Unplugged Project ~ Stone

This weeks' Unplugged Project from Unplug Your Kids is Stone. Mia and I went out back and picked out some rocks that caught our fancy and brought them back inside. We placed them all out on the table and then we sat there looking at them. What to do? I asked Mia, 'what do you want to do with all these rocks?'...she happily replied 'STACK 'em!'



There you go! Stacking. We aren't professional rock stackers or anything, but you gotta start somewhere. We sure did have a fun time playing around with balance and gravity. I'm not sure why every time I was building my stacks Mia would keep saying, with a silly grin on her face, 'they're gonna fall...they're gonna fall, Mama...'. Talk about pressure!! :)

Mia was so excited as the built her stacks. She concentrated hard, but then got so much pleasure out of it when the stacks came tumbling down…by themselves or with a little assistance. A job in demolition may be in her future.

We enjoyed ourselves, each other and will keep a little basket of rocks handy for the next time we want to challenge gravity. Thanks to Unplug Your Kids for the inspiration.

p.s. the flat ones sure do work better than the round :)

Unplugged Project ~ Sky

The kids over at Unplug You Kids drew and mapped constellations for this weeks Unplugged Project...Sky. I wasn't sure what to do for ours, but on the way home from a playdate, Mia noticed all the grey clouds.

After nap and snack...of mac n cheese n peas (evidence still on her face), I brought out some card stock, colored pencils, markers, a glue stick and cotton balls. I asked Mia what color the sky was and she said grey...we found the grey pencil and she went to town. Then she looked at the markers and wanted the grey one. She added spots. I asked her if they were stars. She said No. The sky is GREY, Mama.'...like I didn't know what was going on. Silly Mama.

She looked up at the sky again, and added some blue to her drawing. Then she spotted the orange marker. 'mama the sky is orange now'. Hmmm not quite sunset now, but there's a sunset somewhere.


I asked Mia if she was ready for clouds. Her face lit up. Clouds?!?! I pulled out the cotton balls and we pulled them apart. Mia wasn't quite sure about all that, but she was THRILLED when I pulled out the glue stick. She glued and then pressed some cotton to her page. A few pieces stuck to her fingers, but in the end she was VERY proud of her sky.

Super proud girl

We taped our skies up on the wall. When daddy he came home, he looked at them and happily commented, 'nice grey skies, girls'...no prompting needed. Do you think the cotton was the giveaway?

Thanks Unplug Your Kids for another fun project!

Unplug Your Kids ~ Garden

While the kids over at Unplug Your Kids worked on a super cute miniature fairy garden for this weeks' Unplugged Project - Garden, Mia and I doctored a plant.

My MIL gave me a Christmas cactus she started from a clipping from a plant that came from a clipping of a plant that Clem once took care of before he passed away. This plant has some history behind it. Yesterday, while pulling up the kitchen blinds, a limb from the plant fell off. Ah Ha! Garden project for Unplug Your Kids!!!!!

Mia and I took the limb, found a pot and dish (that didn't match, but it soooo doesn't matter) in the laundry room, and some potting soil in the garage. I showed Mia how to scoop the soil with her hand (always use your hands) and dump it into the pot...when the pot was full, we tucked the limb the soil. Dee, my MIL, said that these guys can root anywhere...here's trying.

Then we found Mia's watering can that was behind the ferns, and showed her how a little potted plant needs to be watered a whole lot more gently than the grass or stuff in the flower beds. She had fun, and was very gentle.



I sure do hope this little guy roots and grows up...this will be a gift to Mia from her Great grandpa, Clem.

Unplugged Project - plastic

One of my fav blogs, Unplug Your Kids, has a weekly Unplugged Project. This week's was Plastic. Plastic was the medium, but you could use it anyway you liked. Unplugged Mom and her children created homemade Shrinky Dinks, and we followed suit.

While at Central Market this morning for Storytime with Mel, Mia and I grabbed a bite. The plastic container my lunch came in was a '6'...perfect for the SD project. After Mia's nap, I cut out pieces of plastic and punched holes in them. Mia went to town with her permanent markers. We popped them in the oven and 2 minutes later, out came the shrunken dinks...Daryl already has one on his key chain :) This is a PERFECT craft for people with instant gratification issues.

random video of me opening and closing the oven (ok, I'M the one with instant gratification issues!):

Unplugged: painting

I found my way to a wonderful blog Unplug Your Kids...'Giving children back their childhood by swimming upstream in this technological world, and trying not to drown!'

There's a weekly unplugged project, and this weeks is Painting! We painted on Friday and we painted to day with some friends. Both days, and pretty much always...Mia took a little taste of the paint :) On Friday, Mia had to fight with the wind to keep her paper from blowing away. This morning we used canvas on board. Perfect!

Friday's Masterpiece

Monday Morning Masterpiece