FunThingsToDoWithUrKidz

need~ Plate construction paper  marker/crayons dried rice or beans tape glue Steps~ First fold the plate in half and fill with beans or rice. (not to much) Tape close, then cut out feathers and a body for our turkey decorate them before gluing them on.   & done! Easy craft you could do before dinner or after and a fun instrument!~

Every holiday season Charlie brown is big in this house. All of his specials come on the television  and it is something I love sharing with my kids. Each kid has their favorite person and it helps us bring in each holiday season. So when our local fast food place announced they will be having charlie brown toys we had to get our hands on some. After looking we ended up with 4 different ones. To add to play time we filled a bin with some flour and added the toys to make a snowy day. As you can see from the top of the picture my kids couldn't wait to play. In the end it was a good messy play time and the toys can always be played with alone too.  note~ we used flour but really you can use anything, it is just about showing kids toys can be played with many different ways. 

Searching threw different stores, we came across this new cake mix. It is Funfetti by Pillsbury and comes in all different colors. We grabbed two packs to bring home and make play doh from. To make the play doh all you need is the cake mix, cornstarch and water. For each pack of cake mix we used almost one box of cornstarch. We mixed the dry ingredients together first then added water little by little till dough formed. The end result was a soft play doh. We did not add any spices or anything but that could easily be done. Great for coloring mixing activities!~ 

My son has been bugging me to play with cotton balls recently. He is a hands on learner that loves getting messy, so this is one of his favorite things to play with. We put one bin full of water and one full of cotton balls on the floor and just let him explore with them. His sister did join in and brought some droppers and cups along.  We talked about how soft the cotton balls felt both wet and dry. We also talked about how much water they held  and how they felt heavier when wet. You could also add food coloring and talk about mixing colors. Really its all about little hands exploring. 

need~ pine cones paint paper pen You could also use some glitter and dip it in the glitter after painted. Also we used cinnamon scented pine cones, made it very nice. Great for Thanksgiving dinner~ 

Fun and easy to make counting cups of coco. To make the cups I used constriction paper and glued the "coco" into the cup. After that I put a number on each cup and my son glued that many cotton balls to the cups. The cotton balls are suppose to be marshmallows in the hot coco. I didn't but I could imagine it would be nice if you glued down some hot coco mix before placing the cotton balls. Make it not only look good but smell amazing!~

This tree is simple to make but takes time. I found my 4 year would help but quickly got distracted, while my 5 1/2 year old was more into it and could do more. To make we started with a square base and worked our way up, hot gluing as we went. Then used small twigs that are flexible to weave around the tree to make it look more circle. When it gets "old" we plan on using it for our nature tree this year and covering it in peanut butter, bird seed and other things before placing it outside.  Note~We used all sticks and twigs we found outside, we just let them sit for little to make sure nothing was living in or on them. 

Made using~ sticks & twigs hot glue felt string Easy enough for older kids to help or even make. We hot glued the joints together and tied them with string. Then added a felt scarf and nose.

Simple idea when real balloons are not allowed. After we cut the swirls out of the balloons we actually used them to decorate too.

Our mini lego wall, we used command strips to hang. Both me and my kids really enjoyed this. It gave a whole new way to look at building with legos. This idea also helped keep the legos off the floor giving more play room!

Fun, simple activity that could be turned into a learning experience. Ways to learn~ Counting each stack of legos Colors of each stack Patterns (make each stack a different color pattern)  size order use different things to knock the stacks down (see what works best and what does not) taking turns   

Things just really do not last in our house. We are always trying to think of ways to incorporate any thing into play time. We had few more small pumpkins left and decided to make a pumpkin neighborhood. We cleaned them and I cut a door out of each.(would look cool with windows too) Added some play toys and out we went. Found a nice spot with lots of leaves and pine cones and played. It was fun and festive. When done we did some pumpkin chunkin, but that is another post for another time. :)