Handprints

I read these two quotes, and it gave me something to think about:

"It happens before you know it. The handprints get higher and higher and then they disappear"

"Sometimes you get discouraged
Because I am so small
And always leave my fingerprints
On furniture and walls

But every day I'm growing
I'll be grown some day
And all those tiny handprints
Will surely fade away

So here's a little handprint
Just so you can recall
Exactly how my fingers looked
When I was very small"

How To Keep a Handprint

• 2 cups of flour
• 1 cup salt
• 1 cup water
• Food coloring
• Ribbon
• Gold marker
• Wax paper

What to do:

1. Add food coloring to the water. I use pink for girls, blue for boys.
2. Mix all ingredients well, kneading until smooth. Dough should be pretty stiff, not soft or runny or it will fill with air bubbles when baking.
3. Form dough into a ball, of about what you can enclose in your two hands, and form into a round smooth ball.
4. Using a rolling pin with the dough on wax paper, roll out into
   as round of a circle as you can. Dough will be about 1/2 inch thick.
5. Press your child's hand with fingers splayed into the dough.
   Depending on child's age, you will have to help and individually press their fingers. Make sure to press deep enough without going completely to the bottom. (When it bakes it tends to raise the handprint up.)
6. Put on a cookie sheet.
7. Use a chop stick or pencil, etc. to make two holes in the top about 1/2 inch apart. This will be used to string the ribbon through.
8. Bake at 200 degrees for about 2-3 hours. Dough should be
   fairly hard but watch to see that it doesn't burn.
9. When they are done and cooled, use a gold marker pen and write the child's name and date (year). I put the child's name on top and the year on bottom, if there is room. If not, I put name on one side and year on one side. I tie a ribbon at the top (blue or pink - or gold) to use as a loop to hang.

Mother's day is coming up. One idea is to make this for Grandma's.
Here is a poem for Grandma's

I miss you when we're not together
I'm growing up so fast
See how big I've gotten
Since you saw me last?
As I grow, I'll change a lot,
The years will fly right by.
You'll wonder how I grew so quick
When and where and why?
So look upon this handprint (these handprints)
That's hanging on your wall.
And memories will come back of me,
When I was very small.

How Deep is the Snow?

I thought this was fun and really cute!

Go to your local Hardware store and pick up some paint stirring sticks.
Have your child paint it
Mark on it inches, so they can see how deep the snow is

If you want you can have them paint the body white, and then using Pom-poms and that foam craft stuff, you can make a snowman on the top. Or any other character you may want!

CTR Boy!

As I was looking for some books for our trip to Reno, Carson found this book about a CTR Boy (didn't see one about CTR Girl, but your kids don't have to know that!). Anyways, the book starts with a little boy who did something wrong that his mom had told him many times not to do, so she has an idea to make him a CTR cape and tag to help him remember to Choose the Right and it goes through how it changed his choices during the day. Then at the end she tells him he can be CTR boy even without the cape:). Cute book, easy craft.

Supplies:

Blanket or towel to make a cape (I already had some capes I made for Carson's b-day)

Scissors

Paper

Crayon

Tape

Just write the letters, cut out, and tape onto the cape! Quick and fun! (and by-the-way, Carson thinks he's smiling like the boy in that first picture, thus the silly grin on his face!)

Hairy Apples!!

What you need:

Granny Smith or other "tart" apple(s) ,
Peanut butter,
Coconut
Raisins

How to make Hairy Apples:

Quarter and deseed the apples, spread a layer of peanut butter over the apples sections and sprinkle with small amount of coconut (this makes the "hair") use raisins to create "eyes", "legs" or other "creature decorations" on the apple sections then eat to your hearts content.

Paper Plate Tambourines

Supplies:

• paper plates
• markers (and stickers, if desired)
• rice or pasta
• tape

Activity:

Have the kids color on the backside of the paper plates with markers and decorate with stickers. When finished, turn one of the plates right-side up and fill with a small amount of rice or pasta. Position the other plate upside down over the top and tape the edges together. Voila! Happy noise-making for at least 5 minutes!

Playing "School"

One of the best things we've incorporated in our weekday activities is playing "school." I have a 3-year-old and an almost 2-year-old and we spend about 5-minutes each day doing a lesson out of the Primary 1 manual. (This is the book they use at church for Nursery and Sunbeams.) Sometimes, we'll spend several days on the same lesson or we may do a quick lesson on a different topic everyday. I try to find out what they talked about in Beck's class on Sunday so we can review that lesson during the week and talk about the upcoming lesson, as well. The kids LOVE this little activity and actually remind me to do it! We sing songs and look at the pictures relating to the lesson and I think it's brought a wonderful spirit into our home.

You can order just the manual from the Church website, but I recommend springing for the picture packet and CD. Click here for the link. The picture packet has illustrations that go along with all of the lessons. The book, in addition to the lessons, has lots of ideas for activities and games that go along with the topics. The CD includes some really fun stuff, like different kinds of music and an imaginary "Trip to the Zoo" where a narrator instructs the kids to "drive" to the zoo and then spend time walking around and acting like the various animals they would see there. My kids absolutely love this and ask me to play it for them often -- and they really ham it up and get some wiggles out. So, $11.50 sounds a little steep for the whole package, but I think it's completely worth it!

Some of the benefits: I feel like my kids are learning how to be reverent, how to sit in a chair for a lesson and LISTEN, and I am learning more about them and how much they really understand through the questions I ask. And THAT has been rewarding for me.