* Rainbow Rice Eye Spy Bottle

We'll be driving through a few states this weekend.

To get ready for our family road trip,

I've been putting together a few activities 
to keep the kiddos busy in the back seat.

We seem to own one of the only cars left in America

that doesn't have a built-in TV/movie theatre/disco lounge/gymboree...

so, we do "old school" entertainment on the road.

I decided to make Eye-Spy bottles for each of the girls,

but I put my own Rainbow twist on it.

It's a great way to recycle a bottle and entertain your kids

for almost no cost - just collect the supplies around your house.

I used some of our Rainbow Rice as the filler,

(you can also use white rice or bird seed)

then I collected mini-trinkets in a variety of colors

(Stuff that will fit in a bottle: buttons, beads, paper clips,

pom-pons, googly eyes, charms, birthday candle, Polly shoes, etc.)

We sorted them by Rainbow colors and placed them onto colored paper.

Then I photographed them as the "spy cards" to go with each bottle

since I have pre-readers.

The girls helped me fill the bottles

with treasures and rainbow rice.

Each girl's bottle is labeled with her initial.

(prevents a lot of sibling squabbles in our household)

Then I used my favorite Scotch brand

(no they don't pay me, I just love them)

no-heat laminating cards to make them kid-proof.

(I buy them at Walmart in the office products aisle)

NOTE: I super-glued the lids shut 
so we (hopefully) won't end up with rainbow confetti all over my car!!

This is the photo on the "cover" of each girl's

Eye-Spy Rainbow Cards.

Here are some of the RED treasures.

Here are our ORANGE treasures.

Here are our YELLOW treasures.

Here are the GREEN treasures.

Here are some of the BLUE treasures.

PURPLE Treasures.

PINK treasures for two girlie-girls!

Hopefully these bottles will bring many years/miles of entertainment.

What Should You Do With It?
You can play a number of ways...

1. Pick a color and see how many things you can count.

2. Name something like Yellow Star and see who can find it first.

3. Make up a silly story that you have to use objects in (like MadLibs),

Example: "Once upon a time there was a Yellow Star

named Birthday Candle, she had a pet confetti leaf and a big dime."

I'm sure the girls will have fun making up their own games.

Fondly,
Pink and Green Mama,
MaryLea

Make An Ocean In A Bag

I love simple crafts

that keep the kiddos busy

during "arsenic hour".

By "arsenic hour", I am referring to that

window at our house from 5-6ish

waiting for dad to get home from work,

while dinner is finishing

and mama and babies are tired!

This is one of those random crafts

that just popped into my head

during a recent "arsenic hour"

and it was such a big hit,

I wanted to share it with all of you.

I helped each of my girls make an

Ocean In A Bag.

We grabbed two of our re-used

gallon zip lock bags

(yes I wash and save mine

like my grandma washes and saves bread bags!)

Mom peace-making tip:

I labeled them with a sharpie

so there wouldn't be fighting among the girls

about which one was theirs.

Then, we raided my art room stash

and found foam ocean critter stickers

(dolphins, starfish, fish, etc)

to stick inside AND outside the bag.

Then we added a

small scoop of mini seashells

(also in my stash from making ocean boxes)

Followed by a

scoop of dry sand

from our sand table.

Then we added several pumps of white hand lotion

and a few drops of blue food coloring.

We zipped them shut,

the girls started gently massaging their bags

and viola, instant

ocean in a bag mini habitat

that is also a sensory experience.

You can trace letters/shapes

in the sand goo through the plastic bag.

Be careful not to pop them

(don 't leave too much air)

and sharp shell edges can rip

so, I wouldn't do this on white carpet or a couch!

Kept them busy for the 45 minutes I needed

harmony and peace in our home.

This was a great activity

because BOTH girls (ages 6 and 2.5)

could fully participate in it!

(Mini-Saurus adding shells to her bag)

Wordless Wednesday: Rainbows Around the House

Some Rainbows

around our house this week...

Playroom windowsill.

Snack time treat.

The Frog Princess' Frog Color Wheel.

Noodle Rainbow - playroom window.

Sidewalk chalk rainbow -- backyard steps.

Happy Rainbow Making!

Make Your Own Very Hungry Caterpillar

Both of my girls LOVE

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

by Eric Carle!

To celebrate the 40th anniversary

of this wonderful

(and Beautifully illustrated!)

children's book

we made our own Hungry Caterpillars

to play with!

We made a big mommy caterpillar

and two mini-baby caterpillars.

I threaded a needle with a double thickness of thread

and the girls helped string on pom-pons

to create caterpillar bodies.

(then I doubled the thread back through the bodies

to make them stronger before knotting them off)

We added button eyes to the bigger mama-pillar,

and left the little ones plain.

(I wonder if elastic thread would have been better?)

Then we went on a hunt in the playroom

to collect all of the food from the story.

I set up both of our copies of the book,

a tray of play food,

and our caterpillars for the girls

and they had a great time

acting out the story for several days.

Mini-Saurus still plays with her mini-caterpillar

at bedtime while we read the book.

I am planning to make a tape recording

of myself reading the book aloud

for our "read aloud" book center

in the family room.

How cute would these be

in a classroom reading center?!

(you can take the teacher out of a school,

but you can't take

the classroom ideas out of the teacher!)

Psst...lean in -- I'll tell you my secret...

(I also have hopes and dreams of making

a felt board set...

it may be one of my homemade

Christmas gifts for the girls this year!)

This bulletin board set

from Amazon.com

would be so much easier!

You could laminate it and add a piece of velcro

(or felt) to the back of each piece

for instant (ADORABLE) felt board pieces!

Art On The Go! Re-Use That Diaper Caddy

Now that potty training is in full swing in our house,

I needed to find a new purpose for my diaper changing basket.

What could be better than an art studio-to-go ?!

I re-used an empty kleenex box for the markers

and some clean yogurt containers for crayons and pencils.

I also stocked it with Crayola Twistables and colored pencils.

We added two clipboards, a file folder of leftover printer paper, and some rulers.

It has been great for impromptu drawing...

at the kitchen counter while I cook dinner,

playing school in the playroom,

morning worksheets at the kitchen table,

spontaneous coloring in the family room,

even a trip out on the deck for some al fresco art!!

Happy Creating!!

Update from 2013: I've gotten some emails asking about the basket featured in this post.
I purchased it years ago (back in 2006) from Pottery Barn Kids. 
It was called the "Sabrina" diaper Caddy with a liner 
and I think you can still get one from their website!
It is currently stationed on my sewing table in my art studio --
it holds sewing supplies next to my sewing machine. 

Rainbow Bath Time!

Bath time can be quite colorful at our house.

Nothing beats a cup or empty bottle as a bath toy.

However, these little

rainbow people

are also quite popular.

Mini-Saurus calls them her "Wiggles".

Some days they are family members,

other days they are fairies and mermaids.

Last night they were circus performers from Cirque du Soleil.

We like to make our own bath toys

with craft foam cut into simple shapes.

We practice our colors

and shapes with Mini-Saurus.

The Frog Princess likes to practice her

spelling

with foam letters.

The foam shapes and letters are fun

because they stick to each other,

the walls, even kids!!

So simple and so fun!

Do you have any favorite home made bath toys?

Rainbow Sand

In keeping with our Rainbow theme,

the Frog Princess and I thought it would be fun

to try to make Rainbow Sand

in our (outdoor) sand table.

It seemed like a good idea at the time

I'll say this. We tried it.

The sand looked really cool for a few minutes.

I used liquid watercolor.

The problem with liquid watercolor

is that it turns back into liquid watercolor

and stains EVERYTHING

each time it touches water.

Look how pretty it was...before.

Then the colors started to bleed into each other,

they turned into a muddy blue gray color...

our hands turned a dark blue/purple/gray color.

the water turned a dark blue/purple/gray color.

the sand table turned a dark/purple/gray color.

I didn't take a photo of this.

I didn't want to stain my camera!!

We emptied the sand out, and put a fresh bag in the box.

Oh well. At least we tried it, and learned something new.

So much for ARTsy sand.

Maybe We'll Just Stick to Moon Sand when we want color!!

Rainbow Rice Is Twice As Nice! Make Your Own Colored Rice For A Sensory Box

Children and Rainbows go together like Peas and Carrots.
Why not make your own colored rice to explore a RAINBOW sensory box?
The girls and I continued our Color Wheel themed Rainbow Camp Week with this fun project.

We used food coloring to dye white rice for a new Rainbow Activity Box.

I wanted to use rubbing alcohol to "set" the food coloring color

with the rice (the same way I dyed the noodles for our sun catcher rainbows)

But, I was running low on rubbing alcohol,

so I substituted with Purelle (alcohol-based hand sanitizer)

It worked perfectly!

4-5 pumps per sandwich bag and 4-5 drops of food coloring.

(I re-used the bags I dyed the noodles in)

I think it actually dried a lot faster!

I found this great idea at the Forester Clan Blog.

They did a much more sophisticated color palette with their rice.

We stuck with our basic 6 colors,

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet.

my girls aren't big fans of Indigo (navy blue...no thanks)

So pretty before we mixed it all together...
NOTE: We let it finish drying in the sunshine and fresh air to get rid of the
alcohol smell - once it was dry there wasn't any smell except for the rice smell.

So far, the princesses are having quite a party in their new confetti Rainbow Land!

Fondly,
Pink and Green Mama,
MaryLea

Rainbow Camp

Between the Frog Princess' Art camp, VBS, and another little school camp,

the girls and I are passing our summer vacation

with some homegrown fun.

I'm doing little theme camps with them

right here at home.

No, Not ALL DAY activities but a few

art projects, science experiments, fun snacks, games, and books.

It helps to break up the long days

and gives us something different to look forward to...

We had our first little week-long camp at home two weeks ago.

It was...get ready for it...

RAINBOW Camp!

I know... Big. Shocker.

Me? Rainbows? Come on.

We did all kinds of fun little rainbow projects,

some oldies but goodies

and a few new things thrown into the mix.

WE even recruited a neighborhood friend

to join us for a full day of camp activities!

Here is a peek at some of our activities....

Sorting and Stringing

Fruit Loop Rainbow Necklaces.

I do love my mini quiche trays!

This is a thirsty project if you've been

running around in the backyard for an hour

and you have to sample each color as you work!

Spin Art.

What kid doesn't love spin art?

No machine? No problem?

Lay some paper in your salad spinner,

throw on some washable diluted tempera paint

or liquid watercolors and spin away!

We bought this little machine two years ago

for a birthday party and we still pull it out

regularly (in the garage)

on rainy days, snow days, hot days...

Rainbow camp days!

The girls have been begging to make

Lisa (from 5 Orange Potatoes Fame) 's

Rainbow Noodle Sun Catchers.

We dyed the noodles with food coloring

and a splash of rubbing alcohol in plastic snack bags.

I saved the bags to reuse for other dying projects.

After letting the noodles soak for a couple of hours,

and dry overnight in bowls (sorted by color of course!)

We covered waxed paper with Elmer's school glue,

and started lining up our rainbows.

Big Sister made the big rainbow.

Little Sister made the little rainbow.

This was a fun project because Mini-Saurus

could participate with minimal guidance.

We also tried our hand at making

pipe-cleaner and glitter glue star

ornaments/sun catchers.

This fabulous project idea also came from Lisa,

seriously...you need to go check out 5 Orange Potatoes

(I wish she and her girls lived next door to me!)

They looked great wet on the tray.

(plastic wrap underneath so they don't stick)

but the mini squeeze tubes of glitter glue

pulled and left big holes as it shrank and dried.

We had to go back a couple of days later and fill in with

Elmer's galactic glitter glue.

Gorgeous window stars drying.

Mixing food coloring and water

with my glorious mini quiche tray collection!

(anyone recognize this activity from our doctor party?)

We got the pipettes, eye droppers, and test tubes

from Discount School Supply.

Rainbow Monograms

Then we cut out initials with clear contact paper,

and rubbed them onto mom's good water color paper.

They painted with their newly mixed

home-made food coloring water colors.

When the paint was dry in less than an hour,

(we put our wet paintings out in the sun to dry)

we removed the contact paper.

This little "resist" water color project

goes back to my art teacher days,

but I've seen it popping up on a lot of blogs lately.

It's fun and easy,

and your kids will think

you're a rock star if you try it with them!

I'll post some more Rainbow-rific ideas soon!

(wow, that sentence sounds like I need Scooby snacks to go with it)