Styrofoam Ball Toss

I was about to throw away a sturdy piece of styrofoam that had a funny shaped hole cut out of the middle when I thought, I'm sure we could do something with this!
So I made a ball toss gave out of it. So easy - just propped it up, got out some little balls and we were set.

It was good to because the balls would just pop back to you if you missed.
I think I played with this longer than the boys did - their attention span was pretty short on it, but that's fine since it didn't cost a thing - no money or energy

Watching Professional Tree Trimming

Some families go and watch movies together. Others go to football games or basketball games. We watch tree trimmers.
Our neighbors got their two large palm trees pruned today. We sat together as a family and watched him climb up and cut off every leaf branch with a chain saw. Westley loves stuff like this.

That afternoon I had to go somewhere so Kevin was with the boys. He took them out and bought them a toy chain saw of their own.
So we almost have enough for our own gardening service
We've got the work truck, lawn mower, two weed wackers, leaf blower and chain saw!

Popcorn Kernel Shaker

Today we made more air popped popcorn. All the kernels do not pop, so I used a recycled little container and we put the kernels in to make a little shaker.
Westley had touched a kernel that flew out of the air popper (even though he was told not to) and got a tiny burn on his finger. Needless to say he had no further interest in doing anything involving popcorn kernels, so Will took over with the activity. He decorated the container and then shook the container making all kinds of loud "music"

Don't worry- Westley had no lasting mark, and got over the anger at popcorn quickly because he asked to make more the next day

Straw Glider

I saw directions for this is the free Family Magazine. This was simple, easy fun!Dad, Westley and I took a piece of construction paper and cut two 1" strips. Once longer than another. Westley helped tape them into circles (one circle bigger than the other) and then taped them onto a straw. It flies like a decent paper airplane. Westley and Dad had a great time flying it off our our second story landing.

Felt Necklace Part 2

The next day, the glue was completely dry.  We weren't sure if the glue was going to hold, but it did. Grandma Kathy cut the felt roles into small rounds (about 3/4 in.) so they looked more like beads. The Westley helped string them on to make the necklace (we used  a needle and thread).

It turned out better than we thought it was going to!
So I posted full directions on how to do it.

Felt Necklace Part 1

I got a book called Green Crafts for Children for Christmas.
Many of the crafts are more for older children and adults (especially ones who can sew) but there are a few Westley saw and expressed interest in doing.
Grandma Kathy, Westley and I are trying to do the craft shown on the cover. Today we rolled and glued the two pieces of different colored felt. One piece needs to be a rectangle about 5 by 4 inches. The other rectangle needs to be about 5 by 2 1/2 inches. Lay the smaller felt rectangle on top of the bigger. Center it so there is the bottom color of felt showing on each edge. Spread tacky glue on both those edges, then roll tightly. Rubber band it so the glue can dry and stick it together. It didn't seem like our felt was going to stay glued, but we left it overnight and it did.

Magnetic Mighty Mind

Grandma Kathy gave Westley this Magnetic Mighty Mind activity for Christmas.
Westley loves it. They start out easy and then get pretty hard. We have been doing one or two after dinner every night. I'm worried soon they are going to get too hard for me!
He really enjoys it  though and you can tell it is building great math skills

thanks again Grandma!