a flash point of about 250ºF, NEVER leave it, or children unattended.*
Once the wax has melted, remove it from the heat and dip the twine to saturate it. Hold it up over the pot by the pencil, and allow any drips to fall. Once it’s cool enough to handle pull it straight. Place it back over the carton and centre it. You may choose to affix it with a wax putty for a better guarantee that it won’t move.

Carefully pour the melted wax into the carton, watching not to displace the wick.

Alternately, you may add broken crayons at this point. They will add a bit of colour as well as a slight blocky effect.

Play around, experiment and be creative. (and careful… it’s hot)

We put one of our candles in the freezer and got a pretty cool crackled effect, if you like that sort of thing. However it’s best to allow the candle to harden in the carton for at least 3 – 6 hours, if not over night.

Tear away the carton and trim the wick to 1/4″.
A bit of coloured cellophane wrap, and these candles make a great gift.