Cardboard Play

Today I decided to finally go ahead and make that project I promised the kids I'd make a month ago.  What happened a month ago to spark interest in a new 'project'?  Well, we went to Ikea, you see... and...

 

It all went downhill from there.  ;)

 

At Ikea, the kids love playing in the kids rooms and with the toys they have set out there.  One such toy that was up on the shelf (not available to be played with, but very visible) was a cardboard market.  This one, actually.

And me, being the frugal mom that I am, said "Hmm.  I can make that.  We've got lots of cardboard from our previous Ikea purchases that would work".  And my kids heard me, and got all excited, and I wished I never said it out loud.

Well, only kinda wished it.  You see, if I say it out loud, there is a much higher chance of me doing it, whereas if I keep it to myself, the likelihood of it ever happening remains at less than 10%.

So, since my husband was taking out the recycling yesterday, I made sure to nab the cardboard I needed for this project, and today (with a lot of prompting from my kids, and in between working on making lasagna and taking care of a cranky baby), we turned this...

 

...into this!

 

I'm thrilled, actually!  And I took a few photos of the process which I will share with you here!

We needed two boxes from Ikea's bookshelves.  Those were the sides.  The inner cardboard pieces were great for the roof, counter, and extra cover ups for the front and back.  Then we needed three diaper boxes (which we always have plenty of) and duct tape.

First I cut the 'tabs' off of the three diaper boxes and duct taped them together.  You can configure them however you like.  All three open to one side, two on the bottom open on one side, whatever you think would make for a great display/storage.  Once done, cover up the exposed 'bottoms' of the diaper boxes on both sides with extra cardboard.  This just looks nicer.

Don't worry about the top or the sides yet.

Next I drew my 'roof' angles on both sides of the two long and skinny boxes.  Make sure to remove any damaged corners this way.

Duct tape these to the sides of your diaper boxes.  I make a loop with my duct tape so it is like a double sided piece of tape and do it that way. 

Once that is done, I took more cardboard and made a 'counter', taping it to the top of the diaper boxes.  I made little shelves for inside and outside, found a small box (probably for hardware or something) that was perfect to 'hang' from the top of the diaper boxes for 'condiments' or whatever the kids wanted, and went all out in decorating it.  Also made the roof with the extra cardboard pieces.  Cut two pieces slightly longer than the whole width of the market stall, lay them on the floor flat with their long lengths together and tape them, then turn that tape to the underside and tape them to the roof.  (sorry, I forgot to take pictures at that point).

Voila!  The kids were thrilled to play market with this.  I made a little sign and hung it with string and sticky hooks so the kids can flip it.  Made some little shelves and a 'mail bag' of sorts as well using boxes that were too perfect to pass up.  I might take time to decorate it with stripes of paint yet.  Or I may buy some fun colored duct tape and use that instead.  Never know.  ;)

See?  Cardboard is soooo much fun!  Although, you probably already knew that.  ;)

Last month I also made this shelf for my daughter out of diapers and wipes boxes, some 'mack tack' paper (picked up for 50cents at LW when it was going out of business), and hello kitty duct tape I found at the dollar store.  It has been great for storing her 18" dolls and things.  She loves it, and so do I since it was cheap and it is solving a storage issue for her.  :)

Diaper boxes... who knew?

Oh, and they are FANTASTIC for kids clothing storage.  If you have a dry enough storage area, of course.  They stack so nicely and are a great size.  I have all my kids clothes that they are growing into or out of in these boxes. 

So... I'd love to see your cardboard creations!  Let me know what sorts of things you make out of boxes in the comments!  <3 p="">

News!

So... seeing as I haven't been updating as I should, I have more news! 

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V

 

That's right!  Come January, our family is growing! 

We decided to wait to tell everyone until Father's day... when I was just over 9 weeks pregnant.  Honestly, this is the longest we've ever waited to tell close family.  We always told right away, but this time I wanted it to be a surprise.  Also, since I had virtually no symptoms (unlike with A where people were guessing already), I figured we could pull it off.  On the Saturday, we had some fun dressing up in Star Wars 'costumes' for daddy.  M was Leia, and Bram wore his Vader shirt.  We had cinnamon biscuit rolls for breakfast.

 

 Our family picture.  I'm wearing one of my husband's many SW shirts as I do not have any.  Baby A has a 'Stormpooper' onesie.  Haha... so cute.

 

We told the kids on Saturday evening, and M is very excited!  She says she hopes it is a boy.  Bram also is hoping for a boy because he 'doesn't want another girl in the house'.  I'm sure he'll love the baby regardless of if it is a boy or a girl, but I did find that kind of funny.

 

For the 'announcement' for my dad, I had a bit of fun.  Enter the paper oven.

Kind of unassuming, seeing as I like to bake with the kids often enough.  Inside, however, is the tell tale message!

 

 He picked up on it right away!  I don't know if you can see it, but the 'due date' is also on the clock on front of the oven.  1:16.

 

I did something a little different for my Father in law.  Cupcakes!  There are 4, and on the top of each one is the name of one of the kids, with #4 saying 'baby'.

Since we are on the topic of Father's day, this is the breakfast that awaited my husband for when he would get inside from the barn.  We had already left for church.  Under the 'blanket' is his present from us, and each of the cards the kids colored.

I made these and hid them from him.  I was going to actually make icing for the drawing, but decided I just wanted to use the chocolate sprinkles and chocolate chips.  The one on the left says 'You r a Trooper Dad' and the one on the right is supposed to be a trooper helmet.  He figured it out, and that is what matters.  :)

So, that was our fathers day (yeesh... two months late.  I seem to be playing bloggers catch up right now, haha).  Things have been busy here, so I'm sorry for the lack of updates.  I need to just take time off facebook and update more often, haha.

Hope you've all been having a great summer!  I can't believe it is almost over already.  :(

Tour the World - North America

The last week of our tour was North America, where we learned about Mexico, the United States, and Canada.

 

I spent two days on Mexico instead of just the one.  We ate outside as they often do there.  We had Huevos Rancheros for breakfast, lunch was refried beans, guacamole, tortillas, and red peppers, and supper was tacos.  I had fun using my Personal Trainer Cooking game for most of those.  We also did a 3D puzzle of a Mayan temple which we found at the dollar store.

Our puzzle 

 Coloring the flags.

 Huevos Rancheros for breakfast.

 Lunch...

 And supper.

 

Setting up the fire pit to eat outside... the kids were thrilled! 

Wednesday we learned a little about the USA.  We figured out what our favorite summer activity was (ice cream and swimming) and learned that there are many different groups of people who all have different favorite things to do, and different summer traditions, etc.  I decided to make two American recipes from my game... mac n cheese and meatloaf with mashed potatoes. 

 Homemade mac n cheese... not the stuff from the box.

Our mashed potatoes also contain sweet potatoes... because I can, haha.  And that is bacon around that meatloaf!  Mmmm.

Thursday we learned about Canada... which is where we live.  We played broom hockey (because, well, you know... hockey is a Canadian sport and all that) and we ate pancakes with maple syrup and Canadian bacon for breakfast.

And that wraps up our tour of the world from in our own home.  I kinda wish the tour would have had more stuff to learn about each country... but I wouldn't expect our kids to remember any of that stuff.  I added a lot of my own bits to this (all the flags, trying different foods, sometimes watching youtube videos about the area of the national anthem or maybe a tour video) which I think added to it somewhat.  I enjoyed this 60 day tour and I think it was a great way for me to do some fun little activities with the kiddos each week.  I highly recommend doing this for anyone who wants some extra learning over the summer... I hope they have something like this again next year!

Thank you, Focus on the Family, for the fun summer 'trip' around the world!

Tour the world - Central America

I'm a little late on this, but two weeks ago we learned a little about central America... Costa Rica, Jamaica, and the Bahamas

 

 

Monday and Tuesday we learned about Costa Rica.  We made a bird feeder after learning about their many national parks.  We watched a video of 'Jesus loves me' in Spanish as this is the main language.

Wednesday and Thursday we learned a little about Jamaica. The kids aunty is from here, and their cousin.  We learned about how Jamaica has the most churches per square mile of any nation, and we counted a few churches in our town.  We also learned about how many of the people there are fast runners... and we ran as fast as we could until we were tired.  Mommy tired out a lot quicker than the kiddos!  We got recipes from our aunty, and made Jamaican rice and beans, and curry chicken.

Friday and Saturday we learned about the Bahamas.  They fish there a lot, so we made fish from paper, used paper clips on them, and tied a magnet to a string to make a fishing game.  We also learned about how they have parades several times a year and so we dressed up and went to a local parade.

 fishing for paper clip fish

dressed up for the fair.

 

 

What a busy week!  But lots of fun too.  M asks daily 'what is today?'

Tour the world - South America

This week we learned about Colombia, Suriname, and Bolivia.

 

 

Monday and Tuesday we learned a little about Colombia.  We played a game called 'the round street' using balls instead of tops (because we have none of those, sadly).  We also learned about how they respect the older members for their wisdom... and the oldest went first for a few things.

 

 (playing Round Street using a chalk circle and trying to knock the balls out of it)

Wednesday and Thursday we learned a little about Suriname.  We watched a travel video, listened to some Kaseko music and made some of our own with our own little instruments, and taped our 'worries' onto the bottoms of our shoes... so we could remove our worries when we went into the house as we removed our shoes as they do in Suriname.  "No Span" means 'keep cool, don't worry' and is a common expression in the area.  (haha, my kids look so thrilled in this photo).

Friday and Saturday we learned about Bolivia.  We made baleros... using a spoon, cup, and string.  They didn't work very well, however, as the cups were just too light.  Wooden ones work much better, I am sure.  The kids had fun decorating them though!

You are supposed to swing the cup onto the spoon.  I couldn't get it to work, and the kids just had fun swinging them in general.

We also had a 'family work day' as we learned that in many south American countries the kids are expected to help with the family responsibilities.  We cleaned the van.  Finally.  It needed it.  I also baked some plantains and we ate them with a little peanut butter.  The kids enjoyed them.  They were ok to me.  I think they needed to be in the oven longer, personally. 

 This week we are learning about Central America.  :)

Have a great week, everyone!

Tour the World - Europe

 
 
 
This Week we learned about Ireland, Sweden, and France.

 

I will be talking about these in a different order due to how blogger loaded up the photos (sigh).

 

Friday and Saturday we learned about France.  I planned on making some French cuisine, but we were gone all day Saturday, and all evening on Friday, so it didn't happen.  The food looked good, too, but that's ok.  I didn't have to cook those two days!  Yay!

 

We built towers after learning a little about the Eiffel tower, and we made Freedom Hats after learning about how the French Independence Day is on July 14th. 

 Here are our towers.  I was expecting them to be... bigger... lol.

We learned about Sweden on Wednesday and Thursday.  We painted red construction paper Dala Horses (and Bram was walking around talking about his 'dala horsie' the rest of the day) and learned that their saddle of flowers represents the vine in the story of Jonah.  We also had a 'show and tell' of our 'prized possession' (with kids this young, it changes on a whim, ha ha).  We learned that in Sweden they are also blessed materially as we are.

And on Wednesday we lunched on Swedish Meat Pies.  These things were massive!  We only ate two of the four and froze the other two for a later meal.  They tasted really good, too!

The kids painted their dala horses, and showed them off when they were dry.  Bram decided he wanted his horse to be yellow.

 

Monday and Tuesday we learned about Ireland.  In Ireland they get a lot of rain (called the Emerald Isle, which M liked the sound of... 'Oooooo!  Pretty!').  With all that rain, they probably see a lot of rainbows, so we colored a rainbow and learned about that first rainbow He put into the sky after the flood with Noah and the Ark.  We also played an Irish game called 'Mr. Fox'.  This one is very much like 'Mr. Wolf', a game that I grew up playing... 'What's the time Mr. Wolf... I mean, Fox?'  "LUNCH TIME!" 

What a fun week we've had!  This week we are learning about South America.