Magnetic Necklaces

Magnetti necklaces are all the rage around here, and when I saw them I said "I can make that!" (and was appalled by how much they cost!) It took me a while to gather the appropriate materials and find the time to make them, but it was very easy to do. O wants a "collection" of magnettis, so I know what her handmade Christmas gift is going to be!

The necklace is a silky cord with a magnetic bail attached. I ordered bails from Amazon, but they were not magnetic. My mom finally found magnetic bails and the silky cords at Hobby Lobby...I REALLY wish that we lived closer to a Hobby Lobby...I haven't been there since before Christmas!

Anyway, to make the pendant, I used round, wooden discs (from Michael's). I painted the discs white and cut a circle from scrapbook paper to fit the discs. I decopaged the scrapbook paper circle to the discs and then covered the front and sides of the discs with a protective layer of decopauge. I then glued a VERY strong magnet to the back of the finished disc using E600 glue. (These magnets actually make me a little nervous since we have a baby who puts everything in her mouth...I only worked on this after she was asleep because I was afraid I'd drop one without realizing it, and she'd eat it before I could stop her).

I let the glue dry for a couple of days before trying out the magnetic disc on the bail. It worked perfectly, and I hope the recipient of this necklace loves it as much as O does!

A Simple Science Experiment

What to do with old inedible celery??? Put it in water colored with food coloring to see what happens, of course! O had fun mixing the water and food coloring and then watching the celery change colors. She was excited and amazed when the celery started turning colors. Simple and fun (and educational!).

"The Best Popstickle Ever!"

O loves "popstickles," and a few days ago she said "I have a great idea for a popstickle! I'll put water in a cup, stick a spoon in it, and put it in the freezer. Then I'll pull it out and have a popstickle." She was VERY impressed with her "popstickle" and thinks it is absolutely fantastic. She's made several since then. Simple pleasures are best :)

Playsilks for Baby

Playsilks are one of my most favorite toys for my girls! They are so versatile and open ended, and both girls love them. It is especially fun to play peek-a-boo with the playsilks, and E also enjoys chewing on them. Since we dyed them with kool-aid, the red one leaves her with a colorful mouth :)

Tree Trunk Crayon Rubbings

A few weeks ago when we were studying our backyard habitat, O and I made crayon rubbings of several tree trunks. I held a piece of paper on the tree trunk, and O used a flat crayon (mini muffin tin crayons made from leftover crayon bits) to rub across the paper to make the rubbing. We also made rubbings of her face and hair...they didn't turn out very well, but it was fun!

Where is Baby's Belly Button?

Where is Baby's Belly Button? by Karen Katz was O's favorite book when she was a baby, and now E loves it, too. I love the sweet illustrations, and the girls love lifting the flaps. What fun!

We have tons of board books for babies (the vast majority have come from thrift stores...I just can't pass them by), and some of our other favorites include If You Were My Bunny (I LOVE this book and sing the lullabies from it to the girls almost every night). We also love anything by Sandra Boynton. It's been hard to get E to be still enough to read to her since she started crawling, but I recently realized that morning potty time is PERFECT reading time! Yay! I love to read to her, so it's great to have a captive audience :)

Baby Dragonfly

O and I rescued this baby dragonfly from our pedal boat on Thursday. We watched him for a while, and O asked why he didn't fly away. I told her that he probably just needed to rest for a while. She put him down and said "I'm going to leave him alone so that he can rest and fly back to his mama for milkies so he can be healthy and strong." While I loved the image of the baby dragonfly flying to find his mama and then nursing so he could be healthy and strong, I decided this was a good opening for a discussion on the differences between mammals and insects :)

We've been playing archaelogist on the beach every morning this week...when we play archaelogist, we bury toys in the sand and dig them up while pretending they are dinosaur bones and eggs. O pretended that she had discovered a rhinocerous egg, so that launched another discussion about animals...the differences between dinosaurs, mammals, and reptiles. Fun times! (just in case you are wondering where E is during all of this...she usually plays with us on the beach for a little while before nursing and falling asleep in my arms...she naps better in my arms in the lake than anywhere else!)

Fun with Fridge Phonics

E LOVES our Fridge Phonics magnetic letters! She takes the magnets on and off the refrigerator, and she loves to crawl around with one in her mouth. I'm very glad that they are quite big and pose no choking hazard. She is learning to put the magnets into the docking station to make the music play. Fun!

Fun with Goop

One of our summer activities is to make goop by the lake (this is the 3rd summer we've done this). To make goop you mix equal parts water and cornstarch. Since O just scoops water into a container from the lake, we don't measure the water and always end up with too much. I think I'll take a measuring cup with us down to the lake next time!
After we played with the goop for a while, we added in food coloring. O started to mix it very quickly with her hands, and I slowed her down and showed her how to slowly drag her finger through the food coloring to make a trail of color.



After mixing all of the colors, she decided to add some beach sand to the mixture along with a little more food coloring.

After mixing up the blue sand, she sprinkled it on the beach, so we had a blue polka dotted beach for a little while. While O was swimming the brazen minnows kept biting her mosquito bites, so she took the blue food coloring into the water and threatened to make them blue. Unfortunately, that didn't deter them at all :)

Open/Shut Activity for Baby

I set up a basket of open/shut containers for E, and she really likes it. I put a box and a basket in the basket, and 2 was a good number with which to start. She was very engrossed in this activity. I plan to switch the containers every few days, but I think we'll stick with just 2 at a time...she is more focuesd when there are fewer objects.

Making Homemade Bread and Butter

O and I have been reading books from the Little House on the Prairie series for the past month or so. We both LOVE the books, and I look forward to naptime and bedtime so we can read a few more chapters! Since we've been reading the books, we've been trying to do activities similar to those that Mary and Laura do (we play "Mary and Laura and Baby Carrie" ALL the time). Recently, we made homemade bread and butter. O LOVED the butter and was licking it off her bread and spreading more on. We were excited to read about Laura trying to catch minnows today, so we are going to try to catch minnows tomorrow morning (something we do often anyway!).

Learning the Concepts of Big/Little

E was the official holder of the cucumbers while we were working in Guhguh and Grandpa's garden last week. Since one cucumber was significantly smaller than the other, we had a quick lesson on the concepts of big and little. I asked her to hand me the big cucumber several times and then the little cucumber. She LOVES doing this type of activity, and she catches on quickly!

I didn't realize that O was paying any attention to us until she asked me to "pretend that I don't know what big and little cucumbers are and you have to teach me." Silly girl :)

Shaving Cream and Food Coloring Fun

Mixing shaving cream and food coloring is one of O's all time favorite activities. She loves to swirl the colors together to see what happens. We pressed a sheet of white cardstock onto the shaving cream and then wiped it off to make a pretty picture. Then O proceeded to cover herself in shaving cream. She had so much fun and made SUCH a mess! Luckily, we were doing this messy activity out on the screened porch! I brought out pitcher after pitcher of water and poured it over her before I let her come in the house :)

Straws Everywhere!

When we went on vacation a few weeks ago, we didn't take many toys. However, I did pack a bag of straws! O, E, and my niece had a fantastic time playing with the straws! O fixed my hair using the straws as decorations. They made straw soup. E crawled around grabbing and chewing on the straws,and the big girls sprinkled the straws on E. We connected the straws to make "the longest straw in America," and on and on and on... The straws provided the girls with tons of open ended, creative fun! Go grab a bag and save them for a rainy day!

Easy Peach Cobbler

O and I made this super easy peach cobbler for our July 4th celebration!

To make this easy peach cobbler, we poured a jar of peaches into a baking dish. O then poured a box of cake mix onto the peaches. We used the back of a spoon (and our fingers) to push the dry cake mix into the peach juice. We then scattered small chunks of butter across the mixture. I refrigerated the cobbler until we ate lunch and then baked it at 350 for about 30 minutes. It's not that healthy, but it is fast and easy and sometimes that's the most important thing! (especially since we only make this once or twice a year)