Homemade Watercolor Paint

I saw this idea over on the Happy Hooligans Blog and I had to give it a try. It's a great way to get a little more life out of those old markers. We made the paint during Blue Barn Camp and my kids are still enjoying it.

You will need:

Old dried out markers

Water

Large cups to mix / empty jars for storage

Afterwards: Brushes and paper

Step 1:

Remove pen lids and have kids sort by color family. We had 5 groups, but you could of course split it out further if you have enough pens.

Red/Pink

Yellow/Orange

Blue/Purple

Green/Turquise

Black/Brown

Step 2:

Place pen families upside down into cups half full of water and leave overnight.

Step 3:

The following day remove pens, place in bag and recycle. You could also see if your local elementary school recycles pens or better still get them to, for more information. Crayola pens themselves are plastic 5 which can be recycled so check with the recycling pick up in your area.

Keep liquid watercolors in jars for future use.

Step 4:

Paint, paint, paint...here's some pictures being made with our wonderful homemade paints.

Bubble Wands and bubble solution recipe

We made these at blue barn camp this week, the kids loved them and I thought they looked really pretty. After camp my boys were upset they'd missed out so we had to make a few more and I snapped a few pictures.

You will need:

Wooden dowel (ours were about 6 inches long)

Beads

Copper wire (ours was 16 gauge from Amazon)

Pliers

Bubble solution: 1 cup dish soap, 6 cups water, 2 tbl Glycerin mix all together and leave sit at least 3 hrs 24hr preferred.

Step 1

Cut approximately 12 inches of wire and wrap end around the wooden dowel.

Step 2

Thread beads along wire leaving approximately 1 inch at the end.

Step 3

Using pliers wrap end around dowel to create loop.

Now admire your wand.

And if you made your bubble solution beforehand.

Blow Bubbles...your never too old.

Always fun

CD Maze

Maybe its 100 degrees out, raining or you just need your kids to sit still for a while. This is a great project to grab to keep them busy for a while. 

We made these at one of my REALLY rainy camp days. I was surprised how much harder it was for the kids to work out, I mean the kids are more than capable of completing maze puzzles but designing your own maze is a lot harder. You might need to help them out, or in my case I just let them work it out slowly over time, they've added to it and tested it out on each other and we ended up with some pretty good mazes. We did loose a lot of ball bearings so you probably want to buy extra if your out picking them up at the hardware store.

You will need:

Empty CD case

Black paper

Wiki Stix

Ball bearing

Step 1

Remove the inner plastic part from the CD case.

Add a piece of black paper cut to size.

 Step 2

Using Wiki Stix get the children to map out a maze through which to move the ball bearing. Have them think about a route but also dead ends and places the ball bearing might get stuck.

Step 3

Once they have finished creating, give them all a ball bearing, close the lid and have them test out each others mazes. 

The best bit, if its too easy or won't work you can move the Wiki Stix about until it does.

Sponge Bombs

The kids and I made these last summer, I was fed up with the water balloons littering our grass and worried about the dog and other wild animals eating them. I had seen the sponge bombs on Pinterest and they seemed simple enough to give it a try.

Wow what a hit, my kids LOVED them, we kept them and they've been well used again already this summer. Now they seem to be popping up all over the place so heres the 'how to'. Today these are being made for a friends children to enjoy at a summer water party.

You will need:

Sponges in various colors - 3 sponges per water bomb

Elastic hair bands

Cleaning cloths (optional)

Step 1

For each sponge bomb you will need 3 sponges in various colors. A hair band and a few strips of dish cloth if using.

Cut each sponge in strips lengthways.

Cut cloth into similar size strips (we did not completely unfold cloth to cut so once it was assembled we could fan out multiple layers of the cloth).

Step 2

Stack the sponges and strips of cloth three high and three wide. We had the cloth in the 'middle of the sandwich'.

Step 3

Tie elastic band around center of sponges. 

Fan out the sponges and cloth if using. The first is without the second is with.

Now take them outside and be prepared to get wet.

Here is a picture I found showing the water bombs last year, I filled up a small paddling pool with water so the little ones found it easy to 're-load' for water fights. The photo is not great but you get the idea.