Pedigreed Housewife World

I hadn’t planned to blog about our Christmas present crafts this year, but when we were all finished I posted this picture on Facebook and people were impressed. I could just let them be impressed, but keeping secrets has never been my thing, so instead I will tell you guys how easy blanket and scarf making can be for kids. There’s still plenty of time before the Holidays for you to make one and let your kids impress their grandparents or whoever. Blanket and scarf making is super easy, creative, and fun for the kids and the gift recipients, so what more could you want? Briana, my five-year-old, is really into sewing right now. I took her on a trip to JoAnn’s Fabric Store for fun one afternoon. We were planning to look around and buy some fabric that she could play with on her sewing machine and her mini mannequins, and some to sew into scarves for her teachers for Christmas. When we got there, Briana, walking around intensely and carrying her portfolio ...

The most important question to ask the day after Thanksgiving is “What should we do with all of these leftovers?” I’m guessing that my answer this year is a bit different than most – though I bet many of you will be sorry you didn’t do it. It started like any other holiday. We pigged out on turkey and all the trimmings and went to bed with the ‘itis. The next day turkey turned into turkey sandwiches and pie was still a diet staple. But now we’re on the third day, which is soup day. The leftover turkey and bones go into the pot to simmer all day into a yummy soup. Are you seeing what I’m seeing? How about after I strain the soup? Now you see where I’m going with this! What better time to talk to the kids about our bones, and how they all fit together! When else will you have a real skeleton to play with? I show the kids the skin first. Abby loves touching the skin. Briana only repeats “Ew! Disgusting!” While they tent...

I don’t know what it’s like at your houses, but at our house an empty cardboard box means endless possibilities.   Imagine the kids’ excitement when a gigantic cardboard box landed at our house (online Christmas shopping has begun). That box has been a hairstylist’s salon, a jail, a playhouse, and everything else under the sun. Now it’s time to transform it once again…and get started on the Thanksgiving decorating. Making a wreath is a simple way to welcome your guests to your house and start the holiday cheer from the second they reach your doorstep so I think that a beautiful wreath is a big part of holiday decorating.  One thing that I think the kiddies need to always know is how to be resourceful. If you can figure out how to, say, make a wreath out of stuff already in your house, you have the skills to problem solve anything because crafting requires creativity and problem solving from start to finish. I start the activity by telling the kids tha...

There comes a point in every kid’s life when they discover the magic of mixing baking powder and vinegar. I’ll leave volcanoes for 5 th grade science projects and show them something more interesting to 3- and 5- year olds and more contained – a self-inflating balloon. With the leftover balloons abound and the awesome gift giving of Briana’s friends, we are armed and ready for our experiments today. One of Bree’s friends got her a science kit and she cannot wait to use it. We do one of the water experiments on density (if you want to do it at home take some clay or playdoh of the same size, wad one bit of it up and watch it sink, then shape the other bit of it into a boat and watch it float. Talk about the water displacement even though the weight is the same). Then Bree wants to do another one. I try to convince her not to do all of her experiments at once, but it’s her gift and she insists. We make paper airplanes and I’m surprised how much they remember ab...

At school the kiddies are talking about continents and I wanted to reinforce the learning at home. Luckily, Briana just turned 5 so we have balloons all over the house. What great symmetry!   So today we set out to make paper m â ch é globes. Paper m â ch é globe Paper m â ch é is one of those fun things that every kid somehow knows how to do but most adults have forgotten how to do. So just in case you have forgotten, here’s how we set about making our base: Step 1: Tear paper into long strips. We used blue construction paper instead of newspaper and it worked fine. This way we didn’t have to go back and paint the water. Step 2: Mix one part flour and 1 part water in a bowl.   Keep mixing until it is smooth. Step 3: Grab some balloons that are already blown up in our case. Step 4: Dip the paper into the flour/water mixture and completely soak the paper. Here’s where it gets messy, so the pictures stop for a while. Step 5: Remo...