Project No More "I'm Bored!":Water Marbles

Do you need a fun, captivating activity for your kiddos? Something a tad bit mesmerizing? Something that will shock and astound them into anti-boredom submission?

The answer friends is WATER MARBLES. Sorry if it seems like I am screaming at you, but these little wonders really are that amazing.

If you are looking for something to chase the "I'm Bored!" away, look no further.

Today for Project No More "I'm Bored!" I am sharing our discovery of water marbles.

They start out as these teeny tiny little plastic-type balls.

You can find them lots of places online. Thanks to Hubby, we are an Amazon family. This is the BRAND we buy simply because they are cheap. They have worked just peachy.

We use one packet at a time. EDIT- Hubby informed me, "Uh, no. We use three at one time." Oops my bad. We use three packets at a time.

You empty the packet into a medium to large bowl. Then you fill the bowl up with water and wait for the magic to happen.

After 4-6 hours, the bowl full of water marbles will look like this-

Say what, did they just disappear?

Nope...

They are still in there.

Awesome right!

Once they are all big you can drain the water from them. Alone they are these really cool gel balls. 

They are all solid and in a clear jar you can't see through them.

However, if you add water, then they disappear and then magically you can see straight through them.

Another fun fact, if you let them soak in colored water then the balls will be that color. Say what? Yup it is true. Awesome.

They are hours of  magical disappearing and reappearing fun. Not to mention they are the coolest squishy eyeball like balls.

When we are all done with the water fun, we take them out, let them dry (ps they do not shrink back down). Then we may or may not take them on our trampoline and have a bouncing good time.

My boys L.O.V.E. them.

I know your kiddos will too.

Shared at:

The Jenny Evolution

Project No More "I'm Bored!": Cooking with Your Kids

I decided this Summer that I wanted to start training my Little Men to be future Super Men. 

So far they aren't loving all of my training.

They really don't appreciate my training in clothes coordination. They feel that matching should not be a necessity. I often get, "MOM! Why do you always want things to go?"

Oh I just do son!

They also have not truly liked my training them to clean up. For this whole chore thing I get, "MOM! I really don't like this whole chore thing!"

Sorry son, I almost feel bad for you.

I know some day they will appreciate all my hard work. Being able to dress all handsome, clean things all sparkly, and having charming manners will pay off in the long run...

I guess when you are 8 and 5 it is hard to see that. Future older sons of mine...you will thank me. Current sons...quit your bellyaching and just trust your Momma.

Now, I will say there is a task they like to learn. 

Cooking. They love to help me cook.

In fact, that is one of the big Project No More, "I'm Bored!" for the Summer.

At the beginning of the Summer, I implemented a once a week kids cooking night. The older boys switch off weeks. So one boy has a turn every other week. On their scheduled day, they pick out a dinner recipe (with a little bit of guidance from me) and a dessert recipe. They are then in charge of helping me put together the dishes.

They LOVE their day to cook.

They love picking out and making yummy treats...like this Strawberry Shortcake Rice Crispie Treat.

I put them to work on the parts of the recipe they can do. Here Middle is cutting cubes of some shortcake. He is concentrating so hard that his little tongue is sticking out. So cute.

I help with the things he can't do, like melting and pouring the giant vat of melted mallows.

Little hands love to get messy...

Okay well Middle liked getting his hands dirty while making the dessert. The meatloaf cupcakes he chose to make...yeah he didn't so much want to get his hands all in the meat mixture. Good thing I am a meat mixing pro.

Tasting the dessert is more up his responsibilities alley.

There are almost always a few things that little helping hands can do. It is a great opportunity to teach them cooking lingo and cooking tips.

You know, like don't whip the cream at too high of a speed or you might get a mess.

Yup, I will make cooks out of them yet.

Stand back and be amazed at how happy finishing a recipe will make your kiddo.

Cooking with your kids is such an easy thing to do. I help my Little Men pick recipes that are easy enough to help out with. I make sure they do the parts of the recipe that they can accomplish safely. I even let Older break open an egg a couple of weeks ago.

He did awesome.

The little bit of work and planning is totally worth seeing the excitement and accomplishment as they finish their menu item of the day.

Didn't Middle pick a yummy dessert?

I thought I would share this recipe so that you could also cook it with your kiddos.

Strawberry Shortcake Rice Crispie Treats
adapted from Sweet Treats and More


5 cups rice crispies
4 1/2 cups  mini marshmallows
1 1/2 cup of cut up shortcake pieces
3 TBS butter

1 cup whipping cream
2-3 TBS sugar
1 1/2 tsp of vanilla
several cups of diced strawberries

In a large bowl melt the marshmallows and butter together in the microwave, until smooth. Gently stir in rice crispies and cake pieces.

Press into a greased 8x8 pan for thicker bars or a 9x13 for thinner bars and let them set.

Meanwhile, combine cream, sugar, and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Whip together until cream forms with stiff peaks.

Top each individual rice crispie square with a dollop of cream and a couple of spoonfuls of strawberries.

OH...and you will probably want to eat this rice crispie with a fork, not so much your hands.

If you have some bored kids, for sure get them to help you in the kitchen.

Project No More "I'm Bored!": Serve It Up

Today for Project No More "I'm Bored!" it is all about bringing a little service into the kiddos lives.

I have been wanting to do a much better job at providing opportunities for my Little Men to serve others. I have a whole slew of ideas. They just keep coming. I have even asked the boys for some ideas of what they would like to do to serve others. While driving from our latest service project, Oldest actually blurted out that we should find our local orphanage and we should give them all candy.

So sweet. I had to explain to him that there weren't any orphanages around here. We decided to keep brainstorming.

 For our latest service project we headed to the hospital.

Originally our plan was to package up a couple of dollars of change, attach a note, and then leave them in the nurses' break room. We thought it would be fun to leave one or two of them a surprise to get a treat.

The note said,

thanks for 

CHANGING

lives

have a treat

on us

We made our way into the hospital, including a little confusion in the automatic rotating doors. Yeah, traveling through those suckers with two rowdy olders, one punch-drunk 3 year old, and a Momma maneuvering a baby carrier was a sight to behold. There were several chuckles around us.


We stopped at the front desk. She was immediately enamored with my Little Men, but was at a loss as to how to help us follow through with our service project. She led us to the volunteer coordinator.

Ms. Volunteer Coordinator too was enamored with my Little Men. She thought they were so sweet to come and bring some change to the nurses. BUT, she also was at a loss as to what to do. She wasn't even sure where the break rooms were or if she could take us there. So she went to get another person.

That person, the community resource person, was super friendly too. She talked to the boys about what a great thing they were doing and she complimented them on their service project. She told them about all that a nurse or doctor could buy with the change.

She was so nice to them. I really appreciated all the effort these ladies went to for my boys. My boys didn't end up being able to put the change in a break room themselves, but thanks to these ladies they were able to realize what their little act of service would do for some hard-working nurses.

Over all it was a great trip.

I thought I would share with you how we made our thank you's, including the card that I made to go with the change.

First I printed of my card after putting it in Word. It measured about 3 1/2" wide. I got two cards per sheet. Then I cut them out and folded them in half.

I bought some teeny tiny cellophane snack bags in the wedding section of The Mart. I put $2.00 of change in each little baggie.

Then I folded over the top of the bag and sandwiched it between the card and stapled it in place.

Like I said, our plan was to leave them in a break room. You could also tape them to a vending machine. You could leave them for a baseball coach. The possibilities are endless.

Here is the card I made. You just need to save it as a picture onto your computer and then put it in Word (or similar program) to print off.

Load up your little do-gooders and bring some smiles to others.

I am realizing there are so many ways to serve.

Serving can be as simple as weeding for a neighbor in need of a little extra help.

Serving has got to be one of the best boredom busters because it teaches such a valuable lesson.

Even if one of the lessons is simply learning to serve with a good attitude.

Little might still be learning this...hahaha...

He will get it though.

Do you do service with your kiddos? What are some of your favorite ways to serve. I would LOVE ideas, because we are going to keep doing service projects all Summer.

Project No More "I'm Bored!": Slime Fun

Slime??

Yes, please. All little hands like some homemade slime to chase away boredom.

Homemade slime is this weeks installment of Project No More "I'm Bored!"

Homemade slime is not a new idea. You can find how to make it almost anywhere out in blogland. I have seen it and I have always had the thought in the back of my head to make it with my boys.  It is shocking that I have taken this long to make it.

SO EASY.

I mean, so, so, so easy.

All you need is this line up of ingredients-

Borax
water
Elmer's glue
food coloring
popsicle sticks

First fill a jar half way with water. Then add in 1/2 cup of Borax. Put the lid on the jar and shake, shake, shake to mix the two.

In a separate jar, put equal parts glue and water.

Add a couple of drops of food coloring. Then stir.

Now is the time for the magic.

Slowly mix in small amounts of the Borax solution into the jar with the glue mixture. Stir using the popsicle stick. The new mixture will start to thicken and cling to the popsicle stick. Continue to add small amounts of the Borax mixture until...

Slime is made...wahhahaha...

Keep stirring in the Borax until the glue mixture is completely thickened. Then take it out and let the Slime Fun begin.

 Tons and tons of ooey gooey slimy fun.

Slime---a good boredom buster!

Go have some Slime Fun!

Project No More "I'm Bored!": Baking Soda Painting

Time for another installation of my Project Series. It has been awhile. However, if something screams the necessity for a Project Series installment, it is Summer.

So welcome to the first of my Summer long Project No More "I'm Bored!".

Over the Summer I will popping by once a week with an idea to help with the I-am-bored-itis. I am hoping that it not only cures this particular epidemic among the kiddos, but I am also hoping that it goes towards decreasing the cases of pull-out-my-hair-itis that us moms can get during the Summer.

Let's have a fun Summer and get rid of the phrase "I'm bored!"...at least one of the twenty times we hear it.

Project No More "I'm bored!": Baking Soda Painting

Here is all you need for an afternoon of fun:

a couple of big boxes of baking soda
shoe size plastic bins
travel size lotion bottles (make sure they have a squeeze top opening)
vinegar
liquid food coloring

First fill each little bottle with vinegar. Then add a couple of drops of food coloring into each one.

Next distribute the baking soda between several bins. I used two boxes for four bins.

Gather your local hooligans.

Give them the squeeze bottles and let the fizzy fun begin.

Seriously, let 'em go crazy.

There was an added bonus at the end that I wasn't anticipating.

The colored vinegar and the baking soda actually mixed to what amounted to a textural fun land.

My boys thought it felt like Moon Sand. Even though it wasn't exactly like Moon Sand, they still had fun digging, molding, and throwing (yes throwing) it. Last one not recommended. Big ol' mess.

However, it did totally cure the afternoon of "I'm Bored!".

Enjoy your Summer one day at a time!