Reminder: Swap Sign-Up Closes Sunday!

For full info on the swap, check out this earlier post on Kiddio, and if you're interested but hadn't heard about it or signed up yet make sure to let me know by Sunday, September 1.  I'll plan to send out swap partners out Monday or Tuesday (it'll be pretty random, but I may make a few adjustments so that kids are swapping with partners who are close in age).

Your package will contain a simple kit, a small box or pouch filled with some of the essentials for good mailing such as some nice cards or postcards, blank cards, supplies for decorating, stickers, cancelled stamps, a neat pen, perhaps some personalized address labels? Be creative! We'll take a few weeks to gather supplies and send our kits off to their eager recipients by September 12.
Only sign up if you can meet these dates, and if you signed up but changed your plans and now can't, please let me know by Sunday!  We don't want to disappoint any children, for goodness' sakes!


Think it sounds like fun?

• Share our super-cute button on your blog (if you have one)--->;
• Email me or leave a comment below and we'll get it going! Leave me your blog info if you'd like it to show up in my sidebar list of swappers.
• Tell all your friends to come check it out!

Thanks for playing!

Easiest, Most Delicious-est Ice Cream Cake Ever!

If you haven't been reading the Amy's Notebook posts on Mom Advice, you've got to have a peek.  Last month she passed along a link to a recipe at 50s Housewife for a super-easy cake made from ice cream sandwiches.  After completely failing my previous attempt at an ice cream cake, this totally lit the little lightbulb that hangs over my head (not to mention my total 50's housewife-ness!)  How obvious is that?  You stack up a bunch of ice cream sandwiches, throw in some filling, and slather the whole thing with sweetened whipped cream before throwing it back in the freezer.  With that I present you with Jasper's third birthday cake!

Before:

After:

Honestly, it was delicious. I varied the recipe a bit by using both vanilla and mint-chip ice cream sandwiches (a total of 20), plus filling it with oreo cookies and hot fudge sauce. Next time I'm thinking that I'll use butter pecan ice cream sandwiches and fill it with caramel and toasted pecans. Or maybe neapolitan with fresh strawberries? Yum.

(p.s. the spots are made from Starburst candies, softened in the microwave and formed into spots...I think that I saw this on Angry Chicken?...and the 'bow' is made from some "Yogos Rollers" brand fruit snacks. We all think it looked like bacon.)

The basic recipe is originally from Real Simple, though I switched it up a bit

Ice Cream Sandwich Cake:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
20 ice cream sandwiches (3.5 ounces each)
1 1/2 cups chopped oreo cookies (about 10)
1/4 c hot fudge sauce

Whip the cream, vanilla and sugar until stiff peaks form.

Lay out half of the ice cream sandwiches in a rectangle on a foil-covered serving plate. 

Spread with half the whipped cream, then sprinkle with chopped cookies and drizzle with fudge sauce. 

Repeat with the remaining sandwiches and whipped cream.

Decorate as you like, then return to the freezer asap!

Muffin Tin Monday!

I'm so excited to be hosting Muffin Tin Monday for Katy at Sycamore Stirrings while she explores her future home of Luxembourg (I was so far off in my guesses...New Hampshire? A Canadian Province? Nothing nearly so exotic as Luxembourg!).


Today I made a tin for my two oldest to share (although the baby came along later and hoovered up all the leftover tomatoes and snap peas!). They had watermelon, tomato and cheese sandwiches, snap peas, grape tomatoes, and dill dip (which goes surprisingly well with watermelon!).
To add your tin, please either leave a comment on this post or email your posts &/or photos to amanda [at] kiddio [dot] org and I'll add them to today's listings. Thanks for dropping in!

Muffin Tin Mommies: Muses of Megret The Family McG mommamania A Bit of This and A Bit of That Junior Mints and Reese Hornacek Family The Coach's Wife

Friday Link Roundup!

Maybe I'm just subscribed to too many creative blogs, but there's just a ton of fun stuff out there this week! Here's what I was into:

I've been thinking of making a solar cooker all summer, and Pepper Paints has just the thing!  They made a solar cooker from a Pringles can.  Seems very doable and hot-dog friendly :)

Simple Mom wrote up a handy list of cheap-to-free playthings for young children....don't miss the comments, her readers shared bunches more.

Marie at Make and Takes whipped up some creative hot dog lunches for her kids.  I love the octopus dog!   More cleverness in the comments!

...and to go with those octodogs, how about some tasty zucchini fries from Tiny Morsels?  Another great way to use up all those garden veggies our neighbors are passing off on us! (Image via tinymorsels)

Jean at The Artful Parent painted a gorgeous tree mural in her daughter's room.  So simple and lovely!

Flipflops and Applesauce came up with a new way to play tag--with stickers!  What a fun idea for these late-summer afternoons.

I've had this bookmarked for ages, but you have to check out World Preschool Mom and her tutorial on stapleless paper chains.  What a nice process to teach a preschooler.    

The Rowdy Pea took the summer off, but is back with ideas for mixing colors in 'rainbow jars'.  I thought that her son's idea of 'playing' the jars like a xylophone was especially neat.(Image via therowdypea)

I never quite know what to do with oatmeal boxes, they seem so functional that I hate to throw them away.  Chasing Cheerios shows how to transform one into a very cute doll cradle.

I posted a number of ways to make tissue paper flowers some time ago, but Zakka Life has another, very simple way that produces a lovely blossom with no stem (very useful!)

Somehow I forsee having more time to work on my own crafty projects this fall (in reality it seems unlikely!), so I'm definitely adding Mama's Doodles' tag blanket tutorial to my project list.(Image via mamasdoodles)

I've been looking for a way to use up a huge bag of seashells I've been hoarding for unknown, ostensibly crafty reasons, so I was really into The Write Start's shell memory game idea.

No Time for Flash Cards made a cool growth chart--love the stripes! 

Planet Happy Kids threw a fun fairy garden party!  Her guests made little fairy gardens to take home.  I love this as a party theme for fairy-obsessed girls!

How about you?  What did you do, come across on a blog this week, or post on your own blog that you'd like to share? 

Coming Up in September: Boycraft Month!

With Josie off to school and Adelaide still thoroughly enjoying her morning nap, I'm excited to have the opportunity to spend some good boy-time with Jasper.  Sure, he's okay with the tea parties and paper dolls, and surprisingly cooperative about princess dress-up, but this kid is so naturally a boy.  Cute crafty things that Josie has been so naturally interested in just don't catch Jasper's interest the way bugs and trucks do (although I'm fortunate to have a girl who's also quite interested in bugs and trucks!), so I find myself treading new ground with him, and I'm excited.  Thus, I've decreed that September shall henceforth be known as Boycraft Month, and Kiddio shall be populated with ideas fit for boys (and girls, don't get me wrong, I'm not cuttin' y'all out!). 

So what are you doing with your boys lately?  What creative projects and ideas have you come up with? How is life with your boys?  

Like I said, it's uncharted territory for me, and I have no idea where we're headed!

Lace Up Those Boots Kids, We're Going for a Nature Hunt!

I love to be outside. I so appreciate the expansiveness of nature and its juxtaposition against the tiny details you find if you look at anything up close. An anthill under a leaf, the pattern of veins on a leaf, the scent of a butterscotch pine...there's just so much to find. Of course, I also love the capacity of nature to let my children RUN! After a day--even an hour--outdoors they're ready for a bit of quiet time (something that seems to come all too infrequently!).

Yesterday we all seemed to be getting on each other's nerves and it was obviously time for a good outing so we headed to the park to squeeze a little more fun out of summer before school starts. As the kids played and the baby tried to supplement her diet with mouthfuls of bark mulch I put together a list of a few things I thought the children would be able to find if they kept a sharp eye out on a walk around the park. I added illustrations for the non-reader in our group, and check-boxes to mark off as we found each item. My list included a duck, an animal's home, a new type of bug, a flower bud, and a footprint. If you do this, keep in mind the things that you find at your park, the time of year, etc, to ensure that you're looking for things you might actually be able to find!

We had a lovely time looking for each item, and actually managed to find them all...as well as a few things that weren't on our original list, but that we would've walked past if we weren't on the hunt for neat stuff! In the end, Josie added a number of things to our list, including an interesting sort of plum tree and the pea seeds that Jasper spotted.

What do you enjoy doing with your children to bring them closer to nature? Are you doing anything special to savor these last few days of summer?

Oodles of Quick and Easy Ways to Have Fun with Your Mixed-Age Kids

Wow, thanks for the thoughtful questions! It sounds like there are lots of families out there enjoying creative time together and would like to do more, and many more who would like to be but just don't know where to start. So here's question #1 for Ask Kiddio, and keep those questions coming!

***

Dear Kiddio,

I'm home full time with my two children, a barely 1 year old son and 4 1/2 year old daughter. When the baby was small it was easier to spend time doing creative activities with my daughter but as my son is into everything more and more but isn't old enough to join in it's been really difficult to sit with her and do all these little projects that we used to do together. I feel like I'm spending all my time keeping my son out of her toys and making her clean up her wiggly eyes so he doesn't end up with one in his mouth, and I am always frustrated with both of them. What can I do to keep both of them happy and get that quality time that we're missing without stressing myself out!?

Thank you!! Chrissy

***

Dear Chrissy,

Thanks for the great question! I completely sympathize with you. A baby this age is so tough to manage and play with at his level while trying to engage your older child in activities that fit her developmental level and interests. Even as they get older, it an be hard when their interests are different. In so many ways it's just a joy to have more than one child, but all too often I find myself wishing for the connection and undivided time that I had with my daughter before her rowdy little brother (and needy, angelic baby sister) crashed our party. Certainly as they get older it becomes easier (the baby doesn't put every little thing in his or her mouth, the kids just naturally play together and give you a little break), but this time is bound to be tremendously difficult as you are one person trying to care for two kids with utterly opposite capabilities. Besides the ideas below, I think it's critical that you give yourself a break. It's hard enough to manage all the responsibilities of caring for a couple of kids, keeping house, and maintaining your marriage (let alone doing anything for yourself), you have to lighten up on yourself a bit and honestly pick what's important to you. If you just can't keep up with this now, know that your kids will grow up, there will be more opportunities to build your relationship and do the creative things you want to do, and that honestly, it's not going to ruin them if you let a few things slide to take care of what really matters at this moment.

One of the reasons that I love creative play is that kids of different ages and interests can have fun in completely different ways with the same materials. Here are a few creative activities that have helped us get through this tricky period:

• Fruity Cheerios. They're colorful, tasty, and have a hole in the middle, making them a super-versatile material. The baby can sit and munch on them while your older child sorts them by color into piles (you can use an egg carton or bowls if your baby isn't too grabby), strings them onto elastic cord to make edible bracelets or necklaces, or glues them onto paper to make pictures. This one has been a perpetual favorite for us.
• Puffed Rice 'sandbox.' Empty a bag of puffed rice (look in the cereal section where the bags of cheap cereal are; crisp rice works almost as well) into a tray or storage box. Add funnels, bowls, and measuring cups for more edible play. With close supervision (and without the cereal!) you can enjoy kitchen floor water play as well, but there's a fair bit more cleanup!
• Pudding Paint. Mix up a batch of vanilla pudding (yum!), add a few drops of food-coloring, then let your kids paint paper or the table with it. Your older one may use it as paint, your little one may end up just licking it off his fingers, but they'll both have a great time.
  
• Cardboard Box Playhouse/Rocket/Train/School. Procure a large cardboard box and cut a door and windows into the sides if you like (keep an eye on that sharp knife!) and invite your older child to decorate the outside with markers. Furnish the interior with a blanket and some stuffed animals, books, etc, and you may be surprised at how they can actually play together (for five minutes, anyway!)
• Window Washing. Fill a spray bottle with plain water and give it to the older child, then provide them both with towels. The older child sprays the window, the kitchen floor, the refrigerator, and they both wipe it down.
• Outdoor Water Painting. Two brushes and a bucket of water, I'm sure you can intuit the rest. Show them how to make hand- and foot-prints on the driveway, let them paint the fence, the side of the house, etc. As it dries it'll disappear.
  
• Nature Walk. Load the little one in a stroller, backpack, or other carrier and head out for a hike or, perhaps less optimistically, a walk around a local park. The little one can peek over your shoulder at the treasures your big kid discovers. Even at a small park there are roly-polies and snails to find and new flowers to talk about.
• Nature Hunt. With a little forethought, your nature walk can turn into a nature hunt! Write up a list of things to find (the smallest bug ever, a yellow flower, two different kinds of pinecones...) and add simple illustrations to guide pre- and early-readers.

While it's helpful to get them playing together, sometimes kids just need their space to do their own thing. Here are a few things that have worked for us:

• Set up the playpen. Sure, you could put your baby in it and expect him to entertain himself, but how about using it to contain your big kid and her potentially dangerous materials? Set her up with the pom-poms, googly eyes, and scissors, and let her glitter to her heart's content with the knowledge that your little one won't get his hands on her goodies.
• Use naptime to its best advantage. I know, I'm guilty of using this sacred time to please, please, please get some housework done/check my email/eat chocolate, but a couple of times a week plan a special activity for just you and your big kid while your little one is sleeping (and stick to it!). I know that this seems super-obvious, but I really have to plan for it or I squander my time in front of my computer :)
• Work at the kitchen table. Set your younger one up with some finger-food and your older one up with an activity that the two of you can share. Your attentions might be a bit divided, but you'll still be attending to both of them.
  

What ideas do you have for Chrissy? How do you keep your little ones having fun together? Please share an idea or two in the comments!


Have a question for Ask Kiddio? Just leave a comment on this post or send me an email to amanda [at] kiddio [dot] org !