Magic Tree

 

Did you ever make these magic trees as a kid?  I remember buying a kit, the kit came with a small cardboard tree and a power solution you mixed with water and you could grow salt crystals on your tree.  Well a few weeks ago I ran across a recipe to make these at home.  Well you know I just had to do this with my girls.  I was hoping they would think it was just as cool as I did when I was little.

When I went to go buy the couple ingredients I needed I did find it a little difficult to find the Bluing.  It comes in a small blue bottle and is usually in with the laundry detergent.  I had to go to a couple stores before I found it but since I live more in the country than in town I am not surprised the first store did not have it.    Once I had all my ingredients my daughter and I set out to make our tree.  This is when I learned that there is a right and wrong way to make your cardboard tree.  We ended up having to redo our tree three times before we found the right way.  But that gives me the chance to let you know how NOT to do it.  

The first no no when making your tree is cutting it out so it has a small trunk.  The base of the tree needs to be big to support the weight of the cardboard as it gets wet and starts to grow crystals.  So the best thing to do is too cut your cardboard in a triangle to the base is BIG.

The Second no no is making your tree too big.  I thought the bigger the better right?  I mean if the tree is bigger that mean more pretty salt crystals… NO that means the tree will fall over due to the weight of said salt crystals.  So be careful when cutting your tree instead of using one whole sheet of cardboard (I used the back of a pack of construction paper) for one side of your tree only use half of it for each piece.

Okay now that we got the bad stuff out of the way, here is the good.  My daughter really really loved this project.  She thought it was cool that the tree actually grew salt crystals.  I don’t think she really believed me when I told her it would.  And it brought back my childhood memories of doing this with my mom and sister even though my sister does not remember doing this; how can you not remember something so COOL?  

I hope you all have as much fun with this one as we did, well more fun since now you know how to do it without having to give it three tires. 

Supplies

Cardboard (the back of a paper pad works great)

Small dish

3 TBS Water

1 ½ TBS Ammonia

3 TBS Bluing

3 TBS Salt

Food Color

Directions

 Cut 2 triangle shape out of your cardboard

Cut groves out of your triangle shapes to make tree branches

Make a cut down the center of each tree one on the bottom and one on the top 

Put your cardboard pieces together to make your tree

  Using your food coloring dye each branch different colors

  Mix your Water, Ammonia, Bluing, and Salt in your dish

 Place your Tree in the center of your dish with the liquid solution in it

In just a few hours your salt crystals will start to grow.  In 24 to 36 hours your tree will be full

We Made That Linky #2

Last week was our very first linky party and I was so happy with the turn out.  Thank you all so much for sharing your crafts, projects, and recipes all geared toward kids.  I know I got some great ideas for things to make and do with my kids from the posts and I even made one of the recipes shared already … and my girls LOVE IT!!


The Number one clicked on post was Activity Board and Figures by Once Upon A Sewing Machine

The Number one RePinned post from our Linky Pintrest Board was DIY Hot Air Balloon  by Smart School {House}

And my personal favorite, which I made for my girls and they LOVED is the Funfetti Pancakes by Cheerios & Lattes

If you were featured feel free to grab our featured button under Submissions or grab our linky button below.

Now lets get week two underway!

Linky Rules

1.) Link up Crafts, Recipes, and projects Made by or for Kids

2.) Do not link up Giveaways, Linkys, Hops, or Business.

3.) Visit other links and leave kind comments.

4.) Check back next week to see if you were featured!

To enter the linky just click below to add your post, please link directly to your post not to your blogs home page.

Also feel free to grab our button to spread the word about this linky.  And don't forget to check out the linky's Pintrest pag.

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Ham & Cheese Crescent Pockets

Since school started 2 weeks ago, I have been trying to come up different yet yummy stuff to put in my daughters lunch.  She has gotten so picky this past year I am finding it VERY hard to find anything she likes to eat.  And my go to lunch Peanut butter and jelly is out since some of the kids at school have a peanut allergy (which is totally cool, I would hope if my daughter had an allergy everyone would help to keep her safe and not bring in things she is allergic too). 

So here is my dilemma, what can I put in her lunch that she can eat cold and that well she will eat…. Not many options.  That is when I thought about making her some ham & cheese crescent pockets for lunch.  Over the weekend I got all my supplies (um, only 3 ingredients my kind of recipe) and last night I set out to make them.  I made my hubs and I a very healthy low carb dinner that I knew would be a total fight to get my daughter to eat, so I decided to let the girls eat the crescent pockets for dinner instead (and this way I could make sure she liked them). 

These were very easy to put together and both girls loved them... SCORE!!!  My oldest (you know the one who is my picky eater) ate 2 for dinner and then wanted a third.  However I cut her off at 2 and let her eat some fruit instead.  I did serve them to both girls cold, that way I could make sure she would like them cold in her lunch.  I am so excited about this lunch; the possibilities are endless for these crescent pockets.  I have made them for dinner and she loved them then too, so now I will have to really start experimenting with different things for her lunch! 

Supplies

1 packages crescent rolls

16 slices ham lunch meat

8 slices cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

  Separate crescent rolls and stretch to make a little larger (see the difference in size in the picture).

 Place 2 slices of ham then 1 folded slice of cheese on the crescent

 Fold the ham around the cheese

 

 ld the crescent dough around your ham & cheese.  You want to make sure it is wrapped up good so the cheese does not melt out when you bake.

 

 Place the crescent rolls onto a baking sheet and bake for 11 to 12 min.

 Once done let cool for a min or two before you serve.  Or let cool completely and serve cold for school lunches!

Bubble Bottle

This is our last project we did for the road trip we took a couple weeks ago.  Sensory bottles are just such a great way to keep younger kids entertained, so they make a good item to bring on long car rides.  This bottle is pretty fun because the kids get to make bubbles, and what kid does not like bubbles.

This is also the easiest sensory bottle I have made to date.  Really you can have this bubble bottle ready in less than a minute. And I am willing to bet most of you have the supplies at home for this one too.  The kids will love the fact that the bubbles will dissipate and then they can make bubbles again and again.

Supplies

Water bottle

Water

Food color

Dish Soap

Glue

Directions

Fill the water bottle half full with water

 Add a couple drops of food color to the water, and shake to mix.

 Add a few drops of dish soap to the water (not too much a couple drops go a long way).

 Put some glue on the water bottle lid and screw it back on (this will help to keep the kids from opening the bottle).

 Let the kids shake and make bubbles.

We Made That Linky #1

Yes you read that title correctly, I have decided to host my very own linky.   I know what you are thinking there are so many linky's out there why am I hosting another?  The answer is simple, I wanted to host a linky that is all about kids, things to make and do with or for our kids.  I have participated in many linky parties but none are geared directly toward kids so I thought I would host my own.

With that said there are some RULES for this linky.

1.) Link up Crafts, Recipes, and projects Made by or for Kids

2.) Do not link up Giveaways, Linkys, Hops, or Business.

3.) Visit other links and leave kind comments.

4.) Check back next week to see if you were featured!

To enter the linky just click below to add your post, please link directly to your post not to your blogs home page. 

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Rice Art

Last year at the fair, my daughter got to try Sand Art for the first time.  She really liked it and had fun making her design.  So I have wanted to do that again with her and with my littlest one.  However I knew if I got out a bunch of sand, I would have sand all over my house.  So the sand art idea just stayed in the back of my mind without much thought about it.  That is until I thought of doing it with Rice instead. 

I know brilliant right?  Yes I did get some rice on the floor and on the table but it is a TON easier to clean up than sand.  And since you can actually see every piece of rice you know you got it all and it does not get tracked around the house.  I should have thought of this months ago, because the girls had a blast doing there art. 

My husband even got involved in this project and helped to hold the funnel in place for my little one.  She did not really make hers by color she just king of threw whatever she could in the bottle but she had so much fun doing it.  And truth be told using the rice made it a ton easier for her, she ended up using her hands to put the rice in the bottles which she would have had a very hard time doing with sand.

Supplies

White Rice

Food Color

Rubbing Alcohol

Funnel

Water Bottle

Directions

Put your rice in different baggies (one bag for each color you want)

 Add 1 to 2 TBS (depending on how much rice you have) of Rubbing Alcohol to each bag 

 Now add a couple drops of food coloring to each bag, you can add more food color to get the colors you want, also feel free to mix colors to get different colors.

 Seal and shake the baggies so all the rice gets dyed.

 Put your rice on paper towels to dry out

 Once your rice is dry use a funnel to pour your rice into bottles 

 Enjoy your beautiful art piece.