Welcome!  The day has finally arrived where 20 other bloggers & I are participating in a 5 Day series together on the subject of Homemaking & Mothering.  It has taken some time to get the posts together for you all & I do hope that you truly enjoy them!  Please consider subscribing to my blog, so that you don’t miss a post!  I’d also love it if you’d consider following me on Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest.

 5 Days of Summer Activities with Children

Are you good about making summer time special with your children?  In the past, I have struggled with just moping around, talking about how hot it is outside.  This year, I decided we’d definitely plan a little more fun in!  Because life is too short!  As my friend Christy at One Fun Mom says, you only get 18 summers with your child.  It’s time to make the most of them!  [Christy is also sharing some summer ideas in this 5 day series, so be sure to check her out!]

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Today, I’m going to share with you 5 fun summer time crafts that you can do with your children.

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Coffee Filter Flowers

  1.  Dye your coffee filters (2 per flower you’re making) by placing them in a bowl of water with food coloring in it.  The darker you want your color, the longer you will leave it soaking.  Remove from water and let dry.

2.  After they are dry, fold them in half 4 times and then cut a rounded section off of the top (as pictured below).  On the 2nd coffee filter, make it slightly smaller than the first one, so that it will be able to stack one on top of the other.

3.  Stack the 2 flower shaped filters on top of each other and then poke a pipe cleaner through the center.  Make a ball at the end of the pipe cleaner, so that it doesn’t fall off.  You can use tape to secure it better if need be.

4.  Make leaves out of green construction paper and attach to the pipe cleaner with tape or by poking it through the pipe cleaner.

We’ve used these attached to gifts or as a pretty child made decoration for our table.

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Lava lamp

2.  Add Food coloring.  Wait a while for the coloring to get down to tint the water.

3.  Take an Alka Seltzer tablet and break it up into 3 or 4 pieces.  Drop one in and watch the magical fizzy bubbles!

You can also shake it up, but it doesn’t create the same effect as the Alka Seltzer.   My kids thought this was great fun!!

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 Make Your Own Bouncy Ball

 

 1.  Mix you glue and food coloring together in one bowl.

2.  Mix your Cornstarch, borax and warm water together in another bowl.

3.  Combine the contents of both bowls, stirring until you see a blob forming.

4.  Take the slimy blob out of the bowl and roll it in your hands.  It will be sticky at first.  Continue rolling it until it loses it’s slimy feel and feels like a ball in your hands.

5.  Once it is no longer sticky, it is ready to go!  Bounce & have fun!  Keep in mind that if it sits very long, it will flatten again.  It will not last forever.  It can get moldy if left sitting for weeks.

 

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Sandpaper Art

1.  Find some sandpaper and cut it down to the size you’d like your picture to be.

2.  Use crayons to color the whole piece of sandpaper.

3.  Once your picture is complete, put a piece of paper over the top of it and iron over it, so that the colors will melt together a bit.

These would make great Father’s Day presents to go with the coupon books below.  You could also frame them with painted craft sticks.

Father’s Day Coupon Books

Did you realize that Father’s Day is right around the corner?  It is on June 17th!  Do you have a gift planned for the special dad in  your life or the lives of your children?  If you’re looking for ideas, you can go to my post at Homemakers Challenge that was just published today.

One of the things you can do is to have your children make him a coupon book full of special things that they’ll do for him.  Have your child design his/her own OR you can print the ones that I’ve made for you and have them fill in the details.  If you choose to use the printable ones, there are some blank ones and some already filled in.

In order to get them, you will need to go to my facebook page and “like” Sidetracked Sarah.  The link will be on a page called “Only Likers”.

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You’re reading Day 1 of our first ever 5 Days series on Mothering & Homemaking.  Each blogger involved in this series has chosen a topic, close to her heart, to write about.  There are so many great topics being shared.  If you’re visiting me here, my chosen topic is 5 Days of Summer Activities with Children.