For the Kids Friday #5

Welcome back to another fun week of kid-friendly fun!  We had over 130 links last week, which I was SOOO thrilled to see.  I am loving all of the ideas you are sharing, and I'm thinking I may begin adding those that I feature to a dedicated page.  I may just start working on that one.  Thank you all who participated last week!  Let's see if we can make it to 150 this week!

These are the posts I'm awarding an A++ from last week's party.   There were so many to choose from, gosh!  These were some of my favorites.  Take a moment to check these out, as I am sure you will love them too.

If you are featured below, don't forget to grab this button!

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Whirligig Fish

at Little Wonders' Days

Mini Cupcake Bits

at A Little Bit of This & That

Making a Play Garden

at The Imagination Tree

Grocery Shopping - Reading & Scavenger Hunt

at My Kids Make

Reading Treats

at Sweet Serendipity

Marshmallow Catapult

at Two Little Houligans

Word Game

at Wishes Dreams Love

And now... onto this week's party!

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1)  You must first be a follower of my blog.  (And why wouldn't you want to be?!)

2)  Grab my For the Kids Fridays Button and place it somewhere on your blog.  Be sure to link back to me!

3)  Link up as many KID-RELATED activities, games, recipes, parties, gifts, clothing you've created, crafts, traditions, lessons, and so on... that you would like to share.  Please add a different link each week.  They can be old or new... this is just a place to share ideas for our kids to enjoy.  Bonus points to those that serve some educational purpose too!  Link must be to the specific post, and not your general blog page.  Please don't link to your store.

4)  Share the love and comment on at least one other link.  Everyone loves to get feedback.

That's it!  Have fun, and thanks so much for participating!

EGGed! An Easter Tradition

Are you ready for some Easter-inspired fun?

My kids are LOVING this!  Introducing...

For the last few years my kids have really enjoyed the Halloween Phantom that has made his way through our neighborhood.  You might have had posters on doors last October that said "We've Been Boo'd" or something similar.  If you are unfamiliar with this tradition you can surely find more about it with a simple search online.

  I won't go into explaining that here... but that was my inspiration.

I wanted to come up with a fun way to promote the same kind of excitement leading up to Easter.  And what a better way to do that than with Easter eggs, right?

This Easter, I'm encouraging you and your kids to go EGG your friends!  Let's start a new tradition and enjoy some spring time fun!  

Look at that! You’ve just been EGGed!

But do not be alarmed.

We came, we dropped, we ran away…

Your house, it was not harmed.

So what is this before you now?

Just an early spring surprise.

Be quick and look around your yard…

Twelve EGGs lay in disguise.

A secret friend has just dropped by

To share some spring time cheer.

So now you’re it! It’s now your turn

To EGG a house that’s near.

Select a friend, or two or three…

Gather a dozen EGGs for each.

Be sly and hide them, knock and flee!

Leave this message at arm’s reach.

Hang a poster at your door

And now your task’s complete.

Days ‘til Easter aren’t much more…

Aren’t surprises sweet!

Here's how it works...

 Collect a dozen plastic eggs for each friend you plan to EGG.

  

Fill the eggs with treats or other small prizes.

  Make copies of the EGGed Poem and Poster HERE.

You will need one copy for each friend.  These are in color, unlike what you see below... so if you have a color printer they will look even nicer.  We rolled the two pages together and tied them with a ribbon.

Plan your "drop".  You want to find a time to hide the eggs in your friend's yard when they aren't out and about, and not likely to catch you!  Be sneaky, quiet and quick!  We thought that dinner-time was the best time to pay our visits.

Hide the eggs around your friend's yard.

Leave then empty egg carton (if you choose) with the Poem and Poster at the door step.

Ring the bell, and run!!

Here we are waiting from afar as Wesley's best friend is discovering the surprise.

The kids were so tickled!

I hope you will start this fun tradition with your kids too!

Blanket to Backpack

Don't you just love rag quilts?!

They are pretty easy to put together, and I love the finished look.

However... this one is not your ordinary rag quilt!

It is actually also a backpack!

  

Yep!  You've got it!  A rag quilt that folds into a backpack.

I was realizing that my poor son has been left out of many recent projects.  Girls are so much easier to make things for, I think.  So I needed one for poor little Wesley.

Our family will be moving to China in a few months.  I was inspired by the idea of a quillow (quilt that folds into a pillow), thinking that would be perfect for each of the kids on our long flight overseas.

However, the thought came to mind... what if they could also wear it through the airport!

What if it had a pocket to hold their color books, crayons, Nintendo DS, and a snack?

And thus... the Blanket to Backpack was created.

 This is how it works...

Lay out your blanket.

Fold into thirds, by folding each side over the middle third section.

Here is the first side being folded in....

 And here the second side has been folded over top of the first.

See how your pocket is on the under-side of one end?

Turn that end right-side out, folding the pocket so it is pulled to the other side of the quilt.

The pocket is now right-side out... and will look like this.

Now fold the remaining blanket into thirds once again.  Here's the first fold...

And the next.

Now... tuck the blanket folds down into the pocket.

And there you have it!

Your backpack!

Ready to make your own?

Tutorial to come (in two parts... I have LOADS of pictures to walk you through it).

Stay tuned!

April Fools Inspirations

I'm on a mission to find some fun and easy ways to trick my kids this April Fools Day.  Here are the things I was able to find that inspired me.  Do you have something fun to add?  Let me know!  I'm always happy to add to my list.

Candy in a Fruit Can

at Come Together Kids

April Fools Vegetables

at Gourmet Mom On The Go

Gag Lunch

at Family Fun

Milk that Won't Pour

at Martha Stewart

Turn the Water Blue

at Martha Stewart

Spaghetti & Meatballs.. or not?

at Pennies on a Platter

Now... to decide which of these I'll try to tackle for Friday!

Girl Scouts This Week

This week my Brownie Girl Scouts were working on their Money Sense badge.  One of the activities we selected for this badge required the girls to participate in setting up a shop.  To make it more fun, I asked each of the girls to bring items from home that they no longer wanted.  They each set up their own store to sell their items to the others in our troop.

Each girl made a sign for her store.

The girls used tables to set up their stores, each taking a section to set up their display.

All of the items were marked with prices by the girls who brought them.  I asked that each girl's items totaled $20.

Awww... aren't they cute!

The girls were each given an envelope with $20 in pretend bills (in fives and ones).  After selecting a couple of items, they would go to the register (troop leader) and pay for their items.

The girls had to keep track of the money they were spending and decide what they could afford as they were shopping.  They also had to count out their money to pay for their items.

Here are the girls, looking through each of the shops.

The girls all had a great time shopping, and all got to take home some new things.  Much to my surprise, it was much calmer than I had feared it might be.  Another great meeting, and a happy group of girls.