Party Time!

One of my boys just turned four and we had a great time preparing for the party.  I was reminded again about how so much of the enjoyment of celebrations is in the anticipation and preparation.

All you need to make a pinata is newspaper, a balloon, and flour and water mixed to a 1:1 ratio.

Then you just slather the mix onto your strips of newspaper and slap them on the balloon.  This was one of my favourite activities when I was growing up.  I am amazed at how often my mom let us do paper mache, because it is most certainly one of the messiest crafts out there!

We glued tissue paper to it after it had dried for 24 hrs.  I have to admit, I did not have high hopes for the sturdiness of our pinata, but it actually held up well!  They each got to take many swings at it before it started to give way.

Next up was the cake...my son loves baseball, so I thought I would try a simple baseball cake.  I am one of those people who sees a picture of beautifully decorated cookies or cupcakes and thinks, that doesn't look too hard, I'm sure I can do it.  Then, it ends up it is way harder than it looks and I have to tell people my children helped me decorate them!  But, this actually is as easy as it looks.  I just baked a cake in an oiled, oven-safe bowl and it came out great.

 There was a little crack, but nothing a little icing can't fix.

The finished product...don't look too closely at my stitching.

All in all we had a great celebration and it was an added bonus that the cake and pinata turned out :)

Fermented Salsa

Summer is a very short and sweet time where I live, so in order to make the most of it, I completely stopped posting anything.  Now that we are starting to back in the rhythm of fall, I am going to try and get back into it again.

I recently tried making fermented salsa, which I was incredibly excited about making.  My sister made claims about how easy it is, and she was right!  I have to admit that when I tasted my batch I wasn't so sure of the "fizzy" salsa taste, but I added the salsa to my tomato sauce tonight and it turned out wonderfully.  So, maybe I will make a few more jars...and the beauty of it is, that it is so easy to do just that.

My Inspiration and Recipes:
http://experimentingaswegrow.wordpress.com
http://ozuke.com/

Backyard Scavenger Hunt

We had a scavenger hunt in the yard the other day.  We are so excited to finally be able to spend time outside without winter wear and snow.  It has been a long time in coming this Spring!

The Princess and the Pea Art

Here is a fun art idea using crayons and watercolours:

My Inspiration: http://www.deepspacesparkle.com

Coloured Water Experiment

 We tried this a while ago and the kids were fascinated watching the colours

 creep up the paper towels and mix together in the middle cup.

My Inspiration and instructions: http://allforkids.tv/

Signs of Spring Hunt

After a very long wait, spring has arrived...I think!  We had a great day in the sunshine, looking for signs of spring.

Here are a couple of printable Spring activities:

Click here to download this worksheet from Childhood Beckons.

Click here for the link to this Spring Scavenger hunt.

Enjoy seeing your first signs of spring, wherever you are!

Easiest Bread Ever!

I just tried this no knead bread recipe a little while ago and thought this might

 be bread I can actually sustain making semi regularly!

You just dump the ingredients in a bowl...

...and stir it up.

Then put a lid on it and let it sit for a couple of hours...

...until it looks like this.

Then you shape your loaf and stick in the oven.

The finished product!

For a detailed recipe, check out this site: http://www.frugallivingnw.com

Snow Maze

I have to say, I do feel that it is a bit unfortunate that I am still posting about things to do in the snow.  But, seeing as we just got another dump of snow yesterday, I figured we'd have fun with it! 

My Inspiration: My sister's lovely blog! http://experimentingaswegrow.wordpress.com 

Thanks, Tricia, for the idea, and knowing that I'm not alone :)

Invisible Sight Words

Using a white crayon, write words that you want

 your child to practice on a sheet of paper.

Then, they can paint over the sheet of paper using 

watercolour paint and the hidden words will be revealed.

My Inspiration (and link to the following worksheet):

 http://swampfrogfirstgraders.blogspot.ca/

And, on a side note, does anyone else's place always end up like this after a painting project?  

Letter Practice

Here is a fun way to have your child practice writing their letters.

Write letters on a chalkboard and have them use a paint brush dipped in water

to trace over the letters so they disappear.

My Inspiration: http://homeschoolmama3.blogspot.ca

Window Painting

We made some window paint the other night using a recipe found here.

It was a lot of fun, but be prepared for a lot of mess!

Here's what you need:

 Artists at work:

Homemade Hot Chocolate

You can find several great recipes for homemade hot chocolate here.