{DIY Bubble Machine}

DIY BUBBLE MACHINE

These DIY bubble machines are easy and fun to make for endless foamy bubble fun this summer!

You will need: [affiliate links included for your convenience]

• *styrofoam or plastic cups
• *plastic food wrap
• *bendy straws 
• *tape in a pinch but preferably sticky tack or chewed gum ;-p
• *dish soap or bubble solution
• *toothpick
• *elastic bands or hair elastics
• *something sharp to poke holes in the cups (we used a corkscrew)

1. Poke a hole in the cups, about 1 - 2 cm above the base, that is just big enough for a straw. Be careful not to let the hole tear too big. (I think next time we'll try a hole punch - if you try that, let me know how it works!)

2. Poke the bent end of the straw through the hole so that the long end is on the outside of the cup, bent upwards. Use tape, sticky tack or even a piece of chewed gum to seal around the hole. (We used tape, but it did leak, so if you have sticky tack or gum I'd go with those.)

3. Pour bubble mixture or water with a generous squirt of dish soap into the cup (if your cup is leaky, you might want to do this step after step 5 so as to avoid losing all your solution.)

4. Pull a piece of the plastic food wrap as tightly as you can over the top of the cup and secure with an elastic band or hair elastic.

5. Use a toothpick to poke lots of tiny holes in the plastic wrap. (If you didn't yet put your bubble solution in, follow this step by taking off the wrap and adding it now, then reattaching the wrap, pulling tightly again.)

6. Blow into your straw and watch the bubbles foam out of your own homemade bubble machine! Fun!!

*Note: Obviously, this is only suitable for children who are not going to suck on the straw - please use your parental judgement as to whether this activity is appropriate for your child. (I did it with my 7 year old and 4 year old with no doubts in my mind.)

{Simple Canada Flag Nature Craft - Maple Rubbing}

Canada Flag Nature Craft for Kids:

Maple Tree Rubbing

For Canadians feeling patriotic or for non-Canadians learning about Canada, here's a fun nature craft to get your creative kids outdoors.

We made this Canada flag craft last summer for Canada Day, but it would be great to do anytime! All you need is some paper, a red crayon or coloured pencil, and a maple tree!

Lay your paper in landscape format and using a maple leaf, mark out thirds with vertical lines down the paper. Make a leaf rubbing in the centre of the paper (notice that nice Canadian spelling of 'centre' ;-p ) by laying the paper on top of the leaf and gently rubbing the crayon at a sideways angle over the paper where the leaf is underneath.

Then, lay the paper on the trunk of the maple tree and make bark rubbings over the outside thirds of the paper to fill in those sections completely.

Enjoy the time outdoors and perhaps take the opportunity to also check out some other types of barks and leaves and make comparisons.

{Snow Painting}

Snow Painting Fun!

We tried snow painting last spring, and it was such a quick and simple activity to prepare, but the kids had so much fun playing! They've been talking about it ever since (we did it last spring!), and can't wait for snow this year so they can do it again!

Just fill some squirty bottles [affiliate link] with water, add a few drops of food colouring, and they're all set! They wrote their names in the snow, made a giant snowcone, and gave the snowman a makeover!

For more fun and simple play, crafting, and learning ideas, subscribe to Mama Pea Pod's weekly update: 

{Quick, Last Minute New Year's Eve Party for Kids}

Like Mama Pea Pod for birthday party ideas? Please consider throwing a vote our way in the Red Tricycle Most Awesome awards for Birthday Party Ideas! Thanks so much! x

Last year was the first year we celebrated New Year's Eve with the kids (though not as late as midnight!). We decided to have a spontaneous party and knocked on doors to invite all our neighbours with kids (8 adults and 6 kids in all, ranging in age from 1 1/2 to 7 years old). 


In Hungary, New Year's Eve (called Szilveszter in Hungarian), is often celebrated with a large dinner of pork and stuffed cabbage for good luck. (Read more about Hungarian New Year's traditions in my guest post over at Red Ted Art.) Since we decided at around 6pm that night to have a party (after all the shops were shut), we didn't have any stuffed cabbage on hand. Instead, we raided the pantry for whatever we did have and came up with crackers and cheese, cookies, a box of brownie mix, various sweet treats from Christmas, and some frozen meatballs - pork! 


Szilveszter is also a time of superstitions, to ensure good luck for the coming year. In an effort to scare away evil spirits, people make as much noise as they can. Kazoos, paper horns, and other noisemakers keep the spirits away. People often wear silly hats, masks, and accessories, and buy noise-makers, fireworks, and sparklers. Earlier in the day, we had bought some noise-makers and sparklers for our own kids - and we always have lots of silly accessories in our dress-up box!

So after our snacks and drinks, some free play, and a spontaneous 'talent show' put on by the kids in our living room, we bundled the children up in their snowsuits and took them out to the garden to light up the sparklers (fortunately we had enough for everyone to share). They all had a wonderful time waving them around in the dark (with very close adult supervision, of course*), and blowing paper horns and those noisemakers that roll out, making as much noise as they could!


It was such fun, and the kids were all SO excited! Even though we had prepared nothing, it was one of the most fun parties that our kids remember, and they've been asking for months now to do it again this year!


*It goes without saying, really, but children should be supervised carefully whenever they are around sparklers or fireworks, should be shown how to safely hold a sparkler near the end away from the sparks, and should never pick up a sparkler that has burnt out as it remains hot for some time. We also had a designated place to put the burnt out sparklers, to avoid anyone stepping on them or picking them up. Also, please ensure that children are spaced far enough apart to avoid bumping one another with their sparklers.


Boldog Új Évet Kivánok! I wish you a happy New Year!

{Pumpkin Fairy World}

We started carving our pumpkin the other day and created this cozy fairy garden out of it, inspired by this pumpkin diorama.

First we cut the top - the girls were delighted by the sight of all the stringy, seedy insides!

It took some convincing, but I finally managed to get the girls involved in scooping out the insides (granted, they were a bit cold inside since the pumpkin had been sitting outdoors). Princess Pea isn't really a fan of slime, so she used a spoon and bowed out at the first possible escape window, but once Sweet Pea got started, she really enjoyed the sensory experience and helped me sort through the goop to collect all the seeds for roasting.

I cut a huge 'door' in the front (which fits back on), and we gathered bits and pieces from the garden and house to create this comfy spot for a fairy to sit and reflect.

We had found this 'fairy chair' piece of wood in the forest a couple of weeks ago and brought it home for our outdoor fairy garden. We added a few sprigs of lavender, some bark chips, and painted pebbles and snail shells from around the garden. Then we added a fake flower, a plastic salamander, a small wooden apple, a felted owl, and, of course, a fairy.

I think it's really sweet, and the girls are quite taken by it! We have it set up on the upstairs balcony, facing in towards the window so it can be seen from indoors as well as played with outdoors under the cover of the balcony roof.

I think it's not how we'll use it on Halloween night, as we'll need light in it, but it's a fun way to use it for now. When Halloween comes, I'll fit the door back on, and either carve a face in the other side, or perhaps drill some holes to make a lovely luminary like the one Taming the Goblin made.

What did you do with your pumpkin this year?

You might also like to see our 'mummykin' pumpkin from last year, or see more pumpkin ideas here. And there are lots more seasonal ideas on my Halloween and Fall pin board.

{Play with Chestnuts, Acorns, and Walnuts}

18 Ways to Play

With

Chestnuts, Acorns, & Walnuts

Now that Autumn / Fall is here, the girls are going crazy collecting chestnuts, acorns, and walnuts! Chestnut trees, oak trees, and walnuts trees all grow in abundance around here, and every day they come home with pocketfuls they've collected or bagfuls from our generous neighbour. (I just found 4 walnuts in my purse that they must have popped in there!) 

We usually take our annual autumn walks to collect chestnuts and acorns around this time of year. This year we also brought home some logs, but that will be another post!

They enjoy trying to smash the walnuts open with a big rock (or even by jumping on them). Princess Pea eats them by the handful, while Sweet Pea prefers to play with them over actually eating them.

Princess Pea made a sweet little walnut sailboat at preschool last week, using a toothpick and a couple bits of construction paper - quite similar to these walnut boats by Red Ted Art.

The girls love to play with the nuts in all sorts of ways. They make for great sensory play, math play, and fine motor play. 

Do you have walnuts, acorns and chestnuts around, too? Why not try:

• * sorting them into the different types of nuts
• * counting them
• * ordering them by size
• * scooping and pouring them in a sensory bin
• * painting with them (my class made chestnut versions of these golf ball paintings as part of our recent science unit on forces and motion)
• * using them as loose parts to pair with play dough
• * testing whether they float or sink
• * practicing fine motor skills by moving them from one bin to another with a spoon/tongs
• * serving them up (with a spoon and fine motor skill) at teddy bears' tea parties!

Here are some other super ideas for using fall nuts from some more Kids Activities Network bloggers:

Acorn Animals from Red Ted Art 

Acorn Fairies and Elves from Growing Green-Fingered Kids

Weighing and Exploring Acorns from Teach Preschool

Nature Family from Kitchen Counter Chronicles

Fairy Walnut Presents from Curly Birds

Chestnut Math Play - Perimeter and Area from The Golden Gleam

Chestnut Collecting, Scooping, and Fine Motor Play from Happy Hooligans

{Strawberry Shortcake Outdoor Salon Imaginary Play}

Summer may be officially over for us, but it's still as hot as can be!

Today in Strawberryland, Apple Dumplin's been visiting Lemon Meringue's outdoor salon in the shade of the summer lilac trees.

Foot bath with raspberry bubbles.

Towel off.

Pink polish (sssshhhh, don't tell Daddy Pea!).

A little lotion.


And then Apple Dumplin' does Lemon's toes, too.

What are your kids playing outdoors these days?

{Outdoor Play Party: Awesome Nature}

Hi folks, I know I haven't been around much lately, but we're back at school now and things are crazy and hectic. Between my full-time teaching job, additional department head responsibilities and homeschooling Princess Pea for Kindergarten on the side, I'm not sure when I'll be able to pop in next, so I'm putting blogging on hold for a bit. So I'm very sad to announce that this will be my last Outdoor Play Party for a while. However, the party will continue over at my cohosts' blogs (and watch for a new cohost next edition, too!). I encourage you to follow all of their blogs so that you can keep up to date with when new editions of the Outdoor Play Party are posted. I do hope that you will all still participate. I think that by sharing in this forum here, we are all doing our part to promote the importance of outdoor play for kids - too often overlooked in our busy, highly-scheduled society these days!

So, before I go, I leave you with some pictures from a recent hike we took. We had a lovely vacation in Croatia, including visiting the Plitvicke lakes area for a couple of days. We were so impressed that Princess Pea hiked a full 4 hours on her own, without a complaint! 

And what a beautiful place for a hike! 

Our route

And you gotta love hiking in Europe - in addition to the incredible and varied natural scenery, at the end there's always ice cream and beer waiting! ;-)