Sponge Building Blocks

So, you know those cheap-o kitchen sponges you can buy?  Turns out you can cut 'em up and use them as building blocks, too!  Might be a good busy bag idea.  Jack had a whole afternoon of fun with these things. 

Jack's LEGO Party

So, due to blog issues, I'm totally late posting pictures from Jack's November 17th birthday party (SIX years old!  WOW!).  But here they are.  The LEGO fanatic wanted nothing else but a LEGO party. 

This is the photo we used as the background for the invitation.  Original idea found here. 

I had this semi-brilliant idea for a photobooth.  The kids decorated their own LEGO heads,
which we glued to large popsicle sticks so they could use them as masks.
For the background, I glued a bunch of foam circles onto green tagboard to look like a LEGO base.
Unfortunately, I should have made the background a bit bigger. Next time I'll know better!

We used yellow square paper plates, cut little tabs for the tops, and added Sharpie faces.

Treat bags in primary colors, with foam circles to look like LEGOs.
I got the idea from this website.

"Magical Monster Slime" for the favor bags.  Recipe found here.
It was supposed to be a Halloween thing, but I thought it would be
something new and fun for party favors. 

My very talented husband spent hours putting together a LEGO pinata.
Destroyed in less than 15 minutes!

Found a LEGO cake recipe, using marshmallows, from this website.
Mine didn't look as good as Betty Crocker's!

 

"La Fleur" Playmat

I made this "La Fleur" playmat when Kate was a baby (after purchasing the pattern from this website).  I finished it right as she began crawling at eight months (of course!).  So, considering that fact, and all the effort I put into it, the playmat has never actually been a "playmat"... but a wall hanging instead.

Look at how cute Kate was!  Those eyes!

The playmat's actually had quite a journey.  We moved from California two-and-a-half years ago, and stopped in Idaho to visit my family for two months before coming to New Mexico.  Sometime during that trip, a jar of tahini burst open in the little trailer we were pulling behind the van and spilled on the playmat.  Try as I might, I never fully removed the stain.  And, since Kate's sharing a room with Jack, the playmat is hanging in Maggie's room for now.

Our Halloween

 I loooove Halloween.  Mostly for the costumes.  I love seeing creativity at work.  I've taken pride, so far, in piecing together my kids' costumes each year, instead of just buying a complete costume at the store.  However, I've noticed that, with three kids, homemade costumes can cause a little stress.  I try to start planning a couple months in advance, but this year I was also a little easier on myself.  Heck, I didn't make any single piece of Maggie's whole costume.  I did find her dress at a consignment sale, though, so that satisfied my thrifty self.  And I tried to plan a few fun activities for the kids that afternoon, between naptime and trick-or-treating, so we didn't get too antsy. 

Jack putting together his jack o' lantern busy bag.  It was Crazy Hair Day at his school (thus the orange-striped hair).

This was a fun project!  Lay out wax paper, make a web with Elmer's glue, then sprinkle on silver glitter.  Let it dry for awhile, then peel off the wax paper and voila!  A sparkly spider web.  Fun for table decor.  I got the idea here. 

Here are the kiddos.  Dorothy, Hello Kitty, and Batman... what a group!  I made a scrap tutu for Kate's costume, along with her "ears."  For Jack, I appliqued the Batman logo onto his shirt and then whipped up a cape.

Trick-or-treating at Grandma Pat's house.  It was only after I took these pictures that I noticed Kate's headband was backward.  Ugh!

Here's a close-up of the bow turned the correct way.  It was a fun and easy project!  I found that Youtube tutorial here. 

Jack o' Lantern Busy Bag

Here's a fun idea for a Halloween-themed busy bag, taken from this blog post.  Cut a pumpkin out of orange felt, glue on a green stem, and make it into an interchangeable jack o' lantern with black felt pieces.  I made several pairs of eyes, a few noses, a couple mouths, some whiskers, and a scary-looking scar.  The blogger I read from made a little pocket for all the black pieces to attach to the back of the pumpkin, but I'm just putting the whole thing into a Ziploc and keeping it with the rest of our busy bags. 

Jack had fun putting a jack o' lantern face together. 

His finished creation

20 Busy Bag Ideas

Make a Sock Puppet Kit: includes pair of socks, felt, pipe cleaners,
googly eyes, beads, fringe, and instructions.

Make a Monster Face

Wooden Numbered Beads Lacing Kit: includes color and number pattern cards

Denim Fabric Roads: scrap fabric from old jeans and yellow puffy paint makes great portable roads!

Clothesline: uses twine, clothespins, and felt clothing.  Patterns for clothing found here.

Clothespin Color Matching Game: uses paint chip cards

Ribbon/Button Snake with Felt Squares: a slit is cut in each square so little fingers can work on pushing the button through

Felt Playmat

Play-Doh Dots Game

Pipe Cleaner, Bead, and Pasta Lacing Activity

Popsicle Stick Puzzle

Make Your Own Stick Puppet

Pom-Pom-Stuff-It-In

Numbered Pool Noodle Lacing Activity

Peanut-Butter-and-Jelly Stacking Game with Dice

Felt Cupcakes with Sprinkles

Stacking Cups, including one object to hide

"Fish Stix": a felt pond, fish with paper clip mouths, and a magnetic fishing pole

Mix & Match Sticker Game

Glitter Bottle (with water, glitter, ribbons, beads, and other objects) and two "I Spy" Bottles (with rice and several objects hidden inside)... lids glued securely shut, of course!