Monthly Archives: March 2013

10 Ways to Make Today Magical

Happy Monday!

I hope all is wonderful in your little corner of the world.  Winter is holding on tight around here but we’re planting seeds and making plans anyway.  My spring fun Pinterest board is stocked with ideas I want to try with the kiddos.

Here’s a few ways to make a little magic this week…

1.  Tie long sticks to ribbons and go ribbon dancing in the back yard or park.

2.  Make grapevine wreaths and bracelets.  Click here for a tutorial from my Victoria a few years back.

3.  Mop the kitchen floor by letting the kids sock skate.  Or take it a step farther like this family did and make some sponge skates.  If you go for the mop hockey idea (which is brilliant, if you have a large enough floor and the bravery to say yes to such a thing!), I’d definitely recommend helmets though.  :)

4.  Cheer up your bill-paying.  Have the kids use crayons or colored pencils to draw a picture on the back of each bill as you mail it in, plus decorate the envelope and write something cheerful.  You might make someone else’s day magical as well.

5.  Make some seed bombs.  You can make these little guerilla gardening goodies with shredded paper or clay, plus a bit of dirt, compost and wildflower seeds.  Then have fun flinging them into unloved areas that could use a bit of color (including your own back yard!).  Be sure to use native wildflowers that will not be invasive and follow all those commonsense sort of rules.  🙂  Find tutorials at every(nothing)wonderful (with free printable labels!), The Ecologist (where you can learn the very old history of seed bombs and lots more), Mademoiselle Chaos (where you can make moldable little seed bomb shapes with recycled paper), or use this basic formula from BH&G:

Guerillagardening.org recipe: Combine two parts mixed flower seeds with three parts compost; stir in five parts powdered clay (available at art or crafts supply stores), and moisten with water. Form balls one inch in diameter; let dry for 24 to 48 hours (stash in an empty egg carton). Gather in paper and tie with raffia; add easy how-tos on a tag.

 

6.  Got any Harry Potter fans?  Make their day with homemade Butterbeer, complete with sugared rims on the glasses.  Now if I could only figure out how to make those tiny brooms….

7.  Start a weekly project of making homemade toys together.  These can be simple (like turning unwanted stuffed animals into puppets) or sophisticated (like making homemade dolls).  Check out my Homemade Toys board for lots of tutorials and inspiration.

8.  Start some seeds.  You can start them in egg shells, egg cartons, newspaper pots, muffin tins or toilet paper tubes (cut in half) in recycled plastic boxes (the clamshell boxes from organic salad mixes are perfect) for mini-greenhouses.

9.  Do electric griddle drawings.  These are so much fun that even I have to take a few minutes to make some melty crayon art.  🙂  Click here for our tutorial and be sure to be safe.

10. Go puddle stomping!  You too.  🙂

And with that, my pretties, I’m off to start a nice pot of soup to try to kick this spring cold that thinks it’s going to get us down.

Have a magical week!

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10 Ways to Make Today Magical

(March nature calendar by J.A. Partridge in Natural Science Through the Seasons:  100 Teaching Units, 1946, via A Holy Experience. Click to enlarge)

Happy Monday!

I’m back from my blogging hiatus.  Daryl is recovering well from his hip replacement surgery.  It will still be some time before he’s fully mobile, but it’s all going great so far.

Here’s a few ways to make some memories with your kids this week.

1.  If you’re lucky enough to live in the right climate, go maple syrup tapping.  This is a can’t-miss experience for those of us who live near sugar maple trees this time of year.

 

 

2.  Use recycled newspaper to make plantable muffin tin pots for seedlings.  Visit Hands are full, Hearts are full for the wonderful tutorial.

3.  Make some whimsical finger puppets.  Check out das-wolkenschaf’s photostream for more wonderful inspiration (edit: it’s no longer online, unfortunately).

felt finger puppets

4.  Tape a length of string across the room as a net and play balloon volleyball inside. 

5.  Do some nature studies.  This is the perfect time of year for lots of spring nature fun.  Here’s ten ideas to get you started.

 

6.  Buy or make a blank book and start a family cookbook.  Make up a new recipe for it each week together.  Some good simple dishes include smoothies, soups and jazzed up grilled sandwiches.  Encourage the kids to think up really fabulous names for each recipe.

7.  Make a painter’s tape maze and then have the kids dribble or kick a ball through it.

tapemaze

(Original source unknown)

8.  Make a sticky spider web.  Hands on as we Grow came up with this wonderful activity where you make a painter’s tape spiderweb and throw newspaper balls at it and try to make them stick. 

Visit http://handsonaswegrow.com/halloween-activity-a-sticky-spider-web/ for more information and to pin this idea.

9.  Make some hand puppets from old stuffed animalsSimply cut a slit in the back or cut the legs off an old stuffed animal, remove most of the stuffing (or all), and let kids start putting on some shows.  🙂

puppet

 

10. Let the kids play with their food! Give them an assortment of fruit pieces and let them go nuts.  This idea is courtesy of my son, Jack.  He and his little brother even set up a store and made everybody fake money so we could all buy the ones we liked!  Look at the lovely creations my boys made this morning.  🙂

 

And with that, my pretties, I’m off to tackle the next 99 things on my to-do list.  Have a wonderful week!

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A Little Welsh Fun

St. David's Day on Magical Childhood

It turns out we completely missed Saint David’s Day yesterday, but I found this blog post full of Welsh crafts from Filth Wizardry so delightful that I had to pass it on anyway.

I’m in love with the easy paper leeks!

(Long-time readers also know that I’ll celebrate any excuse to have fun that involves sheep.)  😉

If you want to continue with the theme of St. David and Wales, here are some wonderful compilations of crafts and activities on DLTK (did you know that dragons are considered Wales’ national animal?!) and Activity Village (I love the dragon sock puppet!).

Wales crafts (St. David's Day) on Magical Childhood

In any case, happy March, chickadees!  Spring is really coming.  Yay!

Look for a post on ways to make the day magical on Monday.  My husband’s recovery is coming along well and I think it’s time for us to start easing out of hibernation.  🙂 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Wales on Magical Childhood

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