Spooky Black Glitter Putty {A Year of Color}

If your kids are anything like mine, they probably love to make slime, putty and play dough! My crew is always adding glue, borax, cornstarch and flour to my grocery list, and sometimes I think it would be best to just buy it in bulk. I try not to complain too much, because at least they love science and experiments! We had yet to do a Halloween craft or activity this year, so the timing was perfect for this month's theme for A Year of Color!

St. Patrick's Day Snack & Play {A Year of Color: Green}

Happy St. Patrick's Day, my friends!!!

We are wearing our festive green clothing and we will be spending our day snacking on lots of green food! That's pretty much the extent of our celebration. With four kids, that's how we roll!

The "A Year of Color" Link Party fell on the perfect day this month! 

On the third Friday of each month,  I co-host a monthly linkup called A Year of Color with Little Dove, Macke Monologues, and Work It Mommy. Each month focuses on one color and you can link up any post that revolves around that particular color: Fashion, Recipes, Activities for Kids, Crafts...ANYTHING is welcome! The link will be open for a month, so you can link up any time. We hope you will join us!

The color for the month of March is fitting for today!

This month, I'm going to share a few of our favorite green desserts and green sensory play activities in honor of St. Patrick's Day, along with an adorable craft that we do every year on the holiday! 

St. Patrick's Day Mint Cookie Shakes

These green shakes, made with vanilla ice cream and mint cookies, and topped with whipped topping and peppermint patties, are a hit with my kids! 

INGREDIENTS:

• Vanilla Ice Cream
• Mint Cookies
• Milk or Cream
• Frozen Whipped Topping
• Peppermint Patties

DIRECTIONS:

1. Fill blender halfway with vanilla ice cream.
2. Crush 10 mint cookies and sprinkle into the blender.
3. Add milk or cream until the blender is about 3/4 full.
4. Blend until shake is only slightly thick. Add more milk or cream or more ice cream if necessary, and blend again.
5. Pour milkshake into cups.
6. Top with a scoop of frozen whipped topping and a mini peppermint patty candy!

St. Patrick's Day Creamy Jello

This creamy jello dessert is a staple at every holiday dinner. It's usually a different flavor, but I break out the lime jello in honor of St. Patrick's Day!

INGREDIENTS:

• Two 3 oz boxes of lime jello
• 16 oz frozen whipped topping

DIRECTIONS:

1. Sit the whipped topping on the counter for 15 minutes to soften.
2. Prepare jello according to the quick set method on the back of the box. 
3. Stir in 16 oz whipped topping and continue to stir until it melts.
4. Pour into small cups or bowls and refrigerate for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Homemade Glitter Play Dough

My kids love sensory play and one of their favorite things to make is play dough! A little bit of green food coloring and gold glitter make it perfectly festive for St. Patrick's Day!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1/2 cup warm water
• green food coloring
• gold glitter

DIRECTIONS:

Mix the flour and salt, add a few drops of food coloring to the water, and slowly pour the water mixture into the flour mixture while stirring. Add more flour as needed until the mixture isn't sticky.  Sprinkle in some gold glitter and knead with your hands to blend.

Give your child some shamrock cookie cutters, a rolling pin and a plastic child-safe knife, and let them create!

Homemade Green Slime

Making slime is another sensory play favorite! Green always seems to be the preferred color!

INGREDIENTS:

• 8 oz white school glue
• 1 tsp Borax (laundry detergent aisle)
• 1 cup warm water
• Green food coloring

DIRECTIONS:

STEP ONE: Empty glue into a large bowl. 

STEP TWO:  Fill glue bottle completely with 1/2 cup warm water, shake, then pour into the bowl that contains the glue.  Stir. 

STEP THREE:  Add several drops of green food coloring to the glue mixture.  Stir. 

STEP FOUR:  Mix 1 tsp Borax into 1/2 cup warm water. Stir until the Borax dissolves. 

STEP FIVE:  Slowly pour the Borax solution into the glue solution while stirring. Keep a close eye on this process!  This is where the science aspect of it begins.  You will see the glue solution almost immediately begin to form into a solid as it meets the Borax solution!

STEP SIX:  Dig in and knead the slime!

STEP SEVEN:  Store in an airtight container or a storage bag.

Thumbprint Shamrocks Craft

This is a simple craft/keepsake that we make every year! I'm sharing last year's version since we didn't make the 2017 version yet. I absolutely love pulling these out each year and adding them to our decor!

SUPPLIES: 

• White paper
• Green paint
• Sharpie

DIRECTIONS:

Have your child/children make a four leaf clover with their thumb. Carefully paint on a thin stem to each shamrock. Write the name(s) underneath each shamrock, and add the holiday and the year to the finished project!

These are just a few of our favorite ways to celebrate St. Patrick's Day! St. Patrick's Day books and movies, green shamrock pancakes, Lucky Charms, and green muffin pan meals are also part of our holiday fun. Maybe, just maybe, you will be able to use one of these as a last minute idea!

Feel free to link up your "green" posts on the widget below and start planning your posts for the upcoming months!

April 21st

May 19th

June 16th

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you and yours! How will you be celebrating?

An InLinkz Link-up

Five Favorite Halloween Sensory Play Activities

Happy Friday, my friends! 

Can you believe it's already Halloween weekend? Time is flying by at rapid speed this year! I'm switching up my Friday Favorites a bit this week in honor of the upcoming holiday and sharing our five favorite Halloween Sensory Play Activities! 

DIY Corn Pit

Kids LOVE these at pumpkin patches! So why not give them one at home? It's so easy and so cheap!

A baby pool, a 25 lb bag of whole corn kernels (less than $10 at a feed supply store) and a few sand toys are all you need to give your kids an at-home Corn Pit!  I tossed in a few spooky spiders to make it a bit more festive!

It's such a simple idea and it provides hours upon hours of entertainment!

Edible Pumpkin Patch

I shared this idea last year and it became an instant hit with my kids! I filled our sensory bin with Cocoa Krispies, "planted" a bag of candy pumpkins, gave the kids a basket and scoops and let them play (and eat)!

Spooky Slime

My kids love playing with slime and it's so much fun to spruce it up for a holiday! Here are our two favorite Halloween versions:

TO MAKE THE SLIME: 8 oz white glue (I used two 4 oz bottles), 1 tsp Borax (found in laundry detergent aisle), 1 cup warm water, green food coloring, and Googly Eyes

1. Empty glue into a large bowl.
2. Fill glue bottle(s) completely with warm water (you will use 1/2 cup water), shake, then pour into the bowl that contains the glue.  Stir. 
3. Add several drops of neon green food coloring to the glue mixture.  Stir. 
4. Mix 1 tsp Borax into 1/2 cup warm water. Stir until the Borax dissolves.
5. Slowly pour the Borax solution into the glue solution while stirring. Keep a close eye on this process!  This is where the science aspect of it begins.  You will see the glue solution almost immediately begin to form into a solid as it meets the Borax solution!
6. Dig in and knead the slime!
7. Add the googly eyes to the top of the slime mixture. 

TO MAKE THE SLIME: 1 bottle of glitter glue, 1 cup warm water + 1-2 TBSP warm water, 1 tsp Borax, and spider rings

1. Dissolve 1 tsp Borax in 1 cup warm water.
2. Pour glitter glue into large bowl.  
3. Add 1-2 TBSP warm water and stir again.
4. Slowly pour Borax solution into the glue solution while stirring.  You will see the glue almost immediately start to solidify!
5. Form a ball with the Glitter Slime and knead! 
6. Mix in the spiders.

Play Dough Pumpkins Activity Tray

3 of my 4 kids still love Play Dough!  I'm going to be honest. Sometimes we make our own play dough. But other times we stick with the store-bought classic because it's just easier!

I found a divided appetizer tray at the dollar store a few years ago and I was immediately inspired to use it for play dough and crafts.  I put a little ball of play dough in the middle spot and add all the embellishments around the outside.

For the Halloween Play Dough Activity Tray we use:

• Orange play dough
• Green pipe cleaners
• Small sticks (we used wood chews for small animals from the pet store)
• Beads
• Googly Eyes

My girls always have so much fun creating little pumpkins and stamping patterns into the pumpkins with the beads!

I filled our play dough activity tray at the beginning of October and it stayed on our art table all month long!

Homemade Play Dough Pumpkins Favors

These adorable play dough sensory play favors were inspired by our Play Dough Pumpkins Activity Tray! Liam has so much fun playing with play dough and I thought they would be a cute favor for his preschool class. We handed them out today at his Halloween Party!

First, I whipped up a large batch of homemade play dough using this recipe:

• 4 cups flour
• 4 tbsp cream of tartar
• 4 tbsp oil
• 1 cup salt 
• 2 3/4 cups boiling water
• red + yellow food coloring

1.  Mix four, cream of tartar, oil and salt in large bowl.
2. Boil the water then mix in red and yellow food coloring until you get the perfect shade of orange.
3. Pour the water into the flour mixture and stir until it turns into a dough. 
4. Knead the dough for several minutes. If it still feels sticky, sprinkle in a bit more flour and continue to knead.

After we made the batch of play dough, we rolled the dough into balls and decorated them with googly eyes, bead noses, pinto bean mouths (I wanted black beans but they were sold out everywhere), stick stems and pipe cleaner leaves. I slid each pumpkin into a clear favor bag and tied it up.

They were perfect for Liam's preschool class! If the play dough is stored in a ziploc bag in the fridge, it will remain usable for 6+ months!

Liam, Lily and Lexie have been enjoying these Halloween Sensory Play activities all month long and I am so excited to share them all with you!

We have a busy Halloween weekend ahead of us. I'm volunteering at Lexie's school Halloween Party tomorrow. In the evening, I'm taking the kids to Trick or Treat at Grant's office. And we still have to fit in a trip to the pumpkin patch and carve our pumpkins! My kids are eagerly counting down the days until Halloween! What's on your agenda this weekend?

 

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Let's Get SLIMED!

SLIME.

So gross, but so much fun!  It's almost impossible to resist!




My weekly activity time with Lily just got a bit more crowded!  Now that school's out for the summer, Dylan and Lexie want to join in.  For this week's activity, Dylan, Lexie, and Lily chose "Make Homemade Slime" from our list of activities! 

We decided to make two of our favorite slime recipes.  Neon Slime for Dylan and Glitter Slime for the girls!  Both recipes are really easy to make!  Not only is it fun to do, but there's science involved!

Neon Slime

To make Neon Slime, you only need a few simple ingredients:  8 oz white glue (I used two 4 oz bottles), 1 tsp Borax (found in laundry detergent aisle), 1 cup warm water, neon food coloring, spoons for stirring, and 2 mixing bowls.



STEP ONE: Empty glue into a large bowl.



STEP TWO:  Fill glue bottle(s) completely with warm water (you will use 1/2 cup water), shake, then pour into the bowl that contains the glue.  Stir. 



STEP THREE:  Add several drops of neon food coloring to the glue mixture.  Stir.



STEP FOUR:  Mix 1 tsp Borax into 1/2 cup warm water. Stir until the Borax dissolves.



STEP FIVE:  Slowly pour the Borax solution into the glue solution while stirring. Keep a close eye on this process!  This is where the science aspect of it begins.  You will see the glue solution almost immediately begin to form into a solid as it meets the Borax solution!



STEP SIX:  Dig in and knead the slime!






STEP SEVEN:  Store in an airtight container or a storage bag.



See? I told you it was easy!!!



GLITTER SLIME

Glitter slime is a lot like Neon Slime.  For this recipe, you will need: 1 bottle of glitter glue, 1 cup warm water + 1-2 TBSP warm water, 1 tsp Borax, spoons for stirring, and 2 mixing bowls.



STEP ONE:  Dissolve 1 tsp Borax in 1 cup warm water.



STEP TWO:  Pour glitter glue into large bowl.



STEP THREE:  Add 1-2 TBSP warm water and stir again.  Isn't it pretty?!?




STEP FOUR:  Slowly pour Borax solution into the glue solution while stirring.  Once again, you will see the glue almost immediately start to solidify!



STEP FIVE:  Form a ball with the Glitter Slime and knead!



STEP SIX:  Store in an airtight container or storage bag.



The end result?  HOURS of fun!  



Later, you might even find your 10 year old, who is growing up way too quickly, playing with the slime!



If you keep it stored in an airtight container/bag, it will last for weeks!



What are you waiting for?!?  Go make some slime!!!