A few weeks ago I took the kids to a program called “From Sheep to Shawl” which taught us {if you couldn’t guess} all the steps of how a shawl {and blankets etc} are made from a sheep.

I thought the information was really interesting.

My kids loved all the various steps and stations of the process.

FIRST STEP:

Very similar to a hair cut, this gentleman cut the wool off the sheep using large buzzers/clippers.

Check out this pile of wool {“fleece”}:

SECOND STEP:

The wool is picked cleaned of any dirt, grass, sticks, etc. and then is washed.

THIRD STEP:

Then, it is brushed over and over until it looks like thin puffy clouds.

The kids got a chance to practice brushing, and it was surprisingly hard in fact.

FOURTH STEP:

This woman showed us how to pull and twist the wool into a long strip and then spin it.

This spinning wheel winds the wool into balls.

FIFTH STEP:

The balls of wool are then used to weave blankets, sweaters, shawls, etc.

The site we visited had looms in use, which we all got to use.

Check out this short video of Silas weaving on the Loom:

Next time you are snuggling with your kiddos on the couch under a blanket,

or tucking them into bed,

you can explain to them where those blanket came from!

~Enjoy

This is a post from last Summer that we loved and wanted to remind people of. This cake is AMAZING and I have been counting the days until we make it again!

I saw this recipe for Grilled Gingerbread Smore’s Cake in the Rachael Ray Magazine and I knew my kids would want to try making this ourselves!

This recipe is not only easy, it is perfect if you want to bake on a hot summer day.

All the baking is done on the grill – so you wont heat up your kitchen with a hot oven.

My Kids Make a Smore’s Cake, and yours can too! Watch the video to see how:

The cake is fantastic, honestly. I can’t believe HOW good it is.

Eat it warm – as it looses some of its “yum factor” once it starts to cool.

Today I am guest posting over Moms By Heart.

We are making Cornstarch Bead Jewelry…stop by and say Hello, and find out more!

The town was paving the road next to ours, so we spent the day sitting on a blanket {with snacks of course!} watching the trucks work.

There were dump trucks driving back and forth, front end loaders, street sweepers,…. AND a cool pavement ripper upper type of truck. We were so busy talking about all the trucks we didn’t even realize how long we had been out there!

When we came back to the house for lunch, Debby wrote on Facebook and suggested that we set up a lemonade stand for the Construction Workers.

I mentioned the idea to Silas and it took all of 1 second before he shouted “YEAH LETS DO IT!!!!“.

We quickly made some lemonade and ran back down the street.

The idea was to GIVE the workers lemonade for FREE.

We were having fun enjoying watching all their hard work

the least we could do was give them something to drink.

A bunch of the workers actually gave the kids money, and suggested they enjoy some ice cream from the Ice Cream Truck later.

{Could this day get any better for them?}

At one point Silas ran up to me and said “It’s NOT working. They keep giving me money!”

{He was actually upset that the workers wanted to pay him. It was adorable.}

Sydney then turned to the people and said, “I’ll take your money!” {HAHAHA!}

We had a wonderful day, filled with trucks and lemonade

{and maybe some ice cream if we spot “Mr. Ding-a-Ling” driving around}.

In honor of Spring, we had decided to spruce up our playroom tree.  We had leaves for Fall, and snowflakes for Winter.

I asked the kids what kinds of things would be on a tree in Spring, and this is what they came up with.

My Kids Make “Spring Trees”, and yours can too! Find out how we made them:

(more…)

Silas has been having fun writing letters to friends and family.

He likes it, and so do I!

I like it because, first off  – its adorable. Second – it lets him practice his writing without him realizing he’s “working”.

After watching my husband and I at the computer occasionaly constantly, Silas was interested in writing email letters.

So, here we go.  My 5 year old is emailing people.

After our post on letter writing, one of our readers, Sarah, sent in these pictures of her daughter writing her own letters.

Thanks for sharing your letters with us! They look fantastic!

What about you: Do you let your kids type on the computer?  Yes? No? Do tell…..

~Enjoy

If I sit with my son and go over numbers with him, he is not interested {and would probably rather choose to take a nap than to sit and “learn”}.

But, if I can manage to incorporate numbers into everyday play, well then he is all aboard!

Do you have a kiddo that’s interested in trains, but not in interested in “learning numbers”? Then this post is for you!

This week, I combined the two…and p.s. it was a lot of fun!

There are many different ways you can incorporate numbers into train play.

My Kids Make “playing with numbers” and yours can too! Get out your train tracks and try some of these ideas…….

(more…)

Move over Legos, take a hike Tinker Toys, there’s a new toy in town:

PVC pipe

Yes, as in real pipe. As in, go to your hardware store and buy real pipe from the plumbing section.

My Kids Make “Building with PVC pipe”, and yours can too! Head to a hardware store …….

(more…)

Silas is in love with all things Space {note the jammies}.

Stars, the Planets, Astronauts, Space Shuttles…the list goes on and on.

He recently was given a sweet telescope from a family friend of ours.

We had previously made a telescope out of toilet paper rolls, but this one is far nicer.

To say that he spent ALL his time looking through this is an understatement.  He woke up asking about the telescope. He went to bed talking about his telescope.

I asked him to draw the things that he was looking at through his telescope

This is the tree across the street from our house.

The blue in the picture is our neighbor’s roof.

{I hope our neighbor doesn’t think we are peeping in their windows! hahaha}

This was a fun way to combine ART with the everyday.

Next up on the list of things to see and draw: a full Moon!

~Enjoy

We are having fun  building bird nests and watching for birds.  The kids have their binoculars out!

I got a few books from the library so that we could identify which birds we were actually looking at.

Both of these books have been fun to look through.

“Birds Build Nests” tells {via poem} the different types of nests that each bird makes.

“Backyard Birds of Summer“  details the various birds and has colorful pictures of each one.

We ended up reading both books together and then getting out art supplies so we could draw the birds we had read about.

My Kids Make “Bird Drawings” and yours can too! Find a bird watching book, and pull out some paper!

(more…)