Here’s another recipe for moldable, holdable, squishable, sqashable fun for kids of all ages who appreciate a good session of sand sculpture. MOON SAND! Yep… another one that can easily be made at home from 3 simple ingredients:
4 cups sand (I prefer the fine sand but really any will do)
2 cups cornstarch (also known as cornflour — did you know that?)
1 cup water
food coloring if desired
That’s it… that’s all… Happy Sculpting!!!They’re simple to make. We always used little bathroom size dixie cups but you can use any kind of freezeable containers. Even picking up some ‘popsicle’ makers from the dollar store and dedicating them to paint can be fun!
All you have to do is:
The warmer it is, the brighter the paint will be and of course… the quicker the melt.
Have fun!!
ingredients:
1 Tablespoon self-rising floor
1 Tablespoon salt
Food coloring
Enough water to make a paste
directions:
then you mix them all together and voila! you have your paint. use paint brushes or cotton swabs to paint on cardboard. it works best to brush paint on thickly. when you are finished microwave your painting for 5-10 seconds, do not microwave for too long! and that’s it. homemade puffy paint.
Thanks goes to sandy toes & popsicles!
Kids get stressed too. And sometimes when a child is stressed they act out in ways that cause more stress. It might help if we add some stress reducers into their environment and explain to them the basic ways to help themselves feel better when they’re angry or upset.
Deep Breathing (practice together with them when they’re NOT stressed so it will become an easy thing to do when they ARE stressed)
Self-Talk (“I can wait for my turn”, “I can listen carefully”, etc.)
Ask for Help (“I need help!”)
Here are some tangible tools you might want to use:
a musical night light that rotates images from one of three revolving discs while playing a choice of soothing natural sounds or lullabies. Retail cost is around $20 – and really, this is one of those very useful things that parents often pack or giveaway when their child outgrows the crib… don’t. It’s just as soothing for a 4-6 year old as to an infant.I hope some of these ideas relieve some of the stress at your house too! Please feel free to share any ideas you have about what helps you or your child relieve stress!
It’s made with construction paper, glitter and a paper towel tube!
To get the easy instructions head on over to Lakeshore Learning where you’ll find the Paper Pumpkin Centerpiece and more!
It’s not too early to start decorating your home – indoors and out. So today I want to share with you a very easy but fun craft that will work those small motor skills in a fun way.
This craft is really versatile. The idea is to get your kids to line up a collection of mini-pumpkins along your walkway with a message for visitors. Whether they choose a simple BOO! or something more elaborate is totally up to you.
What You Need:
What You Do:
Decide whether you are going to use brads, tacks, pins or stickers.
Glue them on paper and make cards, string them for necklaces and bracelets, use them as game pieces (‘wagon wheels’ make great pasta checkers or most fun of all… make clever pictures using colored damp spaghetti (it sticks to paper when damp, but it may not when dry, so grab that glue stick!) And of course, remind kids – especially toddlers – not to eat the pasta.
What you will need:
1 1/2 cups rubbing alcohol
food coloring
1 cup dried pasta of your choice
Place the rubbing alcohol in a jar of a size appropriate for your chosen pasta. Stir 3 teaspoons of food coloring into the alcohol and add the pasta.
You then allow the pasta to soak in the dye for several hours. The pasta is ready when it reaches a deep, rich color. Drain the pasta and place in a single layer on paper towels. When it’s dry it’s ready to be used in any way you and your child can imagine! (Consider reserving the dye in a covered container for future pasta projects. It will keep!)
Have fun!
Two of the great things about buttons is their availability and their versatility. Regardless of age, there is bound to be a project that simply invites a button or two to show up. Along with their intended function as a fastener, we can use them as decorations, or game pieces, or jewelry, or….
A fun button activity for a wide variety of ages comes from combining 2 items kids love… buttons and pipe cleaners!You need:
What you do:
For more than 40 additional button craft projects head on over to ArtistsHelpingChildren.org where you’ll find a variety of ideas and instructions that take you beyond mere button stringing!
And if you haven’t yet accumulated a jarful of buttons, click on the image below and grab a big bag of buttons for cheap! 
Groups games are fun in and of themselves AND you can ramp up their effectiveness and value by framing the game with a story or simply pointing out an interesting facet of the game. Doing this before you start to play also adds to the conversation after the game when players share how they experienced the game… what they liked and what made them like it.
In other words… that book you’ve read over and over and over again has somehow become their first reader!
