ARTISTIC Tuesday # 1 and 2

I had planned to get these up a lot closer to the days we were actually doing these projects, but now is as good a time as ever, I guess! It's amazing how quickly that lazy summer mentality seeps into routine.

Our first Artistic Tuesday was a very simple one. On our pre-summer dollar store shopping trip, the girls found little cross-stitch kits they wanted to try out, so we got one for each of them. They came with a plastic needle and "fabric" and several colors of yarn. I believe the intention was to make the design on the cover, but the plastic fabric had no outline for it and it seemed too complicated so the girls made simple outlines instead to follow. It was a fun way to introduce them to the idea of cross-stitch, and it made them feel grown up to be "sewing," but I wouldn't recommend buying the kit at the dollar store. The yarn is too thick to work with and about halfway through, their needles looked like they came out of the "There was a crooked little man" story. That being said, it was a great $2 spent because it kept them occupied for hours!

Artistic Tuesday # 2 was also a simple project. Once again our materials came from the dollar store. We found five different colored packages of "foam dough," which is basically just sticky little balls of foam that you squish into different shapes. I found this to be just as fun of a material to work with as the kids did. My little guy loved it as well, even though he kept saying, "eeeww" as it stuck to his hands. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of him working with it. :(

So far these cheap materials are proving to be quite the success around here!

MAD SCIENCE Monday # 1

For our very first themed day, I chose something simple, but that I knew would hold their attention at least for a little while. I always loved playing with GOOP as a child, so I knew the kids would too. I've also heard this called oobleck. All that you need are cornstarch, water, and food coloring if you're feeling brave.

To make this seem like more of a science experiment, I gave each of the kids their own plastic bin, a box of cornstarch and filled up a pitcher of water for them to share. This way, they could each attempt to make their own goop, testing out different mixtures to see what made the best goop.

Amazingly, this kept all of their attention (including my not-quite-two-year-old AND my 9 year old!) for at least an hour. This makes such a fun consistency; is it a solid or a liquid? They had fun trying to figure it out between bouts of mad scientist laughter and cries from my 6 year old that she is "going to take over the world!"

This little project carried them well into the afternoon as I had the girls spray off the patio (it easily rinses away), which turned into the first water fight of the season. Now it really feels like summer!