Homemade Bubble Wands

We made some homemade bubble wands the kids have been smitten with for awhile now. I'd been meaning to make the classic metal hanger version, but then I decided to get out my metals box and try to make something a little more magical.

The kids had fun going through my stuff, picking out ribbon and pretty little things.

Using a pair of needle nose pliers, I twisted wire into star shaped wands, then threaded the beads and such they had chosen onto the stems. Beads that were too small for the wand wire, I put on smaller gauge wire and looped it loosely onto the wand so that they dangle freely like tassels.

I went over the stars with a hammer, forging them gives them strength so they will hold their shape. 

I tied ribbon on the handles, and gave them a couple jars of bubbles for some super magical bubble blowing.

Kaia particularly likes running with her wand, trailing bubbles... I had a hard time getting a picture of her even relatively in focus. :)

The wands are bigger than any they have had before, and they love the larger bubbles. Next time I will have to make some great big ones to dip in a dish!

Katalin concentrates so hard when she blows bubbles, it is really amusing to watch. She is so proud every time she produced a bubble!

They have had bubbles, but these little wands hold a whole new level of appeal for them, they have been bubbling constantly!

Homemade Sidewalk Paint

Not only did this sidewalk paint whip up fast, the kids had almost as much fun making it as they did painting with it. It only has three ingredients: corn flour, water, and food colouring. Aside from those, the only other things you will need are some containers to put it in, (with lids if you want to store it,) and paint brushes. Oh, you may want to add some kids, too.

Mix together approximately three parts corn flour to one part water. Our first batch was pretty experimental, but this is the ratio we ended up being happiest with. I unthinkingly mixed each colour batch on its own the first time, and it was a bit frustrating trying to get everything from the bottom of the small containers combined well. The kids ended up stirring for awhile, then handing me each conatiner to finish. In future batches, we mixed the corn flour and water in one large bowl, then poured it into separate containers to add colour, which is much easier. Once you have the base ready, add food colouring. We made red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, white, and turquoise.

 

 Paint away! Kaia had a 12 year old friend over when we made this batch, and she had just as much fun with it as my little ones did.

 

As a side note, it is also great for painting your body with, or to use as finger paint. ;) It has a really interesting texture that little Katalin was quite fascinated with.

Somehow I forgot to take even a single picture of the products of their various painting sessions, I have no idea how! But we have made it again, and again. The kids have a blast every time, and it rinses out of the containers in a snap. It comes right out of clothes, even when it has been liberally applied and caked on an inch thick.

Oh, and you see that fantastic tie dyed rainbow shirt Katalin is sporting in the last photo? It was made by my friend Jen at Twirlytoes Wearable Art. She is one amazing mama, and you should totally check out her scrumptious shop.

Simple Summer Activities

 Wrapping up the rest of my small "Simple Summer Activities" series, here is a photographic list of all the little things we do, day to day, outside during the Summer. The little things that take neither prep, nor special materials. The simple things.

Go on a hike.

Dress up.

Collect treasures.

Swing!

Paint with water.

Plant a garden, or a veggie bed.

Build sand castles.

Eat lots of watermelon.

Climb a tree.

Play with water.

Blow bubbles.

Have a picnic. Even if it is in your yard.

Have a fire.

Sidewalk chalk. Try it dry, and wet.

Camp. Even if it is in your yard.

Eat outside. Lots.

Take a walk.

Go on a bike ride.

Pick wildflowers, (but not too many from one plant or one place.)

Go to the park

Make popsicles.

I can't believe Summer is already coming to a close. I love Autumn, but I am not really ready for the upcoming Winter. I am trying hard to be happy about every season, and I do like Winter for a while, but I am already dreading the way it takes forever to loosen its dreary grip. Ugh.

Until then, there is still a lot of look forward to in the seasons to come.

Simple Summer Activities - Berry Pickin'

We have lots of berries growing around our yard, and picking them is one of Kaia's favourite things to do. Quite a rewarding activity, I guess. ;) The first berry that comes ripe at our home is the wild strawberry. We have tons of them, especially around our playground. It's a good thing, too, because they are tiny. This doesn't bother Kaia, though, she happily spent whole days picking strawberries. They may be small, but they are pretty sweet and juicy.

This is the biggest one we found all summer! It is massive, in comparison to its wild neighbors, anyway. :)

Kaia crawls through the sand, looking under leaves for the little bright red fruits.

She filled bowl after bowl this summer.

Which she then brings to me to wash and remove stems and leaves, a task that frequently takes me about as long to do as it takes her to find and pick them all.

And then she shares them with her baby sister, who loves them oh, so much, as well.

The next berry ready to pick and eat at our house are the cherries.

We bought and planted this little tree last Spring, and we already got quite a few more cherries this year than last. I can't wait until it gets bigger and Papa and I get to eat some of those cherries, too! Yes, the girls eat them all.

I love to watch her little hands carefully brace the branch and pull the fruit.

Katalin wasn't sure what she thought of them at first, they were still a bit tart when Kaia started picked them. She kept on eating them anyway, though, and had really warmed up to them before the cherry season was over.

Kaia simply loves them, sweet or tart.

Next, the raspberries ripen. We have both golden and red raspberries, although I was surprised to find that I apparently did not take any pictures of the red raspberries. Kaia is taken with them enough to brave the prickers and wade through the bushes to pick raspberries, whether she is in jeans, shorts, or a bathing suit!

The golden raspberries have a lighter, more subtle, flavour than the red. They are both sweet and delicious!

When all the strawberries, cherries, and raspberries are gone, we still have blackberries by the bucket load. I can't even imagine how many of these things we ate this Summer, with plenty left over on the plants to seed and feed the wildlife as well.

We used them to make popsicles, icecream, and pie, and to top our yogurts, cereals, and granolas. We still have a couple bags of blackberries frozen, and quite a few dehydrated as well, so that we can enjoy them during the Winter, too. There is nothing quite like opening up a little package of Summer when you're covered in snow and bundled in sweaters.

Kaia found a HUGE blackberry that she paraded around all afternoon before finally eating it. Here she has a blackberry of average size for us in one hand, and her monster blackberry in the other. She was very impressed.

All those berries are gone now, until next year, but the abundance of choke cherries we have are starting to drop their deep purple fruit. I've not had them before, and had always believed them to be poisonous. I was surprised to find out that, while the pits are indeed poisonous, the fruit itself is not, and is supposed to be very tasty. I can't wait to gather them and see for myself! I'm having visions of fruit leather...