Summer Fun #19: Marshmallow Sculptures

Simple, easy, fun. Good for a rainy or too hot day. Only need marshmallows and toothpicks. I'd suggest leaving the marshmallows out for a little while so they can become somewhat stale. We used fresh from the bag and our sculptures tended to sag a bit. If they were a tad harder, our sculptures probably wouldn't have fallen over so easily.  

Summer Fun #10: Paint with Sidewalk Chalk Paint

Using a cheese grater from the dollar store, I took our smallest pieces of chalk and grated them down to a powder then added water. When painting with the watery mixture, it didn't look like much chalk was on the pavement, but when it dried it looked great!

Summer Fun #32: Blueberry Picking and the yummy things I made

We love blueberry picking here! My favorite part is using the berries to make yummy food. This year I had the chance to make three different items with all the berries we picked. I used Pinterest to find new recipes to try.

I make Blueberry Buckle every year, it is my family's absolute favorite blueberry recipe I make. I use this recipe from Simple Recipes.

(image from The Novice Chef)

Next I made Blueberry Lime Cream Cheese Pound Cake. This recipe came from The Novice Chef and can be found here. I mostly stuck to the recipe, the only change I made was using lime juice instead of zest. I just don't like zest in the things I bake.

(image from Bake at 350)

Lastly I made a Blueberry Cheesecake Pie. Recipe is over at Bake at 350. The only change I made was with the crust. I didn't have any gingersnaps, but I did have an unopened, leftover box of Girl Scout shortbread cookies. I used the entire box to make the crust and followed the directions just like I was using gingersnaps. I loved it, but I'm the only one in my home who likes cheesecake, so I ate almost the entire things myself!

Now that I'm about 10 pounds heavier (totally worth it!), I'm done baking with blueberries until next year.

Summer Fun #17: Make something from Fairies Cookbook

We made Magic Bonbon Cookies. Super easy and they didn't taste to bad, actually they were pretty good! Due to copy write laws and blah blah blah, I won't post the recipe, but I highly recommend if you have a little girl who loves to help in the kitchen, get this book! Get it here from Amazon for only $12.27 or check it out of your local library.

Anyway, here are some pictures of what our cookies looked like:

 

 

YUM!

Summer Fun #1: Shaving Cream Painting

This was fun and easy. All you need is a cookie sheet, thick paper (like cardstock), poster or tempered paint, shaving cream (got mine at the dollar store) and a toothpick.

Step 1:
Put shaving cream on the cookie sheet and have kids spread it around

 

 

Step 2:

Once the shaving cream is "smooth" add a few drops of paint

 

 

 

Step 3:

Have kids swirl the paint using the toothpick

 

 

Step 4:

Place paper on the swirled paint/shaving cream. Press down gently then lift. Place to the side to dry for a few minutes

 





Step 5:

Once the paint has dried, use the back of a knife or a squeegee to lightly wipe the shaving cream off the paper. Tada! Now admire your work

 

 





Summer Fun #27: Day trip out of state

It was a last minute idea, but a good idea nonetheless. We took a little road trip to Maine! Got to stay in a cabin in Southwest Harbor for four nights. Went shopping in Bar Harbor. Had lunch at Jordan Pond House. Overall an awesome start to our summer!!!

 

My son took this picture. It's of the roof to the cabin we stayed in.

Our cabin had a small, private beach the kids went to daily. There were hermit crabs at low tide! Outside a class room or pet shop, I had never seen hermit crabs. It was neat to see them in the wild. This picture is of a big crab the kids caught (and released). 

We even had chance to go for a hike. We went up to Bubble Rock.

 

Awesome mini vaca in the Beautiful state of Maine!

 

 

Summer Fun 2013

My children still have a week of school left until summer break (got to love those New England winters!) I have friends in other parts of the country who's children got out of school in May. I can't wait any longer to make our annual summer fun list, I can't wait until summer break! This is the first year both my kids were in school all day and I've missed them terribly. Also like last year, most of "my" ideas have come from Pinterest.

I found this schedule from A Grande Life and really liked it, so I based a lot of our activities on this.

Make Something Monday

1. Shaving Cream Painting

In Lieu of Preschool

 

2. Pipe Cleaner Ninjas

Frugal Fun 4 Boys

 

3. Sun Melted Crayon Candle

...and chaos ensued

 

4. Baked Bead Sun Catchers

A little artsy & A little craftsy

 

5. Styrofoam Printmaking

The berry

 

6. Toilet Paper Tube Snake

Cheap Crafty Mama

 

 

 

Get Outside Tuesday

 

A few Bubble Fun Days with some of these ideas:

7. Make tiny bubbles

our family world

 

8. Bubble Snake Maker

Come Together Kids

 

9. Blow bubbles with water bottles

Projects for Preschoolers

 

 

10. Make and paint with sidewalk chalk paint

(this is my photo taken last summer, I bought a cheese grater at the dollar store and shaved down some chalk and added a small amount of water, worked great!)

 

11. Sponge Bomb Bucket Toss

Inner Child Fun

 

12. Bubble Printing

The Chocolate Muffin Tree

 

 

What's Cooking Wednesday

 

13. Root Beer Float on a Stick

Smile Monsters

 

14. Homemade Rock Candy

Gluesticks

 

15. Campfire Cones

Come Together Kids

 

(No Pic for this one)

16. Make homemade ice cream, bake cookies, then use the two to make ice cream sandwiches!

 

Amazon link:

Fairies Cookbook

Amazon link:

Pink Ponies Cookbook

 

17. & 18. My daughter has the two above cookbooks and loves them. I have to admit, I think they're really cute (and easy) Not sure what we'll do yet but I'm sure we'll make a few recipes from each. If you have a girly girl who loves to be in the kitchen I highly recommend these books. (links are NOT affiliated, I just like the books!)

 

 

Thinking Thursday

 

19. Marshmallow Sculptures

Motherhood on a Dime

 

20. Fizzy explosion bags

All Things Beautiful

 

21. Homemade Lava Lamps

here

 

22. Microwave soap

Our Best Bites

 

23. Join our library's summer reading program

 

24. Write stories

 

 

 

Go Somewhere Fun Friday

 

25. Local Zoo

 

26. Local Farm to Pick Flowers

 

27. Day trip out of state (maybe an overnight trip)

 

28. Visit local battleship

 

29. Letterboxing ( Letterboxing North America has resources to find local boxes)

 

30. Local farm/petting zoo

 

31. Beach!

 

32. Blueberry picking

 

33. Go to the movies (so many good ones: Monsters University, Epic, Despicable Me 2, Turbo, Smurfs 2!, Might have to see a few of these)

 

Miscellaneous Fun

 

34. Sundae Monday

 

35. Bird Watching

 

36. Movie Night

 

37. Board Game Day

 

38. Make scrapbooks with all our extra photos

 

39. Have a picnic (or as my children say "Pick-A-Nic")

 

40. Build a fort with blankets

 

 

 

 

Free and cheap things for kids to do in June

Here are some free and cheap activities to kick off the summer!

• For $2 an activity, kids can to a verity of crafts at Michaels like making a father's day duck tape frame on June 15th, or making silly shells on June 22nd. For a full list check here
• Buy a Nicole Crafts tote at A.C. Moore and decorate it with Simply Spray for free. Details here
• Every Saturday in June Lowe's build and grow will be making Monsters U items, click the link for more details
• On June 6th, Home Depot will have a Despicable Me 2 workshop. Full listing here
• In you have a Bank of America or Merrill Lynch debit or credit card, take advantage of their Museums On Us program. Free admission to over 150 museums across the country. Click here to find a museum near you.
• Select Regal Cinemas will be hosting Summer Movie Express starting in June. For only $1 you can watch movies like The Three Stooges and Ice Age: Continental Drift every Tuesday and Wednesday at 10am. Full listing available here
• Every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday & Sunday, Bass Pro Shops will offer a free craft for kids starting from noon-2pm on June 8th. Visit Bass Pro Shop for more details.
• Visit Petco on June 15th from noon-4pm. There will be a Meet and Greet where guests can interact with various reptiles. Pet parents can show off their reptiles in the Raddest Reptile Contest. There will also be fun reptile matchmaking games. Find your nearest Petco here

Hope you have a fun month!

Kids earn a free book

Barnes and Noble is offering kids in grades 1-6 a free book when they read 8 books this summer. Check here for all the details.

To Your Health!

Picture visuals are always more appealing.