Greening Sam and Avery

Day 247: man are they hungry

We had a small flock of morning doves find out deck bird feeders! They were too heavy for the juice bottle bird feeder that we made and actually broke it! So we made something new today.

Using those bags that onions and oranges come in and the suet recipe that I posted here, we made our own suet feeder. Sam and I decided that the birds needed some place to sit so we stuck some sticks through it too.

Sam had fun doing all the mixing and then helping me hang it up outside.
 
 
 
Gotta keep those birds happy!

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The Nitty Gritty!

I "double bag" these types of birds feeders so that not as much falls through the holes. You can put bigger nuts or seeds in there as well and they hold up pretty well. We are excited to see what the birds think of it!

Chris and I really struggled today with having sick kids. It was in the 30s today. Which means that it is warm enough that you don't mind being outside but cold enough that the ground is not completely a muddy mess. We wanted to go hiking SO BAD! But the awesome green that was pouring out of both kids noses told us that any kind of outdoor activity was probably not such a good idea. Rats. Hate when sick kids ground our outdoor enthusiasm. But many more hiking days in our future.

Day 241: more birding

So tired.

We are having night terrors here, Sam not Avery, and I cannot figure out why they are happening or how to make them stop. Any advice? But it means long, sleepless nights for me and some really hard nights on Sam. Everybody is tired and crabby.

But we did get something neat done this weekend.

After a recent big melt we discovered that the bird feeding station had pretty much completely fallen apart and was just a big mess. So we took that down. This meant we didn't have much up for the birds.

So I splurged and bought a nice bird feeding set-up.

 
 But I can't do anything without adding a little green touch so I borrowed an idea from Child Central Station and Sam and I made the third bird feeder that you see.

It started out as a juice container, two old pie plates, some wire, paint and bird seed.

Sam painted it first. Then Chris helped us cut a small square at the bottom, drill holes for the wire and fill it with bird seed.

 
Once we got it all up the family had fun on the couch watching the birds that were already flocking to the railings and feeders.

 
 
So the birds only had a little while where they had to find food elsewhere. And Sam and Avery have their couch entertainment back!

Happy Sunday everyone.

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The Nitty Gritty!

The other big log bird feeder that you see is a pretty simple one to make. Just get a log and drill some big holes in it. Then fill that with a homemade suet mixture. But make sure the squirrels can't get to it or they will tear the log apart!

Homemade Suet recipe that we use -

1 cup boiling water, 1 cup peanut butter. Stir and add 1 cup flour, 1 cup cornmeal and 1/2 cup sugar. Mix well and let cool. Fill feeder. Freeze the rest.

I know I still owe you all a book review and another giveaway. Look for that tomorrow morning.

Really quickly before I call it a night I have a quick question. I am thinking about hosting a "Zero Waste Day". Basically I would pick one day and try to get as many bloggers, Facebookers, Tweeters, etc. to not throw ANYTHING away for one day. You would be able to compost, recycle and yes, use toilet paper but nothing else. I think it might be really interesting how much we all have to change our routines, change what we eat or how we play with our kids. If you had to throw something away you would have to admit it, document it and then talk about how you would have had to change to not have thrown that thing away. The goal of this day would just make us all more aware of the amount of waste that we have. I think it is just way to easy for us and our kids to throw things away. Out of sight out of mind. We need to become more conscious of our trash so we can become more aware of just how much of it we are creating! BUT I am not sure if anyone else out there would be interested in participating or if you all would just think I am nuts! I have heard from a couple of folks via twitter and FB that say they would do it; is anyone else out there that might want to join in? Would love to get a bunch of people involved and all blogging about it on the same day. Let me know!

Okay, need to get some sleep.

Good night!

 

 

Day 238: combo day

Got two things coming at you today! A craft and some outdoor time. Totally unrelated but both super fun!

First we got an idea for making a homemade and upcycling "I-Spy" alphabet game. Idea is NOT mine I got it from this amazing lady here.

Started with these and an old baby bottle of Avery's.

And then created this!  Sam had a blast looking for the alphabet today.  

I should have put the paper inside a sheet protector so that we could use a dry erase marker and then use it again and again. Having to reprint the alphabet again and again is not very green!  

Then right before lunch Sam begged to go outside. So we did.

And found some really fun stuff!

A good mouse hole...tracks got stepped on, but oh well!

 
Some amazing bird tracks!

 
 
And then check out how excited Sam is about what SHE found in the far end of our backyard.

 
 
 
 
And Avery was there too!

 

We had a great day! Both indoor and outdoor play, learning and exploring.

Good day. 

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The Nitty Gritty!

The alphabet "I-Spy" game is made out of split peas and alphabet beads. Super simple and Sam loved it. I actually put in two complete alphabets so that it would be a bit easier for her but I think for a child that is just a bit older or use to these games only one set of beads for this size bottle would be necessary.

From our outdoor play -

One thing I have learned about having Avery outside right now is that I have to let her fall. She has to fall, whine, scream, complain and then figure out how to get up on her own. I cannot come running over to her everytime she gets stuck or falls down in the snow. Then she won't learn how to get up on her own and will always need me. She needs to learn.

So I let her struggle. I let her get mad. But she does get up on her own. And after 20 minutes or so she is toddling around the backyard getting into all kinds of fun "trouble" and not worrying about the falling at all. But we have to go through this struggle time almost everytime we go outside. It is a battle, but for me it is worth it and necessary.

Living in WI my kids have to learn to walk in snow, play in snow and LOVE snow!! 

Day 235: reuse it crafting- make a purse

But first what you have all been waiting for.....

The winner is -

 
 

Butterfly Wishes and Wonderland Dreams! THAT IS YOU!!  Congrats.

Now for the fine print - you have 48 hours to send me an email with your address so I can get the movies in the mail to you. If I don't here from by then I will pick another winner.

Thanks to all of you that commented and helped to spread the word.

Moving on to a fun tutorial!

Started with this pair of pants. The buttons have completely worn out and don't stay closed so they can't be re-sold or given away.

 
Then I cut the top off right above the legs.

 
I turned it inside-out and sewed the bottom shut. My sewing skills leave a little bit to be desired. But I don't have a working sewing machine and the lining on these pants was really hard to work with.

 

This is the bottom all sewn up and turned the right way.
 
Once it was all sewn up I cut an extra long strip off the legs to be the strap. I attached some cute ribbon to it and then attached the strap to the purse.

 
 
I added a little extra touch to it just for fun!

 
Avery modeling the new purse for dress ups!

 

A great fit for Avery and for Sam (she tried it out and played with it later on).
 
These pants were cargo style and had these super cute little pockets on the sides. I cut them off of the pants too and saved them. For now I told Sam that they could be little coin purses for her to put in the purse but I am thinking they could be fun to incorporate into some other crafting project as well!

 

SO fun to get to use a pair of pants that both girls wore for something they can have fun with now! May have to make a second one though as I am seeing fights in the future.

Got any old pants laying around? Make a purse!

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The Nitty Gritty!

A few more details about the purse. I didn't sew the ribbon or the strap onto the purse. I just used liquid stitch because the waist band was too thick for me to sew through and, well let's face it, I am lazy! But so far it is holding up great. The liquid stitch worked for the little metal scrap booking detail as well too.

My girls are very into dress ups right now and Avery is constantly carrying around a purse so I think this will be a big hit!

Explaining to Sam the process of making the purse, why I made it out of an old pair of pants and what would have happened to the pants if I didn't make the purse helps to turn this craft into a learning opportunity.  

 

 

 

Day 230: rain gauge

Stopped by Child Central Station today and saw that "What to do With it Wednesday" that she hosts.

I got inspired! But what to do with a crystal light container? Hmmm...

Leave it to my husband to be the creative one!  We are going to have our first rain of the season tomorrow so why not make a rain gauge and measure it with Sam and Avery. I set him and Sam on the task of figuring out to make that happen.

Take a look at what they created!

 
 
 
 
The view looking down into the rain gauge.

 

Super simple to make. We took the crystal light plastic container, cleaned it and took the label off. My husbad grabbed the power screw driver, a piece of board, a screw and bathroom caulk.

They screwed the crystal light container onto the board from the top down. We thought we would need to caulk it to make it water tight but after several testings the caulk was not needed, it is holding water just fine (for now!). Then we used a marker and a ruler to measure out five inches on the side of the container.

The whole thing is very light, small and simple. Sam is excited to set it out in the morning to see how much water we can collect!

So, that is what WE did With it Today!

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The Nitty Gritty!

There are obviously lots of learning that can occur with this. Sam is just starting to recognize numbers so I am excited for the counting and numbers aspect of this. Once we get a little bit more into actual spring (and not this fluke mid-Februar thaw!) I may even incorporate some recording of rain falls over time on a chart or something. Maybe adding that to our weather chart.

I am thinking that caulk might be needed at some point or needed depending on what kind of screw that you use. But only use a small amount so as to not mess up the accuracy of the measuring too much.

What would you do with a plastic cylinder, crystal light-type container?

Day 219: her own garden

I take NO credit for this idea! Kara left a comment back on Day 215 and I just had to try it out!

Sam planted her own garden today and it was great scissor and gluing practice.

Sam worked on her garden several times today and I have left it out so that she can work on it again if she wants. Avery checked in on what we were doing several times and Sam had fun pointing things out to Avery and telling her what was in her garden.

Great activity Kara! Thanks so much for the idea. I hope you try it out with Eva.

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The Nitty Gritty!

What we used - big piece of poster paper, brown marker to draw the garden frame, seed catalog (same one that we used before), some grocery store ads, kid scissors and glue stick.

The learning part of this that I loved, besides the cutting and gluing practice which is always good, was in describing to Sam what things she could cut out and "plant" in her garden. At first she was just cutting out random things, a bottle of ranch, meat ads, etc., so I had to explain that gardens have only plants in them, things that can grow. I allowed her to put any plant in it however, fruits, veggies, trees, flowers, grass, anything that was a plant.

With older kids or a classroom I can see a lot of learning with this activity. Explaining what can grow in your specific garden and why, arranging things in the garden, how many of each to plant, etc. I also think this is a great first step in spring time garden planning for older kids. If you have enough space to let each child have their own area of the garden then they could each create their own garden plan that they would then follow later in the spring when they did the planting.

Would love to see and hear about other gardens that get planted!

Day 218: the little stuff

Not everyday is as grand as tunnels. In fact most days are more about the little things in our household.

So here are a few of the re-use it little things we have been up to lately.

Sam has been very into gluing lately so we have been doing a lot of gluing projects. Buttons, beads and glitter get expensive so I frequently get out our bucket of natural items for her to use as well. And this is fun for Avery too who sits content in her highchair playing with the random sticks, acrons and seed pods that I put on her tray.

But in the picture you can see the "paper" that we are using for the glueing projects is the backs of boxes! They are sturdy enough to hold rocks and are a great way to reuse boxes. Plus Sam gets some scissor practice in helping to cut them out.

Our painting projects have been fairly green lately too.We use egg cartons as our paint trays. If you use up most of the paint in each cup and let the rest dry the egg carton can be used again and again.

I am currently using up a lot of older paints that we have before I buy a whole new set of non-toxic, green paints. (Any company suggestions for good green art supplies?)

Sam wears an old shirt of mine to paint in. I simple cut the sleeves a bit shorter. CWES I love ya, but this one just didn't fit anymore! She wouldn't let me take any pictures of her, so sorry this picture is just of the back logo!

And when Sam asked for a new "special"container for her bouncy ball collection. We painted an old formula container!

We have given it several coats now and I just need to seal it with something and then she will have her special container.

Finally, with inspiration from here I made this for Sam.

An egg carton and some dried beans. Fabulous. She loves counting, is learning her numbers and sorting things is always fun so this was right up her alley. I have several different types of beans that I can mix together so that she can count or just sort. Makes for a great game for her to play at the table of counter while I am making dinner or cleaning up.

Thanks Activity Mom for this great idea!

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The Nitty Gritty!

Sometimes being "green" is about teaching your children or your students how to reuse, how to avoid buying new things, how to conserve and save.

Sam often goes to the recycle bin in our kitchen to find things to play with in her kitchen, or to use to carry things or put things in. This puts a smile on my face everytime she does it! I am raising a child that will reuse and that make me one happy green momma!

 

Day 211: more reuse-it crafting

Do you remember the reuse it letter hunt?

Well, when I found this book yesterday at the library I knew we had to try that activity again.

"Max's Words" by Kate Banks and Boris Kolikov is about a little boy who is jealous of the collections that his two brother have; stamps and coins. So he decides to start his own collection, letters and words. He starts cutting out words and builds a huge collection and then realizes that he can make sentences and stories out of his words. His brother's get in on the action in the end and make stories of their own.

It is a cute book and Sam liked reading it and then doing the letter hunting again.

We grabbed old magazines, paper, scissors and glue and went to town. For complete instructions see the link above.

She has gotten much better at recognizing her letters so it was much more of a successful activity this time around. Her cutting skills have also improved.

We love combining books and activities and this was a big hit at our house today!

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The Nitty Gritty!

Linking up to JDaniel4's Mom - Read. Explore. Learn today. So welcome to any readers stopping by from over there.

Sam is not old enough to do as Max does in the book and cut out words to make sentences and stories but letter hunting is always fun a great way for her to continue to work on recognizing the different ways letters can be written. Plus it is a great re-use it activity for junk mail, newspapers and magazines.

But if you have older kids I would encourage them to try out the word collection idea. Cut out words and see if they can make their own sentences or stories!  I can see this being a fun activity for a kindergarten or first grade class as well. Or a fun homework project for that age!

I am headed up North tonight for a two day environmental education conference with the Wisconsin Association for Environmental Education. Getting together with these folks is great and I always get so inspired. Hoping to squeeze in some snowshoeing, hiking and skiing as well!  Should be a great weekend. And I will of course spread that inspiration and any new ideas that I get back with all of you so be sure to check back on Monday to hear about the weekend!!

Daddy has the girls and I have outside time and lots of books lined up for them. More about that tomorrow!

Happy Friday!