This post idea, to test our sunscreen by painting on our paper with sunscreen and leaving them out in the sun, was inspired by the comment by Lady in a Small Town in my earlier post, Sun-bleached Alphabet Puzzle. She said that she’d heard of an experiment where they painted with sunscreen and watched the sun bleach the paper except for the painted portions. It sounded like fun! We added the Scientific method as I have always wondered which type of sunscreen was more effective: rub-on or …

My preschoolers love to paint – and I love to spice up life a bit! Who wants to eat pretzels from a boring bag clothed up with a plain old clip? Not me!
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…and viola! We have some fun and funky clothespins!
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Do you have any fun painting projects you’ve done with your kids lately?

Anna of The Lawrence Girls and Daddy, has three crafty girls.  The stories of their lives and interactions has me laughing almost every time I read her blog!  In 2-3 weeks our little girl will arrive and I am both terrified and curious what life with three girls is like – curious, read her blog!  Till then, Anna and her girls had a recent craft project – blowing bubbles and making art!  What a great combination!  We did bubble art last summer, but used cups.  I know my kids would …

Liz from A Belle, a Bean and a Chicago Dog, reminded me about the joys of letting our kids explore.  We have a camera for the kids to use, one of our old ones, but it has been up on a high shelf for quite sometime.  Kids love documenting events with photos and I love how Liz created a scrapbook with her daughter.  I should do this with my kiddos, just as soon as I can find the cable to remove the pictures their camera has been collecting.  Till …

I first found out about Shakey Bottles from a stay-at-home Dad/friend, he made them for his son to enjoy and also gave them out as gifts.   I loved the concept and have had my eyes peeled for a number of weeks, looking for the perfect bottles!  I finally found some at during a trip to a salvage grocery store.  Whoohoo!  Time to make our Shaking bottles!  Hopefully these will help entertain our youngest during a long road trip coming up.
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What you need to make your own Shaking Bottle Toddler Toy:

Some …

My kids love to paint and I hate to waste stuff.  Every Spring we weed through the cabinet under the bathroom sink and get rid of all the expired lotions and what-not.  Sunscreen isn’t effective if it is old (and one of my kids burns badly – I learned this the hard way!).  So what will we do with all the old lotions and sunscreen?  Make our own Finger Paint!
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What you need to make your own lotion-based finger paint:

Old containers of lotion or sunscreen
Tin to hold the paint
Food coloring

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We used …

Who doesn’t have a matchless sock hanging around the laundry pile?  Sock puppets are easy to make and a ton of fun to play with this is a great way to inspire creativity and use those lone socks!
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What you’ll need to make a sock puppet:

A sock – the more colorful the better!
Stuffing – or a few cotton balls
Buttons
Yarn
Felt

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What we did was stuff the stuffing into the heel of the sock to create some “puppet ears”.
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For the eyes we cut our circles of felt, then used the button in the …

We had leftover egg dye from dying our eggs a few days ago, and if you know anything about the Quirky household from reading this blog over the last few months, our preschoolers love to paint!  We used a wide variety of dripping/spraying tools from paintbrushes that we flicked, old toothbrushes that we sprayed, straws that we used as drippers,  and even a cotton ball that we used to smear the dye on our papers.  I loved the effect of the dye on the paper!  If you want to make …

Combine play sand with cornstarch and you get lots of sand fun!  What is great about this mixture is that unlike regular sand, it cakes together when slightly damp.  Almost becoming hard, but smashes back into sand.  All of my kids enjoyed playing with there new “outdoor only” tub!  I will warn you though, they were covered in sand when they were done!  The “clumping qualities” exist on clothing too – haha.  This was messier than regular sand, it didn’t just brush off until it was bone dry (aka when …

Do your preschoolers use a ton of chapstick?  Mine do!  And I needed an alternative to help their cracking lips (gotta love winter weather) and something that I felt safe with them ingesting.  I was inspired after reading about a friend who mixed shortening and a juice mix to create a yummy edible lip balm.  We adapted it slightly.  We like a “harder” solution – here’s what we made, and my kids love it!
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What you will need make your own edible lip balm:

1/2 a cup of vegetable shortening
1 teaspoon of …