Super-Easy Cool Comets

Faced with yet another hot afternoon, we made up some comets, dipped them in a bucket of water, and the girls had a blast hurling them at each other until they were soaked!

It started off innocently enough with Emily tossing a comet at Clara.....

Sunday Snapshot -- You MUST Try This!

If you do only ONE thing this Summer, you MUST do this!!

DIY: Travel Play Kitchen Set

This travel play kitchen set was super-frugal to make, and is perfect for small living spaces since the entire set folds up!

I'm thinking we'll take it with us for trips to the garden plot, visits with grandparents, or just playing outside in the backyard like we did this afternoon.

Solar-Powered Lunch!

We had a scorcher of an afternoon today -- prime conditions to make our own solar oven! We recycled a pizza box and a clear plastic lid from a disposable cake pan. Add a little aluminum foil, and voilá... a super eco-friendly and frugal solar oven!!

We even made our own sun tea, just to harness the power of the sun a bit more. I love that it's made from a tea called "Children's Tea". Mark and I often joke that it is "made from only the most well-behaved real children".

It's actually a caffeine free berry/honey tea, and it's quite delicious! 

Emily LOVED helping out with the solar oven! We made our own pizzas using spinach tortillas, mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce, and oregano... yum!

Adjust the reflector to get as much sun as possible directed into the solar oven. You can use a stick or wooden dowel to prop it up, but we found a little more foil worked well too.

After a few minutes, the pizza was done and baked to perfection!!

Now it's time to stuff yo' face!!!

Nom, nom, nom!!

I love that we were able to bake while keeping the house cool, and without using any electricity! We had so much fun, that we may even try baking some cookies for dessert!!!

Painting.... with Ice Cubes!

Today was a real scorcher, but the girls still wanted some outside play time (and of course some sort of art is aways a necessary part of our day). I had some very inexpensive "paint with water" books, but we thought it would be more fun to paint with ice cubes instead!!

If you're afraid of messy paint, this is the project for you! 

Since the ice cube melts relatively slowly, Clara was able to paint her picture nicely without dumping so much water on it that the pages tear. 

Next, we brought out the Aqua Doodle mats, but again painted with ice cubes on them. These mats are a wonderful mess-free way to enjoy painting and drawing!

Once the mat is covered in doodles, wait for it to dry, and then start drawing all over again!

Clara thought this was a great way to cool off!

They had so much fun, that I had to bribe them with homemade chewy granola bars to get them to go back in the house.

Stay cool, and have fun!!

Hurray for Playgrounds!

After driving to nearby Lewisburg, PA -- We are all suffering from a serious case of playground envy! Seriously. My skull still hurts from trying to wrap my brain around the size of this GINORMOUS playground.

The girls wasted no time! 

Sunday Snapshot -- Flying Fun

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Cheap Thrills -- Airplane Racers

For a fun time, make up some paper airplanes (Emily has a slight obsession with making these lately), attach some bent paper clips and tie a long piece of string. Race your airplanes!!!

Emily thought this was so much fun, and Clara was quick to pick up on the racing fun too! Since Clara isn't quite old enough to be able to throw a paper airplane, having a string to race them along worked perfectly.

Shake, shake, shake your string!!

Ready.... set........

.................GO!!!!

Sunday Snapshot -- On Your Mark, Get Set...

......Go!!!

Wishing everyone a fun weekend! I'm still trying to catch my breath from all these races!!

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Please help send me to Vermont for the Stonyfield Barnstorming Tour by voting for me here! As an added bonus, if I make the top 3, Stonyfield will make a $5000 donation to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. ((fingers crossed!))

You are allowed one vote per day per valid email address, and voting ends May 25th @ noon EST.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who is voting for me!! I truly appreciate it!

Cheap Thrills -- Simple Bean Bag Game

For a fun time, sew up a few easy bean bags. Then take them to your driveway for a test run with some targets drawn with sidewalk chalk!

It's so much fun, and a great way to practice addition by keeping score!

It's not solely about the execution.... bonus points for style!

Extra bonus points for joining the kiddos!

Fun!!!

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Please help send me to Vermont for the Stonyfield Barnstorming Tour by voting for me here! As an added bonus, if I make the top 3, Stonyfield will make a $5000 donation to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. ((fingers crossed!))

You are allowed one vote per day per valid email address, and voting ends May 25th @ noon EST.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who is voting for me!! I truly appreciate it!

Cheap Thrills -- Inspired by Dandelions

For a fun time, have your kids collect dandelion seeds from the yard or park. This may sound easy in theory, but if your kids are like mine, they may get a bit distracted on their quest for seeds.

No, no, we're not blowing the seeds all over the ya--- Oops! Too late!!

That? That's an acorn cap, sweetie. No, no, we're looking for dandelion seeds... Keep looking!

Mother's Day Gifts Kids Can Make -- Ceramic Trivets

Another post in our fun series of Mother's Day Gifts Kids Can Make -- if you haven't already done so, send your husband over here, and maybe he'll take a hint. (wink, wink!) Most of these projects will feature very inexpensive items you can find at any hardware store, so manly men don't need to make another trip to the craft store.

The girls made these beautiful hand painted ceramic trivets this afternoon, and I thought they would make wonderful Mother's Day gifts! They were super-inexpensive, easy, and FUN to make!!

We used imprinted ceramic tiles from the hardware store ($2.64 each), and I let the girls have a go at painting them with acrylic paint. They had so much fun!!

Sunday Snapshot -- Look Who's into Sidewalk Chalk!

Wishing you a fun and frugal weekend!!

Giveaway -- Plasma Car and Bike Helmet from CSN Stores

It's time for another super-FUN giveaway, this time from our generous sponsor CSN Stores! CSN Stores is made up of over 200 online shops, where you can find products ranging from toys and games, to patio furniture, to baby cribs. Their customer service is well-known for going above and beyond the call of duty.

For the giveaway, one very lucky reader will win a fantastic Spring/Summer prize package, courtesy of CSNStores.com:

1. A PlaSmart Plasma Car in Yellow -- A few of Emily's friends have these, and they are always a blast!! What a fun way to spend the Spring/Summer! I LOVE the bright yellow color on this one, and these cars are built to last!

AND........

2. A Cycle Force Group Toddler Bicycle Helmet in Light Blue -- Keep the kids safe on their new Plasma Car with this snazzy bike helmet to go along with it!

The total prize package is worth $85.87!! Woo hoo!!!

To enter for your chance to win, leave a comment on this post and be sure to leave your email address in the comments field.

For extra entries:

Follow Frugal Family Fun Blog on Twitter, or subscribe to our feed and you're in for three more entries! Add another comment that you follow/subscribe.

Blog/tweet/Facebook about this giveaway and you're in for three more entries!! Add a comment that you blogged/tweeted/Facebooked.

Giveaway ends Wednesday, April 21st @ 6pm EST. Winner will be chosen by random.org and notified via email.

Good luck!!!

Mother's Day Gifts Kids Can Make -- Hand Painted Pendants

I thought it would be fun to do a little series on frugal Mother's Day gifts kids can make, so all you Dads out there... pay attention! (hint, hint)

We enjoyed some warm sunshine this afternoon along with some messy art to make these BEAUTIFUL hand-painted pendants!

You can find large washers like these at any hardware store, and they are super-inexpensive (about $0.20 each)! The girls painted theirs using make-up sponges and acrylic paint. Allow to dry, and then coat them with some clear nail polish.
Attach some matching satin ribbon, and you have a very unique gift for Mother's Day! The paint on Clara's was still a little wet when she flipped it over to paint the other side. I LOVE how it turned out!! It looks almost like flames!

Added Bonus -- Getting to see these adorable barefoot toes while she was busy crafting in her monkey pajamas!

Have fun!!

Fun Fossil Dig

Mark and I took the girls to a local park for a fun "fossil" dig! Since there are no beaches near us, we settled for the park's outdoor sand volleyball court. The girls love to dig in the sand!

Our "fossils" were made up of small toys (i.e. Happy Meal toys, game pieces, toys from the dentist, or from party goodie bags). We counted them to make sure we knew how many there were, then Mark and I buried them (partially exposed) for the girls to find. Clara was so excited to find her own treasures!

Emily used our old salad shaker to sift through the sand. That salad shaker was from when Mark and I started dating, and we would joke that we weren't quite ready for the "salad spinner" stage of our relationship.

There were LOTS of fossils to find!

When all the fossils were found, we all took a nice long walk through the park. What a wonderful (and frugal) way to spend the afternoon!

So much fun!!

Cheap Thrills -- Mud Pie Edition

For a fun time, go outside and set up some sand or dirt on a table with some old baking tins. Add a pitcher of water, and some spoons. Make mud pies!!

I can remember spending entire afternoons making mud pies when I was a kid. I think mine were decorated with sticks for birthday candles. There's something about kids and dirt... they just go so well together, don't they?

Decorate your mud pies (or cupcakes, if you prefer) with flower icing!

Make batch after batch of mud pies, since they sell out so quickly at the mud bakery from such high demand! Phew! This is hard work!

Have fun!!