Pumpkin Carving

Last night the kids and I carved pumpkins. I cut off the tops and Henry helped scoop out the guts. Zoe was not interested in carving the pumpkins, she just enjoyed being outside and being a cute model for Daddy. Matt took some pictures of our pumpkin carving (below). Henry proclaimed that Zoe wanted to have a scary pumpkin and he wanted a happy pumpkin. I don't know how he knew that Zoe wanted a scary pumpkin, but to keep the peace I complied the best I could. I am not, you see, a pumpkin carving artist but King Henry declared that they were passable. Now I just need to get some candles, Last year I bought these "fake" candles but I made the mistake of leaving them on the end table in the living room. I should have known by then that anything left at eye level of a 2 year old was free game. Henry somehow managed to break them both and unfortunately birthday candles do not stay lit for very long and that's all I have in the house!

Kids Activity - Ice Trap

A friend of mine showed me this activity on a blog and I thought it would be an activity that Henry would enjoy. He did, but not really in the way he was supposed to! I wish I could remember what blog I got the idea from so that I could give them credit!

This is an activity that needs to be premeditated because it involves freezing a bowl of water. Gather some of your child's toys from around the house and put them in a plastic bowl (for some reason I think that glass might break in the freezer but I don't know if that's true or if it's my crazy brain playing tricks on me).

Fill the bowl with water and put it in the freezer for a day or until the water is completely frozen. I found that some of his toys floated so I only filled the bowl half way with water then when it froze I added more water to the top so that the toys would be in the middle of the ice.

When the ice is frozen wait for a hot day and take the bowl outside.



Dump the ice out of the bowl and arm your child with several tools to try to get the toys out.

Henry tried a spray bottle to try to melt the ice....very slow moving...



Then we tried a garden spade. After that we tried

a hammer. Any chance Henry gets to use a hammer he is all over it.

At this point he started to get frustrated so I suggested to him that we put the ice back in the bowl and drop it. He loved that! After a couple drops on the concrete, Success!

After this, Henry proceeded to pick up the chunks of ice and throw them as hard as he could onto the concrete until the toys broke free. I did not take pictures of this part of the activity.

I'm no expert, in fact far from it, but I have to believe that this activity is not only fun but helps you child learn cause and effect and problem solving.

Pumpkin Carving!

Henry and I carved our pumpkins today. He loved helping me get the guts and the seeds out. Here are some pictures of the jack-o-lanterns and the kiddos. Happy Halloween everyone!

I asked Henry to put Zoe's hood back on her head... :)

Noodle Necklace!

Henry and I did our latest arts and crafts activity this weekend. For this project yopu need:

newspaper
yarn
Rigatoni or Ziti noodles
Acrylic paint
scissors
craft paint brushes
paper plate (to put the paint on)
old clothes (in case you ou your child gets pint on them)
cup of water ( to wash brushes)

I set up newspaper on the table and taped it over the edge to prevent sliding. I let Henry paint his noodles lots of different colors. I showed him that if you mix certain colors together it makes new colors (red and white make pink, blue and red make purple etc.) After we painted We set the noodles aside to dry. We finally got a chance last night to make his necklace. I tied one noodle to the end of the yarn, threaded the noodles on and tied a noodle to the other end with a little bit of space to put the noodle on the other end through for the "clasp". He was so proud of his necklace when I put it on him last night. Here are some pictures and videos (click the links) of him:

Painting his noodles:

He kept saying that the noodles were "beautiful" so I wanted to get him on camera saying it.

Lacing his necklace: (I had to help him a little bit)

Henry modeling his neclace

Finger Painting

Henry and I finger painted today and he loved it. I got some washable fingerpaints for him at the store last week and have just been waiting to do some painting with him. He loved it! He kept saying "We're Painting! We're painting!" Here are some pics I took and a short video of one of his painting techniques. :)

Beautiful boy!

Painting

one of his masterpieces

He painted his socks too, good thing it's washable!

paint on his face

video