Fun memory #16: Dying brown chicken eggs

Just included this to show how nicely brown eggs can turn out when dyed. I thought it would be no use, but a friend here told me that you could dye brown eggs and that they just turned out to have a richer, warmer color. So, the next year we tried it, and I thought they turned out really pretty! The dye kit came from the states (keep it in your freezer). I just assumed that since we did not have white chicken eggs, it would not work, but I was wrong. So here's a sample for those of you who are considering dying brown eggs for next year and haven't done it before. This year we incorporated these into an Easter program, and the local kids who found these enjoyed them MUCH more than the plastic ones I had brought from the states and filled with candy.

Craft project #25: Card stock cats

These cats were super easy, cheap, and became a fun toy for E Ann that she played with for days. You just need scissors, glue, card stock, and crayons. Take a rectangular sheet of card stock and cut a square out of it. Fold the square in half and cut a semi-circle as you see here. This will be the cat's legs and body. Stand the "legs and body" up like you might a greeting card. Cut a slit in the front of the "body" where you can later insert the head. Cut a circle of the remaining card stock and cut this out for the head. Cut out tiny ears and a tail. Decorate the face and body with crayons. Attach ears to head and tail to body. Slip the head in the slit you cut for the body, and you're done. It was important to E Ann to also have kittens, and having those made the cats a family, and I think that's one of the reasons she played with them for so long.

Craft project #24: Paper plates parrot

I actually found templates for the parrot's appendages in a scissors crafts handbook, but I think you could easily freehand templates based on the image you see here. Just use colored paper to make a wing, feet, tail, googly eyes, and a beak. The message he carries is based on a selection from our Book. I let the girls paint the two paper plates with water colors. Then we stapled the plates together and pasted and taped the parts on the birds. This is also a pretty simple craft, but one I get lots of comments on from locals, so I think it could be a fun craft for a SS program.

Craft project #23: Thumprint mouse bookmark

This project idea came from some old copies from an old craft book that someone left here. It was very simple, but E Ann enjoyed it very much. All you need is two colors of paper, ink pads, and markers. We can get ink pads in our country at an office supply store. But I actually had on hand some ink pads that are kid-safe from Hobby Lobby. These come in a variety of colors, and I highly recommend them...watch for Hobby Lobby's sales on stamping supplies. We used thumbprints for the mice bodies and decorated eyes, noses, ears, whiskers, and tails on with markers. We glued the picture on another contrasting sheet of colored paper. It meant a lot to E Ann to make some of the mice smaller so they could be a family. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much delight a craft as simple as this could bring to E Ann. Bookmarks are always in need around our house, also, to use as markers for our nighttime devotional books, so having a new bookmark can be really special for your devotions or for library books which need special care.

Craft project #22: Button jewelry

We made these necklaces and bracelets with simple embroidery floss and buttons from the market next door. We also used a needle to thread the buttons on. I actually had to hold the needle; Maggie just picked the buttons and was the designer of the necklace. We found that if you thread the thread through all four holes of a four-holed button, the buttons will stay in place better. You can alternate four-holed buttons with two-holed buttons to help them stay in place better, also. Maggie also made her Pepaw a key chain in this style by forming a loop of buttons and attaching it to a metal ring.
Careful with these...they tangle easily. :) Maggie had fun with it, though.

Craft project #21: princess crowns

This project was a pretty simple one we did for Maggie's fourth birthday party, which was a princess party. Materials you'll need:
Posterboard
Rhinestone gems/sequins
School glue
Stapler/staples
Lengths of ribbon, ric rac, or sequin tape for embellishment
I used a simple crown template I found on-line. I was able to get posterboard downtown on our "paper street" in a variety of colors, but chose pink and yellow since we'd have boys and girls at the party. Sequins and gems were very cheap and easy to find in the sewing section of our market. I just divided sequins and gems into bowls, set them on tables, and let the kids pick what embellishments they'd like and glue them on their crowns. They had the choice of adding ric-rac or sequin tape to the bottom of their crowns. We then just stapled strips of left over cardboard to either side of the crown (maybe 8 in. by 1 in. strips) then custom fit them in the back, stapling the strips together to fit on the kids' heads.

Fun memory #15: Nectar drinking relay

This was a fun game inspired by an internet search for Butterfly-related party games. I loved this one because it was cheap, simple, and required supplies easily found where we live. The idea of the game is that the kids are pretending to be butterflies and competing to see who can drink his "nectar" the fastest. The "nectar" was actually kool-aid. We lined the kids up behind the starting line, which was a piece of tape on the ground. Each kid had to put a straw in his mouth and run to the short table with his hand behind his back. On top of the short table were three small cups of kool-aid. The kids then had to drink the kool-aid through the straws, keeping their hands behind their backs the entire time. The idea was to drink just like a butterfly would. This was a really fun game, because although a butterfly-themed party can seem maybe kind of "girlie," this game had a competitive edge that was also a lot of fun for the boys.