I-See-You Seeds

We had some left-over seeds after planting the garden, so we decided to plant them in clear containers to teach us how seeds turn into plants.  We did a version of this in elementary school, and I still to this day remember how exciting it was when they started sprouting!  So, here is how we did it:

I cut the top off some plastic 16oz soda bottles.  This made a perfect see-thru container so we could catch some root action.  I filled some with wet balled-up newspaper and others with wet paper towels (it was a little easier to see what was going on in the bottles with paper towels).  Then, we stuck seeds down about an inch along the sides of the container.  Since we don't have much direct sunlight in our house, we found a home for them on the back porch (if you have a bright window, that would be a perfect place).

Our seeds started changing after just two days!  I seemed just as surprised by the quick turn-around as my kids did. 

After a few more days, the roots were growing down and the plant was headed up. Before long, the plants had broken thru the top of the container!

Once we were done viewing them, we carefully removed them from the bottle and planted them in the garden, paper towel (or newspaper) and all.  You can see the one in the picture above that we removed from the bottle.  They are super-easy to get out!.  We learned so much from this project and can't wait to continue watching our plants in the garden!  

Oh yea, these are great for show and tell, too!  My son took his in and was excited to explain to his class what was going on..

Painted Soup Can Flower Pots

I can't believe that the end of the school year is here.  It makes me sad knowing today was the last day my boy will be in preschool.  He is growing up too too fast!  He had the best teachers ever and he wanted to make them each some thank-you gifts.  These are a perfect end-of-the year teacher gift (or would be great for Mother's Day as well).   

Being the outdoor kinda kid that my boy is, he wanted to give them plants.  He decided to grow them some assorted herbs.  And during a trip to the nursery, my girly girl decided to buy flowers for hers.

To make it a more personal gift, we decided to make the "pots" to put them in.  As you know if you read my blog, I like projects that:

 1. Use items I already have (especially ones from my recycling bin)
2.  Are easy enough that my young children can do them by themselves
3.  Are quick enough to hold the attention span of a 2 year old

This met all my requirements.

So for the pots, we dug out some soup cans and painted them.  I decided to spray paint them white to make the colors show better and to prime the metal.  My son decorated with paint and my daughter with permanent markers.

I think they turned out cute, and I'm sure the teachers will appreciate the thought that the kids put into the gifts.

Best Part of Summer: Butterflys

So why not raise your own??  I must say, we had so much fun checking on these little guys everyday. 

For my son's birthday this year, we decided to get him a butterfly kit.  They sell them at most major toy stores and online.  Here is the one we did:  http://www.shop-insectlore.com/Butterflies/Butterfly+Garden+Shipped+with+Live+Caterpillars.axd

Now don't get yourself all excited thinking there are live bugs in the kit.  The box acutally comes with just the butterfly house and a certificate that you take online to order the actual caterpillars (I suggest ordering the bugs before you give the kit to your child because even though it only took a few days to get them in the mail, boy was that a long few days for my kids to wait!)  Once you get your caterpillars, you get to watch them grow and grow and grow.  Its pretty amazing how quickly they get soo big! 

After that they go into their cocoons, and then after a little more waiting......  YAY BUTTERFLYS!!  We were glued to the butterfly house for weeks.  The kids loved that they got to feed the butterflys flowers and sugar water everyday.  They never missed a day...  And if they had it their way, we would have fed them every hour. 

The hardest part of the whole experience was convincing the kids that we needed to let the butterflys go.  We watched them a week, and they finally agreed it was time.  We found a nice flowery spot and said goodbye.

This little guy tried to hitch a ride back in the house on my husband's hand.

Happy Earth Day

I was at my dad's last week, and he had the cutest little simple tool I'd ever seen.  You use it to turn strips of newspaper into little pots for starting seeds.  They are great little pots because once the seeds sprout, you can plant the entire newspaper pot into the ground.  

I wanted to make this little tool for myself, but that would require using the lathe, and well, I need all my fingers.  I came home and sat down next to the recycling bin and figured out how I could make the pots using stuff we had thrown out.  I finally got it to work and so, to celebrate Earth Day, we decided to make some of these newspaper pots and planted some wildflower seeds in them.

The only "tools" I used were a water bottle that we cut both ends off of and a laundry detergent cap.

To start, take your newspaper (after you've finished reading it) and cut strips all the way across that are about 6 inches tall and are the length of the paper.  

Take one strip and wrap it around the water bottle.  Let about 2 to 3 inches of the paper hang over the end of the bottle (the overhang will form the bottom of the pot).  The overhang should be over the cut end of the bottle.  You keep wrapping around and around until you reach the end of the paper.

Once the newspaper is around the bottle, push the overhanging paper up inside the cut-out hole in the bottle.  I used the laundry detergent lid to get it pushed all the way up in there.

Next, carefully pull the newspaper off the bottle.  Reach inside and twist the paper that was pushed inside.  It helps if you set the pot on the table while twisting the inside paper.  This will form a nice, solid bottom.

Now you can fill you pot with dirt and plant your seeds.  I placed all my pots in a tray that we got when we bought flowers.  If you don't have one, you can put them on a cookie sheet.  Put the tray in a nice sunny area, water daily, and when they sprout, you can plant the entire newspaper pot and all straight into the ground!

Happy Earth Day!

A Hair-Raising Project

I think this project turned out just hilarious!  We made our own Chia-Pets using old pantyhouse and grass seed. 

Basically, you take a pair of your old, ripped pantyhose and form a little pocket.  Put a little grass seed in the bottom, then some dirt, some more grass seed, then fill with dirt.  Tie the end to form a head and cut it from the rest of the pantyhose. 

On one of the heads, we added googly eyes, a felt mouth, and twisted a section of dirt into a nose.  For the other, we used parts from our Mr. Potato Head.  My husband and son made the one with the Mr. Potato Head parts, and if you know my husband, you'll notice it looks a lot like him!!  I cut a hole in the bottom of a styrofoam cup and placed the head on the cup, with the knot in hole.

Finally, we took the heads and put them in the kitchen window.  The heads have to be watered every day.  I think ours are watered about two or three times a day because Russ dumps water in them every time he washes his hands.
This project was definately one of our family favorites.  I gave mine a haircut last night.  I tried to talk my husband into trimming his, but he refuses :)

Here they are enjoying some of the warm weather on the back porch!!

UPDATE!!!!

The one on the right as had a few haircuts.  The other, not so much.

Oldie but a Goodie

I was sitting on the couch yesterday watching the 36 inches of snow fall from the sky, and a little birdie came and landed on my bird feeder on the porch to get a snack.  I felt  bad for the poor little thing;  with all the snow, who knows how long until it will be able to find food on the ground.  So, I decided that it was time to teach Russ how to make a pine cone bird feeder.  Luckily, we had gathered pine cones every chance we got through out the fall.  I know everyone has made these before, but I wanted to post it anyway to remind you all that we need to take care of the birds (and squirrels) in all this bad weather.

Russ loved this project.  Partly because he gets to feed the birds and partly because it got a little messy.  We had peanut butter everywhere, but oh well.  He had so much fun, that he wanted to make two pine cone feeders for the neighbors across the street. 

We made one for the chickens, too.  They really liked it!!