"April Showers" Educational Spray Bottle Activity

Today I wanted to share with a super fun and simple activity I did with my kids today tying in Spring Weather and also letter recognition and math!  They had a blast, and we even learned and reviewed some things too ;)

I got this AWESOME idea from my sister-in-law Crista.  She throws some amazing birthday parties, and at her last one she did a similar activity.  As soon as I saw how much fun the kids were having there I knew it was something I wanted to do with my kiddos at home...with an educational spin!

This is our April Showers Educational Spray Bottle Activity!!

All you need to do this at your house is a cheap plastic shower curtain liner, some washable markers and spray bottles filled with water.  I used duct tape to stick the shower liner up over the tub so the water could run down without making a mess.  Of course, if it nice weather where you are at, this would be really fun to do outside too!

 

Then I took the washable markers and wrote different things on the liner.  For my kindergartener I wrote different numbers.  Then I would call out a math problem and she would squirt the answer with the water bottle until it washed away.  It was such a fun way to test her on basic math skills while having fun too!

For my little pre-schooler I wrote different letters he has been learning and when I called out a letter he would shoot away!  They loved watching the letters disappear, and what kid doesn't love to spray a spray bottle?!

And this is where I found Avrie while we were having fun...playing in the shower with marker all over her face :)  NEVER a dull moment with that one ;)

Try out this quick and fun activity with your kids, they will love you for it! ;)  Have a wonderful, springy day everyone!!

Cupcake Liner Umbrella Craft...and Healthy "Mud Dip" Snack!

Today we did a fun craft and had a yummy snack that were all about our crazy Spring Weather!!  Of course, living in Utah, that could have included SNOW...but I decided to stick with rain in hopes the snow is gone for the year ;)

I was inspired by Rachel over at I Heart Crafty Things to do this craft, she has done a bunch of adorable crafts with cupcake liners lately that made me decide I HAD to figure out something to do with all the ones I had on hand.

What you need for this quick and easy craft are some cupcake liners, pipe cleaners, glue sticks and cotton balls...easy-peasy!!

 

First up I put out all our different cupcake liners out and let the kids pick out their "umbrella tops".  Then they chose what handles they wanted from the pipe cleaners sent to me by my favorite CraftProjectIdeas...LOVE the bright colors!!

Once we picked out all our supplies the kids got to work.  First we cut a pipe cleaner in half and and folded the bottom up to make the umbrella handle.  Then we glued that on to our paper.  Then you simply fold a cupcake liner in half and glue it on top of the handle.

Then you'll want to glue the halves of the liner together to finish off your umbrella top!

After your umbrellas are all done you can add a few cotton ball clouds and then watch it rain!! 

And by rain I mean spraying the picture with blue water ;)

Here are the finished products...I love seeing my kids pride in their creations!

While I was whipping up our yummy treat, my kids made their own "umbrellas" :)

We talked about how one of the things that happens when it rains, especially at our house, is we get LOTS of mud!  Then I told they kids they got to eat some yummy Mud Dip for a snack...they were not super excited :)  Until I told them what was in it ;) 

For our Mud Dip I just stirred together a few spoonfuls of all-natural peanut butter, 1 TBSP of cocoa powder, a few sprinkles of crushed pecans, and some sprinkles of wheat germ for good measure.  Then I sliced up apples and celery and let the kids go to town! 

 The nuts and cocoa powder gave it the awesome color and texture of real mud, but the peanut butter made it a YUMMY mid-morning snack!

And this is what I got to see after leaving the room for 5 minutes to switch over a load of laundry :)

Yep, we had an early bath time today! :)

Thanks so much for checking out Blue Skies Ahead today!  If you like what you see, follow us on Facebook and don't miss any of the fun crafts, snacks and activities coming up!!

Paper Butterfly Wreath

Happy Friday everyone!  I have a really fun, simple wreath to share with you today.  This was a lot different than most of the wreaths I have made.  I always tend to gravitate towards bright, funky colors...but with Easter on its way I really wanted to try something with pastels, and I actually loved how it turned out.  I also wanted to try something besides fabric flowers, and once again knew I needed to use things I had on hand...so this is what I came up with :)

I give you my Paper Butterfly Wreath!

The first thing I did to make this wreath was to get 3 coordinating sheets of scrapbook paper and my butterfly punch.  I punched several butterflies from each sheet, and then folded them in half to make the wings stand up. 

Then I simply covered a wreath form in burlap and used some purple twine to accent it and add a little pop of color. 

Using the same scrapbook paper I cut out a few triangles and glued them to some twine to make a sweet little pennant to hang across the top of the wreath.

Finally I randomly hot-glued my paper butterflies on the wreath and I had my finished product!

I love how simple and bright this made my dark brown door look...now if I could just get the weather here to cooperate with my desire for all things spring I would be one happy girl! ;)  Thanks so much for stopping by today, hope you and your loved ones have a fabulous weekend!!

Linking up HERE :)