Much to me and my husband's disbelief, our little girl turned two recently. (Two! I'm officially no longer a mama with babies at home.) To celebrate, we followed our new family tradition and had the grandparents come play with C while we took S out on a special outing with mommy and daddy in the morning. When S was born, we made a point of all coming home from the hospital as a family - which means that this was quite possibly the very first time S has ever had both parents all to … [Read more...]
Play: DIY Body Paint
A few weeks ago C finished up his first year of preschool and they had a little carnival to celebrate. (I'm not even going to talk about the mini panic attack I had at the realization that my baby will be heading off to real school in a couple of years - nope, not gonna talk about it.) Anyway, a few of C's beloved teachers offered up their face painting skills at the festivities and I asked the kids if they'd like something painted on. At the time they only had eyes for the … [Read more...]
We Tried It! Making Tracks with Tape
We were stuck inside the other day in an attempt to keep a case of the sniffles from becoming something uglier. As the morning began to drag on (and I realized it was still only 9:00 am), I decided it was time to finally break out the painters tape and make some of those crazy cool DIY tracks I keep spotting on pinterest. Since we only had extra wide tape, I tore it in half vertically to make wonky strips and C helped me piece them together. The examples … [Read more...]
We Tried It! – Discovery Bottles
I've been on the lookout lately for a new activity both the kids would enjoy. S is going through an afternoon crankiness phase (at least I hope it's a phase) and C is always up for something novel to play with. After thinking over my options a bit, my mind turned to the various discovery bottles I've seen popping up on pinterest. These guys are easy to make and open to lots of interpretation. I figured if I came up with multiple version, C and S were each bound to like a few of them. … [Read more...]
We Tried It! – Cookie Cutter Pumpkins
I'm back with another installment of the "We Tried It!" series. I got the idea for cookie cutter pumpkin carving here and it was a huge hit with the kiddos. I love how this method lets you easily create a high end look in whatever theme your kids are currently interested in. We went with a pretty random motif of animals, an airplane, and a guitar. Next year maybe we'll experiment with letters. To begin, carve out the pumpkin guts and select a few of your favorite cookie … [Read more...]
We Tried It! – Milk Colors
These magic milk colors have been on our to-do list for a long time (like ever since I first got on Pinterest long). I'm sure you can tell by the photo above, this project is the perfect mix of art, science, and fun. I've seen the idea several places over the last few months but I first spotted it here. I'd highly recommend checking it out (hint: there are two equally exciting bonus activities). It's a good bet you already have everything you need for this one in your … [Read more...]
We Tried It! – DIY Edible Fingerpaints
I was recently lamenting on the facebook page that I find myself blogging about fun activities for the kids more often than we actually do them. I've told myself engaging in messy art projects with a toddler and a baby is just too difficult. And while that may have been true in the past, S is a year old now and the name of the blog is Modern Parents MESSY kids... it's time to put up or shut up. So today I'm introducing a new series, called "We Tried It!", in which I'll be trying … [Read more...]