Friday Fun | Watercolor Painting

One of the things I enjoy most about being a mom are the fun little activities that you can do with little ones.  And the great thing with preschoolers is, everything is new and exciting.  In this case, watercolors.

It's only mid July, but already I've seen back to school sales around here.  I love seeing all the new markers, paper, pencils, backpacks, and so on.  At my local grocery store this week they had Crayola watercolors on sale for $1.00.  I've been keeping an eye open for some since Crayola seems to have the best.  I've tried off brands before but have always been disappointed with the quality.  So on my regular shopping trip I picked up two sets.

Jaden was so excited to try painting.  I sat down with him and showed how to get them wet, then showed how to drag the brush across the paper.  What fun watching him in deep concentration as he created his masterpiece!

He even managed to stay reasonably clean - though he did try to lick the paintbrush a couple of times, eww!  Jaden just couldn't wait to show Daddy how he could paint and his pictures are now hanging on the fridge for all to enjoy.

Have a fun Friday!

Friday Fun | Wading Pool

One of the kids' favorite activities during the summer is playing in the water.  When Jaden was little I used to fill a bucket of water and put it on the deck for him to play with his bath toys.  Now that both Jaden and Hannah are toddlers, we can use the wading pool more.

Hannah absolutely loves the water.  She is definitely more bold than Jaden was at her age.  Jaden was (and still is) cautious and refused to sit down.  Hannah dives right in and enjoys every minute.

Jaden prefers to stand in the pool even now and play with his watering can.  He still doesn't like to sit down - it's cold!

On this particular day Asia was wandering around the yard - she had two little people watching through the railing :)

After some swimming the kids needed a snack so I got them pudding popsicles.  They sat up on the picnic table to enjoy their treat.

Hannah really, really, really enjoyed hers!

Friday Fun | Strawberry Picking

Jaden LOVES strawberries.  Given the opportunity he would probably eat himself sick.  Last weekend we finally went strawberry picking - we almost missed the season completely!  These pictures are from last year's excursion since it was threatening to rain and I didn't want to chance taking a bunch of pictures when I could be picking.

The picking was difficult this year since there were so many rotten strawberries on the bushes.  We've had a particularly wet and cool spring which is not good for the strawberry harvest.

My little strawberry picker was too busy trying to steal berries from Daddy's basket to do much picking this year.  It was also rather difficult for a two-year-old anyways because Mommy had to check each berry that went into the basket to make sure it wasn't rotten.

In the end we picked one carrier of strawberries to take home.  Dessert for the weekend was strawberry shortcake!  Nothing says spring quite like fresh strawberries, whipped cream, and soft white cake - yum!

Friday Fun | Homemade Playdough

I can remember my mom making playdough for myself and my brother and sister when we were small. As I got older I can remember her giving me a bowl of playdough still warm from the pan and instructing me to knead in the color.

Jaden is still too young to get involved in the making of the playdough, but he getting to the age where he is old enough to play with it and not just eat it. So I recruited Asia to make some playdough for the two of them to play with. She measured and stirred until we had a nice dough, then I split the dough up, added color and we kneaded it in.

Initially Jaden just looked at the playdough and poked at it tentatively. Then with some encouragement he got involved in poking it and pulling it apart. He's still a bit too young to do much molding and shaping with the dough, but he still had lots of fun with it.

Homemade Playdough

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup water

2 teaspoons cream of tarter

food coloring

Mix all ingredients except food coloring into a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring until the mixture sticks together in a ball. Remove pan from heat and allow the dough to cool. Squeeze and knead dough.

At this point the dough is a bland tan color. To make it more fun I split the large ball of dough into four pieces and added food coloring to each piece, red, yellow, green, and blue. A few drops of color should be enough. To add the coloring, make a depression in the center of the dough. Add a few drops of color, then knead dough to distribute the color evenly into the ball of dough.

Playdough can be stored in an airtight bag or container in the fridge for future use. Have fun!