lightbulb saturday:: inspiration for the weekend

It is that time again! 


Lightbulb Saturday is a link up with the Kids Co-OP and is chock full of creative ideas for kids. It is the perfect place to find an activity or two to liven up your weekend!


Browse through, link to your own projects and enjoy!


This week I am particularly in love with A Childhood List's  jump rope made from plastic bags and duct tape. What a great idea! I'll bet my kids could use the same method to make a whip. 

Welcome to The Kid's Co-op! Each week we get together we'll ask YOU to share your favorite kid's activities. We'd love to see a plethora of ideas geared for toddlers to pre-teens. We are looking for activities that are family oriented, fun, unique and educational. Please share your favorite project or blog post below. We will be sharing our favorite post from our own blogs too! {Co-hosted by: The Kid's Co-op Group, Let's Lasso the Moon & Nurture Store}

1. Owl Masks	2. Kids in Charge of the Easter Bunny Cake	3. Painting Flowers WITH Flowers	4. Camp Fire Smore Cones
5. Rainbows can be black too! Process not product in kid's art.	6. Easter Prints on foam plate	7. DIY Light Table for Sensory Play	8. Marshmallow & Apple Lamb
9. Colored Ice Cube Sensory Play	10. sticker resist easter eggs	11. Fun with Ants/ Aunts	12. Body Paint Slip and Slide
13. Glowing Easter Egg Hunt in the Tub	14. Decorating Playdough Easter Eggs	15. Tea Time-It's not just for girls.	16. Make Monopoly even more fun
17. Paper Plate Robin	18. No Paintbrushes Allowed!	19. Mad About Dinosaurs	20. Make a salt garden and WHY it's working?
21. Hungry Bunny Toddler Game	22. Resurrection Eggs & Toddler Activities	23. DIY nesting eggs	24. Nest of Chicken Nuggets
25. Egg free Easter Cookies	26. Hubble inspired play	27. Knitting and children	28. Hula Hoop Games
29. Peeps Inspired Crafts & a few books to go w/ them	30. Easter Wreath	31.	32. Montessori at Home: Movement
33. Sail Away - Book Adventure	34. Easter Tot Trays	35. Sticky Salt Painting!	36. Baking pumpkin muffins
37. Autumn picnic fun!	38. 50 Egg shaped Easter crafts	39. Squishy Worms Painting: LLJournal	40. Drawing Circles: LLJournal
41. Homemade Lava Lamp	42. Edible Solar System	43. Fabric Eggs	44. Jell-O Aquarium
45. 5 Reasons To Try Something New With Your Child Today	46. Peace tools for kids	47. Words as Art	48. Easter Basket Ideas: Low Sugar, High Fun
49. Toddler F - family cube	50. take an evening walk	51. LOTS and LOTS of Bird (and Egg) Activities	52. Inexpensive & DIY Geometric Solids and Extensions
53. No-mess Glitter Glue Easter Grass	54. Grow an Aquarium	55. Easter Egg French Toast	56. 25 Ways to Keep our Kids Feeling Beautiful
57. Spring Children's Artwork	58. Easter Bunny Card from child's hand tracing	59. Handprint Lambs made with Packing Peanuts	60. Baked Oatmeal, To Go!
61. Plastic Egg Stacking Game	62. Japanese Scoubidou, red ted art	63. Edible Book, red ted art	64. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
65. Egg Crack Painting	66. Masking Tape Race Track	67. 20 Boredom Busters for Rainy Days	68. Fun Day Out
69. Easter crafts,books,printables and more!	70. pairs of eggs	71. Lost and Found Eggs	72. Shaving Cream Car Wash
73. Glittery diypuffy paint	74. Math Fun	75. Rainbow World Storytelling	76. Reflections on How children Learn
77. Colored Rice 3 Different Activities	78. My Daddy Hung the Moon Storyboad	79. Easter Egg Touch and Feel Book	80. Egg and Chick Color Match
81. 14 Ways to Explore Letters in Name	82. Hot Glue + Color = Unique Easter Eggs	83. Play-Doh Letters	84. Intentional Easter
85. Kids in the Kitchen: Easy Candy Flowers	86. Spring Twig Nest Centerpiece	87. Simple Easter Doily Painting	88. Sink or Float Experiment
89. Spring Bunny Paper Plate Craft	90. Painting with Feathers	91. Rabbit From Six Handprints	92. Paper Plate Lamb
93. Jackson Pollock for children	94. Easter Sticker Resist Painting	95. Open ended, creative play. Fostering your child's imagination.	96. Thumb Print Art
97. Easter chick hand art	98. Thumbprint painting baby chicks	99. Easter Goodies in a Jar-daughter made it & baked it	100. Why Kids Love Birds/ Gardening Guineas
101. Snack Time Map Skills	102. From	103. Helpful tips for reading aloud	104. All About Paint
105. Keitha's Story Themed Lunches	106. Smile Hunt	107. Changing Table turned Dress Up Station	108. Squishy Gooey Sensory Play
109. Dish Soap Foam	110. How to Make Fun Activies for Kids	111. Felt Balls	112. The Single Crunch
113. Sensory bean	114. Putting on a Play with Mrs. Wishy Washy	115. Holly T	116. Cherry Blossom Painting
117. Sweet & Salty Spring Snack Mix	118. Color field with Barnett Newman	119. Math without Worksheets	120. Make Multicultural Paper Dolls @ KidWorldCitizen
121. Easter Bunny Footprints	122. April Fools Pranks to Play on Your Kids	123. DIY Plastic Bag Jump Rope	124. M&M Book Club: The Easter Egg
125. Mini Bottle Top Play Dough Cakes	126. My little Van Gogh	127. Toddler Felt Easter Basket	128. Spring
129. Pine cleaner DINOSAURS	130. easter craft	131. Deb (Speech Gadget)	132. 5 Little Daffodils
133. Our Treasure Basket	134. Mrs. Karen's Preschool Class	135. Tee foam hammering	136. Mess Free Finger Painting
137. bird	138. guy with watercress	139. figures at straws	140. Ooey Gooey Oobleck Fun with Playgroup
141. first chore chart	142. Four Season Play with tp roll trees	143. Dino Dig	144. Outdoor Fun
145. Make a Nesting Materials Bag for the Birds	146. Kids Make Meyer Lemon Sherbet	147. Underwater fish scene	148. Easter Activities, Crafts & Books for Toddlers
149. Snack Menu (with snack ideas)	150. conduct a simple survey for dinner	151. were dinosaurs on the ark?	152. worst sensory bin idea ever
153. name recognition sensory gel bag	154. Decorate Your Own Superhero Cape Tutorial	155. Art on a Light Table	156. Neighborhood Color Hunt!
157. The Midas Touch	158. Octonauts At The Beach	159. Dollshouse Update	160. Animals Eggs
161. hand print bunny	162. Toddler's Easter Plate	163. Easter Card	164. origami bunny
165. EASTER SURPRISE!	166. Easter Tic Tac Toe	167. Easter Ideas	168. Pizza Parthenon-Ancient Greece
169. Make your own cheap and easy Backyard Tepee	170. Jen W	171. Moon Fever	172. Searching For Signs Of Spring
173. Handprint Easter Card	174. Daisy Easter Bonnet	175. Everything is possible!	176. Magic Beans to Lollipops
177. pvc pipe sprinkler	178. Magnetic Play	179. Pre-K Very Hungry Caterpillar unit study	180. Make Your Own Constellations
181. Mother/Daughter/Grammy Tea in the city!	182. April Fool's Dinner	183. Popsicle photo frames	184. Kid's table makeover
185. How to sort out puzzle pieces	186. April Fool's Breakfast for kids	187. Paint a Shower Curtain Mural	188. The Easter Miracle
189. Printing with Porcupine Balls	190. Tie Dyed Eggs	191. Eggs made of saltdough	192. Colored Eggshell Art
193. 25 Non-Candy Easter Egg Fillers	194. More than 100 Frugal Winter Family Activities	195. Shaving Cream Bathtub Paint Fun	196. Reversible Hopscotch/Tic-Tac-Toe Mat
197. House collage	198. free painting	199. Backyard Fish Pond	200. chili colors with a side of fluffy clouds
201. a splash of this a dab of that	202. messy sensory playdate	203. Why? sensory and messy play	204. soapy pepper tea
205. Gardening the Montessori Way!	206. Icecream stick photo frame	207. Easter nests with natural resources	208. DIY Texture Mats
209. Niyatee	210. Hallie	211. Easter bunny and chick	212. Kickin' It Old School
213. Pretend Play Box - School	214.	215. Salted Tempera Paint	216. shiny eggs
217. Easter Flower	218. scented water play	219. clothespin game	220. buttons egg
221. Easter egg card	222. H&H: Homemade Goldfish	223. Easter bunny Chocolate bag	224. eggs for babies
225. Easter Rice Krispy Craft Printable	226. Easter ABC Egg Matching Game	227. Geometric Easter Eggs for math and art fun

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

this moment :: dentist

image from the week. no words. via soulemama.

it's that time of year again:: ocean evenings

We arrive when everyone else is leaving, sunburned and tired. 

A watermelon and cold beer can make a dinner. 

The thirty minutes before the sun finally sets, the air is thick and golden. I promise you. Many people can not see it - but all you have to do is look. 

 Dreams are written in the sand and souls of our children as they commune with the sea.

conduct a simple survey

A great, real world math activity for young kids is to conduct a survey. For dinner on this particular night, we could not decide which pasta shape to eat - so my 5 year old used this simple table to tally everyone's vote. 

If I pulled a chart like this from a workbook, or printed a cute printable from the internet, he would have not been nearly as enthusiastic as he was with this project. We had a real need (which pasta to eat) and he could solve it for our family while I made the sauce.


Real world = real learning around here.  This is one way that unschooling works.

I drew the simple chart, including a picture representation of the two pastas we had on hand and explained to him to make a mark under each for each person's vote. It was very close, with the kids all voting one way and the adults the other. I guess we really are outnumbered!

When he was done, he counted the votes and wrote the number of each (self correcting that annoying three) and cheers went up from the kids whose choice won. The whole thing took literally 5 minutes - but the engagement was high and the skills acquisition effortless, which is how the majority of learning should be.

monday missions :: take your daily constitutional

Monday Missions: a simple idea to add a little magic to your week.

daily constitutional: a walk taken for one's health

We weave in and out of seasons of taking walks as a family. When my children were much younger, neighborhood walks in strollers were common several times a day. 

Now, much of our walking happens when we hike in the woods or have a particular destination (the library or a class that is nearby). But, recently, we have been trying to take our daily constitutional, through the neighborhood, after dinner. It is such a great way to help your food digest and unwind. The days that we walk are usually the days that everyone falls asleep more gently and at peace. 

We never cease to have a mini adventure when we walk around our neighborhood. We have come across magically lit trees in the middle of fields, neighbors making kettle corn and offering a bag, whole galleries of amateur artwork being thrown out that we eagerly rifle through and many ducks and turtles having life adventures that we watch and sometimes participate in.

And, the words and ideas and plans and dreams really start flowing when our legs are moving. Sometimes from all three kids at once. Something happens to the mind when we walk. We loosen up our brain and start connecting all the disparate bits and bobs that are knocking around into cohesive ideas and feelings. It is a gift to give your children and yourself at the end of the day.

So, this week, my challenge to myself (and you if you want to play along) is to walk each night after dinner and see what happens.

How do you walk with your kids? 

lightbulb saturday:: inspiration for the weekend

So, after a little hiatus, we are back with 
lightbulb saturday - a link up of creative ideas for all ages. So, browse through, see if something grabs your eye - and feel free to link up your project!






The post I am most digging this week:


Pen Pals and Picture Books made this great pallet bookshelf. I have a pallet in my back yard right now that is begging for this treatment. I especially like how she retained the character of the pallet's patina and included her children in the decoration. Awesome!

Click through to peruse the many submissions this week.

Welcome to The Kid's Co-op! Each week we get together we'll ask YOU to share your favorite kid's activities. We'd love to see a plethora of ideas geared for toddlers to pre-teens. We are looking for activities that are family oriented, fun, unique and educational. Please share your favorite project or blog post below. We will be sharing our favorite post from our own blogs too! {Co-hosted by: The Kid's Co-op Group, Let's Lasso the Moon & Nurture Store}

1. The marshmallow experiment	2. Baking with the boy	3. Flowers	4. Baskets, Stones & Ping Pong balls!
5. {Underwater} Volcanoes	6. 10 Mistakes Kids Should Make	7. momto8blog	8. Improve Toddler Communication
9. Bird's Nest Sensory Bin	10. Color and Movement Game	11. Baking with Young Children - Chocolate Chip Scones	12. Building Secondary Cavity Nester Birds Nests (Bluebird, Carolina Chickadee and more)
13. Pirate Treasure Sensory Tub	14. Volunteering at the Food Pantry	15. 10 Reasons to Get Out the Easter Eggs!	16. Link love: Crayons & discovery bottles
17. Play Dough Master Class	18. Eggheads	19. Using play dough to practise cutting skills.	20. Balloon Play: LLJournal
21. Mega Floor Doodles: LLJournal	22. Small space solutions: Writing & Art Centre LLJournal	23. Juggling balls	24. Hidden treasure cake
25. Fine Motor Skills with Liquid Watercolors	26. Pom Pom Bunnies with Printables	27. Fine Motor with Tiny Swords	28. Washing Toys with Dyed Water
29. Planting seeds and watercolor flowers	30. Stone Critters	31. Free Spring Coupon Book for Easter	32. Sesame Street Fruit Platter
33. Pine Cone Ducks & Swans	34. How to Build a Tipi	35. Wooly Sheep	36. 10 Ways to Learn About Birds
37. Fine Motor leads to Fine Arts	38. Linda	39. Chicken & Toddler Fun!	40. sticker resist easter eggs
41. play and learn with blocks	42. Tape resist easter eggs	43. Playdough Easter Eggs	44. Our School at Home: Our first sensory tubs!
45. Malia	46. Raincloud in a Jar	47. Easter Bunny Card from child's hand tracing	48. Blowing up a Balloon w/ baking soda & vinegar
49. Ode to a Cherry Tree: Tissue Paper Art	50. Go on a Smile Hunt	51. LOTS & LOTS of Easter Activities	52. Easter Egg Sound Set
53. Pasta play for babies	54. toddler gardening	55. Farm field trip for toddlers	56. Colored Glasses
57. Car Wash	58. Letter Learning Fun	59. 35 Ways to Have Fun Under One	60. Homemade Moss Paint
61. Very Hungry Caterpillar Playdough	62. Puffy Paint Rainbows	63. 'Where the Wild Things Are' TP Roll Puppets	64. Mini Garden Journal & Green Fingers, red ted art
65. Toothfairy boxes + 10 ideas for Kinder Surprises	66. Milk Bottle Elmer	67. Wasted Tapes Artwork	68. Kids in the Kitchen: Easter Bunny Pretzel Treats
69. Simple Science: Oil and Water Color Explosions	70. Cornmeal Letter Discovery	71. Water Beads and Shaving Cream	72. Thumbprint Eggs on Easter Basket
73. Upcycled Plant Watering Bottle	74. Glove Rabbit Puppet	75. Colored Water Bottles for Baby	76. Easter Egg Phonics-Free Printables
77. Easter Egg Toddler Activities	78. 10 Little Eggs - a counting song!	79. Rockets for Preschoolers and Toddlers!	80. Plastic Egg Activities!
81. Fun Science Experiment for Toddlers	82. Story Cubes for Toddlers/PreK	83. Giant Sponge Sensory Play	84. Violet Equinox
85. Nature Walks & Nature Game	86. Van Gogh	87. EGG-napped- story time with activity ideas	88. Kandinsky's circles
89. Seuss themed I-spy bag tutorial	90. Learn with Play @ home	91. Alphabet soup	92. Celebrating Easter.........Naturally!
93. Doing Science: measuring grapes and a new twist on homemade volcanoe models	94. Painting with (new!) toilet bowl brushes	95. Spring Paper Flowers	96. Candy Sushi Fun!
97. Easter Egg Pops-So easy for Kids to help make & share	98. Messy Foam	99. robyn	100. growing cat grass
101. Cress Caterpillar	102. Guess Who with DUPLO	103. Keitha's Story Themed Lunches	104. Edible Finger Paint
105. Hello Spring, A Walk and A Treasure Box	106. Photo Flower Bouquet	107. Clown of God/ Rainbows	108. Shaving Cream Rainbows!
109.	110. grind your own paint like the old master	111. Painted Eggs	112. messy sensory playdate
113. a splash of this a dab of that	114. Trampo-swing & Tarzan swing	115. everything must glow	116. Hunger Games Cupcakes
117. Going on a Bear Hunt fun!	118. Pineapple Whips...like the ones from Disney World	119. Cars Sensory Bin	120. Many uses of colorful pasta
121. Lego Educational Book	122. Red Red Red	123. Easter bunny craft ideas	124. Upcycled craft with packing peanuts
125. Mini Terrarium	126. DIY Natural Wax Crayons	127. Family Photos Clank Can	128. Spring Craft & Books
129. Toddler Easter Crafts & Books	130. Olympic Torch	131. ArtAttackTuesday #2	132. Painting with Marshmallows
133. toilet tube Easter chicks	134. handprint farm	135. DIY toddler water table	136. Corduroy
137. Ice Gems & Igloos	138. Emotional Stress Ball Balloons	139. Monster Goodie Bags	140. Homemade Blocks
141. Cardboard box oven	142. Danielle Payette	143. Spelling Pattern Game	144. Easter Egg Sand Art
145. Handprint Lambs with Packing Peanuts	146. Black Book of Colors: 5 senses activities	147. Bunnies Everywhere! Printable book	148. handprint african animals
149. Sight Word Hopscotch	150. Tie Dye Easter Eggs	151. Footprint Chick	152. Build a Rainbow
153. painting with your feet	154. Dozen Ways to Love: Easter Egg Activity	155. Brain-based Obstacle Course	156. Straw painting Cherry Blossoms
157. The Tale of Foolish Jack	158. Exploring with Shaving Cream	159. 14 Ways to Explore Letters in Name	160. Easter and Spring Activities
161. DIY Crayons	162. Mrs. Karen's Preschool Class	163. Superheroes and Villains	164. Contact Paper Human Body
165. Crafty Little Critters. Pompom fun!	166. Making Faces Magnets	167. Sharon@DiscoverExploreLearn	168. Dr. Seuss Play Date
169. Giant Squishy Sensory Bag	170. Young & Lively Kindergarten	171. Cloud Dough Round 2	172. Using a Timer for Play and Parenting
173. Toddler Tubs	174. Build Self-Confidence 7 Easy Ways	175. Angelica Yim

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

this moment :: a boy at the sea

a special moment from the week. via soulemama.

instagram journal

 rainbow garland via design mom

 rainbow garland via mamacout

 tiny paper dolls found in the crooks of my house

 our beloved organic apples, ...we can barely afford them as fast as they eat them

silverware waiting for a celebration

are you on instagram? i love it. follow me and i will follow you :)

exploration lab:: grind your own paint

Inspired by this book, we learned a bit about Giotto and made our own egg tempera paint. I have labeled this an exploration lab, because once you have the basic - it really lends itself to inventiveness. 

 The basic idea is that you grind up pigment and mix it with egg yolks whipped up with a bit of water. We used colored chalk, but in the past, artists would use mineral, plants, and even insects. 

The grinding was much harder work that we thought. This led into discussions about how useful the workshop/apprentice model was in the past when artists were responsible for manufacturing their own paints, brushes and other tools.

We used shells and rocks to grind and immediately saw how hard it was to get a perfect, uniform powder. 

 My son entertained us with stories of Leonardo Da Vinci and his many failed painting projects. My daughter decided to try to use just the egg wash to make a glaze. When the paintings were done (on paper and wood) and dry - it was amazing to see a completely different sheen than any other paint we have used.


 Later in the day, we talked about how learning about egg tempra might inform other experiments and listed the possible applications of our new skill, including using it for painting flying machines. 

While we painted, we listened to Palestrina, the Renaissance composer who came a few hundred years later and made music more three dimensional, just like Giotto did with human figures. The choral music was so relaxing and uplifting we listened to it all day.

On a side note, I just finished reading The Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier and really enjoyed it. It is based on the Dutch painter Vermeer and his maid and their relationship. One of her duties is to grind pigment and mix paint and the rich imagery from the novel were running through my head as I did this project with my children today. If this is your sort of thing - check it out. The movie based on the novel is good too. 

monday missions:: plan a game night this week

Monday Missions: a simple idea to add a little magic to your week.

If you have not played a game with your family in while, how about giving it a try this week? 


Our family has finally moved into playing more challenging games (ones that keep my interest) and it has been great. Game night (or day) is becoming a frequently requested activity and I think we will continue to explore new games together.


We especially like Monopoly, Chess, Scrabble, Battleship, and Sorry. Very classic - but I do have some others I would  like to try, like, Ticket to Ride, Stone Age, and Risk.


Does your family have a game night? What is your favorite board game?

this moment::road warriors

a special moment from the week...via soulemama

make a rainbow connection

My kids really like making these classic garlands for nearly every holiday. I always associate them with Christmas, but they have shown me that they work well for Halloween and St Patricks Day too. 

The repetitive pattern helped my 6 year old to quickly learn the rainbow color sequence as we made this garland for a St Patrick's Day birthday we will be celebrating this week.

 I think it is so pretty, we might just leave it up until summer. 

this one is annoying but my kids love it

slingshot learning

After spending over an hour on this project, my son came to me so excited with his trio of slingshots. This unstructured, child-intitated play is a pillar of our homeschooling. It is so much more than just fiddling around with sticks and the learning that happens is tangible and lasting. 


He explained to me how he found and prepared the sticks. He also explained how the tension could not be too tight or it was difficult to use - it had to have slack. We talked about his knot tying and double knot tying. The merits of thicker rubber bands was compared to thinner ones. 


His pride and excitement with this creation was infectious and he soon roped me into a sling shot contest. We shot wiffle balls into the metal magazine rack enjoying the cacophony. 


After explaining to me all the applications of slingshots in daily life, he designed gear that would help him carry his weapons, complete with a bullet pouch.


As he left the room to create his next project, he looked back at me and said, 


"See, I told you I could make a slingshot!" 


Yes, you did and yes, you can.