stARTt: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

I'm sure no one is surprised that I am once again going to refer to one of my new favorite bloggers when I talk about the art project we did today! Michelle over at A Mommy's Adventures regularly posts about the stART activities they do at their house. The basic idea --- story + art = a great stART!

What was great for us is that Nick is not a very creative artist. He's very abstract in his art. By giving him something specific to try and draw he did a much better job. We chose the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. Nick LOVES this book and had a great time drawing the wonderful coconut tree.


When he was done with the picture we tried another craft/educational project. I know I found this on someone else's blog too, but it's been so long ago now I can't remember where. Anyway, we cut out 26 construction paper squares. He glued them to a large piece of paper and then together we looked through my old magazines for each letter. I would find one on the page and then give the mag to him so he could search just that one page. We had fun through about K. Maybe we can finish another time.

New paints, cars and a sheriff's badge

We ran to Hobby Lobby after work today and picked up some new art supplies for the boys. I've been meaning to buy them a tempera kind of paint and some brushes forever but never have because they all make me a little nervous, especially with Zander. But, today I found some Crayola ones at Hobby Lobby that said they were washable. So I took the plunge. The boys enjoyed painting on paper ...





... as well as the little ceramic car and wooden sheriff's badge I picked up for way cheap in the vacation bible school section. I don't know what they are going to do with them, but it was fun while they painted.

More allergies

Apparently watermelon isn't the only fruit that Nick is allergic to. I gave him a green apple for a snack tonight (which he has had a million times before) and he had an awful reaction. I'm hoping that some of this reaction was because he also had a ridiculous temper tantrum while having his snack, but I'm thinking at least part of it is food related.

Nick was so sad when I told him we couldn't have apples anymore until he could get to the doctor for a test (which are very hard because he would only be allergic raw apples and can still enjoy applesauce and other processed foods). He cried. I cried. It was bad. I feel so sorry for him right now. He loves watermelon and apples and will likely not be able to have them anymore.





Editor's note: We tried the apple again the next night because everyone I talked to was certain the watermelon response was because of his sensitive skin and the apple response was the crying. While the response wasn't nearly as bad (no puffy, blood shot eyes), there was still some redness around the mouth and Nick said his tongue was itchy. Yeah, not a good sign. I have an appointment with the allergist so we can get this figured out before he goes back to school.

Muffin tin Monday

I've been following the Muffin Tin Monday blog for several months, but never actually tried it at home. I love all of Michelle's ideas on how to make a meal (or snack) fun for kids. And she's so creative to boot!

I finally decided to give it a try and the boys loved it (probably because I mostly put foods in there that they love). I hope to do it again soon --- Nick is already asking about it!

This is a really bad picture, but I included noodles and meat, fresh bread, fresh green beans, grapes and string cheese slices. Now I just need to get some of those cute little trinkets I see over on Muffin Tin Monday that make thte meal truly fun!

At the car wash

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it before, but I am addicted to so-called "mommy blogs." I want to do fun things with my kids, but I'm often not creative enough to know just what that is. So, I steal from other more creative moms. This is one of those times.

I recently came across Camille's blog The Mother Lode. It's fabulous. She's fabulous. And it's where I got the fabulous idea for a car wash (though I think she may have taken it from somewhere else, too). The kids love playing in the water. They love the little pools, the slip n slide and the sand/water table. But, they usually tire of these things after a few minutes in favor of their bikes and other riding toys. With as warm as it has been lately this seemed like a great way to combine the two.

For $25 Mike found all the pieces listed at instructables.com. Mike took the boys out right after breakfast to get working on the project. (Bonus: I got to stay inside and clean without someone following me around messing up what I had just finished.) Of course, I had to sneak outside for some pictures.



As soon as the glue dried Nick and Zander were ready to try it out. Nick knew what it was supposed to do, but Zander had absolutely no idea what to expect.






Once they had both gone through a few times Nick started getting into the whole "car wash" idea. He would stop to pay at the machine ...


... then roll on through.




Even Mike got into the fun! He thinks this will be the perfect cool-down when he comes home from his long Saturday runs.



And he is already talking about going back to get more pieces to make a deluxe wash, but I want to see how long they stay interested in this one first. So far, they are loving it!

Pool time

Every summer I have great plans to take the boys to the pool at least a few times a month. It never works out that way. Between work and the ridiculous amount of rain today was our first foray to the pool. Mike and I used the divide and conquer method to keep the boys in check. I took Zander and he took Nick.

Nick spent most of the day on the slides and in the big pool. He wanted nothing to do with the baby pool. He was way too cool for that. And apparently those swim lessons paid off. He was jumping in the pool and going under water -- repeatedly. I was so proud. Zander had a blast too, but his little body just couldn't take the hours and hours of sun and fun. He jumped off the edge, went down the baby slide over and over again and then decided he had enough.


He fell asleep right in the middle of all the excitement ... and would not wake up. I took him to the bathroom to change out of the suit into dry clothes and he slept through it all. Slept through the walk to the car, getting his shirt on in the car, the drive home and the walk up to his bed. That little guy was beat!

Rainbow art

Another quick art project, this time stolen from Confessions of a Homeschooler. The boys love finger painting, but are always game to try something new (well Nick is anyway, Zander still just likes making the biggest mess possible). Anyway, I found this rainbow/pencil eraser art on the Confessions site and thought it might be fun. So I printed out the rainbow from Making Learning Fun and let the boys get to work. I gave them each a pencil and a couple straws (another stolen idea from Deborah at Teach Preschool).

Nick liked the idea of painting with a pencil eraser and straws.


Zander liked getting messy.


They both liked painting the rainbows, though Nick decided to make the project his own and instead of using the pencil or straws to do a single color row he made each row with a few different colors. The kid has always been a bit of an ecletic/abstract artist, so I really wasn't surprised.




And then they went back to their usual messy way of finger painting. I'm pretty sure at one point Nick told me he was rubbing the paint into his hands like lotion. Welcome to my world where boys reign supreme.