Sorting Colors

This is a project that I did with Corky before our sick break. She doesn't like sorting projects very well so it didn't last too long (I guess I will keep trying) but it got a few giggles.

I used three colored bowls and then gathered various small objects of like colors: pieces of pipe cleaners, ribbon tied in knots, hair bands, small squares of construction paper, foam shapes, ect.

I let her match the colors of the objects to the bowls. It was easy for her-- maybe that's why she doesn't like sorting that much. Other kids love this stuff but not mine! Anyway, maybe this will help another mother!

Snow Ice Cream

The massive snow storm that barreled through here last week inspired me to make snow ice cream for Corky. She actually preferred eating just the snow, but Hubby and I loved it! Here's how I did it:

1. Fill a bowl with snow.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine 1 pint of Heavy Cream, Agave Necter (make it as sweet as you like), and 1/2 Tbs. Vanilla Extract.

3. Mix together, but don't whip it (You can do it by hand, I just wanted an excuse to use my mixer!).

 

4. Pour slowly over the snow. Stir it all up until it resembles ice cream. It usually has the same texture as freshly homemade ice cream!

5. Enjoy!!

Fun Fridays: Our First Gingerbread House!

This year Corky was old enough to make her first Gingerbread house! It turned out beautiful* and she was surprisingly cooperative! For those of you who know my daughter, you know that she is extremely independent and stubborn. So I was thrilled when she let me show her what to do. She normally doesn't give you the chance to give any instruction, she just wants to do it herself. So... going into this project, I expected the end result to be something like a pile of gingerbread pieces with huge blobs of frosting and candy pieces scattered everywhere! It was nice to have some toddler cooperation!

* Notice that the chimney is sideways?? Mommy's fault!

                                      

She had lots of fun decorating the "gingy" house. This is something we will have to do again next year!

                                       

So, your wondering right?? Well, this is a project that Corky and I did this summer (I'm just getting around to posting about it) called Color Adventure. She named it herself, after the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode of the same name! In that episode, Mickey and friends discover that all the color is draining out of the clubhouse. To fix it, they must go on a scavenger hunt to find an object that represents each color of the rainbow. Well, when I made this little game I didn't realize that it was basically the same thing! She did however (so perceptive)!

Anyway, to make this, all you need is an empty egg carton and paints of various colors of the rainbow. Simply paint the inside of each crevice with a different color. Then take your child on an adventure. It is amazing how you can find each color right in your own back yard (flowers, rocks of various colors, a penny, some paper, mysterious piece of black plastic, leaves, a marble...)!! She still plays with her Color Adventure around the house when its too cold to go out!

Ice Paint!

This week Corky and I made Ice Paint. To make it, you just fill an ice tray and add food coloring. Then cut drinking straws into thirds and add them to the tray (these serve as handles) and freeze. We made the ice on Wednesday. I let her put the food coloring in the tray (once she figured it out, she squeezed the little food coloring bottle as hard as she could- so funny). She also got to put the straws in. When it was time to put them in the freezer, she was a little reluctant! She wanted to paint now! I told her that we would paint tomorrow. As soon as she woke up on Thursday, she said, “We play with Ice Paint?” So of course, that is exactly what we did!

This was a really great summer project. We just took the paint outside that way she could get a little messy (it kept her cool outside too since she decided to eat the ice when she was done painting)!

*I got the idea for this project from the blog, Chasing Cheerios.

Arts and crafts...

Friday and Saturday, Corky and I had fun making some things:

First, She decorated one of those foam visor hats with foam flower stickers! Oh how she loves stickers! I didn't get a picture of it but she went a little overboard! Foamy sticker on top of foamy sticker... It was on both sides of the visor... so cute! Afterward, she carefully peeled the stickers off so she could put them back on again!

While she was busy with that, I decided to make her some play food out of those foam craft sheets. I got the idea to do this because I caught her using real food in her play kitchen! She was also trying to feed her stuffed animals with real food! I don't really know why I didn't think about getting her play food before. She has a play kitchen, play dishes, play silverware... but no play food! Silly mommy! Anyway, it turned out pretty good and she played with it for hours when I was done! I got a picture of it, but by the time I peeled it from her Chef Boyardee hands, she had already misplaced the orange, broccoli, a piece of bacon, and a pretzel!

On Saturday, she made Papa's birthday present! Papa has a huge boat and ship collection, so we got him a little wooden toy boat and Corky "painted" it with markers. She had fun doing it but then she wanted to give it to him right away. I tried to explain that his birthday is tomorrow, not today... it took a lot of convincing. I think I had success when I mentioned something about happy birthday cake!

Puddin' Paint

We spent father's day weekend at my parent's house. My dad is very sick (terminal) so we often travel 120 miles to their house and stay for the weekend. This is good because they get to see Corky and we all get to visit. She loves to go to Granny and Papa's house! Today, she was in a very crafty mood so we made Puddin' Paint! It's easy, all you need is some vanilla pudding cups and food coloring. You can also use different flavors of pudding if you don't want to add the food coloring. Or you could color it with natural things like blueberries. Her favorite color is purple, so we just made purple and pink. The best part is that it is completely edible. Surprisingly, she painted more than she ate! Here are some of her masterpieces!