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.)

2nd Annual Academy Awards Party

We had so much fun celebrating the Academy Awards last year, we decided to do it again. (http://workingmomwonders.blogspot.com/2018/03/academy-award-party.html) The kids love to dress up and do "interviews" on the Red Carpet. This year we made Red Velvet "Carpet" Brownies and a trophy cheese bread.

Red Velvet Brownies

Ingredients: 

4 eggs

2 sticks butter, melted

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

red food gel coloring

1 1/2 tsp vinegar

1 1/2 cups flour

Swirl Ingredients:

1 8 oz package of cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat the eggs with a fork in a small bowl. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, place the melted butter, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, red food coloring, and vinegar. Mix that well. 

Whisk in the eggs. Fold in the flour until it is just mixed. 

Pour the batter into a greased 9x13 inch pan, leaving out about 1/2 cup of the batter to place on the top of the swirl mixture. 

Make the swirl: Use a mixer to beat the cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, egg yolk, and 1/2 tsp of vanilla in a bowl. 

Place spoonfuls of the mixture on top of the brownie batter that is in the pan. Add the remaining batter on top of that. Use a knife to swirl the mixture together. 

Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees. 

Cool before cutting. 

We had fun using the photo board trophy we created last year too. 

Stuff the Orlando Magic Mascot Valentine's Day Box

On our trip to Florida over Christmas break, we decided to spend one night at the Orlando Magic basketball game. (Ironically, they liked this part of the trip more than the very costly Disney experience!) The kids loved the experience so much they both wanted to make the mascot, Stuff, their Valentine's Day box. Their favorite part of the box is the ability to shoot yellow things out of the nose, just like the real Stuff. 

The yellow blowout noisemakers are attached to condiment bottles with tape. (The tape has to be tight to create a seal around the noisemaker.) 

The box and toilet paper roll arms and legs are covered in tablecloth. We added felt for the jersey, styrofoam balls for the nose and shoes, and colored foam was used for the wings, arm decorations, and hair decoration. A pipe cleaner was used to go around the eyes and popsicle sticks and foam star stickers make the top piece. 

Valentine's Day Escape Room

For the past six years we have done a Scavenger Hunt for Valentine's Day. This year I decided to make it a little harder now that the kids are getting older. So...I came up with an escape room challenge. These envelopes will be posted around the room (in specific places identified in the clues or behind locks with specific combinations from the clues). 

This is what is in their first envelope.

The second envelope will be behind a picture on the wall that says friendship (the word they unscramble in the first clue). 

The second envelope has 12 squares that can be put together to make a picture. The numbers on the back of the picture make the code they need to find for the 3rd clue. 

The 3rd envelope has a joke. The answer to the joke can be decoded. The answer has the word sew in it. The 4th envelope will be found in the sewing machine. 

The 4th envelope has another joke. The answer to that joke has the word magnet in it. I highlighted the word magnet for them. The 5th envelope will be in the drawer that we keep the magnets.

The 5th envelope has cut up heart pictures. There are 8 matches in the envelope. Two hearts have an X on the back. Once they find the match for those two cards, they will get two codes. The two codes will unlock the 6th envelope. 

The final envelope has a list of words without vowels. Each of the words I boxed in are all related to flowers. One of the brain teasers that is in there is about flowers. The answer to that brain teaser is the final code. 

Daily Hearts of Love for February

I have done different types of hearts for the kids in February, but I think they are going to love their daily surprise this year. I contacted aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. and asked them to tell me one thing they love about each of the kids. Every day from Feb. 1st-Feb. 14th, the kids will get 

a surprise message from a different person. 

Little Mermaid Photo Board

I started by drawing this with pencil and outlining with Sharpie. 

Then I used acrylic paint and cut out the faces to finish the board. 

2019 Super Bowl Commercial Bingo

This will be our 5th time playing Super Bowl Commercial Bingo. The kids really look forward to this every year.

To print and edit these, you can view the document here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18HUFGVLMg7MpNm9XqCCy6CDcIH-Sp78Wxb2atEl3fx4/edit?usp=sharing

Homemade Chocolate Cake

To bring some fun and entertainment to days that we are just spending time at home, I like to celebrate the National Day Holidays. Today just happened to be National Chocolate Cake Day! 

I found a recipe at this website: https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/hersheys-perfectly-chocolate-chocolate-cake/

It was delicious! 

Ingredients: 

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk (I use one cup milk with 1 tsp vinegar)

1/2 cup canola oil

2 tsp vanilla 

1 cup boiling water

Frosting ingredients: 

1/2 cup melted butter

2/3 cup cocoa powder

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

Start by mixing the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Add the eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla. Beat with a hand mixer for a couple of minutes. Add the boiling water. 

Place in two greased and floured 9 inch cake pans. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. 

While it is baking, make the frosting. Beat the cocoa powder and melted butter together. Add the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. Whip until it is creamy. Place in the refrigerator until you are ready to put on the cooled cake. I had enough frosting to put some between the two layers, on top of the cake, and on the sides of the cakes. 

This is definitely a chocolate cake I would make again. 

Lunar Eclipse Activities

Tonight there will be a full lunar eclipse and a super blood wolf moon. We decided to do some moon activities today to celebrate.

We started by making some moon rocks. We mixed equal parts flour and water and added a little silver tempera paint. The kids dunked cotton balls in the flour mixture and put them on a pan covered with tin foil. We baked them for about an hour at 300 degrees.

I mixed one cup of Epsom salt with 1 tsp. of vinegar and some silver paint. I let it dry for about an hour on paper towel. Then we shaped it to look like the surface of the moon. The kids took turns taking slow motion videos of their cotton ball moon rocks hitting the "surface of the moon". 

We also made constellation sensory bags. We put clear hair gel, glitter, and foil star confetti in a Ziploc bag. The kids had fun moving their stars around in the bag. (It takes a lot of hair gel to fill a bag.)

I found an Earth ball at the Dollar Tree. We used that and also blew up a yellow balloon to represent the sun and a silver balloon for the moon and did some visual representation of a lunar and solar eclipse. 

We had some moon and eclipse treats as well. 

We made a crater cake. I found the recipe on http://scratchinit.halversen.com/2013/03/craters-of-the-moon-cake/

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 Tbs cocoa

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1 Tbsp vinegar

1 cup milk

5 Tbsp melted butter

1/2 cup meteorites (nuts, chocolate chips, etc.) 

Start by mixing the flour, sugar, brown sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a 9 inch cake pan. 

This will make it look like a sand volcano.

Make three craters in your pan. Fill the big crater in the center with the melted butter, the medium crater with the baking soda, and a small crater with the vanilla. 

Add the vinegar to the baking soda crater. The volcano will spill over the surface of the moon. Then dump the milk over the other craters and "flood" the moon. 

Stir the ingredients together. 

Add the craters and bake for about 35 minutes at 350 degrees. 

We made whipped cream to eat with the crater cake. 

The last craft Rachel did was to make a picture of the moon out of tin foil. 

They probably had the most fun dissecting the cotton ball moon rocks! 

I finished the night by making some "moon" cheese bread. (http://workingmomwonders.blogspot.com/2014/01/snowman-cheese-bread.html) 

Now we just have to wait and see if the sky will be clear enough tonight!