In the Name of the Father

Father's Day is almost here and I have already completed our family tradition:

Now I'm trying to figure out what else the kid could do to surprise Daddy on Sunday.

I'm not a crafty mom so I always go to Pinterest when it comes to finding crafts and activities, and I've gotten a few ideas:

T-Shirt Quilt

For our first Christmas together I got my husband a t-shirt that was kind of an inside joke. Since then it's become sort of a tradition and he's got a lot of shirts that are wearing out, I've got shirts that are just memories, and our daughter has old favourites that she just keeps growing out of. Gathering all of these things together and creating a memory quilt for our bed seems like a really great idea. I thought of surprising Joe with such a quilt, but I worried about sneaking his favourite shirts out of his drawer so I think I'll actually ask him.

Daddy's Mug

For her daycare provider at Christmas last year the kid painted a mug with special ceramic paint. It was a quick project, but Pinterest has shown me an even easier way – the Sharpie mug. You draw on a plain mug with a Sharpie permanent marker and then bake it. Now that my kid is learning how to write her letters this could be a fantastic gift that would help Daddy remember his three-year old as she keeps on growing.

An Interview

One thing that my husband and I have both done in the past is interview our daughter. Last year I asked her a few questions about her Daddy – like what his name is, how old he is, what she likes doing with him – and sent them to him. Doing this every year and watching the answers change and grow would be a great tradition.

Artistic Kid

One of my favourite things that I've seen on Pinterest that I haven't done yet is this great idea – having your child paint or create something and photographing them while they work, and then framing the photo with the artwork. It's something I would love to have hanging in my own home.

Really my husband doesn't need any more than a hug and a kiss and 'I love you Daddy' (and he probably wants to sleep in that day), but it's nice to have something that reminds you year after year of your child growing up.

Are you doing anything special for Father's Day?

Amy is mom to three year old The Kid and a 7 year old schnauzer named Henry. You can read her blog at amyboughner.ca where she writes about motherhood and anything else that’s on her mind.

Earth Day Ideas: Mini Geenhouses

In honor of Earth day on April 22, I thought it would be interesting to highlight some craft ideas I had found online and mesh them with spring and recycling. My favourite ideas are how to create mini greenhouses using recyclable materials. Empty Rotisserie Chicken Container

Take an old rotisserie chicken container and wash it out well. Fill the container with some fresh soil and seed starting mix and add water. Punch holes in the soil, push the seeds in and cover it up with more soil. That's it. Pretty Simple.

Leave the container is a sunny spot in your house and water as needed based on the seeds. Within about a week, you should some new sprouts.

Empty Pop Bottles

Another way to go is by using a 2 or 3 liter clear pop bottle. Cut the bottom off as deep as your seedlings require. About two inches should do for most types of seeds. Leave the cap on the top and slide the top down over the bottom after the seeds are planted. If you need to let some extra moisture out, take off the cap during the daytime.

Egg Cartons

Take a large egg carton, either styrofoam or cardboard will do. Cut a hole in the lid nearly the same size as the lid and cover it with plastic wrap and secure the wrap in place with tape. Fill each egg compartment with bit of soil. Place between 2-4 seeds in each compartment and cover with soil. If you're using the cardboard variety, place on a tray to catch any water run off. 

For all the mini-greenhouses, it's important to put them in a sunny spot and give plenty of water. You can lift or remove lids as needed to let release some of the heat and humidity based on the seed's needs. Place al the greenhouses in a spot that you and your kids can watch your plants grow!

What Earth Day Ideas do you have to share?

Super Bowl Sunday

I don’t know about you but I’m not really a football fan. In fact, watching football kind of makes me want to gag. So it really was a surprise to me when my girls decided they wanted to have a Superbowl party.  To me, it means that I’ll actually have to tune into the game - at least enough to know when it’s okay to serve food! It did take some convincing on their part but we decided to go ahead with it. We’ve invited a few family friends over to help us watch the Baltimore Ravens take on the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII Sunday night. While my girls think it may be just about watching the game, I thought that I’d plan a few activities to keep the younger kids entertained and some great food ideas to keep the adults happy and fed. We have some younger guests coming so I came up with two really easy crafts that will, hopefully, keep them occupied:

Pom Pom Craft:

Cut 24 pieces of party streamers (12 in each color) into 2-foot strips. Spread the strips out in a circle. Gather in the middle and twist to make a handle. Wrap tape around the handle to secure, then cheer for your team.

Pennant Craft:

Have some felt pieces in brown and the team colours. Cut one piece of felt into a large triangle. Cut brown felt into the shape of a football. Glue football to triangle and decorate with puffy paint.

For food, we decided on standard fare, like pizza, wings and munchies but my girls, for some reason, are in love with the idea of pigs in a blanket so pre-game we’ll be stuffing those piggies. There are likely a lot of ways to make them but this way has always worked for me:

Pigs in a Blanket

For the meat filling, you can use regular hotdogs, little cocktail wieners, all beef or veggie dogs. Really anything will work.  A can of crescent roll dough or biscuit dough will be the “blanket.” Preheat oven according to the dough directions. Separate the uncooked crescent rolls or biscuits. Roll the pieces of meat in the dough and bake according to the dough directions.

For the older kids (and adults who aren’t into football), we’ll put out some board games and set up the Wii or Playstation. With lots of food, drink and activities, hopefully this Super Bowl party will be a hit, even for people like me who didn’t  know who was playing until my girls told me.

What are you doing for Super Bowl Sunday?

Rice Art

by Erin

I like to do glitter art with my niece Rhen - you know the kind: draw an image, spread some glue over a part of the image, sprinkle an appropriately colour glitter on the glue, continue with other parts/colours until the image is complete.

Rhen is in school now, and Xavier comes over two days a week to spend the day with Auntie Erin. Xavier is only 20 months old, and glitter is a bit beyond his skill set; instead of making art, we wind up just making a HUGE mess that is impossible to vacuum up afterwards. Another major concern I have about using glitter with very young children: the particles are too fine and could pose a choking hazard if they are ingested or inhaled.

Introducing rice art:

Step 1: Using the technique in the Rice Sandbox Tutorial make some coloured rice.

Other materials required: a small canvas board, a foam art shape, crayons, coloured pencils, markers or paint, craft glue.

Rice Art1

Depending on the child's skill level you will need to help with some or all of the steps.

1. Use the crayons, coloured pencils, markers or paint to create a background on the canvas board. If using markers or paint, allow to dry completely before moving on to the next steps.

2. Adhere the foam art shape to the canvas board with craft glue.

3. Spread a generous layer of craft glue over the foam art shape.

4. Sprinkle coloured rice over the glue-covered foam art shape - get creative and use as many colours as you'd like.

5. Pat down the rice, and allow the glue to set for a short time - a couple of minutes is more than enough.

6. Tip the canvas on it's edge and tap to dislodge all loose rice grains.

7. You may wish to spray a clear sealant after the glue has dried overnight.

Erin Marshall is an Angel Mama and a SAHW. Two days a week she uses her Amazing Auntie super powers to keep up with her 20-month old nephew, Xavier; the rest of her time is split between being an editor/proofreader, artist and blogger. 

Rice Sand Box

by Erin

The end of outdoor sandbox weather is sadly on it's way.  Here's an idea on how to keep sandbox fun going all year round.

Making the rice

Just a quick note: we are using rice and food colouring for this project. Both are non-toxic and edible, although young children should still be monitored since ingesting even a few tablespoons of uncooked rice can be dangerous. A few grains won't harm anyone, though.

Get some rice - LOTS of rice. I only used 4 x 600g bags, but for a "sandbox" you'll need 10-15 times that. I suggest you go to Costco.

You'll want about ¾ of a bottle of food colouring for every 500g of rice. The more food colouring you use, the brighter and deeper the colours you'll wind up with - if you want muted pastels, use ½ a bottle or less. You can also mix the food dye for custom colours, you're really only limited by your imagination and your patience. For this sample, I used the Neon stuff.

Rice Sandbox1

Essentially, we'll be combining the food colouring with the (uncooked) rice and kneading it to spread it through as many of the grains as possible. A plastic zippered food storage bag comes in VERY handy for this step.

Rice Sandbox2

TIPS:

• Adding the food colouring to the bag before adding the rice makes it easier to get good coverage (as opposed to what is shown in my image).
• Dye the rice in small batches, DO NOT overfill the zippered bag.
• Dollar store zippered bags won't cut it for this activity, you'll need something sturdier.
• Allow rice to dry completely before touching it with bare hands. The food dye will come off on your fingers and stain your clothes.

Rice Sandbox3

Repeat this procedure as necessary. You'll want to use a fresh zippered bag for each batch. You might want to consider dyeing ½ the rice and leaving the rest un-dyed, for the sake of saving some time, and your sanity.

Containing the rice

Rice Sandbox6

So now that you have made a rainbow of rice grains, dump any un-dyed rice into the bottom of a large, shallow plastic storage container. I like the ones designed for underbed storage because they have little casters making set up and put away easier on my back. Next, add all the coloured rice, you can either dump it all in, or you can artistically arrange it, as I did in the sample container.

Rice Sandbox4

Playing with the rice

I set the sandbox up with typical toys: shovel, pail, dump truck, animal figurines. The toys you add will depend on the age of the child(ren) playing in the sandbox.

Obviously, the colours will not stay separated, but we're not creating an art installation here. Unless that's what you really want, in which case, place your container out of the reach of children, and cats. Seriously about the cats, you do not want to ever leave the sandbox uncovered and unattended. Trust me.

After playtime is over, you will have to vacuum up some stray rice grains.

Rice Sandbox5

Reserve a half cup of each colour to use in future art projects - think glitter, but WAY less messy.  I have another post coming soon on what you can do with this batch of rice.

UPDATED TO ADD: "I found out that you can add a few teaspoons of rubbing alcohol to the food colouring to make kneading it through the rice grains easier. It also decreases the drying time before you can play with the rice without danger of staining your fingers and/or clothing."

Erin Marshall is an Angel Mama and a SAHW. Two days a week she uses her Amazing Auntie super powers to keep up with her 20-month old nephew, Xavier; the rest of her time is split between being an editor/proofreader, artist and blogger.