Summer's nearly here

And that brings its own set of challenges, living with a hubby and two small energetic boys in a small house on a small peice of land in the middle of the 'burbs.

No creeks to paddle in and they're not allowed to run through sprinklers in these days of water restrictions.

What to do to keep us (me and the kids really as hubby gets the luxury of working in an airconditioned office, well, it's a luxury when it's stinking hot outside, otherwise not perhaps) coolish and entertained-ish? I'm all for the boys entertaining themselves but for the sake of sanity, I sometimes need an activity that doesn't involve the words "it's MINE!/I had it!/I want it/he did it first/go away!/RRRAAAAHHHH!". (I'm hoping that's just a stage)

So, yesterday afternoon....hottest day so far..... saw us having a water fight.

Not a really wet and annoying type of water fight, but an everyone-has-a-squirty-bottle type water fight. The kids stripped down to as little as I'd let them get away with (considering we're playing out the front so passers-by are inadvertently entertained) and we all ran round like mad, hot things.

This is an ideal type of water fight as the possibility to get really drenched is very slim, the bottles don't shoot all that far, they don't fire a lot of water at once and even my 2 yr old could join in....no air-pump action required.

And they don't break down.

And they're cheap to purchase.

In my books, squirty bottles (do they have an official name?) are an essential part of your thrifty, summer, keep-the-kids-out-of-mischief outdoor equipment stash.

The other thing that I plan to do a lot of this summer is make...and eat...lots of healthy-ish, home made icypoles/popsicles.

I started off with a mango sorbet made in my beloved thermomix the day before...

And the leftovers went into the molds I purchased last summer for this express purpose.

Ahh, what more could you ask for on a hot day?

Well, apart from a creek to splash in or a sprinkler to run through perhaps, but we're making sure to love what we DO have, not pine for what what we don't.

Roll on summer!

Non-pumpkiny glass jar Jack-o-lantern (yes late, I know)

This craft was not meant to look like it does, it was meant to look like this... (oops, just noticed that blog has been made invite only, sorry, ignore the link)

which is an Autumn leaf lantern. Although being spring, I was going to try it with the new spring growth leaves, hoping they would have the translucency needed.

However, it looks like this:

which I actually think is rather cool too.

One nasty, Jack-o-lantern type thingy.

This was entirely Mr 5's idea: as I was trying to drag him outside on a leaf hunt, he was dead set on creating his own piece of Halloween.

Seeing as we don't celebrate Halloween AT ALL.

Although I did whip up a batch of cupcakes for pre-school and pipe spider webs onto them.

And made a few of these bats too, just for fun.

But really, we don't celebrate it widely here in Australia, which I'm glad for, just to avoid the candy overload that seems to occur.

However, Mr 5 very much likes the idea of Jack-o-lanterns, whereas I have absolutely NO desire to go round carving evil faces in pumpkins.

So we got the jars ready for our leaves, then he dragged out the crepe paper, got dad to cut out a suitably ugly countenance, glued it on, found a candle, stuck it onto the bottom of the jar, got dad to light it, drew all the curtains and called me to come and see.

Cool, huh?

I might be able to stretch to Jack-o-lanterns every year if we follow this formula.

No icky pumpkin covered hands required.

Boo!

Using up those crayon odds and ends

I needed something fun to do with the boys and not too messy for a change, so we dug out the crayon box and got busy. I thought we'd have a go making our own crayons out of all the old, broken and just-not-great crayons, like I talked about here.

For molds, we used my small silicone cupcake molds (that I don't use for cupcakes because I can never get the cupcakes OUT of them) and they worked just fine.

First we peeled the crayons...

Then turned the oven up to 100c/210f and selected the crayons for our molds.

(Please excuse the manky looking tray, I cover it with a silicone sheet when I actually use it for anything food related. I know, gross, aren't I? ;b)

Then into the oven for about 10-15 minutes and bingo:

Once they were out, Mr 2 decided to pop extra crayons in them. Looked kinda cool actually.

And here they are.

Perfect for stacking, it turns out.

They are yet to be actually drawn with, though I did sneak one and try it out hehe. Works perfectly of course.

These are worth trying, especially if you're after something cheap, cleanish and quickish.

We need to get some more crappy crayons now, just so I can feel justified in doing this again.

Easy fun, this one!

Plastic bag kite - super thrifty (and easy)

Do your kids ever want to take their kite out when it's not windy?

Well, read on to find an easy solution.

I found this somewhere out there in bloggyland, but cannot for the life of me remember where I saw it. But I thought it was so inspired, I stashed it in my memory (or what passes for one these days, ha)

Wee!

Now, maybe my kids are just gullible, but they've really enjoyed this activity both times we've done it.

Do I need to explain it?

Ok, you take a plastic grocery bag (I just need to say I do use cloth bags, but I still end up with the odd plastic bag kicking round), take a longish piece of wool or string, tie it round the handles....tying them together in the process......, leave the long end for a kite string, and there ya go.

Now run!

Instant boofy kite.

You now have an instant wearing-out-kid activity made up in about two minutes.

Or maybe one minute if you actually have a plastic bag handy and don't have to go searching in the deepest recesses of your kitchen for one.

Picture quality disclaimer: I am once again house-sitting the mansion, except this time the mansion still has it's three kids in it, plus my two. So I'm actually, house/kid/dog sitting really. Anyway, because of this I'm on the laptop, and I'm never quite sure how my photo editing is on this, it all depends at what angle the screen is, which is very helpful, not.

We're having a great time though, but buying and cooking for five kids, three of them who eat like adults, is an eye opening experience!

Ninja!

I knew I was saving toilet rolls for something.

In an attempt to do something vaguely educational, yet non-costly, I adopted an idea I'd seen on Journey Into Unschooling. I can't find the exact post on their blog, but they do some very cool home-school things over there, it's well worth checking out.

What small boy can resist ninjas?

First, if you know nothing about ninjas, it would be worth your time to do a little rudimentary research on the net.

Then break out the toilet rolls, and the paints, and get to it:

We learned that real ninjas are unlikely to have dressed in black.

Most would have worn regular civilian clothing (we learned what a civilian is too, hehe)

We gave them shurikens, throwing stars, a tessen, spikes, a katana and someone even has a grappling hook.

We learned that what Daddy knows about ninjas comes from popular movie culture, and that we now know more than Daddy about REAL ninjas.

Meet Donatello, Raphael, Michaelangelo, Snowy, Blueboy, Leonardo, Squinty, Bob, William, Ninja Man and Green Guy. Very inventive, huh??

All in all, a satisfying morning spent learning about ninjadom.

School holiday busy-ness

School holidays are upon us again, which means no pre-school, no swimming lessons and no gymnastics class (which Mr 5 has given up for the next term anyway).

So, what to do?

On day one I broke out some of our crafty supplies so the kids could get jiggy with our new hot glue gun, the old one having cacked itself the weekend before the holidays were due to start, giving me a minor panic attack. 

Ha, just kidding really, though hubby did wonder HOW ON EARTH we managed to break a glue gun, apparently they are too simple to break? This one went with a pop and a wee puff of smoke and set off the safety switch on the electrical switchboard for good measure.

But all that aside, need some frugal craftiness? Buy yourself a hot glue gun, you won't regret it. They're good for everything. Even gluing Batman's leg back on AND Spiderman's head back on.

 Don't ask.

So we set up on the floor. The glue gun always seems in danger of falling off the table, which makes the floor the safest option.

This lot came from a car boot sale, I think it was a craft store closing down, from memory. 

I picked up a few good bags of craft supplies there.

And these guys were part of a Geo-mag set....magnet sticks and balls.....that I picked up at a market. The balls and sticks got added to, then divided in half and gifted in small drawstring pouches to two small boys. These I didn't include in the gift because I couldn't quite see the point of them, they don't have magnets in them, they just seemed like extra....padding. But I did keep them. 

Obviously, right?

So the kids got creative and we took their new creations out to experience the world...

They tested their wings...

Played hide and seek....

And investigated the letter box.

Kept them entertained for a couple of hours at least, and with only one small blister on a thumb from the hot glue. I would have said it's not quite hot enough to burn, but I think Mr 2 1/2 actually glued right onto his thumb, so probably got the hot metal tip on him. Bad mummy, I should have been watching just a tad closer. 

But we're all still alive and smiling, hopefully I can still say that at the end of school holidays....!

Up up and away!

I have to share this activity, I saw it in a magazine and just knew it was written with my boys in mind.

If you want to see the original article, it's in the latest Donna Hay kids magazine, which also has many other things in it worth drooling over. In fact, I no longer have a subscription to Donna Hay mag (which I was gifted by a good friend) but I may just have to order this issue specially.

We all know kids want to fly, don't we? 

I'm sure it's not just mine, fairy wings and super hero capes lurk in many a dress-up box.

Well, check THIS one out:

The Coolest Rocket Pack In The Whole World

(and maybe in the whole Universe too)

Very easy to make, let me run you through it.

You will need:

2 x soft drink type bottles

(don't drink the stuff yourself, it's rotten for your health! Scrounge them from someone else, as I did ;)

mirrored cardboard

(I bought mine at a major office supplies store but really, any large sheet of cardboard will do, it does not need to be mirrored) 

masking or gaffa tape

crepe paper

elastic

(for shoulder straps)

sticky tape

 Trim your cardboard so that when you wrap it round your bottle, it will come past the bottom of the bottle.

Wrap it round the bottle, leaving the cap end of the bottle sticking out slightly. 

Like so.

Fasten the card to the bottle with double-sided tape. 

Or with whatever you have, we tried the glue gun but found that regular tape folded back over itself to make double sided tape worked better.

Now, lay out a decent sized length of gaffa or masking tape, sticky side up. Or any other wide sticky tape.

Cut differing lengths of yellow/orange/red and blue (blue for super speed!) crepe paper and fix end of each piece of crepe paper to the tape.

Like this.

Now roll the tape around the cap end of your bottle.

Then you have this.

(Mr 2 takes modelling very seriously)

Now do the other bottle in the same fashion, and fix the two together, side by side. 

Regular sticky tape was good for this.

Lastly, attach some thinnish elastic at the top of each silver tube and attach the other end of the elastic to the bottom of the silver tube. We used staples for this. 

This makes the straps for holding the rocket on the back of the Rocketeer.

You can see the straps here.

Then, go outside and take off!

If you like, you can go for the stream lined model, as per Mr 5. 

So fast, you can't even see the flames!

And when your little Rocketeers are tired out and tucked up in their beds, you might even sneak in to give them a kiss and find this. I'm sure I didn't tuck him in with his rocket pack on...

(Just so you know, they don't sleep with the light on, I was able to turn it on and they didn't even stir)

Flying is hard work...

 I wonder what they dreamed about?

Everyone outside! Introducing, The Swinging Thing

I've been struggling this week. 

Last week, and the one before that, it seemed like I was on a natural high, nothing got me down.

This week, I'm doing it all with gritted teeth.

The boys are picking at each other every given opportunity, the weather is cold, windy and grey, we're in a small house and, and, and.......I'm just on edge and crabby.

Yesterday, I walked the boys up to pre-school and dropped off my 5 year old. 

Then I had to run back to one store to retrieve my wallet I thought I had left there.

 It wasn't there, which lead me to unpack the double jogger of blankets, wheat bags, snack for 2 year old and a few groceries.

 My wallet was underneath it all. Of course.

20 minutes later we were ready to trek back home and I had to race back to where I had unpacked the jogger earlier to retrieve one of the kids blankets I had left on a shelf in the store. Right.

Today we went off to swimming lessons only to realise while in the pool and still about 20 minutes from lesson time, that lessons are actually on TOMORROW.

The same day of the week that the lesson was on LAST week. And the week before that. Duh.

And yesterday afternoon my 5 year old developed a peculiar eye-rolling tic, which appears to be involuntary and is just a tad worrying. Off to the Dr and chiro for him tomorrow.

Sooooo, getting the boys outside is a hugely important part of my day, even more so this week, for the sanity of all, to get us some sun (hopefully), blow out the cobwebs, burn off some energy and get my head on straight again.


Enter, The Swinging Thing.

Take some old pantyhose or stockings and cut one leg off at the knee.


Ball up some newspaper and shove it down into the toe.

Tie a knot in the stocking just above the newspaper.

Wa lah. You have made a Swinging Thing.

See it?

There it goes!

Now see how long it takes them to throw it on a roof.

But seriously, these are cheap to make and great fun.
 Perfect for open spaces and if you play a game of see-how-far-away-mum-can-throw-it, you'll keep then entertained for hours.

Certainly long enough to blow away my cobwebs. Phew, what a week!

How to make a snow cake

If you're after a quick, cheap but entertaining activity, this one's for you.

My little fellas and I tried this out one morning after reading a kid's book entitled The Lemon Sisters.

Straight after breakfast, actually, as can be evidenced by the stack of bowls in the sink and the washcloths lined up in front of the sink. If I'd got the 'lil fella in a picture you'd see him in his footy pjs and if I got me in a photo, you'd see me in all my morning glory. So be thankful I didn't.

I think the author actually called it lemon ice, but somewhere in the book they talked about a snow cake and that's what stuck in our heads, so snow cake it was.

Now, in our hemisphere there actually IS snow around at the moment, though not close to where we live.

If you had real, clean snow you could certainly use it or you could do as we did and crush some ice instead.

If you happen to be living in the OTHER hemisphere though, this is a great little cool treat for a hot day.

Just sayin', ya know, in case anyone's HOT over there.

OK.

First up, gather some snow, or, crush some ice in a high powered blender.

Or in your thermomix, as I did.

Scoop some snow into a bowl and squeeze over some lemon juice.

Now sprinkle over some sugar.

Using white sugar obviously keeps it all white, but you could use brown sugar or rapadura instead.

Layer more juice and sugar and snow, as many layers as you like.

Scoop into bowls and enjoy.

Now chase the 'lil fella round the house to get him out of his thoroughly sticky, damp, lemony pjs and wipe down all kitchen surfaces that have lemon juice, sugar and melted snow drips on them.

Mmm mmm, ' twas tasty though...

One for your little Spiderman fan

This is another quick way to impress your five year old. Actually, it wasn't all that quick, but not too time consuming overall.

 And it looks so cool!

It's a spiderweb, in case you can't tell.

 It's not perfectly formed but when your 2 and 5 year olds are helping you out at every step along the way, you've just gotta go with the flow and give up that hope for perfection.

Here's what you do:

Cover a bowl in tinfoil.

(I blu-tacked the foil in place)

Lightly grease the foil.

(I used olive oil and a pastry brush)

Lay out string or wool in the shape you desire, on top of the foil.

Get your hot glue gun into action and cover the strands of string in hot glue.

Go over it at least a couple of times.

Remove creation from bowl.

Ta dah!

(I cannot claim this idea as my own, we came across it somewhere on the web while searching for other Spiderman related things.)

I'm on a glue gun kick now, must see what other projects I can apply it to...

Need a quick way to impress your 5 year old?

An internet search titled 'simple science experiments' will bring forth all manner of ........er....well......simple science experiments. Funnily enough.

Just what I needed on a wet Sunday afternoon with a five year old who wanted to do 'an experience' aka an experiment. I didn't want to run to the shops to buy any special ingredients that might be needed so I trawled through a list of activities and found the perfect one. 

Perfect for my kid and for what I already had in my cupboard.

Here's what we did: 

Take one glass bottle with a wide-ish neck, we used an old juice bottle. 

Fill a water balloon or hard/soft boil an egg.

Light a scrap of paper and drop it in the bottle.

Quickly place your water balloon or egg on the mouth of the bottle.

Watch it get sucked inside the bottle.

Give a short talk on the effects of air expansion and contraction and the forces at work in this experiment.

I left bit that up to hubby.

Repeat the above steps over and over as per request, for suitably impressed 5 year old. 

Note: if you DO want to do this over and over, then use the water balloon and not the egg, for obvious reasons.

Rocks on the brain

I am a fan of rocks.

Big ones, little ones, smooth ones, odd shaped or coloured ones, they call to me in a way that other things in nature do not.

I'm not sure why, though I have geologists in my both my husband's family and my own extended family.

Not blood related to me though, so I can't claim familial tendency.
I stand corrected by my big sis, SHE has a geology background, so there ya go, it IS in my immediate family.

I do remember driving my parents just a wee bit crazy with the amount of rocks I used to collect and when they upped sticks and moved countries some years back, they still had a few boxes of my rocks in their house.

Needless to say, I have curbed my collection somewhat, though I do find myself encouraging my boys to pick up and closely inspect any rock that takes their fancy, I just can't seem to help myself.

And rocks are thrifty as far as entertainment goes, there are endless varieties and often there are plenty of free places to collect them from.

Another positive, if the kids....or you....get sick of the rock collection, they can be returned to nature.

So what to do with all the rocks they collect?

(Just so you know, they do not collect them from a natural source, but from a communal rock garden down the street.)

This time we painted them.

And see our recycled paint containers?
Egg cartons are perfect for this, they don't spill or tip over and they can be tossed in the recycling once you're done.

Older kids can (try) to paint shapes, faces or bugs on their rock...

And little ones can just paint........whatever.

Really, the fun at this preschool age is in the act of painting and not so much in the finished product.

And at the end, my two will invariably paint their hands.

Have you painted on your skin? It's a bit of a cool feeling and in summer, maybe I'll let them get nekkid and paint their whole selves.

But, back to the business at hand.

I love this activity on so many levels because.....

It's cheap. Er, I mean thrifty.
It involves outside time while collecting (although we have painted outside in nice weather)
It involves paint.
And rocks.
And concentration from wee people.
And mess that is usually confined to one table and two children.

All things I can deal with on an average mum-at-home-with-two-kids day.