the dirty kid and some sidewalk chalk paint

That was a LONG title

(i apologize now this is a long post with a lot of pics!)

First off sidewalk chalk paint

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

add this to your 

"things i need to do this summer" list

your kids will thank you!

"my" kids said 

"this is the best day ever!"

(didn't think i would hear that pharse considering the morning we had!)

equal parts corn starch and water

add food coloring 

(i used LOTS!)

NEEDS to be stirred well!!!

I made a big batch and then poured into muffin trays and then added the food coloring!

You will need paint brushes as well!

Then set outside and let the kids paint the sidewalk!

This was a SERIOUS hit!!

we also dipped our chalk into bowls of water 

and wrote with it

gives a bright color

and draws smoother!

dip dip dip dip, oh forgot I was suppose to be painting

dip dip dip dip

what are we doing again...

we had multiple bowls of all different colors scattered over the driveway!

the kids were sooo busy painting, splattering!

(i did remind parents to send "junk clothes" so i didn't ruin anything nice!)

some of our creations

the color wasn't as bright as I had hoped

but there is another chalk paint recipe I hope to try out later this summer

when one child makes a square...they ALL make squares!

i love how they squat into their positions!

doesn't matter if it spills because its sooo easy to just make more!!

we had lots of spills because of a certain toddler!

busy busy busy!

 last night my husband commented that

I am giving my readers a bad impression of our son/or my parenting 

he is "the dirty kid"

You know what I am talking about

that kid that goes into a white room that is spotless 

but manages to come out covered in dirt and mud.

that is my son!

he is "the dirty kid"

he will hopefully be very proud of that title someday!

but for now

I apologize to his future teachers

this picture gives no justice to how dirty this kid was! 

he was the toddler spilling EVERYTHING

then sitting in it

but...

he was the happiest toddler EVER

and that is saying a lot considering we call him

grumpa lumpa

My husband will frown at this post and how dirty his son is 

but my thought is

HE IS HAPPY

LET HAPPY BE!!

he is not hurting anyone or anything 

(other than maybe a pair of pants and a couple shirts)

so go out get some cornstrach, paint brushes (i used wider brushes so kids could see results quicker)

and some food coloring and let your kids paint the sidewalk!

anyone else out there have "the dirty kid"?

nuggets and colorful bread

Linking this post up with the fabulous link

Watcha Making Wednesdays
and joining the new bloggers at
Two Sasters

Its been awhile since we did anything food related!

When I told the kids that they were going to help make lunch they were PUMPED!

(we were slightly disappointed earlier because our slime that we made didn't turn out)

so being able to help with lunch put a smile on everyone face!

The recipe is from a blog I read and she called it

Chex Mix Chicken

it is a gluten free homemade chicken nugget!  

YUMMO!!!

Now I hear people say that you will see a change in your children if you cook differently

Well today my kids NEEDED change!

In their behavior and attitude

--or maybe it was me that needed change, but for now I blame the kids--

Honestly the daycare kiddos rock but today just wasn't our day

and I know changing their diet for a day will only make them poo more not actually listen :)

anyways back to gluten free chicken nuggets!

What you need:

Chicken -- cut into nuggets

crush up chex mix.  I used the gluten free kind...hence gluten free nuggets!

I also added a little pepper and a little garlic to give them some flavor.

You can add whatever flavors you would like

for example the hubs would LOVE it if I added red pepper for a little kick!

go crazy or stay simple!

break 2-3 eggs and give them a good whip!

then find a helper or 2, to dip in the egg, then roll on the chex mix!

They will think its gross and yucky but will smile and giggle the whole time!

place the nuggets on a cookie sheet covered in tinfoil and greased!

Bake at 400 degrees for 20mins!

After we made our gluten free nuggets and they were cooking away

we painted some bread!

Say what?!? 

Paint bread...

the kids were hesitant about this!

I promised them the bread would still be ok to eat because it was 

MILK PAINT!

What you need:

Milk

food coloring

NEW paint brushes

WHITE bread

here is the milk with some food coloring in it!

"painting" our bread

lots of colorful bread being created!

our YUMMY lunch!!  

Toasted colorful bread, gluten free chicken nuggets, and some fresh fruit!

Hopefully after nap I have a better attitude!!

and the kids have better behavior!

Happy Wednesday!

Go make something with your kids...it might turn your day around!

Snow Much Fun!

Today was a quiet day since we have a few kids out with strep!

SAD!!

These nasty cold/flu bugs are getting around A LOT!!!

NO FUN!!

(but I must say we have been fairly healthy and not to many kids have missed daycare so far this winter)

Now onto things like snow!

We hadn't painted with cookie cutters in awhile so I got the snowflake and snowman cookie cutters out and some paint and let the kids get busy!!

After we got done painting with snowman and snowflake cookie cutters I had a surprise waiting upstairs for the kids!

BUCKETS FULL OF SNOW!!!

The kiddos had the choice of wearing gloves or bare hands! They all went back and forth!

I had bought some spray bottles at the dollar store so the kids could spray the snow, BUT they didn't work!  DISAPPOINTMENT!  so i pulled out a bunch of syringes and we used those instead!!

they discovered quickly that the snow would melt when it got squirted with water!  AMAZING!!!

AAAHHHHHH he was NOT a fan!!!!!

and this young man was OBSESSED with making yellow snow! :)

which reminded everyone through giggles why we don't eat the yellow snow!

Happy Monday!!!

I went to an amazing training this weekend which a majority of it was about movement and music so I hoping (if brave enough) to share a video clip or 2 of some new games/songs I learned!!

on this blog I mainly only share the "projects/crafts" so hopefully I can start sharing a little more!!

Mess Free

After yesterdays MESS

I needed something a little less messy!

So we went with mess free art!

All you need:

ziploc bags 

paint

tape

I just squirted primary colors into the bags

(i also did red and white, and green and white)

and taped them to the tables

I loved that the kids right away slammed their hands into the paint

only to be disappointed that NOTHING was on their hands!

It was funny to see and hear them say 

"where did the paint go?"

or

"nothing is on my hand!"

it was a little confusing but, they still had fun smearing the paint around 

and the older kids had fun going from bag to bag to see what colors were being made

We also practiced a few letters and writing our names!

This activity is super easy!

pretty cheap

and if the kids are having fun and doing some learning

its a keeper!!

recycled materials

If you read this blog post you will learn that we are reading the book "I Stink" and are having fun painting with "trash" its actually recycled materials but it is stuff that the garbage truck would take away.

If you have not read "I stink" you must get to it!!  Such a fun cute book!!

Anyways today we did a different but yet very fun project that again invovled mixing colors like my last post!  Its like a 2 for 1 deal over here :). 

What you need is anytype of clear plastic bottle WITH a lid, and some paint!

Then you need some kids with LOTS of energy to shake these bottles up!

What we did was paint the INSIDE of a bottle!  It really is SUPER easy, takes very little time, but yet its a new and different experience and the kids loved it!

Here are some photos:

this little guy checking his paint out after he shook it!

Yes I trusted the kids to squirt the paint in themselves

(i will admit I had a VERY difficult time doing this)

-this was MORE than enough paint!

watching al lthe colors mix together!

was somewhat annoyed that the colors he choose made pink (red and white) lesson learned! :)

"cool!"

showing me how he is going to shake his paint up!"

all of our different bottles and their paints!

I highly recommend this activity for younger children, children that need to use up a little energy, and chidlren that have a short attention span because if they want to be done after 5 shakes thats totally fine and if they want to hang onto it until I rip it out of their hands so they can eat their lunch...totally cool!!! 

What recycled materials do you use??

Painting with items that belong in the trash!

This week we have been reading "I STINK" great book!  The kids LOVE it!  They giggle, they laugh, they learn lots of new words! 

I decided to make it a little theme for the week since it is such a favorite!  Now you don't need to read the book to do this project but I jsut tied in because I thought it would be fun!

When I told the kids what we were going to paint with I think they were like "Jill, we paint with a lot of crazy things but this??" But they had a BLAST! and I am sure they will request to do it again!! 

So I finally give you...painting with a paper towel!  Yes, thats right a paper towel!  Its gave a really neat look, and I must say I have actually never done this before and was impressed with the look!

All you need is paint, something to paint on (we used white paper) and some papers towels srucnched up! 

Here are some pics of the kids hard at work!

A lot of color mixing was going on with this activity which is always fun to see the kids excitment when they see the change happen!

What things do you recycle and use again with your children and their projects?