Little Elephants: Kids Crafts and Fun Activities

Back to school!

Today was the first day of school for the kids. I love how they always greet it with such enthusiasm and a zest for life. Despite his calm demeanor in this picture, Bjørn was bouncing off the walls with excitement this morning. It literally lasted the entire school day, all the way through dinner, an hour-long swim, and further. I'm hoping he'll eventually crash and fall asleep. He'll need it if he wants to attack tomorrow with the same vim and vigor.

I've included a picture from the first day of school two years ago. Isn't it wonderful how their personalities shine through? I'm glad they crack me up. Even when I'm so tired I could weep.

By the way! I followed my wonderful readers' advice and had the kids pick out their clothes before going to bed, I got up an hour before the masses, breakfasts ready, and had lunches packed last night. Thank you, your practical (do-able!) advice really helped!

Tomorrow will be my first day at a new job. I'm hoping I get more sleep than last night!

'Night all!

Busy, busy, busy!

We're in the home stretch now! Next week will be an intense one for the whole family:

• I'm starting a new job in the city
• Bjørn and Maggie are starting second and fourth grades
• Tor is heading back to home daycare
• And Tomas & I will be coordinating a pick-up & drop-off dance that's bound to get confusing

I could sure use any advice folks have to keep it all together! Please share your tips and tricks in the comments, I'd be ever so grateful for any help I can get :-)

PVC pipe toys

Last night we had dinner with some dear friends. While the adults chatted, the kids found a box full of PVC pipes and connectors and had a blast playing with them. They literally spent over an hour constructing an elaborate watering system for my friend's garden. I couldn't believe what a great game they made of it! Tomas and I got dollar signs in our eyes as we imagined marketing such a toy. We'd have bright primary colors, widgets and whosits, bells and whistles to attach. It was a glorious moment.

This morning I did about five seconds of research and found another dad had the exact same inspiration and acted upon it over a year ago. He created Konstruk Tubes.

I'm not planning on buying the set just now, but I do think that when we have a bit more space I'll have to bring the kids with me on an outing to the hardware store to get us a bucket-full of pipes and attachments. It's just too much fun not to. Crazy-cheap, too :-)

Pokemon obsessed

Bjørn has dumped his treasured Tamagotchis in favor of the eminently more exciting Pokemon. He rents all the movies, is a member of the club, visits the sites, spends all his allowance on new cards, and is thrilled to instruct the uninitiated in the glories of all things Pokemon. He's even recruited his sister into the brotherhood, and they have started making their own cards. First designing them based on "real" characters, and then branching off to create their own.

I'm not sure what I'll do when he discovers Dungeons and Dragons, or World of Warcraft...

I do know I'll be learning quite a bit about magical characters :-)

Time to get organized!

The new school-year is right around the corner. That means that it's time to get my act together and get things in order around here. My lazy days of summer are numbered. Good thing the kids cheered (yes, cheered!) when I told them school starts up again in two weeks.

I'm not naturally organized on the home-front. I take all the help I can get to keep things sane(ish). Here are a few tools that I'll be depending on to keep thinks in order:

One of my favorite recent acquisitions is the Busy Body Book. It's a portable family organizer with five columns so I can keep track of all the troops and my work schedule and commitments. My categories are: Work | Family | Maggie | Bjørn | Tor. I love being able to see everything side-by-side so we minimize the conflicts (or at least know about them ahead of time). I'm also happy my calendar has space for a weekly check-list as well as note-taking. I keep all my important numbers in the back of the book. The design is super-simple as well, so it doesn't yell "Mommy!" when you carry it into a business meeting.

I'll admit I'm a sucker for the whole FlyLady system. I have a feeling this is one of those services I'll be a member of forever because there will always be room for improvement in the housekeeping department for me. I love systems, and check-lists, and FlyLady gives me that. If your house is a disaster, or your routine just needs a bit of fine tuning, this is definitely worth giving a try.

Organized home is new to me, but it is so full of check-lists and advice that I can tell already that I'll find plenty to inspire and motivate me there.

Lastly, there's the magazines. I try to keep my subscriptions to a minimum to save money and to keep down the recycling pile, so I know I'm going to have a hard time deciding which to go with. I've found Real Simple helpful for several years now, but (but!) now there's a new mag in town that's out to friend me. I think Organize Magazine is going to be my new pet. What 'tcha think?

Peep show movie (no, really)

Heh. Heh. So I left my new book out on the dinner table where it was likely to be discovered by young kids, and it was. While I was busy getting dinner together, Maggie ran up to me with the Boy's Treasury of Things-to-do clutched tightly in her hands. She was desperate to make a peep show movie. I told her she could if it didn't require any help from me since my hands were pretty full at the time.

From the sidelines it appeared quite easy to do, even if there were a number of steps. Maggie is turning nine soon and was able to complete the project mostly on her own. I think Bjørn, at almost-seven, would have needed a bit more grown-up help.

Here's how to make your own:

1. Cut slits about an inch from the end of a shoe box (lid and bottom) to thread your "movie".
2. Poke a hole in the center of the opposite panel (the eye hole)
3. Cut a skylight in the lid. Fold up  to allow light down onto your images.
4. Cut a long strip of paper the width of your slits.
5. Draw lines at even intervals the height of your box so only one picture is displayed at a time.
6. Draw your story starting at the bottom panel. You could also paste comics or pictures from old magazines. Maggie recruited her Dad to draw a series of single panel cartoons.
7. When done thread your paper carefully through the two slits.
8. Enjoy the show!

I {heart} library sales

Every month our local library hosts a fund-raising event where we get the best (best!) deals and steals. I only wish I could get my act together to get there every month instead of just once or twice a year. Today I totally scored with this precious find: A Boy's Treasury of Things-to-do, by Caroline Horowitz. Published in 1946, it has wonderful illustrations and tons of great projects for the kids to do (boys and girls).

Here are a few I will definitely get around to with my troops:

A paper kite. When I was little, my mom was a math teacher. She was also the one who would organize weekend camps for us city kids. It was an incredible experience that I and all the kids who got to go will remember for a long time to come. One of my favorite projects was hand-made kites. They were so easy to do. Just a few straight sticks, some string, glue and light paper and we were set to go. I'm so glad this book brought back such great memories.

A motor boat. So simple, it kills me. I'll be sure to share the instructions when we get to this so you can try it out, too.

A peep show movie (!!!). Oh, my. We will do this, but without the current day implications :-)

And a tiny town. How sweet would this be? I've seen some incredible fairy lands out there recently. I think I'll just give the kids a box, and a germ of an idea, and let them have at it.

If you're interested in checking out this book for yourself, you can pick it up on Amazon.com for as little as $3.25 plus S&H.

Wunderkammer

Never heard of a Wunderkammer before? Totally ok because I hadn't either before happening upon this photo on Design*Sponge earlier this week. I had to look it up because I was so intrigued (Look at me, Ma! I'm still learning!). Very simply put, a Wunderkammer is a cabinet of curiosities.

This collection is the creation of nancy mims' daughter. Nancy is the designer behind mod green pod -- I am so not surprised that her daughter would be so creative.

I love how very scientific this looks, and the fact that her spelling and handwriting has been captured forever in this moment. When we go on walks we almost always come home with little somethings from our travels, I'm thinking we'll have to do something along these lines one day.

Poolside tents

Second only to table-top tents, we love chair-top tents. Today M&B spent a blessedly good bit of time arranging and negotiating their poolside condo. Each section was its own home with special characters (animals, I think) living in each.

When the olders weren't re-arranging their new homes, they were testing their newfound swim skills against each other. Race after race; breast-stroke, free-style, back-stroke... they tried it all.

Meanwhile Momma sat in the shade and muttered to herself that she would get well again. Soon.

Paper plate corsage

You might have noticed Maggie's lovely corsage in yesterday's post about rain makers. The boys also got a chance to make their own lovelies. Super simple to do, and I'd never have thought of it myself, so once again I'm thrilled to live near an art center that does such amazing outreach for families in the community.

Here's how to make your own:

• Punch two holes a couple inches apart in the center of a small paper plate.
• Thread one pipe cleaner through.
• Decorate however you like (the ones shown here are just glue and craft paper).
• Attach to wrist.

I think it would be fun to toss in some colorful tissue paper, glitter glue, gems, buttons, beads... whatever you've got hiding in the craft box.