Pipe Cleaner Bubble Wands

I have seen lovely, whimsical bubble wands made from bent wire and beads, and while my girls would love these, there is no way they could bend the wire. So I decided to try making them from pipe cleaners and pony beads! (Fortunately the lovely folks over at CraftProjectIdeas.com kindly provided the pipe cleaners and pony beads. While they were given to me free to use however I wished, I do purchase their products frequently!)

We started with 2 pipe cleaners for each wand. We twisted the first pipe cleaner together to make the handle adding beads along the way.

We twisted the second around the first to make it a bit sturdier and then shaped it. I think to make them again I would twist half of each pipe cleaner together to make the handle and the second half to make the top. That may be a bit sturdier and easier.

While the girls were busy working on their wands Eli was using the pom poms that came with the pipe cleaners to practice putting one in each section of a silicon baking pan. Then he went on to stringing beads on pipe cleaners (I didn't know he could do this, but he grabbed a pipe cleaner and started)!

Once we had a bunch of wands made, we headed out to try them!  It was super windy, but we still got some bubbles.

 Once we were finished, I rinsed the wands with water and laid them to dry.  The next morning they are good as new and quite useful as princess wands too!

I am sharing this over at the Spring Learning and Play Blog Hop! Make sure you stop by and see all the great Spring posts!

Here is the line up:

Monday

Teach Beside Me  ~ Nature and Play ~   Royal Baloo  ~Life with Moore Babies

Tuesday

The Pleasantest Thing ~ Artchoo ~ Smiling like Sunshine ~ Preschool Powol Packets 

Wednesday

Growing Green Fingered Kids ~ Inspiration Laboratories
~ Montessori Tidbits ~Wildflower Ramblings

 Thursday

Kitchen Counter Chronicles ~ No Doubt Learning
~ Sugar Aunts~ Craft to Art ~ From a Country Road

Friday

Rainy Day Mum ~ Creative Playhouse ~ Scribble Doodle and Draw ~ True Aim Education

Join in the fun and link up your Springtime Posts!

Pounded Flower Prints

All of my kids love to pick flowers; really I think most kids love to pick flowers. Well there are only so many dandelions and violets I can keep in vases, so I decided we should try to make some art with them.

I had the girls pick the flowers and leaves they wanted to include in their picture.  They even got their hands on some of the tulip petals from the flower Eli had been demolishing.

I had them lay their plants on a piece of paper however they wanted, and we laid a second sheet of paper on top. Then we beat on them with a hammer. The girls used a plastic toy hammer and I used the big hammer. I was hoping to find my small metal hammer, but it was not in it's normal location.

As they pounded you could see the colors bleeding through the top sheet. Once they decided they were finished, we removed the top paper to reveal smushed flowers.

Carefully remove the smushed plants to reveal your picture!

Now not only do you have some natural prints of flowers, but you actual have symmetrical prints since there was a paper on the top and on the bottom and a great way to bring those dandelions and violets inside!

Nutter Butter Chicks (and Bunnies)

You may remember our Nutter Butter Turkeys or our Nutter Butter Snowmen, and now we are adding some Nutter Butter Chicks! Spring is on its way, so celebrate with some adorable little hatching chick cookies.

We started with Nutter Butters, yellow candy melts, white candy melts (we found marshmallow that were really white), jelly beans, and mini M&Ms.

Melt your yellow candy melts and dip the Nutter Butters, placing on waxed paper to dry.

Before they are dry, add mini M&Ms for eyes (Mini chocolate chips would work too), and half an orange jelly bean for a beak. Then allow to dry completely. We placed ours in the fridge to speed along the process.

Once the yellow is hard (it really doesn't take long), melt the white chips. Carefully dip the bottom and just a little bit of the top in the white and allow to dry on waxed paper.

And you have cute little chicks to welcome spring!

I had a bit of the white left over, so I went ahead and attempted a few bunnies as well.  If you want to try just dip the Nutter Butters in the white and add half a small marshmallow for a tail.

For the ears you cut a large marshmallow into 8 pieces and add to the head.  If the marshmallow won't stick just dip the end in the candy melts and stick on!

The bunnies didn't turn out as well as the chicks, maybe with a little practice! 

Still a sweet way to welcome spring!