KID KAMP~DINOS Cont.

Well, I counted today, Sunday, as a part of Dinos week.  We didn't get to everything I planned so I dragged it out a bit.  Still never made the paper plate T-Rex, eh, if we get to it, we get to it.

To put the finishing touches on Dinos week we did the DIY fossils.  Those turned out really great.  We also made fossil cookies.

For the DIY fossils I followed this recipe.  It was pretty much perfect.

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup dirt
• 1/2 cup sand (play sand works the best)
• 1 cup water
• 12 tiny plastic dinosaurs
• Plastic wrap-lined cookie tray

I did change it a little.  I divided everything in half so that each of my kids had a share.  But, I added double the amount of play sand--1/2 C each of the flour, sand, dirt and water.  I also lined my cookie sheet with tin foil.  My kids had so much fun doing this.

They mixed all the dry ingredients first.  Then I added water and they loved squishing it until it became dough-like.  My 3 yr old was really good at it.  

Next, the kiddies and I wrapped up the mini dinos in the dough. We rolled them in a little extra play sand, then set them out on the cookie sheet to dry. It rained the day we made them, so I had to keep them in the garage overnight.  The next day, I set them out early in the AM in the sun.  After dinner, we broke them up.  

I wound up making double the amount because they thought it was so cool.  

When they were dry, the kids donned their safety glasses and "hard hats" once again.  Armed with their hammers, they went to work. 

Love this pic of my son.  He looks like a geologist inspecting an all important rock.

I was really happy with the way the fossils turned out.  I say this is a definite 2 thumbs up.  My kids loved the ice fossils, but I think they really liked this one better.  

Another fun thing we did yesterday was make fossil cookies.  Idea from here. I totally did not follow her recipe at all.  And, yes, I will admit, hers look a whole lot better than mine.  

Hers

Mine

All I did was follow Betty--love her; Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix in the bag.  I followed the cut out recipe, but I did add more flour.  I should have added even more. We also made a lava fossil cookie--just add some Nutella and raspberry extract. I used a mini ice cream scooper to portion out the dough.  Each kid got some, balled it up and placed them on the cookie sheet. We pressed tiny dinosaurs, centipedes and other bugs into the dough.  Baked them for about 13 min @ 375 and poof, fossil cookies.  


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KOOL-AID ICE PAINTING

Getting back to the Kool-Aid painting...we finally did that, well, we finally made them.  Tomorrow we may get to paint with them.  


We needed more tiny dinos for the fossil cookies, so we headed over to The Dollar Tree yesterday.  Whilst there, got a ton more than I actually needed, I scored a Popsicle mold.  Here they are.

Never mind the mess on the island there.  Just haven't had the time to be too tidy.  I am working on that though.  

First, they smelled awesome.  But, taste-wise, I added no sugar.  Kids were rather disappointed and shocked that they tasted so bad.  Pink (pink-lemonade), blue (blue/rasp-lemonade), red (cherry) and orange (orange) were our palette.  I made the colors pretty intense.  I only measured out the amount of water I would need to fill 2 Popscicle sections per packet.  It was about a 1/4 C of water.  Each kiddie had a measuring cup with the water.  I added in the packet.  They stirred and they poured into the molds.  They are set in the freezer and they are frozen.  We just now have to paint with them.  


I hope all that makes sense.  I am pooped.  Between double classes at Gymboree, running through the "Leaky Lizard" (a lizard shaped sprinkler) in the backyard, and the beach after hours, I am done.  I have no idea how I have made it this long.  


Ok, I am out...TTFN. Tomorrow starts POND week.  

Kid Kamp~DINOS~Week 1

*DINOS*
We had some fun this week.  It was short and I didn't get to do all the things that I wanted.  I still had to work on Monday.  My son had swim lessons all week. Plus, the dentist.  A play date for my daughter. And, it got really hot around here.  But, we still have one more day before the week is over.

What we did...

Made dinos out of paper plates.  Got the idea from here. I just found a site to make paper plate T-Rex's, which my daughter so desperately wanted to make.  I think we will have to do that one tomorrow.  My son decided to turn his dino into a rainbow.


All you need for this is...
1. paper plates
2. markers/paint/crayons
3. brass fasteners
4. hole puncher

Mine is to the left.  My daughter's to the right.  My son's "rainbow" is up on top :0)

Oh, I also filled the $1 Sterilite shoe boxes from Walmart with new crayons, markers, color pencils, kid scissors, and a glue stick for each of my kiddies.  I also made name labels for them on Avery.com.


Our next adventure was to break open some ice fossils.  Got that idea from here. I stuffed toy dinos into balloons and added food coloring and water. Froze them.

Then the excavation began.  The kiddies donned their hard hats.  Got those from Oriental Trading--left overs from my son's birthday party.  I bought safety glasses for them and I am so happy I did.  I got a 3 pack from Home Depot for around $7.00.  I got some hammers and they went to town.

Ice went flying everywhere.  So the safety glasses are a necessity.  

I think tomorrow I am going to try my hand at making some DIY fossils.  Idea from here. All you need is 

1 cup flour

1 cup dirt

1/2 cup sand (play sand works the best)

1 cup water

12 tiny plastic dinosaurs

Plastic wrap-lined cookie tray

Mix everything together adding more flour/dirt/sand as needed.  Coat the dinos into the mixture.  Ball them up and set them in the sun to dry.  Sounds easy enough, right?  I will let you know how that one goes.  

Since it was so hot today, I wanted to do another fun ice activity.  Having ice freeze in balloons took too long, so, we decided to ice paint.  Idea from here. She froze water colors.  I froze food coloring and water because that was what I had.  I was also thinking about freezing unsweetened Kool-Aid.  I think I will do that tomorrow too.  

I let the kiddies fill their ice cube trays.  Surprisingly my son did a good job.  I was quite rightly impressed.  Got the star trays from Walmart and The Dollar Tree. I couldn't find my red food coloring, so we could only work in blues, greens and yellows.  

After the cubes were frozen, we took them out in the back yard and painted. 

Of course, my kids decided to eat the ice cubes, which was fine.  I am glad I used food coloring instead of paint.  

Oh, and if you attempt this, make sure you put them in clothes you don't mind getting stained.  

We also just let some ice paints sit and melt.  With the heat they melted in no time and it looked pretty cool too.  

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I have to add in, while I was in Home Depot buying the safety glasses, I also bought some sheet metal.  I got 3 sheets--$9.54 (I believe) each.  The edges were sharp, but I taped them with some decorative duck tape (The Dollar Tree). I adhered them to one of my kitchen walls with 3M tabs.  So far they are sticking well.  Now I have 3 magnetic boards in my kitchen.  My husband is quite happy--all the magnets are off the fridge.

I know, pictures not great, but you get the idea.  The one on top is actually on the bottom of my kitchen wall.  The kids can easily access that one.  My 15-month old is having a blast with it.  The 2nd pic, is of two, one above the other.  I have the kids' calendar there.  I am going to set up a weather station too.

The thing that makes these so great besides being magnetic, they will also double as dry erase boards!

My blog for this week is done.  I will add more on how my DIY fossils went.  TTFN!