Monthly Archives: August 2012

Backyard Movie Night – The Lorax

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Going to the theater is fun, but there are so many advantages to showing the movie right in your back yard.

Make a cute sign to show guests what movie you will be showing.  This frame started out as an old crib that I found in the alley.  I had my hubby cut off the legs and remove all the old hardware.  I plan on eventually painting it with chalkboard paint.  You can save time by using coloring page images as your sign graphic.  The bonus of using coloring pages is they usually free and fit most themes.

When choosing a movie, there are a few things to think about.  Make sure that you consider your audience.  We have young kids, so the movies that we show all need to be family friendly.  We try to show movies that we have already previewed, or older classic movies.  Also think about how long the movie is and what time you will be starting the show.

It is fun to have a few props to set the mood for the movie.  Each of our guests were given one these adorable Lorax mustaches that a sweet friend made.  The kids loved them and they had fun wearing their Lorax mustaches during the movie.

Every movie needs snacks, especially popcorn.  We made simple popcorn bags by cutting the top off regular brown lunch bags.  We had a few spilled drinks.  Which was no big deal, but next time I will have a few low tables for the kids and maybe lidded drinks.  It is also helpful to have little lights over the snack table to help the guests find the food table without tripping.

If you don’t own a proper movie screen, don’t worry.  Our movie screen is simple, cheap and works great.  All we use is a large painters drop cloth found at the local home improvement store.  We use one the is off white and it works great.  I have also read that a cheap white plastic shower curtain works too.

We stopped the movies about half way through for a quick intermission.  This allowed the kiddos to go the restroom and refill their snack bags without missing any of the movie.  We kept it brief so the movie would not drag on to long.

The kids loved making Lorax mustache shadows during the credits.

It was a memorable night and the kids look forward to doing it again soon.  My kids came up with a cute list of why back yard movies are better than going to the theater:

  • No tickets are needed.
  • Enjoy being outside in the fresh air.
  • Invite lots of friends.
  • Not as crowded.
  • Snuggle with your pillows and blankets.
  • You can wear PJ’s if you want.
  • The snacks are yummy (bonus of not paying movie theater prices).
  • You don’t miss any of the movie if you want more snacks.
  • You don’t have to leave home.

More cute ideas from around the web to make your Lorax party a hit – just click the caption under the photo for full instructions.

 

 

Exploding Art

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A little Science, a little art & a whole lot of fun! ~ Paint Alka Seltzer Rockets

My kids love Science Experiments!  The kids recently went to a VBS where they brought home fun rockets.  The rockets were basically a film canister and a single Fizzy tablet…similar to the Alka Seltzer Rockets.  The main difference is that the Fizzy’s are colored.  This got me thinking that maybe we could use paint instead of water and create our own colorful exploding art.

Exploding Art ~ A little Science, a little art & a whole lot of fun! Paint Alka Seltzer Rockets

 

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

To make your own Paint Alka Seltzer Rockets your will need:

  • Film Canisters – One that has a tight fitting lid.  The clear ones were really cool to watch since you could see the paint as it built up pressure before the canister exploded.
  • Slightly watered down Tempera Paint.
  • Alka Seltzer Tablets
  • Large sheet of paper

Exploding Art ~ A little Science, a little art & a whole lot of fun! Paint Alka Seltzer Rockets

Make sure you are doing this activity outside.  It is messy, but totally worth it.

  • Pour about a tablespoon of watered down tempera paint into your film canister.
  • Break the Alka Seltzer tablets into half.
  • Quickly drop 1/2 a tablet into the paint, tightly put on the lid and give it a quick shake.
  • Quickly place paint filled canister lid side down on your paper and stand back.

Exploding Art ~ A little Science, a little art & a whole lot of fun! Paint Alka Seltzer Rockets

 

The film canister will potentially fly 20 feet in the air, so make sure you are in an open area.  Most of the paint will splatter on the paper, but not all of it.

Exploding Art ~ A little Science, a little art & a whole lot of fun! Paint Alka Seltzer Rockets

 

 

You can see the lid left behind on the paper along with some of the Alka Seltzer tablet.  We did reuse the tablets as much as possible with pretty good results.

Exploding Art ~ A little Science, a little art & a whole lot of fun! Paint Alka Seltzer Rockets

 

Notice the canister is basically void of paint and most of the main splatter is on the paper with a slight trail leading up.  Our paper looked like a massive firework display.  Love it!

Exploding Art ~ A little Science, a little art & a whole lot of fun! Paint Alka Seltzer Rockets

 

This project was so much fun!  It got 2 thumbs up for everyone at our house.  Now I need to find the perfect wall for our beautiful new exploding art work.

Exploding Art ~ A little Science, a little art & a whole lot of fun! Paint Alka Seltzer Rockets

 

For more fun experiments, check out our:

 Fizzy Paint Experiment 

Water Bottle Popper

Ivory Soap Experiment

Dancing Oobleck

Walking on Raw Eggs

Popsicle Stick Harmonica

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Homemade Musical Instruments ~ Popsicle Stick Harmonica

Your kids will love making music with this simple DIY Popsicle Stick Harmonica.  They are so easy to make.  When my son saw instructions (not sure where) on how to create these simple homemade musical instruments, he rushed home to create his own.

Popsicle stick Harmonica ~ simple homemade musical instruments your kids can make

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

Popsicle Stick Harmonica Supplies

  • 2 Popsicle Sticks ~ We used the wide ones
  • 2 Rubber Bands ~ You could also use string
  • A strip of paper the same size as the Popsicle Stick
  • 2 toothpicks cut the width or just wider than the Popsicle Stick

Popsicle stick Harmonica ~ simple homemade musical instruments your kids can make

How to assemble your DIY musical instrument:

  • Sandwich the paper strip in between the 2 Popsicle Sticks
  • Wrap a rubber band around one end until it is snug.
  • Slide a toothpick to the inside of the rubber band.
  • Sandwich the last toothpick at the other end of the Popsicle sticks, and wrap with a rubber band.
My son found it worked best when he placed one toothpick on top of the paper and one toothpick under the paper.

Popsicle stick Harmonica ~ simple homemade musical instruments your kids can make

Now your all set to make some music.  Simply blow or suck air to make a unique noise.  You can also try pinching the Popsicle Sticks together to see what new noise you can create.

Popsicle stick Harmonica ~ simple homemade musical instruments your kids can make

This is a simple project that your kids will have fun putting together.  It only takes a few moments to assemble.  There is something satisfying about creating your own toys.

Popsicle stick Harmonica ~ simple homemade musical instruments your kids can make

Looking for more ideas your kids can create?  Check out our:

DIY Duct Tape Hobby Horse

Helicopter Seed Dragonfly Craft

Minecraft Nerf Gun Target

Elastic-Band Launchers

Observing and Painting Frogs

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Frog Preschool Craft ~ Eric Carle inspired textured frogs

The kids had a blast observing frogs at the cabin this weekend.  Seriously, I’ve never seen so many frogs hopping around in one area.  The kids loved every minute of it!  Since the kids were so enamored with them, we decided to create these simple Eric Carle inspired textured frogs.  Adorable!  Over the years we have created a number of animal crafts but this is the first time we have created frogs.

Frog Preschool Craft ~ Eric Carle inspired textured frogs

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

Materials Needed:

  • Paper ~ Any paper works, but I prefer a heavy wight paper
  • Tempera Paint
  • Old Credit/Gift Card
  • Texturing Tools ~ If you dig in your recycling bin/art cupboard you can probably find everything you need.  Some of our favorite texturing items are…plastic forks, combs, stiff cardboard, craft sticks, old sponges, and rollers….basically anything that will scratch a texture or design into the paint before it dries.
  • Printable Frog Template ~ or have the kids design their own.
  • Glue

Frog Preschool Craft ~ Eric Carle inspired textured frogs

How to Paint Textured Paper

We used our own texture painted paper to make these cute frogs.  Making painted paper is a really simple process.

For these cute frog, we revisited a fun technique of using credit cards as our paint brushes.  This technique is really fun, and the kids love how messy it is.  Instead of pushing paint around with a paint brush, use a plastic credit/gift card to scrape the paint across your page.  Make sure to cover the entire paper with paint.  Add depth and interest by scraping multiple colors at once or layering multiple colors.

While the paint is still wet, drag texturing tools through your paper.

Frog Preschool Craft ~ Eric Carle inspired textured frogs

We used a circle/oval cutter to make all the shapes for our frogs.  However if you don’t have access to a circle cutter, then print this Frog Template, trace it onto the textured paper, cut out the shapes and glue everything together.  I love how these little frogs turned out.

Observing A Grey Tree Frog

My kids love collecting bugs, butterflies, frogs and just about anything else they can find.  We observe them for a bit, then turn them back to their natural habitat.  Bree is always on the hunt for cool creatures no matter how big or small they are.  She has a love for all things living and wants to hold everything.

This weekend at the cabin, Bree found lots of tree frogs.   These little guys are really interesting.  By accident we found out that they have the ability to change color from grey to green to creamy white.  After a bit of research, we found that these amazing frogs are called the Gray Tree Frog.

When we first found this little frog he was hiding in the grill cover.  Since he was hiding on black, he camouflaged himself to be a molted grey/black color.   Notice his yellow hind legs and little toe  pads that enable him to climb walls!  A really cool feature that allows them to sit on windows, walls etc to feed on bugs.  The same feet that allow these little guys to stick to wall giving them the advantage for finding food, also help these little frogs jump out to scare me!  The kids never got tired of my squeals when one jumped off something and surprised me.

Bree made a fun observing habitat out of an ice cream pail.  When she came back to check on this little guy, he changed from grey/black to a cool grey/while color.  This was the first time we realized that we had a “chameleon” frog.  They also thought it was pretty cool that he could stick to the side of the pail.

Below we set the same frog on a green towel, and again were amazed.  What a dramatic change!

Observing these little guys was lots of fun.  After some research we found their color range is anywhere from a mottled grayish black or solid green to a gray or creamy white color. The inner thighs on the hind legs of all gray tree frogs are yellow.  The kids were really excited each time the  frog turned a different color.  I was surprised how quickly he was able to adapt to a new color.  Who know a frog could be so exciting and entertaining!

For more fun Animal Crafts, check out our:

Cotton Ball Pig

Paper Plate Cow

Furry Little Sheep

Spiky Paper Plate Hedgehog