3rd Annual Christmas in July

We love Christmas in July! We started the day with Santa waffles. 

Then we read Santa Bruce by Ryan Higgins and made some Bruce ornaments. (I found some wooden round circles at Walmart that I used as the base. The rest is made from cardstock, brown felt, google eyes, and a cotton ball. 

Then we made some Christmas creations out of Legos. 

The kids had a "snowball" fight with water balloons. 

Then we threw and shot (with a spoon) marshmallows into the tree made from red solo cups. 

We pulled out the Christmas photo boards for some photos. 

We decorated Christmas cookies. 

Made frozen hot chocolate (2 cups ice, 2 packages hot chocolate, and 1 cup of milk: after blended we added chocolate and original whipped cream and chocolate syrup)

The kids wrapped each other with toilet paper and added a paper nose to become snowmen. 

And they painted gingerbread houses. 

We did take advantage of a cheap present for each kid from Amazon Prime Day! They loved that part! 

Moon Landing 50th Anniversary Party

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, we decided have a little party. 

I started by making an astronaut photo board. 

I created two "time capsules" for the kids to open. In the capsules, I put moon sand (2 cups flour, 1/2 cup baby oil, and a little bit of silver paint), some rocks to resemble moon rocks, some rocket crafts, a star finder, dehydrated food, a diagram of the space shuttle, an astronaut training guide, NASA t-shirts, rocket launchers, name tags, and the local newspapers that reprinted the cover of the paper from 1969. 

I bought a couple of yards of glow in the dark fabric from Joann's and used that as a tablecloth and photo backdrop. We checked out some moon books from the district library and put together a lego shuttle. 

We turned this cookie cake into a moon. 

The kids put on their shirts and name tags for a few photos.

We ate rocket Popsicles and went outside to use the rocket launcher and balloon launchers. 

I put hair gel and food coloring inside a ziploc bag and taped it inside a cardboard box. This became the scanner for entry into Mission Control. 

For Mission Control, I went around the house and found calculators, remotes, buttons, lights, a microphone, levers, circuits, an old laptop, etc and put them on a piece of cardboard covered with a tablecloth. 

We finished the night by reading the picture books and watching some footage of Apollo 11. 

Pop Can Experiment

After seeing a video of this online yesterday, we decided we needed to try it ourselves...We ran to the Dollar General and found some cheap sandpaper and cheap liquid drain cleaner. 

Using the sandpaper, rub off all of the paint on a pop can. Pop the can open enough to slide a skewer stick through the pop tab. Then place the can in a glass jar or vase. Add the liquid plumber to the jar or vase. Let sit for a couple of hours (we put ours in the garage so the fumes weren't strong in the house).

The tin has been removed, leaving a film that holds the pop inside. There were a couple of spots that had a little bit of tin left, so I am guessing I didn't remove the paint well enough there or the seams were too thick to be fully removed. 

Star Wars Circuit Cards

We have been having a lot of fun with copper tape, led lights, and batteries. 

For May 4th (May the Fourth Be With You), we made some Star Wars light up cards. We added a cut straw to the led light to make it shine like a light saber. 

The copper tape the is attached to the bottom of the battery is connected to the negative end of the led. When the positive end of the led hits the positive part of the battery when the card closes, the circuit is complete and the light turns on. 

Egg Decorator

When I saw that it cost $25 to buy an egg decorator, I decided to find a way to make my own. Using a Thames and Kosmos Remote Control Machines kit that we had, we made this egg decorator. This same idea would work with K'nex and/or Legos if you have the motors and gears. I used plastic eggs and hard boiled eggs on the device. We did have to adjust the wheels a little bit each time with the plastic eggs because they were so light, but it turned out really well and didn't cost me a dime to make! 

Graphite Circuit Drawings

We decided to create some Easter circuit drawings. (Well, Rachel wanted to draw a cat for her Easter drawing...) 

The graphite in pencils will work to complete an electric circuit, so we drew our faces very heavily with pencil, leaving a little opening at the top of the head and at the bottom. We attached a light to the bottom of the circuit and a 9 volt battery to the top of the circuit. Rachel made her cat's nose light up, and I made my bunny's bow light up. 

Lunch and a Book Treats

For National Library Week, we do a lunch and a book event at our school. This year the kids could read All American Boys or Dear Martin. I found some of my favorite quotes from each book and turned them into cupcake picks for our lunch. One side of the pick had a picture and the other side had a quote. 

Littler Mermaid Painting

Carrot Banana Bread

This carrot banana bread is so delicious. It was adapted from an old Taste of Home recipe. 

Ingredients: 

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

2 eggs

3 mashed bananas

1/3 cup canola oil

1 cup grated carrots

Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, bananas, and oil. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients (just until it is moistened). 

Fold in the carrots. 

Transfer to a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 60 minutes. 

Remove to a wire rack and let cool. 

Rainbow Salt Circuits

We made some rainbow salt circuits tonight for a St. Patrick's Day craft. Start with two pieces of cardstock paper. Fold each piece of paper in half and place a paper clip at the bottom of each piece of paper. Lay the two pieces of paper next to each other with a small space between them. Generously squeeze a line of glue from one of the paper clips to the other paper clip. (See the picture below.) Pour salt on the glue and dump the excess salt off. Attach one end of a battery pack to one of the paper clips. Secure it with electrical tape. Make sure the wires are connecting with the paper clip. Attach the other end of the battery pack to the other paper clip. 

We mixed some paint with water and piped it on the salt. 

The last step is to connect a light to complete the circuit. One leg of the light wire will hit the salt on the left side of paper and the other leg of the light wire will hit the salt on the right hand side of paper to complete the circuit. (The longer leg of the light is the positive end.) 

Dr. Seuss Birthday Party

We like books, celebrating things, doing experiments, and making treats, so it was only natural that we celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday today. 

We had Cat in the Hat pizza.

We used the photo board I created a few years ago. 

We made a Dr. Seuss sensory box. 

We made white and green slime and turned it into green eggs. (equal parts of white glue and liquid starch will make the slime) 

We made Oobleck. (About 2 cups of cornstarch and 1 cup of water)

The Cat in the Hat kabobs were a big hit! 

The kids also loved the jello and whipped cream trifles. 

I found a dice game online and laminated that. (You take turns rolling two die. If the sum is even, one person moves; if the sum is odd, the other person moves around their board. The first person around their board is the winner.)