A Colorful Week

A theme of our week might be shaving cream and food coloring.

I made this batch of shaving cream with food coloring for Jude to play with. I thought it would be fun to squish and mix it. Doesn't it look delicious? Don't you want to just dive right in?

Jude had a lot of fun with this.  So what else have we been up to?  Well....

We played in the rain.

I made spaghetti for dinner and dyed it different colors, just for fun.

They just thought this was the greatest thing ever. I have never seen three boys eat spaghetti so fast.

Ezzy painted his face red- that was a surprise.

Kai made scrambled eggs by himself.

 We made tin can telephones - they actually work!

 Another shaving cream activity (see, I told you it was a theme for the week).  This one is a little different in that it is half shaving cream and half white glue.  This makes an incredible finger paint!  It could also be used to make a collage, but we didn't do that.  (Ideas from:  Not Just Cute)

Ezzy's making a sunset.

We went to the Farmer's Market and bought lots of fruit, then had a fruit-cutting party.

Now we have bags of fruit in the freezer ready for smoothies!

Rainbow Rice

Another Pink and Green Mama Activity!  This one is too fun and easy not to share.  I think this is probably one of the best activities I've done.  

Just put some rice in a ziploc bag.  Add a few squirts of hand sanitizer (or rubbing alcohol will work too) and a few squirts of food coloring.  Squish it all up to dye the rice.

 Here are all our colors drying in their bags.  They dried really fast.

I poured the colors into a clear container, look how cool it looks!

Jude was thrilled with this!

 

Add some toys and get ready for lots of imaginative, sensory play!

Mixing it up is so much fun!

 

Here's a video of Jude playing in the rice.

Fun with food coloring

Just add a few drops of food coloring to water in clear containers.  I gave my kids a couple different kinds of medicine droppers to play with and they had fun for a long time mixing and adding colors.

Ezzy poured the water in containers.

 

Then he added a few drops of food coloring to each one.

Begin mixing with droppers.  Kai played too.

But this activity really captivated Ezzy's (almost 5) attention the longest.

Paint bubbles

 

You just fill a container with a little water, paint and dishwashing soap.  Blow with a straw to make bubbles and then print them on paper. 

 

Wow!

Paint speckled face.

Our results - fantastic!

I found this activity at simplehomeschool.net.  I check in every few days and find some great ideas. 

Just wanted to share a few other fun ideas.  Listed below is a great resource for age appropriate art activities with kids.  It lists all the art supplies you can use and have on hand for different ages with different arts and crafts activities listed.

Making Art at Home:  My Favorite Art Supplies for Toddlers

Making Art at Home:  My Favorite Art Supplies for Preschoolers

Making Art at Home:  My Favorite Art Supplies for School - Aged children

What art activities do you enjoy with your kids?

playdough fun

Today I was in the mood to make some new batches of playdough. This is one of a mom's best tricks. In a small pot just combine 1 c flour, 1 c warm water, 2 tsp. cream of tartar, 1 tsp. oil, 1/4 c salt and food coloring of your choice. Mix all the ingredients together on medium heat until it forms dough. It will last for a long time in an airtight container.

I made three batches - red, blue and yellow, the primary colors for a fun lesson on colors.

I started by giving each kid a small piece of blue and a small piece of yellow. I had them guess what color it would make when they squished it together.

squish it up!

yes, it makes green!

so we made a little bowl of green peas

next was red and yellow

which makes orange. So we made little baby carrots.

Here's our peas and carrots

Finally we did blue and red. The kids are loving me at this point by the way. Ezzy (4 1/2) especially had fun with this. He kept repeating. "This is sooo awesome," and "This is so fun," and he had to get out of his chair to give me a hug and tell me I'm the best mommy in the world! Such enthusiasm! I think it was just really cool for him to squish the colors together and see it turn into another color.

blue and red = purple. So, we made blueberries.

I just so happened to have these three food items on hand, so while they were making playdough blueberries I snuck into the kitchen and made this little snack. I knew they were going to flip!

our finished products - carrots, peas and bluberries!

snack time!

Can you believe it? They loved this snack, ate it all up and asked for seconds. They just thought it was so cool. Who knew a side bonus of this activity would be getting my kids to eat their fruits and veggies?

yay!!!