Shell & Stickers Memory Game

I made this shell and stickers memory game for O(5) about 2 years ago, and I take it to the beach with us every year.

I tried to teach E(1) the ins and outs of memory, but she's not quite ready for that :) However, she had fun matching the stickers.

To make the game, I gathered (from around my house) a bunch of shells that looked similar (O's grandmother brought them to her from the Bahamas), and I bought 2 packs of beach/sea life stickers. I put stickers on each shell to make about 10 matching pairs. Simple and fun!

Pseudo Pillowcase Dresses

My mom and I (with help from O and E) made matching pseudo pillowcase dresses for the girls a couple of weeks ago.

These dresses are simple to make, and they look so sweet. Here is a link to the directions from the last time we made a dress like this...way back in 2009.

The only difference is that my mom tacked the ribbon this time because it's very annoying when it slides out. Also, we made matching dresses for the girls' dolls. So fun!

Laura Ingalls Wilder Monthly Subscription Packet

For O's 5th birthday, I gave her a monthly "subscription" to a "Laura Ingalls Wilder Packet." I've been planning this for months, and I am so excited about it! Luckily, O is excited, too!

In her first packet, she received a letter from Laura (typed in "old time" type and printed on beige paper so it would look older), a picture of Laura and her sisters, My First Little House Laura's 5th Birthday book, the Little House on the Prairie pilot dvd (this was the perfect gift since I gave it to her the day before a 12 hour road trip!), "old time" crayons, and "old time" candy (both from Cracker Barrel).

Each month she will receive a letter from Laura, a Little House book, a craft, and some other type of old time trinket or candy. I'm hoping to find more pics of Laura to print since it would be fun to include a different picture of Laura with each packet. It's going to be so much fun to put these packets together each month! Maybe even more fun than the monthly fun boxes, which are one of the BEST gifts I've ever given the girls.

Blow Gun Game

My mom (aka Guhguh) and O(5) share a birthday, so we always spend the day with my mom on their birthday. This year O went into the playroom (at my mom's house) with the intention of drawing a picture for my mom for her birthday, but was struck by the inspiration to make a blow gun game for her instead! (we learned about blow guns on a recent camping trip during which we toured an Indian village).

O(5) used straws and q-tips to make the game. She cut one end off of each q-tip, and cut about a quarter off of each straw. The small parts of the straws were the "blow gun holders" (to hold the q-tips when they were not in use, and the long straws were for blowing the q-tips. She told Guhguh that when she got tired of using the blow guns, she could match the straws.

Guhguh was very excited by her gift, and she and O had fun trying to blow the q-tips into a bowl. I was very impressed by O's creativity!

Loading the blow gun.


Firing away!

Wow! What a Response!

Thank you ALL so much for the wonderful responses to the cultural exchange!!! Here are the countries that are covered so far:

Japan
UK
Scotland
Italy
Spain
New Zealand
Australia
Canada
Israel
Turkey
Switzerland
Denmark
Trinidad
Poland
France
Germany
Singapore
Italy
Ireland
So, here is my plan...I'll wait a few more days for responses. Then I will email everyone to find out if you would like to participate in the group exchange or just exchange with me. Since I have had responses from more than one person from several countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, etc), I will include the first responder from each country in the group swap (if you choose the group swap). However, I will be happy to send & receive packages from everyone (as long as I don't get a hundred responses!).

Thank you again SO much! I'll be getting in touch with everyone via email, and please email me if you'd like to participate at chasingcheerios@gmail.com.

International Readers...I Need Your Help!

So, I have an idea that's been brewing for a while, and I'm going to need some help to make it happen...are you in???

I read about Little Passports a few months ago (it's a monthly subscription to a package from a different country), and I thought about subscribing for my girls. Then (of course) I thought "I could just make that." I thought about it for a while...buying country specific items from Fair Trade websites and World Market, writing letters as if I were in another country, etc. I realized it would end up being VERY expensive and maybe not so great. Then my current idea emerged...

Wouldn't it be cool (and fun, educational, exciting, interesting, phenomenal, etc) for my kids (and yours!) to receive a package each month from a REAL child from another country???

Here is my proposal...

I (with O's help) will write a letter to your child. In the letter, we will talk about our country specific holidays (July 4th, Thanksgiving, etc) and traditions. We will discuss the things we do for fun, the food we eat, the places we travel, etc. I will include postcards, pics of the kids doing fun things in scenic places (water skiing, walking under waterfalls, hiking in the mnts, running on the beach, visiting a lighthouse, visiting Disneyworld, etc.), coins, a dollar bill, a recipe, and other small, lightweight, and fun souvenirs. If you will agree to send a similar package to me, I will send one to you! Also, if many people are interested in sending out several packages, then I'll coordinate addresses and get you the info, so that you can receive packages from other people as well as myself.

Ideally, I would like to receive at least 12 packages from 12 different countries. My plan is to give the girls a smartglobe for Christmas along with a "subscription" to a country package from a REAL family that they will get each month. Since the packages will probably all come in at about the same time, I will save them and then put one in the mailbox at the beginning of each month.

So, are you in? Doesn't this sound like SO much fun? I know that my girls will LOVE it...if it works. And another perk is that O can take her packages to her Montessori school when they are studying the different countries! If you are interested in participating, please email me ASAP at chasingcheerios@gmail.com. THANK YOU!!!

Edit to add: The emails are rolling in, so if you are interested in participating let me know ASAP. So far, I have particpants from Trinidad, Brazil, New Zealand, British Columbia (Canada), and Quebec (Canada). I am SO excited! Thank you ALL so much!

Rosemary Vinegar

O(4) and I planned to make Rosemary Vinegar for her teachers for "end of the year" gifts, and we finally made it more than a week after school let out for the summer...better late than never!

To make the Rosemary Vinegar, you need white vinegar, glass bottles, and fresh Rosemary. My mom brought us a bunch of fresh Rosemary from her garden. She washed it thoroughly and drained it in a colander. She heated the white vinegar on the stove. While the vinegar heated, the girls pushed the Rosemary into the vinegar bottles.




My mom then poured the hot vinegar into the bottles (using a funnel). After the vinegar cooled, I put the tops on the bottles and put them in a dark place. The vinegar needs to cure for about 3 weeks before you use. It taste great on salads!

We originally planned on O decorating the bottles, and she actually painted a couple of them with glass paint. We then decided that the Rosemary looked really pretty in the bottles, so she didn't decorate all of them. This was a wonderfully simple gift, and O was so proud of the gifts she made!

Making a Felt Board

I recently made a new felt board for the girls. We have a large felt board, but it's made of plywood, so it's heavy and cumbersome (and we keep it in the fireplace, so it's not very accessible). I wanted a fairly large felt board that was lightweight enough to hang on a wall using velcro (so that it's easily removeable).

To make this feltboard, you need 1 yard of felt, foam core board, and a hot glue gun and glue.

First, I laid the foam core board onto the felt and cut around it.


Then, I just glued the felt to the back of the foam core board using the hot glue. I put about a two inch strip of hot glue on at a time and pulled the felt onto it tightly. I thought about taking a picture of this process, but it was impossible since I don't have 3 hands :)

Here is our finished felt board. It turned out exactly as I envisioned it (that rarely happpens)!


I put a piece of sticky backed velcro on the back of the felt board and the wardrobe, and now we have an easily removeable felt board. E(1) and I have enjoyed using it during our morning "school" time.

Heart Crayon Valentines

O and I finally finished making the Valentine's for her class today.  The idea for these crayon heart Valentine's came from Family Fun. 

First, we soaked the crayons in hot water.  This was the best idea ever, and it worked beautifully.  Last time we made number/letter crayons, we just peeled the paper off the crayons, and it was a painful nightmare. 





We then broke the crayons into little pieces and put them into a heart silicone tray (I think it came from the dollar section of Target a few years ago).




I baked the crayons on 275 for 20 minutes, and let them cool and harden in the oven so that the colors wouldn't mix when I moved them.  I cut out circles and wrote "You color my world!" on them.  O wrote her friends' names on the backs of the cards.  We attached the crayons to the cards using double sided foam tape. 



O is very proud of her Valentines, so I hope that her friends will like them!

No-Sew Gnomes for Valentine's Day

I wasn't going to make handmade gifts for the girls for Valentine's Day this year...until I saw these heart gnomes on The Crafty Crow.  They looked simple enough, and I made a few changes to make them even simpler! 




 
I printed the pattern from Wee Folk Art and got to work! 




I realized about halfway into this that I should take pics for a tutorial.  The room was pretty dark, so the pics aren't the best.

Here are a few of the pieces cut from wool blend felt (bought from Prairie Point Junction...I have lots leftover from the felt fairyland that I made for O's 4th bday). 




I glued the felt to the wooden people using Aleene's No-Sew Glue 4 oz (I love this glue!).





I then glued the cape to the person.  I held it in place for a few seconds.  I thought that I would need to pin it, but it stayed in place with no problems.




I put a line of glue down the side of the hat and rolled it to the right shape.  I used clips to hold it in place for about 10 minutes before attaching it to the gnome's head.




I drew hearts on the felt using a disappearing ink fabric pen and cut out the hearts.  I glued one heart to each gnome, and then glued the hats to their heads.  Done!  It was nice to start and finish a project in one night...a rarity around here!

I like the look of the gnomes much better when the edge of the felt is blanket stitched.  However, the kids won't notice or care, and I was in a hurry, so this worked for me! 

 Last year, I made no-sew fortune cookies for the girls, and the year before that I made heart shaped felt sugar cookies.  I'm glad that I made these last minute gnomes, or I surely would have regretted slacking on the handmade gifts...or maybe not as I'm trying to filter out much of the stuff that clutters our home and lives :)