Counting Fun!

I found this fun apple page at Homeschool Parent and knew it was just what I was looking for!! I'm trying to get my little guy to start counting higher than 10 and also identify the numbers! (we use lego flowers, since I use a lot of lego in my shop! I slipped it into a page protector, so that we can use it over and over again! Share one of your favorite print outs!!

Thrifty and Easy Sand Box on the Go!

 Roman and I were dying to get out and play in this perfect weather, yet it was too chilly to be at the water table and I didn't want to start on the garden without the big kids there. We put our thinking caps on while sitting on the grass waiting for Gabriel to get out of school and came up with a fantastic idea, SAND!!

 Let's backtrack and talk about the big sandbox that the kids could fit in from last year (Step2) it was nice and luxurious, but the kids were always all sandy when they came in and it was a pain when they wanted to play quick and we had places to go. I wanted something EASY and Portable that could come with us when we went to grandparents homes and other visits where they get bored or antsy after 10 minutes of sitting there staring at eachother!

First, I had a large under bed storage container that was just sitting around empty. (Sal got it at the Salvation Army when he went and donated items, a man asked if he wanted to trade bins with him! haha) Next, a trip to Menards got us 2 bags of sand and random pieces that I found while strolling up and down the aisles! (toys can be made from ANYTHING!!) Finally I poured in the sand and tossed in the toys and we were ready to party!! I like this, because we can only use 1 half if that's all we want to play in OR the entire lid comes off! It's also on the wheels to make it easier for the kids to wheel around the back patio if they want to move it out of the way.

Creative Experiment Rubber Bands!

I love to read blogs in the morning with my cup of tea, feeling the warm sunshine on my face (after I have driven the carpool, and tidied up of course! haha) and taking an hour to myself. When I came across Tinker Labs Creative Experiment Post today, I knew I had just the project for my youngest and I! The weather went from fabulous to blahh this week and I wanted something that would cheer us up and get our gears cranking! We pulled out his ducky blanket, popped some Vivaldi on the radio (okay the Comcast classical channel!!) and got to thinking! Within 5 minutes he yelled "Make Guitar!" and we were off and running!!

We pulled out our yogurt container of rubber-bands from the craft bin, pulled down our big art case for the oil pastels and finally snagged the right size box from our cardboard bin! He started slipping on the bands, while I handed them to him and then we decorated the box afterwards! He loves it and is now off and singing Bannie Bill (No CLUE!) and dancing around! SO CUTE!

Do you have any ideas on what to make with rubber-bands???