Make it "Pinterest"-ing!

First Day of Spring!

Our kids had a blast planting "flowers" (frilled toothpicks) on rolling green hills (triple batch of homemade play dough). I had practically an entire giant box of these decorative toothpicks leftover from some forgotten event and didn't have many other hors d'oeuvres-heavy plans in the foreseeable future, so I thought I should let the kids have some fun with them.

Ok, so this was actually something we did on St. Patrick's Day, but I think it works maybe even better to celebrate Spring. Also, Spring came in with a squish here in Austin, so Spring-y indoor activities are on my mind.

Kid Motivated Redirection of Original Plan (KMROP): pushing little burrows into the dough with their fingers brought groundhogs, badgers and the like into the general conversation and added a good 20 extra minutes of enjoyment!

Happy Spring!

Make it "Pinterest"-ing!

Inspired and motivated by all the fun and amazing ideas we see online everyday, we'll show you some of the things that we follow through on doing in our homes.

This is a great activity if you're willing to give your table a good wipe down afterwards. Finger painting with white yogurt (I used plain FAGE greek yogurt) is extra fun. You can add food coloring for bright colors and it's all edible and healthy! I can always tell when my daughter is "in the zone" of imaginative play because she talks and sings to herself. She started making up little stories and songs and I played along by illustrating as she narrated. It was really fun to draw in the yogurt and an older child would also enjoy wiping the picture clear and starting over.

D started cutting out the middle man by just licking the table, but was also intrigued by the shapes her tongue left in the yogurt. Tongue painting may be the next big thing!

One of the cutest things I've seen via Pinterest here was a quick and very successful project that I will definitely repeat. D wanted to be a green princess for St. Patrick's Day, so I saw it as the perfect opportunity. I cut the tp tube, let her paint it quickly with some solid tempera paint (a favorite), punched holes in it, then cut slits from the end of the tube up to the holes. I slipped a stretchy headband through the slits and the holes provided nice little notches for the band to rest in. I taped the slits closed and this little crown stayed on for hours!