Project Fun Friday - "Carnation Count"

Carnation Count

3 White, Fresh Carnations
3 Cups, same size preferred
Food Coloring
Chart (Optional)

♥ Fill each cup with cool to warm water and place 2 - 3 drops of food coloring into each cup, choosing ONE color for each cup.

♥ Cut each carnation stem at an angle making sure the total length of each flower is one inch taller than the chosen cup.

♥ Choose a place in the house where you and your child can observe the progress of the carnations while being out of the way so they won't get knocked over.

♥ You can make a chart or calender marking how many days it takes for each carnation to change from white to their designated color or how long it took all of them to completely turn.

This is a great science project that is easy, cheap and can last a few days. The mission is to engage your child with questions about the project and the change the flowers will take over time.

Enjoy!


Have a suggestion or project you would like to see? Leave a comment!

Project Fun Friday - "Goopy Gak!"

Recipe for one serving:

1/4 c Liquid Starch
1/4 c Glue
Plastic Bag
Food Coloring

♥ Mix equal parts of liquid starch, 3 drops of food coloring and glue together in the plastic bag and mix well. If it is too stick add more starch, slowly till is has a "rubbery" consistency to it.

♥ Open the bag and enjoy!

This recipe is simple, fast and tons of fun to play with and was a favorite of my preschoolers!

Project Fun Friday - "Flower Pot Pudding"

FLOWER POT PUDDING

4 - 6 Graham Crackers
1 Box Chocolate Pudding
1 - 2 Gummy Worms
Aluminum Foil (optional)
1 Large Plastic Ziploc Bag
Rolling Pin
1 - 3"-4" Ceramic Pot
1 Popsicle Stick
1 Sheet of Construction Paper
Scissors
Glue

♥ Mix the chocolate pudding according to the directions on the box, cover with plastic wrap and
place into the refrigerator to cool.

♥ Take the sheet of construction paper and fold it in half. Draw a flower with petals. While holding the construction paper, still folded, cut the flower out. Take the glue and drop a dot of glue on each petal of one of the flower pieces and a good sized dot of glue in the very middle. Place your Popsicle stick in the middle of the flower, creating a stem, and then add the remaining flower piece on top of the other one, sandwiching the Popsicle stick between them.

Set your flower aside to dry.

♥ Take the graham crackers and place them in the plastic Ziploc bag and close it up, taking some
of the air out of the bag. Smash the graham crackers into fine to chunky pieces with the
rolling pin and set aside.

♥ Take the aluminum foil and place a sheet of it inside the ceramic pot, lining the pot well to the top of the edge of the rim. This part is optional, but if you really aren't sure of the cleanliness of the pot I would do this.

* The other option is to use a plastic Solo/Dixie drinking cup or a ceramic coffee cup.
The ceramic pot just gives the project a more realistic look.


Assembly:

Fill about 1/3 of the ceramic pot with the graham cracker crumbs; reserving the remaining amount for the top.

Fill the pot with the chocolate pudding to about a 1/2" to an 1" from the top.

Add the remaining graham cracker crumbs to the pot, filling it to the top.

Place the flower in the middle of the pot with a gummy worm or two and your project is all done!

Enjoy!

Auction for Kate McRae

Although I had originally planned to post a cooking recipe for the first of my "Project Fun Fridays" for you and your child to do over the weekend, I felt the following topic was more important and I had to talk about it instead. The "Project Fun Friday" will start next week.

I Recently was reading a post by Kim Stoegbauer, from TomKat Studios, regarding an auction she was hosting for a little girl named Kate McRae.

Kim had invited other Tweeters to bid on a dress that was up for auction. Being a huge Amy Butler fan, I noticed the fabric right away. I had used that very same fabric on a bib and burp cloth set. Although it was the fabric that had originally caught my eye, it was the reason behind the auction that kept my attention. It was about a little girl named, Kate McRae but, rather than tell you about Kate myself I would rather you hear about Kate in her mothers own words.

Monday, June 29th began like every other day, and ended like one we could have never imagined. Our daughter Kate was taken to the DR. for tremors in her right hand. We proceeded to Phoenix Children's Hospital for a stat CT of her head. At 5:30 I, Holly, Kate's mom, was taken into a room alone and told Kate had a massive tumor on the basil ganglia portion of her brain. I called her dad and our journey has begun. One we never would have chose to be a part of, but was chosen for us, and our sweet Kate. She is now in the Phoenix Children's Hospital undergoing treatment for this disease. Please, our dear daughter needs your prayers, as do we, Aaron, Holly, Olivia and Will.

Auction Details:

♥ The Auction starts today,
Friday, July 31st and ends Friday, August 7th PST.

♥ The retail value of the bib is $16.oo, please start the bidding at that price.

♥ Place your bid along with a valid email address in the comments portion of
this entry.

♥ The winner will be notified by email on Saturday, August 8th.

♥ This auction is for US residents only.

Please take a moment to read about Kate here:

KATE MCRAE

The dress being auctioned off:

AMY BUTLER DRESS

My donated bib and burp cloth set from Amy Rose Designs:

Photo of Kate: Promise Tangeman

It's the LITTLE things

I have decided that I don't blog nearly enough and Twitter, as fun and instant as it is, limits us to 140 characters.

I am going to use my teaching skills to motivate me with my new task of blogging on a more consistent basis. Every Friday I will post a cooking recipe, an art project, or even a silly song you can teach your child.

You won't need hours to prepare or even hours to do the project. Each project was originally designed to be done in 60 minutes or less based on 12 or more children.

The object is to spend some quality, one on one time, with your child building a strong bond and shared memory for the both of you to file away.

I once remember seeing an interview with a young girl, who's mother died of cancer, and she was asked what her favorite memory of her mother was and she replied "It was the nights when my mother couldn't sleep, because of the pain, that we would sit at the kitchen table sharing a bowl of cereal together." She didn't say it was when we went to Disneyland or that she bought me tons of clothes or that she put me in ballet classes, it was the small memory of her quiet nights with her mother sharing a bowl of Cheerios.

It's the small things, that at the time we don't think too much of but, file away in our minds that mean everything to us later in life. I can remember helping my great grandmother, Amy Rose, make a pie from scratch, without a recipe, with lemons we had pulled from the lemon tree in the backyard to make a lemon meringue pie. It was how her daughter, my grandmother, could be led into a childhood joke by her grandchildren and how she fell for it every time. Although I highly suspect that she knew what we were doing but, always let us get away with it anyway, so that she could see us laugh. She couldn't have thought there was a bird flying around in the house every Christmas, could she? It is the small things we remember.

Next Friday I will begin to share these memory making moments you can give your family.

EtsyBABY Summer Baby Shower

••♥••

EtsyBABY
Summer Baby Shower

••♥••

We are currently looking for new/expecting moms who are in the Etsy community that:

♥ Have given birth within the past 6 months

♥ Expecting a baby within the next 6 months

♥ Adopted a baby within the past 6 months or

♥ Planning to adopt a baby in the next 6 months


Team EtsyBABY would like to shower you with a FREE gift!



Click on the following link to sign-up:

Baby Shower Sign-Up

Participating Team EtsyBABY Shops:

Team EtsyBABY

In My Own Backyard!

A very, very small sample of what my 4th of July looks like every year, while I sit on my porch in my own backyard.

YES, I said backyard porch. ENJOY!

PS.. Look at the bottom of the screen and you can see local neighborhood fireworks.