Cook | A Quick and Easy Lunch for Kids

Spring is here! (And has been for a little while now.) At our house that typically means that life begins to pick up the pace. When the weather is nice I feel guilty spending the day inside. We have found ourselves at the park, on walks, jogging, bike riding, and hiking the beautiful landscape we live in. Spring also calls for yard work, cleaning and organizing, weddings, graduations, and trips to the local amusement park.

Seriously, I have been finding it difficult to find time to sit down, relax and just breathe. There is always something to be done! I love it- but boy can it be exhausting!

One of the ways I have found to help make the day run smoother is to have quick lunches ready to go. A lot of the time that we decide to go to the park it is a last minute decision. It is typically nearing lunchtime, so of course we have to pack something to take with us. It usually takes twice as long as I think it should. If I have something quick I can grab, then we can get playing quicker and for longer, and then I can also limit the amount of time I have little people at my knees asking if it's time to go yet. :) 

One of the quickest lunches we have are lunchables. Hailey loves to get them from the store, but they can be expensive! Instead of buying them I make my own ahead of time and leave them in the fridge ready to grab and go. Really, it's pretty intuitive, but I have step-by-step pictures for you anyway. :)

Start with a block of cheese, some lunchmeat (I prefer thicker cut meat, it works better) and crackers.

Cut the cheese. (He, he... Not like that! So immature. Cut the cheese... he he...) I cut the block along the long way, so the pieces are short, and then cut those pieces in half. 

If you want to get fancy, to easily cut the meat into circles I have found that my TBSP measuring spoon works great. Press it in and voila- circles! It's ok, you don't have to be fancy, just slice it up into small rectangles. It tastes the same, right?

To avoid being wasteful, I cut up the excess meat left over from cutting circles and save it to put on salads or in eggs.

Bag up the cut meat and cheese and now you have a quick lunch to grab and go.

It makes my kids happy. Making your own little sandwiches is so fun!

Kids | Paper Bag Dresses and the Paper Bag Princess

We love the library. Just about every Thursday morning you can find me and my girls enjoying storytime at the library. While there, we check out a new stack of books each week. Hailey can hardly wait the 5 minute drive home before digging into the new books. She usually asks to look at one or two on the way home.

One book we have checked out a few times is The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch. The Paper Bag Princess is about a princess whose castle is destroyed by a dragon. The dragon carries away her prince, who she plans to marry. Everything the princess has is burnt by the fire of the dragon, including her clothes. The only thing to survive the dragon was a paper bag. The princess makes herself a dress from the paper bag and sets off to rescue her prince from the dragon. At the end of the book, after outwitting the dragon and rescuing the prince, the prince is no longer interested in the princess, because she is a dirty mess. The princess doesn't care,  and leaves the prince, no longer intent on marrying him.

The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch

What I like most about the story is the idea in the end that the princess knows the prince is wrong. She has a good sense of her own self worth and knows that how she looks is not an important part of who she is.

One afternoon Hailey asked me for an activity to do. We ended up making impromptu paper bag dresses, just like the Paper Bag Princess. You can too!

We started by ripping open the bottom of the bag.

After Hailey tore the bottom open, I used some scissors to cleanly cut away the paper. You should have a tube to look through after the bottom is cut open. (Yes, Keira has marker on her face. That girl loves markes, but she always makes a mess!)

Then we decorated. We used crayons, markers and stickers. I think paints or stamps would be fun too.

Hailey decided to practice writing and traced the letters on the bag.

After we decorated, the dresses were nearly ready to wear. Hailey complained that the top of the bag was digging into her arm pit, so we cut holes in the bag so it would sit more comfortably.

That's it. Easy peasy, but fun. So go grab some large paper bags, art supplies, and a copy of The Paper Bag Princess and craft away! 

Kids | Exploring with Non-Newtonian Fluid (Oobleck)

Kyle is the cool kid at our house. He has one of those brains that is constantly dreaming up something new and fun. He loves to see how things work and experiment. Of course, he loves to share all of this with our girls. After dinner one evening, Kyle led us all in some fun with science. 

Kyle and I have seen videos of people walking on what looks like liquid. Walking (running really) straight across it. What these people have done is made a large quantity of what is called a non-Newtonian fluid (also known as Oobleck). It is a fluid that when at rest acts as a liquid, but when force is placed upon it, it acts like a solid. It is crazy cool stuff. It's a mixture of water and cornstarch. That's it! 

We played with this stuff for an hour, and only quit because it was bedtime. Hailey would have kept going and going and going... Seriously, if you need to occupy your children for an hour, make them some Oobleck. Or if you would like something fun to do with your children, make some Oobleck. :)

You need:

1 1/2 cups water

16 oz. cornstarch

To make it, grab a large bowl or tub. Pour in the water.  

Add the cornstarch. Start with a little, mix. Add some more, mix. We didn't follow any recipe, we just experimented until it turned out. We used almost the entire 16 oz. of cornstarch.

When the mixture is the right consistency it will pull away from the edges of the bowl.

Now roll up your sleeves, dig your hands in and play!

Try pushing down with your fingers and see how the fluid resists them.

Now relax and watch your finger sink into the goo.

Roll the goo into a ball and watch it ooze out of your hand when you stop rolling. (Sorry the video is choppy, I made it from still images I had taken.)

This stuff is serious fun. I even got into it and had a blast with it. Yes, it's messy, but it cleans right up with water, no scrubbing. Just wet a towel and wipe it away. Now, that's my kind of mess.

If you do just one messy activity with your kids, make it this one! They will love it. You will earn major cool parent points for it. I'm thinking we need to have some friends over and do it again. Anyone want to come play with us!?

I'm Guest Posting Today: Monster Infant Hooded Towel

Hey all! I'm guest posting over at Someday Crafts today as part of their Crafting for Baby Series. I am sharing a tutorial to make this monster infant hooded towel.

I know I have been a little sparse in posting recently. I've been busy working on this tutorial and playing outside with my girls. The weather here has been fantastic!  I have a new post to share on Monday, so be sure to check back then! And of course, click over to Someday Crafts and check out my tutorial, plus the others that have been shared by other bloggers.

Kids | A Fun and Simple Matching Game: Steal the Pile

I love to play games. I grew up in a game playing house. When I was in high school, nearly every Sunday evening after dinner our family would sit down and play some sort of game together. Kyle's family is the same way. Sunday evening is game night. Games are a great way to spend time together as a family.

My maternal grandmother was a big game player. We often joked that we wouldn't teach her the rules to a new game we were playing, just to give her a handicap, because she would end up winning anyway. As a child I remember going to her house to visit and playing cards with her. We played with a set of cards that have kittens on them, which were always called the "Kitty Cards". Years after her passing, I have those cards as a special reminder of the fun I had playing cards with my grandma.

The game I remember playing most often with Grandma was Steal the Pile. It is a simple matching game that even small children (preschool age) can pick up on. I have taught Hailey how to play and she loves it. It is one of the games we play most frequently together.

Interested in playing? I'll teach you.

1. Start by dealing out 4 cards, face down, to each player. Then deal 4 cards, face up, in the center.

2. Each player picks up their hand and compares the cards they are holding with those on the table, looking for matches. 

3. Players take turns selecting a card from their hand and matching it with one face up on the table. If they have a match they take the matching card from their hand and the other matching card from the table and set them in a pile in front of them.

4. If the player can not match any of the cards face up on the table, they then discard any card in their hand face up on the table, adding it to those already there. 

5. The twist in the game is that besides matching those cards in the center of the table, you may also match with your opponents pile of cards they have made. If you have a card in your hand that matches the top card of their pile, you may match and steal their entire pile and add it to your own. Thus the name, Steal the Pile.

6. After both players have played their initial 4 cards, another set of 4 cards is dealt to each player. Play continues the same as the previous round. Once all of the cards in the deck have been dealt out and played, the player with the most cards wins!

Hailey thinks it is so fun to steal my pile. Likewise, she understands it's all in good sport when I take hers away too. It just means she needs to try to get it back!

It did take her a few rounds to completely get the concept, and sometimes I still need to give her a little bit of help. The more we play, the better she is getting at picking up the strategy of the game. 

If your preschooler/kindergartener likes to play games, check out the sight word memory game I created. It has been a fun and successful way of teaching Hailey sight words.

10 Arts and Crafts for Kids

Hailey loves to do arts and crafts. I really enjoy doing it with her too. Here are some arts and crafts projects we've done together.

As much as we enjoy making a crafty mess together, I just don't do it often enough. I'm out to change that. Hopefully we can get our hands messy more often and have fun doing it together. I have spent some time scouring Pinterest and the internet for some fun ideas. From that, I have compiled a list of 10 activities to do with toddlers and preschoolers.

from Fun-A-Day

from Life Lesson Plans

from U Create

from Housing a Forest

from Mama.Papa.Bubba.

from Powerful Mothering

from Red Ted Art

from I Heart Crafty Things

from Daisy Cottage Designs

from Meaningful Mama

Don't these crafts look so fun!? I have created a Pinterest board dedicated to crafts for kids where I pinned these crafts and more. If you like these, follow me on Pinterest to see what other fun crafts I discover!

Follow Renae Hill // hillmade's board kids crafts on Pinterest.