Summer Fun - Cool Bird Feeders

I really enjoy making bird feeders.  We have made lots and lots and lots of them, and the birds just keep coming back so we keep making them.

This is an activity that is on our Summer Fun List.

The bird feeders were super easy to make and literally make a hardened "birdseed cake" that can be hung from a tree.  It was definitely less messy than our typical bird feeder adventures!

The complete tutorial and directions can be found at eighteen 25. 

Basically you just need a few cookie cutters or mason jar lids.

Then you mix your birdseed with a packet of gelatin on the stove.  Once it's cooled down, pat the birdseed mixture into your cookie cutter or lid.

After you fill your cookie cutter up half of the way, add your knotted string and then fill up the cookie cutter the rest of the way.

Let them dry overnight.

I turned ours over before I went to bed.

Pop out the bird feeders in the morning and hang from your tree!

So cool and so fun!

Happy summer!!

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Invitations to Play - Week in Review

We are still rocking the invitations to play at our house!  I love setting something up for the kids while they nap and they love looking for "something fun" when they get up!

The funny thing is....we are using all our stuff.....nothing new, nothing purchased.  Just our toys.  These invitations keep our "old stuff" fun and new!  And I love that the play activities keep them busy for quite a while.

Click here to see the post this week about our DIY Table Top Easel!

Click here to be taken to last weeks post that includes all our invitations to play.

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Planting a Playdough Garden

You all know we love play dough around here!!

I love trying to find new ways to use our homemade play dough.  Some of my favorite are Mr. Play Dough Head and making birthday cupcakes!

This pretend garden ranks right up there, though.  

Sweet Girl and I planted a play dough garden using our homemade chocolate play dough as "mud", some plastic flowers and various pots.

This one she made just for me....awww.

These ice cube molds (from Ikea a while back) worked out perfectly for planting some of the smaller flowers.

It's just good ole play dough fun!

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DIY Tabletop Art Easel

I saw this idea during one of my Pinterest browses and thought it was pretty genius.

My son and daughter love to paint.  Well....my daughter loves to paint.  My son loves to paint paper and eat paint....silly boy.

I put these two easels together while we were traveling at our Mimi and Poppy's house.  The kids had a great time using them and I even toted them home for use here!  

I didn't follow any sort of tutorial, but it's pretty easy to figure out.  Just cut off a part of a box and then loop the two ends together to make a triangle shape.  I taped the bottom two pieces together with scotch tape and they have held up great.

I added a little close pin to Sweet Girl's so she could easily change out her paper.  Little Man just gets a piece of tape.  That close pin would be waaaaay too distracting for him!  

I also keep our used egg cartons and recycle those as paint holders.  They work out perfectly and are easy for tiny hands to hold!

Happy painting!

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Foam Shapes, Water and a Window

This was an activity I sat out as one of the kids "invitations to play" a few weeks ago.  Both my three year old and one year old had so much fun playing with the foam shapes and water that it definitely deserved it's own post!!

I love activities like this because they allow so much room for creativity and design with little ones.  I initially cut out a bunch of shapes for them, but as they were playing around, my daughter kept requesting more and more and more.....and it just got more and more fun!  

I leave this activity out in our playroom all the time now and it's a frequent play option for them.

So simple, but so fun!

Just cut out a bunch of shapes from foam.

Hand over a cup of water and a paint brush.

And let the little ones play and create!

Keep your scissors handy, because, if your kids are like mine, they will have tons of ideas for you!!

To see more of our "Invitations to Play", click here.

To learn more about the idea behind them, click on over to The Imagination Tree!

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Our Summer Fun List 2012

We are all getting excited for summer at our house!!  Although we do lots and lots of crafts and activities at our house, we really loved having a "list" to keep us busy and entertained all summer long.  This is our list for this summer, 2012.  I've included links when I had them so your family could play along too!!

Click here to check out our list from last year!


Make bird feeders

Fruit and veggie paintings

Go fishing

Pick strawberries

Make ice cream

Paint with pudding

Make a butterfly walkway

Dye playsilks

Make shaving cream art books

Make popsicles

Host a paint party

Have an outdoor slumber party

Catch fireflies

Watch a movie outdoors

Have a cookie bar party

Make our own giant bubbles

Monet paintings

Rainbow spaghetti

Visit the zoo

Make a mud kitchen

Paint popcorn

Have a puppet show

Do bubble painting

Tin foil painting

Make moon sand

Family memory game

Swamp sensory tub

Go on a hike



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Invitations to Play - Water Fun

It's not even summer yet, but it has been blazing hot here.  My two love being outside so I decided to make this week all about water and fun!  All of these invitations were quite a hit around here.  The mermaid lagoon is probably my daughter's absolute favorite thing ever.  She's obsessed with mermaids.  All of them, though, were loads of fun for the kiddos!!  

(To find out more about the idea behind invitations to play, check out The Imagination Tree)

We did this activity last year as well.  Check out this post to find out how I put this sensory tub together!

These fun play ideas will definitely be in our weekly mix of activities!!

What about you??  How are you going to keep cool this summer??

Here are more of our invitations to play.  Click on the link below each image to be taken to that post!!

Click here

Click here

Click here