Thursday, June 30, 2011

4th of July Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Watermelon Shakers
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At our local children's museum, they made Mexican music shakers and I thought they were so cute, I wanted to adapt them to the 4th of July holiday. This is what I came up with.

Materials:
paper plate
red and green paint (or markers)
black sharpie
red yarn
hole punch
watermelon seeds (or dried beans)

Step One:
Cut your paper plate in half. Fold one of the halves in half again, creating a slice of watermelon shape. Paint both sides red with a green rind.
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Step Two:
Punch holes around the open edges of your watermelon slice. You want them close enough to hold in your seeds or beans.
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Step Three:
Cut your yarn long enough to thread through the holes and make a necklace. Thread the yarn through the holes, pulling them tight as you go. When you finish one side, fill your watermelon slice with 10-15 watermelon seeds or 6-10 beans (really, however many you want). Finish threading the yarn through the holes and tie a knot. Leave enough yarn for the necklace and tie the other end of the yarn to the adjacent side of the watermelon slice.
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I looked at three different stores for a watermelon with seeds and unfortunately couldn't find one! So we used beans. But it would be so fun to eat the watermelon first and have your kids save their seeds.
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Now your kids have a little noise maker for the parade! (As if they don't make enough noise without it).

Any other fun 4th of July ideas?



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1 comment :

  1. richardJuly 5, 2011 at 9:51 AM

    Hi, Linda and Richard Eyre here. You may know us from our parenting book bestsellers or the blogs of our daughters.....or perhaps you have seen our weekly columns in the Deseret News.

    But in any case, we know you. And we love your blog! Of all the "mommy blogs" out there, it is surprising how few actually focus on mothering and parenting. Yours is one of them, and you do it so well!

    We have what we think is our best and most important parenting book ever coming out the first of September, and we would like to invite you to be part of our advisory board and help us craft (and disseminate) our message about the dangers of ENTITLEMENT! We feel that the entitlement attitudes of today's kids are the biggest problem of their generation (and the biggest concern of parents throughout the world)!

    The new book is called THE ENTITLEMENT TRAP: How to Rescue Your Child with a New Family System of Choosing, Earning, and Owning. It will be in stores in early September, but if enough people pre order it from Amazon.com and other on line outlets it could debut on the bestseller lists its first week, and that would cause thousands of other parents to be aware of it and to have access to a message we think parents desperately need.

    So here's the deal: If you are willing to work with and advise us on our board, we can send you a large pre publication sample of the book so that you can make your readers aware of it and give them a chance to order it at a pre-pub discount of more than 33%. And then we would want your ongoing input for the website www.EntitlementTrap.com which is now in its lead-up phase to the book, but which will continue to supply additional info and helps to moms long after the book is out. It will, of course, link to the blogs of all members of our board.

    Take a look at that site and get a bit more idea of the nature of the book, and let us know as soon as possible if you will be an adviser. We will then send you the extensive excerpts so that you can blog about the book and about the movement prior to the book's release.

    Best, Linda and Richard Eyre (eyres1@comcast.net)

    PS There will also be webinars and other exciting opportunities for those who pre order the book, and of course for you and other board members.

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