Ric-Rac Flannel Baby Blanket

 

A friend is having a baby boy soon and I needed a gift! I like to make something for baby gifts because it's so much more personal. I pulled out a piece of flannel from my stash and started sewing. It was 2 yards so I just put right sides together and sewed until I just had an opening left to flip. Once it was flipped I was ready to top stitch and I thought it needed a little something more. I happened to have some orange ric-rac that went perfectly with that fabric. I didn't quite have enough to go around the entire thing so I just did 2 sides and I love how it turned out. Just a little something to punch up the interest!

Happy Sewing!

Basketball Hoop Help

My 5 year old really wants to play basketball but doesn't quite have the arm strength yet to get the ball through the hoop. What resulted was him not even wanting to try. So, I figured out a solution that allows him to have success and practice a the same time! All we needed was our current basketball hoop and and hula hoop and the problem was solved!

So, if you have a little basketball player that is struggling to make it through the hoop, just try added another hoop- a hula hoop and let that basketball player make some baskets!

Get your craft on!_

Preschool Science Slushie Drinks

For snack time we made homemade slushies today. Super yummy and super easy. Only a few ingredients needed and a few minutes squishing a bag! Here's what you need:

• 2 cups Ice


• 1/2 cup rock salt (found near homemade ice cream makers)


• 3/4 to 1 Cup Soda or juice already cold (this just makes the process quicker if it has already been in the refrigerator)


• Quart ziploc


• Sandwich ziploc


• straws or spoons

Place the ice & rock salt in the quart ziploc bag. Pour soda or juice in the sandwich ziploc and seal the bag. Place the sandwich bag in the quart bag and seal. Start squishing! It only took the kids about 5 minutes before they were enjoying a homemade slushie!!



We drank right out of the bag with a straw or used a spoon to eat it!

Preschool Science Growing Soap

Did you know Ivory bar soap grows? All you need is a bar of Ivory Soap and a piece of wax or parchment paper. Place the soap on the wax paper and microwave for about 2 minutes. Be sure to watch the microwave to see it grow!!
I sent a bar home with everyone to try it at home. I wrote the directions on the bar of soap with a sharpie:

All lined up to watch!

Preschool Science Sharpie Tye Die

This experiment allowed the kids to see how the colors would bleed into each other and create patterns. We used:

• Squares of white cotton fabric


• Different colored Sharpie markers


• Plastic cups


• rubber bands


• Eye droppers


• Rubbing Alcohol

Cut square of white fabric, place over a cup and rubber band on.

Color patters, picture and designs with the sharpie marker.

Using an eye dropper, drop alcohol onto drawing and watch the colors grow and change.


Allow to dry.

Preschool Science Crystal Trees

I found the details about making crystal trees while searching for fun ideas for this week of science based activities. This was my personal favorite. I love that you have a quick interesting result that kids can see and experience. Also all of the ingredients are easily accessible. Here's what you need:

• 1 TBSP salt


• 1 TBSP water


• 1 TBSP liquid bluing (Mrs Stewarts brand, they did not have it at Walmart, but did at our local Albertsons)


• 1/2 TBSP amonia


• disposable bowl, cardboard (we used TP rolls, but you can also cut out cardboard stand up shapes)

Mix well in a sealed jar.


Place cardboard in bowl and pour solution into bowl.

Watch grow!! (this is after about 1.5 hours)

In several hours you'll see a bit of growth and after 8+ quite a bit of growth. (This is overnight)


We tried using sharpies to draw on the TP rolls and see if we got colored crystals. We did not. You can use food coloring and it will produce some coloring on the crystals.

Preschool Science Colored Milk

This was a fun way for the kids to mix colors. All you need is:

• Milk


• Plates


• food coloring


• q-tips

Pour milk into a shallow plate,

Plate two dots of food coloring, not touching each other. Let the kids mix the colors using a q-tip.

Preschool Science Lava Lamps

A big hit with the kids were homemade lava lamps. Here's what you need to make your own:

• empty water bottle (with a lid)


• vegetable oil


• water


• food coloring


• alka seltzer tablets (the generic Walmart brand is about $2 for 36 tablets, each child used about 1 whole tablet)

Pour several inches of oil in the bottom of a water bottle. Then pour several inches of water on top. Put in several drops of food coloring. Let kids watch the food coloring for a bit. It slowly sinks through the oil. Place small pieces of alka seltzer tablets and watch the action!! Once done put the lid tightly back on and they can be fun to observe the oil water mixture. Open up again and again and put more alka seltzer in to see your lava lamp in action!

Preschool Science Colored Vinegar and Baking Soda

One of the favorite activities we did with science. Here's what you need:

• Disposable foil pans (the dollar store is a great place to get these)


• baking soda


• white vinegar


• food coloring


• eye dropper


• cups

Cover the bottom of a pan with baking soda. Mix vinegar with a few drops of food coloring.

Using eye droppers let children drop different colors of colored vinegar into baking soda.



When almost done let children pour cups of vinegar over baking soda.