Indoor activities – Our Beautifully Messy House

Color Changing Carnations

February 24, 2017March 5, 2017 Porter Leave a comment

The latest experiment in Our Beautifully Messy House is one of the most colorful ones yet – Color Changing Carnations! It’s pretty simple to throw together and you will start to see results within a day! You can do this experiment with any white flowers…daisies, roses, even Queen Anne’s Lace…but carnations are cheap and abundant in our local grocery store these days. I was able to use this experiment to show L and WB how chemicals get into the food we eat, especially the food we grow. L knows why we always try to find organic fruits and veggies at the grocery, but now she can see why we do too!

Materials needed:

jars or vases
white flowers
scissors
water
food coloring

First, trim your flowers’ stems. It’s best to cut flowers at an angle and to remove any leafage near the bottom. Leaves trapped underneath the water’s surface become moldy and cause your water to go bad sooner.

Next, put about 10-20 drops of food coloring into each jar. The bigger the jar, the more food coloring you’ll need. Then, add the water.

Finally, put a flower or two into each vase and wait a day or two for the magic to happen!

The results are fun and exciting to see! Even I couldn’t wait to see what our flowers looked like with each passing hour.

To take this experiment to the next level, you can try making bi-colored carnations. Carefully split a flower stem down the middle and put each stem half into a different jar of colored water. We tried to make a half-yellow, half-red flower. Our “red” jar didn’t have quite enough food coloring in it, but the flower was clearly half-yellow! We’re still working on this one!

Enjoy!

Mini-Canvas Magnets

October 3, 2016October 3, 2016 Porter Leave a comment

MINI-CANVAS MAGNETS are not only a fun project for kids (and adults!) of all ages, but they also make sweet, little gifts for friends, grandparents, and teachers! I’ve founded mini-canvases at Michael’s on numerous occasions…usually on the ends of the acrylic paint aisle.

Materials needed:

mini-canvases
acrylic paints & brushes
thin magnet strips

First, paint your mini-canvases. The canvases are so small, little hands have no problem filling the space with a rainbow of colors. Best to give the kids 2-3 colors to use at a time. You may even want to paint a few!

After the paint dries, flip the canvases over and attach magnet strips. You can find an array of magnets at craft stores with an adhesive tape on one side. Best to choose thin magnets, so the canvases lie close to the fridge.

Now, time to gift and/or display your mini-masterpieces! So cute…and easy!!! Enjoy!

Tin Can Telephone

May 19, 2016May 19, 2016 Porter Leave a comment

Now I know this craft, toy, activity is as old as they come, but how many of you have actually made a TIN CAN TELEPHONE for your kids yet!?! L has been begging for weeks for us to make one and today was the day! It was so quick and easy to put together and the kids played with it all afternoon. L already has plans for tomorrow and how we’ll make a longer TIN CAN TELEPHONE that will stretch to the neighbor’s porch. And yes…if you’re wondering…yes, it does work!!! As you probably remember, the key is making sure the string is pulled taut when you’re talking to each other, and try not to rest the can against your face as well. Enjoy!

Materials needed:

2 tin cans, clean and lids removed
Sharpie markers (optional)
awl or nail
scissors
string
tape (fabric, duct, or gaffer)

First, color the cans with Sharpie markers. Of course you could always paint the cans, glue paper to the cans, or leave them plain as well.

Next, put tape on the cans to protect your kids from any sharp edges. To do this, measure the tape, to get the length right.

Carefully roll the can over the tape, wrapping the tape around the can, and leaving about half an inch of the tape hanging off the edge.

Next, use scissors to cut the tape as pictured. Then, fold all the flaps down over the can’s edge. No fear of little hands getting cut now!

Using an awl or a nail, poke a hole in the bottom of each can.

Cut a piece of string and thread it through the hole in the bottom of a can. Double or triple knot the string. Repeat on the other side of the string with the second can.

If the holes seems to be a bit sharp on the inside, and you have especially little hands that you’re afraid may explore the inside of the cans, you can put a piece of tape over the knots and holes of the cans.

Now, time to play! Your little ones can experiment talking across a room, through fort walls, up and down stairs, from one bedroom to another…the possibilities are endless.

Such simple, wonderful, old school fun!!!

2-Ingredient Slime

March 20, 2016March 20, 2016 Porter Leave a comment

This SLIME recipe has to be the quickest and easiest sensory-dough-goop we’ve ever made in Our Beautifully Messy House! It was perfect for a cold, rainy afternoon…a perfect excuse to keep the t.v. off as well! Both girls loved squishing and stretching our slime and I’m sure they’ll be asking for it first thing tomorrow morning!

Ingredients:

one bottle, glitter glue
1/4 cup, liquid starch

I’ve seen various recipes for this slime and it looks like all types of liquid, non-toxic glue will work: white (Elmer’s) glue + food coloring; clear glue + food coloring + glitter. I thought just using the glitter glue would take out the extra steps of adding coloring and glitter, and it worked great! No dyed fingers and no glitter mess to boot!

First, empty an entire bottle of glitter glue into a plastic container or bowl.

Next, add the liquid starch a little at a time. Stir for a minute or two, until the slime congeals together and is semi-solid.

Dump the slime out on a hard surface and squish with your hands. (After this step, my hands and the plastic mat were a little wet. I simply dried them off, and after that, the slime was virtually mess-free!)

Time to play!!! L and WB enjoyed squishing plastic figurines into their slime this afternoon. They made a bed for some jawas to nap on, a dinosaur taco, and a sparkly potion for the fairies. Let their imaginations soar!!!

An extra-fun quality of this slime is the inappropriate “FlAaArP!!!” sound it makes when you squash it into a plastic cup with your fingers. Haha! There was so much laughter to be had with that one!!!

Store your slime in a sealed container and it should last for at least a couple months! Enjoy!!!

Shoebox-Marble Game

March 9, 2016March 9, 2016 Porter Leave a comment

Not only is the SHOEBOX-MARBLE GAME super-easy and simple to make, it’s also a challenging game for anyone to play! For younger children, they can try to catch the marbles on any holes; for adults and older kids, they may try to catch the marbles on specific colors or to make patterns with the marbles. Sounds pretty easy, but it’s not! L and I had lots of fun this afternoon taking turns, playing the Shoebox-Marble Game. Our shoebox was big enough, we were even able to play together with all hands on the box, tipping and tilting it until all the marbles were caught!

Materials needed:

shoebox
awl (or sharp tool)
markers
marbles

First, color a fun picture or design inside your shoebox.

Using your awl, poke holes through the bottom. I like to do this by placing the box on a doormat, then poking the holes from the inside of the box – out. If the game is too hard, you may want to go back and make some larger.

Now it’s time to play! Put some marbles in your box and see who can catch the most on the holes! The more you practice, the better you’ll get. For younger children, it helps to have them balance the box on a flat surface.

Enjoy!!!

The Christmas Tree Teepee (No-Sew!)

December 3, 2015December 3, 2015 Porter 1 Comment

“The Christmas Tree Teepee” is quirky, fun, and magical…perfect for celebrating Christmas with kids! So often when building forts for the kids, they beg me to get inside to play with them and I just barely fit, if at all. This teepee is big! It’s nearly 6 feet across and 7 feet tall, leaving plenty of room for 3-4 people inside, adults included! It’s perfect! So far this week, in our teepee, we’ve eaten breakfast every morning, made christmas garlands and decorations to send loved ones, played board games and puzzles, and each night before bed we curl up and read a couple Christmas books under the lights. We just love it! After the holidays I plan to collapse the teepee, folding it up much like an umbrella, wrap it in plastic and stow it away. Next year we plan to set the teepee up in L’s bedroom during December and let both girls sleep inside!

Since the teepee is replacing our tree this year it includes all the trimmings…sparkly lights, colorful ornaments, and a few surprises when you get inside and look close! The best place to find fabric for this project is at a local, second-hand store or an antique/junk store. We have an awesome antique store in the area that has a booth full of fabrics. Most of the fabric is clearly from the 80s and 90s (ie. funky and fun!) and is anywhere from $1 -$6 per piece. I picked out anything green with various patterns and textures: corduroy, twill, jersey-knit, silk, suede. You really can’t beat the prices for all that material! I was also lucky enough to stumble upon a bunch of, what I call, “old-lady, sequined, Christmas appliqués” in the same booth. They were all less than a dollar a piece and made for perfect ornaments for the “Christmas Tree Teepee.”

Oh, and did I mention that there’s NO SEWING INVOLVED when making this teepee??? I do not, cannot sew, especially anything of this magnitude! It’s held together all thanks to my handy, dandy hot glue gun. We had so much fun with this project!

Materials needed:

6 x 1″x 2″x 8′ lumber (Any quality will do, but I went for the nicer, less splinter-filled sort!)
jute
green fabrics
christmas lights
felt or sequined Christmas appliqués
drill
hot glue gun and glue
scissors

First, drill two holes in each wooden, teepee pole. One 12″-15″ from the top, and the other 1″ from the bottom.

String some jute through the holes that are 12″ from the top, before carrying it all inside. Having someone help you, spread your teepee poles out and around until you get the teepee shape you’re looking for. (It will not be perfect, so don’t drive yourself crazy trying to make it perfect! Just go with it!) Once the poles are in place, wrap the jute around and in-between the poles until they are secured.

To ensure that the poles won’t move on you too much, thread some jute around the bottom too, knotting it around each pole. Even though the poles can move closer together and shift a little bit, it certainly helps to see where they originally were and where you want them to be while building your teepee.

Now for the real work. You will cut strips of fabric and using the hot glue gun, secure them in place along the teepee poles. First, spread out all your fabrics and see which material you have the most of. You will need to use this for the bottom. I didn’t use a ruler or yardstick to measure my fabric precisely while working, instead I laid it out on our hardwood floor, and just used the planks of wood to “measure” each strip of fabric.

Looking at the teepee, you may think I used one long piece of fabric to wrap around the entire structure, but in fact, each layer is made up of 5 shorter strips running from pole to pole. I started each layer with one piece of fabric along the outside of teepee…wrapping, gluing, trimming, and tucking the fabric into place. Now this is just the first section, between the first two poles. On the next section, I ran the fabric along the inside, gluing it into place. When done in this manner, the teepee poles will be invisible from the inside and outside of the teepee (except for the top of course) and all you will see is green, green, green! The pattern on each layer was outside-inside-outside-inside-outside. If you get frustrated at the beginning and things aren’t perfect, do not worry! After attaching the first few pieces, you will certainly know what you’re doing and the process will get a lot easier…promise!

As you go up the teepee, adding more layers, overlap the fabric by a couple inches above and below. This will help avoid gaps in the teepee. If there are places where gaps are seen, you can use a touch of hot glue to fasten the fabrics together.

As I got to the very top of the teepee, on the last two layers I used light-weighted fabrics that gathered well. Instead of cutting each sectioned-piece and gluing it outside-inside-outside, etc., I loosely gathered it around the teepee and glued it in place along the outside. I wanted the poles exposed on the inside in the top so I could string-up some Christmas lights to brighten things up a bit!

The top and front of the teepee was a bit of trial and error. I sort of knew how I wanted the finished teepee to look, so I wrapped fabric, held up fabric, and pinned some in place until I was satisfied. Here again, it was important that I saved my light-weighted fabrics that gathered well for the top and front of the teepee to achieve this look. I must say that it looks even better than I imagined…both like a teepee and a tree!

I was up in the air on whether to decorate the outside of the teepee, the inside or both. We decided on just the inside, keeping the magic inside and “secret” for all those who enter. L and I used duct tape to tape each sequined ornament in place. I could have glued them, but I wanted something that could be done by the children, year after year.

Inside the teepee, just below the lights, is my favorite little detail. I’ve held onto these fabric scraps of Santa flying through the night sky for a few years now, not sure what to do with them. Their placement, tucked away inside our teepee, is just the perfect home for them…I knew I was saving them for a reason!

The Christmas blanket underneath our teepee is the finishing touch. We usually use the blanket as a tree skirt around our tree each year, and in a way it is the tree skirt once again. This time it’s just in a more practical, more appreciated, and loved sort of way!

Think you’re ready to build your own??? Go for it! Your kids will absolutely love snuggling inside the Christmas tree this year, reading books, drinking hot chocolate, and playing games!

Feel free to leave any questions you may have below. Enjoy!!!

Road Trip Survival Kit: 10+ Activities for On-the-Go

November 21, 2015November 21, 2015 Porter Leave a comment

Every Summer my family likes to take a 7-hour trip to the beach…well, the 7 hours isn’t exactly the part we like, but we do it and we make the best of it! I’m not a fan of giving my kids a screen to look at for the entire trip, because I feel there’s so much that they will be missing out on. Remember when we were kids, going through the entire stash of cassette tapes? Staring out the window watching the terrain change and landmarks pass as we got closer and closer to our destinations, the excitement building? All those silly word games or family air guitar shenanigans? See…I don’t want my kids to miss out on that! I want us to talk. I want them to play, to be entertained, but to experience the trip with us, rather than plugged in and tuned out.

We started with this ROAD TRIP SURVIVAL KIT when L was just 2. As the kids grow, some things will change, but many will continue to entertain at any age!

Pipe Cleaners, Shoelaces, and Beads

If you have any of those snack cups with the slits on top, they’re the perfect thing to hold beads and prevent spilling! Just tie a shoelace to the handle and you’re good to go!

Slinky

Who doesn’t love a slinky? You can buy 2 for a dollar at most dollar stores…definitely worth that dollar! We don’t usually play with ours at home, rather we save them for long trips!

“I Spy” Books

These books are fun for kids age 2 to 100 to look at, no reading required!

Musical Instruments

When the kids get whiny, bored, tired, put on some jams, some sunglasses and start a family band! Sometimes we even bring out the cow bell – yikes! The kids love it though!

Paper and Coloring

Go ahead and buy some fun, new crayons for your big trip, as well as a blank composition book, new coloring books, or even post-it notes!

Figurines and Cars

Even if these things are “old” and have been played with a million times at home, when pulled out one-by-one as a surprise on the 4th hour of your trip, your kids will be delighted…I promise!

Fairy Folk

L loves her “fairy folk” and will play pretend with them for nearly an hour at home. I scooped up a few of them and their accessories for our last trip. Get the DIY here: DIY Fairy Folk.

Lacing Boards

If you don’t have lacing boards at home, they’re simple to make. Just cut out a shape from an old cereal box and punch some holes around the edge. Tie a shoelace and and you’re good to go!

Magna Doodles

These come in all shapes and sizes…and all of them are perfect for the road!

Kaleidoscopes and View Masters

I always throw one of these in the bag!

Re-usable Sticker Books

“Melissa & Doug” brand sticker books and Water Wow! books are great for the road. Virtually no mess and they can be used over and over and over and over!

“I Spy” Bottles

We made this game years ago, and the kids love it! It’s something that can be played with one person or many! Get the DIY here: I Spy Bottle and Games.

The Tray

We found this traveling tray at Hobby Lobby a few Summers ago. I’m sure you can find one online too! They’re perfect for coloring and containing all those little toys and food.

It’s hard to believe, but all of this stuff plus more will fit in one medium-sized bag! We usually put the bag off to the side, when we get home, ready to grab-and-go for the next road trip!

Happy traveling!!! What are some of your favorite activities for on the road?

Hidden Fairy Bath Bombs

October 26, 2015February 8, 2016 Porter 1 Comment

Have you ever bought bath bombs for yourself or for your kids? Bath bombs were originally intended for adults to use in the bath…their scents make the water smell wonderful and many times the bath bombs contain epsom salts to soften and refresh your skin. The thing that many people don’t know is that kids LOVE them too!!! The fizzy, bubbly, sizzling chemical reaction is just too cool! In the past, we’ve bought bath bombs and given them to our girls in their stockings at Christmas or for their birthdays…but now, we’ll never buy them again! These bath bombs are so quick and easy to make and there’s a surprise hidden inside each one! I found inspiration for this DIY on a fellow blogger’s site; she makes “Hidden Train Bath Bombs” for her little boys…adorable and genius!

Materials needed:

2 cups baking soda
1 cup citric acid
food coloring
essential oil
water in a spray bottle (not pictured)
plastic fairies (flowers, dinosaurs, cars…)
silicone molds or a muffin tin

First, mix two cups of baking soda and 1 cup of citric acid together in a large bowl.

Next, add about 10-15 drops of food coloring and some essential oil, and mix. You can add more coloring and oil to suit your preference. I used a “sweet orange” oil and yellow food coloring. Even though the bath bombs themselves were not super-vibrant in color, the bath water certainly was! The kids loved it!

Now, spray your mixture with water and mix quickly! I would give our mixture about 3 squirts, mix, then repeat. The baking soda and citric acid will start to fizz a bit, but once you mix, it will stop. Repeat this process until the mixture clumps together like breadcrumbs.

Spoon the mixture into your silicone molds. Fill about halfway and pack it down firmly with your hands.

Now, add your fairies. We added a silk flower to one of ours as well.

Fill the molds the rest of the way with the baking soda-citric acid mixture and pack it down firmly. Once the bath bombs set, they will expand. The next time I make bath bombs, I may not fill them all the way up to the top…or I may do so purposely and make them look like frosted cupcakes!

Let your bath bombs set up for a few hours until they are hard. (Can you believe how ours expanded and “grew”!?!) Flip the bath bombs over and gently pop them out of the molds.

Now for the fun part, surprise your kids with the bath bombs! The chemical reaction is just so cool!!!

They will be doubly-surprised to find fairies hidden inside!

The walls, tile and bathtub in our bathroom are all white…the bath water was so, so yellow the whole bathroom glowed!!!

This recipe can easily make 7-8 bath bombs…plenty for you and a friend! Enjoy!!!

DIY Jacob’s Ladder Toy

September 29, 2015October 2, 2015 Porter Leave a comment

I really wanted to make L a Jacob’s Ladder Toy, but didn’t want to make a trip to the local hardware or craft store for supplies. So, we made this Jacob’s Ladder out of an old board book! (If you don’t have a board book they are easy to find at the dollar store.) I just love the outcome! This one is super-colorful compared to the wooden one I had as a kid and is just as much fun!

I loved playing with my Jacob’s Ladder when I was young…it’s such a unique toy! Flip-flopping it back and forth is very calming, but it also makes you think creatively and problem solve. I enjoyed watching L play with the one we made today…not only was she ecstatic when she finally figured out how to work a Jacob’s Ladder, but she was also folding it into shapes, pretending it was a snake, a bracelet and a funky hat.

Materials needed:

board book
3 pieces of ribbon (35 inches long each)
glue
box cutter
paper cutter (optional)
scissors

First, using a box cutter, disassemble your board book.

Next, measure the dimensions of one page and decide how best to cut it. The book I used was 7 in x 7 in. I chose to cut the pages down the middle in one direction and into thirds going the other direction. Each piece ended up being 3.5 in x 2.25 in. If you have a paper cutter on hand, it makes this step super quick and easy! I cut up 4 pages, leaving me with 24 pieces.

Once you have 24 pieces cut, sort them into “nice” and “ugly” piles, 12 cards in each pile. The “ugly” cards won’t be seen.

Next, glue each “nice” card to an “ugly” card with a thin layer of wood glue. Put some canned food on top of the cards to keep them flat and clamped down for the first few minutes, while the glue is setting. Once they are all glued, let them dry for an hour or two. You should now have 12, double-stacked cards.

Now, time to make that Jacob’s Ladder! Lay one card-stack in front of you, “nice” side down. Spread a thin layer of glue on top of the card-stack. Place the ends of all three strips of ribbon onto the card-stack. As you can see in the photos, two of the ribbons spread out into one direction and the other ribbon to the opposite direction.

Spread a dab of glue on each ribbon end and press another card-stack carefully on top, “nice” side up.

Fold all the ribbons over the top of the cards and to the opposite direction. Pulling them taut, place another card-stack on top of the ribbons, “nice” side down.

Spread a thin layer of glue on the card-stack and fold the ribbons over, keeping them pulled taut much as possible. You can press the ribbons down into the glue to hold them in place.

Spread a dab of glue on top of the ribbons, and press another card-stack on top, “nice” side up.

Folding the ribbons over again, repeat the last three steps, until you reach the last card-stack and the end of your ribbon.

Trim the ribbon, pull it taut, and glue it in between the last two card-stacks.

Place a can of food on top of the entire Jacob’s Ladder Toy and allow the glue to dry completely for an hour or two.

Now, time to play!!! If you’ve never used a Jacob’s Ladder before, you flip the top card to one side and let gravity do the rest of the work. The card’s flip-flop down, one after another, like magic in your own hands!

Enjoy!!!

DIY Toy Sail Boat

September 3, 2015October 22, 2015 Porter Leave a comment

One evening this summer, while we were getting ready for bath time, L pulled a wine cork out of her pocket. She had been saving it all day to float it around and play with in the bath tub. That got me thinking…I knew with a few toothpicks and some leaves we could turn her wine cork into a little sail boat! Leaves work great for this project, because they’re naturally water-proof and easily replaceable!

Materials needed:

2 wine corks
4 toothpicks
2 leaves
old pencil
scissors

Take one of the wine corks and stick three toothpicks into it, all pointing in the same direction in a line.

Next, push the second wine cork into the opposite ends of the toothpicks.

Stick one more toothpick vertically into the middle of one of the corks.

Find a medium-sized leaf and weave it through the bottom toothpicks. We used a balloon flower leaf. This step isn’t necessary, but it makes a nice lil bed for anything you may want to sail on top…a bug, a rock, a fairy friend.

Next, find a slightly larger leaf and thread it onto the vertical toothpick, making a sail. We found the hosta leaves to work best for this, though any thick and sturdy leaf will do!

To make the sail boat safer for little hands, twist an eraser off the top of an old pencil. Cut it in half with scissors and push it onto the top of the sail.

Now, time to play! L had hours of fun blowing her boats around our rain barrel!

The boats may not seem like much, but ours withstood some submarine plunges under the water and lasted through two nights of bath time play! Tomorrow, we’ll replace the leaves and keep sailing!

Enjoy!!!