Painting on Bread, Drawing an Om Nom, and Writing Books

Here are some things we have done in the passed week.

We painted on bread  and boy did the kids have a great time doing it.  I found the idea here.  All you need is bread, milk, food coloring, and a paintbrush.

 We cut ours into dinosaur shapes since we have a fun sandwich cutter with that shape.  You could use any kind of cookie cutter.  The idea we found used flower shapes.

The boys also did an umbrella craft which I found here.

 We also learned how to draw Om Nom from the game "Cut the Rope".  The funny thing is that we do not have a device with the game on it, but the boys have played it on extended relatives Kindles and at Barnes and Noble on their Nooks and they love it.  I got a picture of the older boys with theirs.

 Today the older two wrote books.  My oldest actually wrote two books, but the second one was a wordless book about dinosaurs.  They spent a long time writing, drawing, and coloring in their books.  They both used characters from their favorite Mo Willems books (Gerald, Piggie, and the Pigeon) and I guess since they just had learned to draw Om Nom they wanted to practice more since he was in both of their books as well.

Rainbow Fish

Today we read The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. It is one we have read before and got from the library this passed week.  Then we did a cute fish craft that I found here.   The boys had a lot of fun gluing scales on their fish and playing with them when they were all finished.  We also talked about how sharing is a good quality in a friend.

Straw Flutes, Jumping Games, and other Summer Fun

Today we made these Magic (drinking straw) Flutes.  I found the idea and instructions here. 

 And here are my little men with their flutes.  They pretended they were Link from The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker game because he has a flute in the game that looks similar to this.

 We did some other activities last week as well.  One day we made a Father's Day craft for the boy's grandfathers.  Another day we played board games.  On Thursday we did this simple jumping game that kept them entertained for an hour or so.  I love when something so ridiculously simple as putting tape on the floor keeps them happy for a while.  On Friday we made decorations for their father's birthday which was on Saturday.

They also wrote in their journals every week day last week.  Well, my youngest tells me what to write and then they all draw a picture to go with what they wrote about.  The older two also read to me every day and I have chores for them to do each day.

Summer Journals

Well, it has been an embarrassing long time since I posted.  Sometimes life just gets ahead of you I suppose.  Anyway, my oldest is now out of school for the Summer and he loves to have things planned to do so hopefully I can be better at posting what we are doing throughout the Summer.

I bought the boys little journals to write in each night before bed about what they did throughout the day.  I liked these because they were made for young kids so there is a place to draw a picture and then large lines to make it easier to write.  You can see in my picture what the pages inside look like.

 Today we took some time decorating their journals.  Since my youngest doesn't read or write yet I gave him a journal with blank pages.  He can draw a picture and I will write a sentence or two down that he wants to write about the day.  Here they are with their journals.

 Here is a closer view of their journals.  I just used scrapbook paper and stickers we had on hand.  You could have your kids use pretty much anything to decorate.  I think they turned out cute.  We are excited to try them out!

Summer Loving: Activities for kids all summer long

I have been hopping around the internet looking at different ideas to do with my kids this summer.  There are lots of lists out there.  I compiled my own list and decided to share it on this blog.  The links on here are definitely worth checking out.  There are some creative, fun moms out there.  This list included 70 different activities to keep you and your children having fun this summer.

Crafts/Things to Make:

1. Cereal necklace
2. Write a Book
3. Tin Foil Robots
4. Recycle old crayons
5. BouncingBubbles
6. Sensory Balloons
7. Ice cubepaint
8. HomemadeDoodle Paint
9. Make pinwheels
10. NameMobiles
11. Rattle SnakeBuddy
12. Marshmallows and toothpick creations
13. Buildsponge towers
14. Volcanoesin a cup
15. MarbleMazes
16. Toy Truckpainting
17. SpongePainting
18. Kool-AidPainting
19. Make Your Own Bouncy Ball
20. DIY Sharpie Dyed Clothes
21. DIY Bleach T-Shirt

Water Activities

1. Water fightwith sponge balls
2. Boats andtin foil
3. Water SprayFight
4. SpongeRelay
5. WaterTable- diy 
6. Chalk andWater

Games/Other Activities

1. Read 15 minutes each day
2. Treasure hunt
3. Blow bubbles
4. Bean Bag Toss
5. Picnic
6. Obstacle course
7. Write using salt or sugar
8. ShapeMuncher game 
9. Make old pennies shiny with salt and vinegar
10. Family GoFish Card Games
11. ParachuteGames
12. PipeCleaner and strainer games
13. Oil andwater activities
14. SwirlingColors Milk
15. SoapExplosion
16. Play board games and puzzles
17. Play with Trio Blocks
18. Play with trains/tracks
19. Play with dinosaurs
20. Play with Mr. Potato Head Stuff
21. Play with Little People Stuff
22. Ice Balloons
23. Skylander Preschool Activities

Places to Go 

(Many are local to Utah)

1. Library
2. Bowling
3. Gilgal Sculpture Garden 
4. Cheap movie
5. Park- feed ducks
6. Antelope Island
7. Cherry Hill 
8. Hill Aerospace Museum 
9. Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum
10. Hogle Zoo
11. Syracuse Family Fun Center
12. Temple Square- scavenger hunt
13. The Living Planet Aquarium
14. Utah Botanical Center
15. Wheeler Historic Farm 
16. Clark Planetarium 
17. Utah Field House of Natural History State ParkMuseum 
18. Firefighter Museum (Tooele)
19. Tooele Railroad Museum
20. Eccles Dinosaur Park