Top Secret Mission - Highlights

We have started receiving in the mail one of the Highlights products - it's called "Top Secret Mission" and it is similar to "Which Way USA" except that you learn about a country instead of a state.  (Just for clarification this is an independent assessment . . . Highlights is not using my help to sell their products) The kids LOVE this activity.  When we received the first one they were beyond excited and literally sat down for 2 hours and finished the whole thing.  The envelope came with a passport and a sheet of stamps that included one stamp for each country.  Each time you finish a country, you put the corresponding country stamp on the passport.  It also came with a keychain I think, a top secret mission letter, a book containing all kinds of facts about the country, and the puzzle book.  When the second one came in the mail, they both yelled loudly with excitement.  Here are some pics of the product:

the envelope it all came in (Egypt was the country this time)

the top secret letter instructing them what to do

the fact book and the puzzle book



This product is kind of expensive, but if you have it in the budget and your child likes this kind of thing, I highly recommend it for about age 6 and up.  It is a great way to learn about another country, and unlike Which Way USA, this one only comes about every month and a half I think.  This coule be a great summer activity, and if you don't like it, just cancel after the summer is over!

Easter Bunny Project

Yes, we created easter bunnies today.  I had the project idea from my mailbox magazine, and didn't think the kids would really care that we were doing an early easter project, and this way you have an idea for easter if you'd like!  I am including a picture of the instructions below, but if you can't read them, it basically goes like this (in total you will need 2 large white paper plates, 1 small one, glue/stapler, green construction paper, white construction paper, markers, other construction paper for the hanging strip, and your child's shoes).  You will need 2 large paper plates, and one smaller one.  Preferably they would be all white.  Cut one of the larger plates in half and staple one of the halves backwards onto the other large plate.  This creates a pocket for the bunny.  Attach the smaller plate to the top for the head of the bunny.  Have your child trace each of their shoes 2 times, to create the feet and the ears of the bunny, and then cut them out.  Attach the ears and the feet to the body of the bunny.  Your child can then draw in the details and cut up some green construction paper to put in the pocket of the bunny that looks like grass.  If you'd like to hang it, you can cut a strip of construction paper and staple it to the front and back of the bunny.  Here are some pics!

The instructions

Tracing the shoes

putting it all together

Finished project!

Austin Kent Ellis Park

Today we visited Austin Kent Ellis Park and had a great time.  It is a smaller park but there were a variety of things to do there.  I included pictures for you!  We also went geocaching in the park and found a well hidden treasure!  Here are the pix . . . the park is off of cross timbers and old orchard.

Andy Brown Park East - Kid Country

Yesterday we visited Andy Brown Park Easy in Coppell - the actual playground is called Kid Country.  This is a fantastic playground similar to Kids Castle in Highland Village, but there are 2 additional benefits.  There is a pond there with very hungry ducks, and I learned that there is a Mrs. Bairds outlet in Lewisville on Main where you can buy a huge bag of loaves of bread for just 2 bucks.  That's right!  That's crazy talk.  So . . . bring a group and feed the duckies.  The kids really enjoyed watching the ducks battle over each piece of bread we threw to them.  There are also hidden hiking trails behind the pond.  Look for the trail in the brush/bushes.  You'll find it!  It was a blast for the boys (5 & 7) and the 2 year old enjoyed it as well.  These are great activities especially with the fantastic weather we have been having!

Geocaching, Trails and Bicentennial Park (Adventure Alley)!

This week of spring break has been a blast so far.  We went to Southlake to have lunch with my husband today, and after looking for a park through a link my husband sent me and not finding it, we improvised and discovered a new feature on my Honda Odyssey nav.  You can search by places, and then parks, and we found a FANTASTIC park just a couple of miles from his office.  If you've been to Kids Kastle or Andy Brown park, Bicentennial Park in Southlake will look similar!  Here are some pics:

Sorry these pics aren't a bit better, but it should give you the idea!  I really love exploring and finding new parks, so this was great.  While we were there, we got a text from a friend asking if we wanted to go geocaching that afternoon, and I was like - what???  No idea what she was talking about.  My husband looked it up while we were having lunch, and discovered it to be a scavenger hunt of sorts that anyone can participate in at any time.  Is this something that everyone already knows about but me?  Why have I never heard of this?  It is such a great activity for the family!  Here is the skinny:  if you go to http://www.geocaching.com/ and open an account (it's all free), search by zipcode and you will find all kinds of locations you can search where people have hidden treasures for you to find.  Choose a geocache location and you will be given coordinates of where to find it.  That didn't prove very helpful for me because I had no idea how to get to the coordinates.  So . . . I searched for a geocache app and found a free one called Geocache Intro.  This app was fantastic.  It knows where you are, offers 3 geocache options which are close to you, you choose the one you want, and then it shows you where the cache is in relation to where you are.  There is a tab called compass, and when you go to that tab, the red arrow shows you the direction of where the geocache is.  It also tells you how far in miles or feet you are from the treasure.  So, you keep going in the direction of the arrow.  We did one by Central Park in Lewisville today, and the geocache was called Timbercreek Trail Bridge.  There was paved sidewalk the whole way to it, so the boys got on their bikes and had a great time tracking it down.  Once you find the hidden treasure which is usually hidden in a small tube of some sort, you take the treasure that was left there, and leave a different one for the next person.  It needs to be the size of a small rock.  The one we found today was an orange crystal looking thing.  We didn't have an item small enough to trade out so we had to leave the orange crystal there.  7 year old was not happy about that at all since he was the one who made the discovery. 

Behind Central Park are so many trails, some paved and some not paved.  The boys just love getting out there on trails so that was fun as well!  Yesterday we went to Andy Brown park, and behind the pond there are some hidden trails that you can get on.  Perfect for the young ones!

On-Line Pictorial Recipes for Kids

I found this super fun link today and thought I would share.  It's http://www.makinglearningfun.com/ and on part of the site there is a tab with recipes where the kids can totally do it themselves (there are also recipes where they can help an adult).  The recipes include pictures to help them understand what to do!  I am definitely going to be trying this out and will be including some of these in my summer plan for the kiddos!  Here is the link to the recipes:

http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/RecipesPictorialDirections.htm

Also, if you share my love for Jesus, I just listened to a short podcast by Jen Wilkins, our women's Bible study leader at The Village church.  It was so good and had so much truth in it for the ladies.  Here is the link in case you are interested in a little you time today where you feed your soul a bit:

http://jenwilkin.podbean.com/2012/03/07/robe-your-minds-for-action/

Spring Break Plan

Spring Break is upon us!  For our family it is next week, and we aren't going out of town, and I don't want to spend a bunch of  money.  So . . . I thought I would share our plan for next week and encourage you to make a plan as well!  They don't stay little for long and if you are anything like me it is much more fun to spend time together when you have a plan (even if you need to change the plan!).  It's also going to be raining next week, so my original plan of visiting a different park every day is a no go!  So . . .

Yesterday I visited Teacher's Tools (or teaching tools?) for the first time which is Lewisville off of Business 121.  I've been meaning to go there for quite some time and was expecting a small store.  This store was HUGE and there was so much fun stuff for the kids.  I of course hit up the 75% off section first which is way back in the right corner of the store.  There I found some great finds!  Ever heard of the Mailbox magazines?  They are for teachers and are full of activities, worksheets, and craft projects.  In this section they had one for each month of the year and so I bought April and May.  Now I am thinking I want to go back and get the rest because they were about $4 each (regularly 15), and I got so many ideas from it.  I also got a couple of workbooks for .73 each - GREAT deal.  I also got a few things that weren't on sale, including those dot painting thingies that you see your child using in preschool, and a few workbooks that were $3 each.  So . . . here is our plan!

Monday:  it is going to be sunny, so we are hitting up Andy Brown park in Coppell, playing, feeding the ducks, and having a picnic lunch.  In the afternoon while the 2 year old is napping away, the boys will be having fun with a couple of art projects and other educational fun from my mailbox magazine.  After she is done napping, off to the cul-de-sac we go to ride bikes and enjoy the sunshine.

Tuesday:  no rain on Tuesday, so it is off to Cortadera park we go where we will play, practice some baseball, have a picnic lunch, and go to our favorite yogurt place for dessert.  More art fun during naptime, and then it is time for a walk/bike ride around the neighborhood.

Wednesday:  Rain!  We have a membership to the Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas so we will be headed there.  The kids LOVE it.   If you are reading this and want to come with us, I have a couple of free passes!  (KARLIE/KIM?).  :)  When we return from the museum, there were some fun rain art projects from the book so it only seemed right that we do these on a rainy day!  After naptime, I have some fun stampers that I got for the 2 year old, so she will be having fun with that while the boys work in some of their new workbooks.

Thursday:  Rain!  Starting out the morning with a craft/game from Mailbox magazine, and then heading out to either Chick fil a or McDonalds to play and then have lunch.  Join us!  :)  During naptime, the boys and I will be having Sorry, War, and Farkle tournaments, and I have a prize basket for the winners!  (The prize basket is always present in our house and is where the toys from kids meals go and other random things they get from parties, etc.)  After naptime they are making some fun bunny baskets (not too early for Easter stuff right?)

Friday:  Cloudy, but no rain.  Off to Austin Kent Ellis Park we go to play and have a picnic lunch.  Frog craft during naptime, and winkids free time from 3:30 - 5.  My kids go crazy over WinKids so they will be very excited.

If you are following this blog, in a couple of months I will be sharing my summer plan with you!  Last summer I had a plan for every day of summer before it started, and it made all of us so much more excited about our precious time together.  Anticipating is half the fun!