Need to Steamroll Your Children?

Monday was a tough day. Jason stays late at work on Monday nights and the kids were at their finest that afternoon. Just see my Facebook status update if you have any questions:

So, we had to DO something. That probably meant I should back away from the computer and Facebook, but I'm no child development expert.

I am getting to be more of an expert on making something from nothing at our house, though, and had just read something that day about Flat Stanley. I decided we should make some lifesize Flat Children for fun.
Here's how you can get in on the action if you need an activity to save your children from being killed , beaten to a pulp , kindly and lovingly disciplined.

Oh, and it's a ton of fun to do, too!

* First, get out the newspaper from Sunday that you never read and lay several pieces on the floor and tape them together.

* Have the kiddos lay flat and still {ha} so you can trace them.
{Henry does not understand those 2 words, so he just helped with Ollie's.}

* Next, cut out the shape to make a Flat Ollie {disproportionate neck optional}.

* Be sure to keep an eye on 2 year old, because a massive tape wad incident could occur at any moment.

* Cut out pieces of construction paper to make face and let child act like Picasso and place them anywhere they'd like.

* Then make clothes for your flat child and have them decorate their wardrobe. {If they have trouble with this, show them their current drawn-on wardrobe and let them know they are actually allowed to do it, now.}
* Let little brother in on the act since coloring is his favorite thing to do.

* Practice giving High 5s.

* Then enjoy your Flat Ollie!


Right now, Flat Ollie resides on the back of the door of Round Ollie's room. I keep thinking he's going to wake up screaming that Flat Ollie is coming to get him, but so far he hasn't been creepy. Hopefully he won't come to life like Kim Cattrall in Mannequin because he would be really weird looking!

After this, our Monday night got much better. Since I love it when that happens, this post is linked to Things I Love Thursday at The Diaper Diaries.

What is your go-to activity when things are getting crazy at your house?

It's not Rocket Science

A lot of things around our town are full of rocket science. Not the kind that nerdy jokes are made of, but the actual shake-your-windows-in-the-middle-of-the-day-because-we're-firing-rockets-today kind. It feels like a bit of an earthquake or possibly my stomach growling, but actually it's a test firing and those happen pretty regularly.

You might know our story and that Jason and I are space geeks. And, as the old saying goes, geeks breed geeks, so our boys love anything to do with rockets and space.

I recently wrote an article for Growing Up Magazine {so thrilled to be a part of it; it's a local parenting magazine and they asked me to write for them! EEK!!} so if you are visiting from reading that- Hey! So nice of you to stop by!
You can check out the whole article here if you aren't local, but the main point is letting your kids have some unscheduled time in their days to develop their creativity. I even did research and stuff. It's all kinds of official.

I am certainly not an expert at this {says the Queen of the Schedule}, but as my children have gotten older, I've grown to appreciate that free time more and more.

With the recent snowy and icy state around here, they haven't gotten to play outside much, so I thought I'd show you an activity that would be great for free time, a day stuck inside or a science lesson {if you're into learning and teaching and all}.

Yesterday we made rockets launch in our living room. With just a few things I gathered from around our kitchen and craft bins, we had a blast shook up our afternoon.

You will need:
* Yarn
* Balloon
* Straw
* Scotch tape

I attached the yarn to a door post with tape {unfinished paint from unfinished kitchen remodel is not required}. Before you attach the other end of the string, be sure to thread the straw in there to stay over the string. Did that make sense? Just look at the pictures below if it didn't.

Then I tied the other end of the string to a nail across the room {nail was already in there}. We had 2 strings {as seen above} and one only went to the mantle; it was a testing site, of course.

Next, blow up your balloon and hold it shut with one hand while you tape it to the straw with the other hand. Pray that you don't need to answer the phone or something at this time.

Have the kids count down and let her go!

Plan on being there for at least 30 minutes while children come up to you and beg you to do it again.

You will most likely have to replace the tape once every couple of launches and this is what it will look like. Awesome and beautful, right?
Well, at least it looks kind of science-ish, doncha think?

We did several different experiments with our balloon launches {2 at a time, 2 on the same string, backwards, etc} and if you are a geek-a-zoid like me, you might make your 4 year old come up with a hypothesis for each one. Or try to explain thrust or a Newtonian Law or 2... but I would never do that.
Nope.
Not me.
Maybe.

Either way, it was a ton of fun for a freezing afternoon and even though it might not qualify as "free time", sometimes my kids need something to spark their imaginations. They left and went upstairs to play rockets, Buzz Lightyear and counted down for hours, so I think it was a success!

Now I'm off to think of something to impress my kids with this afternoon.
What do you think about letting them have some "free time" folding laundry?
Or teaching them how to dust with socks on their hands?

Sounds like a winning combination to me... or else a children's prison camp.
Maybe it will be rockets again!