Making Goop

Making goop on our beach is one of our favorite Spring/Summer activities, and we did it for the first time this year on Sunday afternoon. The girls mixed equal parts water and cornstarch and then mixed it together with their hands. We kept adding more cornstarch, and O(4) eventually added sand "just to see what happens."

We talked about how the consistency seems to change from a solid to a liquid as we played with the goop. We usually add food coloring to our goop, but I decided to make it a little simpler and skip the food coloring this time.

Painting a Mural

The girls and I painted a mural outside on Sunday afternoon. Elliott and I taped a long piece of paper to our fence, and we gave the girls a few cups of paint.

We had fun, but E(1) was pretty fussy and didn't enjoy it as much as I thought she would (she was overtired). This activity quickly turned into a body painting activity, which was not surprising at all :) Luckily, I thought ahead, and we painted right by the lake. Once the girls were through, we just stood in the water and washed the paint off of our bodies.

Next time we'll use finger paint or maybe shaving cream (tinted with food coloring), and I'll have them wear old clothes (the paint didn't come out of E's bathing suit).

Decorating (Hot) Easter Eggs with Crayons

Drawing on hot boiled eggs with crayons is SO much fun! This idea came from Family Fun magazine as a quick and easy way to decorate Easter eggs. However, we enjoyed using eggs as an art medium so much that we may draw on our boiled eggs every week!


As soon as the eggs finished boiling, I put them in a tray (that came with an egg dyeing kit). O(4) and I drew on them with the crayons, and the crayon wax melted as we drew.


I was undecided about whether or not to allow E(1) to join in on this activity. However, it was a moot point since E understands "hot" and was not at all interested in getting near the hot eggs. She sat quietly and watched her sister draw.

After drawing for a while, O decided to shave her crayons and sprinkle the shavings on the eggs. What fun!

Candy & Cereal Bracelets

One of the activities in O and E's February Box of Fun was making candy and cereal bracelets.  I put a ziploc bag with fruity cheerios and twizzlers (pull and peel) in the box.  O was VERY excited when she saw it since she had never even seen "color" cheerios or pull and peel twizzlers. 











O and I had a lot of fun making (and eating!) our bracelets! 

Other activities included in the box of fun were Valentine's day cards to color, heart doilies, a blank canvas to paint, twisty straws, a mini sticker book, a felt board activity, and heart headbands.

Learning to Finger Knit

O and I (and sometimes E since she has to do everything her big sister does!) have been learning to finger knit for the past 2 weeks.  I was surprised by how easy this has been.   We followed the directions here.













Before we started learning to finger knit, we watched the History of Yarn.  O loved this!  We watched it twice in a row, and she wanted to watch it a 3rd time.  Thanks to Amy at Early Bird Homeschool for sharing these fun links!

Do-A-Dot Art Painters

E loves to paint with her dot painters that her grandparents gave her for Christmas.  They are perfect for way for toddlers to paint with almost no mess.  E had a taste of her blue dot painter, so she had a blue tongue, blue lips, and a blue nose.  Luckily, she looks pretty cute in blue! Here is the set that we have  Do-A-Dot Rainbow Art Set (Set of 6) (this is an affiliate link!).

Valentine's Cards...a little late!

O made many, many Valentine's cards over the past month.  Most of them were for Elliott, E, and I.  She also made a couple for her grandparents that turned out very cute.  We're good about getting cards made, but not so good about sending them.  She finally gave this card to her Guhguh today. 


We had a lot of fun making these cards together.  She made one for me, too, but we are going to put pics of the girls in the cupcake liners (so it's still not finished). 

Van Gogh Art Study Continued

O and I (and occasionally baby E) have continued our study of Vincent van Gogh.  We haven't had as much time to focus on this as I would like, so we are going to continue to do van Gogh related activities for another couple of weeks. 


We came across a mini van Gogh book in a set from Starfall.  O cut the pages, and we stapled them together.  I read the book to her, and then she read it to me.  After we finished reading the book, we found the book on Starfall and read it there.  O really enjoyed this activity. 




After we looked at the Starry Night on the ipad, O painted her own version of the Starry Night.  She loves the art set that her grandparents gave her for Christmas.




Both girls love the Touch the Art books.  Touch the Art: Make Van Gogh's Bed




Starry Night has always been O's favorite painting in this book.  The swirls are raised and glittery, and the girls love to touch them.




This book is also one that we've enjoyed for years.  Vincent's Colors




O recently did this beautiful embroidery at school.  She said she was thinking of The Starry Night when she made it.

Personalized Paperdolls Shadowbox

I love the personalized paper dolls that Sandy from Sandy Ford Designs made of my girls so much that I put them in a shadow box.  (O also has a set to play with...that's the beauty of purchasing a pdf...I can print as many copies as I like!). 

I traced the girls' hands onto scrapbook paper, cut them out, and put them in the shadow box as the background.  (I wish that my shadow box was bigger, so that the hands were more visible.)  I also think it would look good to have a collage of black and white pics behind the paper dolls...so many possibilities and so little wall space!  I hope that Sandy will stay in business for a long time because I'd like to get updated paper dolls made of my girls every couple of years. 

I'm looking forward to printing the dolls and clothing on magnetic paper for our upcoming road trip!  I may have more fun playing with them than O! 

I really love making shadow boxes of the girls' mementos, crafts, and pics.  Here are the links to some of my other shadowboxes...arts and crafts shadow box, ballet shadow box, and handprint lillies shadowbox.

A Basket Full of Valentine's Day Card Making Supplies

O really enjoyed making Valentine's day cards when we were at G and G's house this weekend, so when we got home I put together this basket of card making supplies for her...she was THRILLED and got right to work! 





In the basket are Valentine's Day stickers, a heart puncher, a glue stick, scissors, cookie cutter (to use as stencils, red and pink contruction paper, white cardstock, heart doilies (from the dollar section at Target), folded construction paper with a half heart drawn on the side (so she can independently and successfully cut her own hearts), a stamp pad, and markers.  O loves to make cards so much that I may put together baskets like this for her for all holidays! 

One good thing about this craft is that when she is done, she can just put everything back in the basket which makes clean-up fast and easy. We are keeping the basket in the center of our kitchen table so that it is out of reach of sweet E (except when she climbs on the table!).

O's Recent Artwork

O started drawing faces more than a year ago, but it was shortlived, and she quickly went back to creating abstract art.  I was excited when she started drawing animals and people recently.  E always asks us to draw cats and dogs for her, and this is what inspired O to start drawing.  O loves to draw cats and dogs for her sister!  Here are some of her recent drawings...

a self-portrait
















a portrait of me




I love all of these drawings.  I'm thinking of making a photo collage of all of her cats, and she may do some embroidery with one of her drawings...she's very into embroidery lately!