The Young and the Restless

P is for....

Even though summer is over, the kids haven't wanted to put an end to the "summer of fun" (ha, I flatter myself. Okay, I should say Kylie has still wanted to do crafts, Jayden would much rather play the wii or legos, surprise).  We've still been fitting in a few crafts between homework and friends and here are the latest:

Playdough- Koolaid Playdough: 1 C flour, 1/4 C salt, 2 Tbs cream of tarter, 1 Tbs veg. oil, 1 pkg koolaid mixed with 1 C water, glitter (optional- you can also add extra food coloring if you want)- cook all ingredients over med heat until ball forms, remove from heat and knead dough on floured surface until no longer sticky, store in airtight container- this is the best homemade playdough recipe I've found, it stays soft for a really long time.

Pretzels- once again, ode to the Rhoades dough! (dipped in powder sugar/milk frosting.mmmm.)

Puppet show- you can get kits at the store, but my kids (or should I say, Kylie and her friend) spent hours creating their own puppets, scenery and writing up the play (too bad it took so long that her friend had to go home before they could perform it and then Kylie was mad at me for all of eternity, or atleast until the next day when I bribed her with an otter pop to let me take her picture.)

Perry Pool- according to my kids the Basha pool is way more cooler and the life guards are way more nicer. Apparently they're little pool snobs, but they still had fun with their friends.

Puzzles- my kids love puzzles and I love that you can get them anywhere for cheap (I got this United States one at Wal-mart for $2, but the dollar store has plenty also).  I also love that the little chubby fingers could help too.

(the more he concentrated, the bigger the puddle of drool was under his chair)

Peter Pipers Pizza- enough said.

Picture scavanger hunt- The kids love this (even Jayden). I give them a camera and a list of things to take pictures of (like "something shiney", "something pokey", "something really old", "something stinky", etc.).  They had all their friends running around the house taking pictures then I would guess what they were.  It was fun to see what they came up with.

Paint- corn syrup paint, it's so cool! A little messy for the little monkey and it takes a while to dry, but it turns out really cool.  Just mix a couple of drops of food coloring in a couple of tablespoons of cornsyrup.  Draw the picture out first with a crayon (the site recommends glossy craft paper, but regular paper worked just fine)