ROCstar Moments in Child's Play

Testing out ideas pinned on Pinterest provides an excellent opportunity to teach kids an important lesson: IT IS OKAY TO FAIL.

Failure can even be fun!

The past few days have been full of "ROCstar Moments" for me. Have you seen those "Nailed It" photos on Pinterest, Facebook, et cetera? Yeah, kind of like those.

I pinned three ideas to try out with the kids. They looked like fun, and seemed to be simple enough:

1. Kool-Aid Rainbow Slime
2. Water Beads
3. Fizzy Ice Cubes

SLIMY ATTEMPTS

First up, we tried the slime. In an effort to save money, I bought the generic fiber supplement rather than Metamucil. That was a mistake. I mixed the ingredients, microwaved it as long as the instructions said, and was left with pink water. No trace of slime. Oh yeah; who's a ROCstar?!?

Lesson Learned: When trying out a new activity from the web, link back to the original source if possible. Occasionally, the original lists an important note that the second-hand blogger did not carry over. 

Example: When making Kool-Aid Rainbow Slime, it is important to either buy Metamucil or a generic fiber supplement with psyllium as the active ingredient. No psyllium? You're simply left with colored water. Colored water = not nearly as much fun as colored slime.

WATER BEADS

Second, we tried to make water beads. These looked so awesome, I couldn't wait to try making them! On Growing a Jeweled Rose, these looked like fabulous, colorful, squish-able marbles. Here's what our water beads looked like:

Colorful and squish-able? Yes. Fabulous and marble-sized? Not so much.

We still had fun with them. I had bought two packages of tapioca pearls because I wasn't sure how much we would need for this misadventure. While I cooked one package, my four-year-old had fun playing with the uncooked package.

                           

 
We scooped the cooked tapioca into bowls then added food coloring and different colors of Kool-Aid powder or sugar-free Jell-O. There wasn't a huge selection of Kool-Aid colors available, so I thought we'd give Jell-O a shot. (pun intended)

After they cooled off in the fridge for a bit, we started to play. TIP: Place a large drop cloth or plastic tablecloth in your play area, and keep a couple of old towels handy.

                                         
We added water so they were free-flowing, instead of gelatinous blobs.

You can store the Water Beads for up to three days in the fridge. However, once the colors are mixed together the beads look like a stand-in for brains in a zombie movie.

Lessons Learned: Follow the blog post and search for large, instant tapioca pearls. Small, non-instant ones take three times as long to boil. Plus they are miniscule.

NO-FIZZ CUBES

Lastly, we made a batch of Fizzy Ice Cubes. We mixed the water, baking soda, and spooned it into ice cube trays. Then we sprinkled different Jell-O powders on top and used a toothpick to mix in the colors.

The next day we popped the cubes out into a container of water and waited for the fizz…

There was no fizz.

I had lemons in the fridge and added a few slices to initiate a reaction. Nothing. So we added the water beads and just played until it looked like this:

Yes! Nailed it! I mean, doesn't that look like something you want your child sticking his or her little hand into, playing, and splashing?!? Definitely.

Determined, we tried once more. This time we poured the cubes right into a vinegar bath. We even spooned some extra vinegar on top of the cubes. Success!

TIP: Use a drop cloth or plastic tablecloth to protect your play area, and keep a few towels handy.

Lesson Learned: Fizzy Cubes (with baking soda) need vinegar in order to actually fizz. Duh! I knew that. After all, we only made a zillion volcanoes in the backyard last summer. Sheesh! Also, read directions carefully. Somehow I completely missed the "vinegar" part of the instructions. Oops.

I hope your adventures in Pinterest, crafts, and science experiments are much more successful. If not, Post a Comment and share your misadventures! As always, thanks for reading.

Family Halloween Fest

If you have kids and live in the Rochester area, you must check out the Family Halloween Fest on Sunday, October 27.

The festivities take place from 2 - 5:00 p.m. in the St. John Fisher College Field House, 3690 East Avenue, Rochester, NY. Admission is free; simply bring one canned good per person to benefit the Pittsford Food Cupboard. There are hay rides outside, but the other activities are all indoors.

After turning in your canned goods, trick-or-treat down the corridor and into the gym for one amazing, spooktacular Halloween party.

Trick-or-treating down Sesame Street
(2012 theme)

There are carnival games to play,

 

sugar cookies to decorate,

                              
 




a coloring contest,

refreshments, entertainment, and a costume parade.

There's a giant spider in the gym!

Kids can even have their picture taken with local heroes.

This event has become one of my favorite ways to celebrate the Halloween season with my family. Each year, I am awe-struck by the talent and dedication of all the volunteers who work so hard to pull this event together. So, grab your costumes and your canned goods, and we'll see you at Family Halloween Fest on October 27th.

Be sure to Post a Comment and tell us the part your kids liked best. As always, thanks for reading.

Family Fun This Weekend

Hopefully the meteorologists have it wrong for this weekend. Friday: high of 71 with thunderstorms. Ugh. Saturday: high of 65 with a low chance of rain. Eh. Sunday: high of 71 with a pretty good chance of rain. Yuck.

Let's keep our fingers crossed and do a sun-dance...otherwise, there is plenty of indoor excitement to be found in the Rochester area this weekend.

Opening Day for Strawberry Picking
Friday, June 1 - until the berries are gone
Various Farms, Rochester Area
Pick your own strawberries at one of several farms in our area! Be sure to call the farm before you head out, to be sure the berries are ready to be picked that day. Don't forget to dress for the weather.

Friday Family Fun Night: Roller Skating
Friday, June 1 from 5:45 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Southeast Family YMCA, 111 E. Jefferson Road, Pittsford, NY
OPEN TO THE COMMUNITY!
5:45 p.m. - ? - Pizza available in the Lobby ($1/slice)
6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. - Crafts in the Lobby
6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. - Roller Skating in the Gym (skate rental is $4/person)
7:05 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. - Family Swim
7:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. - Parachute Games
8:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. - Adventure Center (bring/wear socks)

Fairport Canal Days
Friday, June 1 (4:30 p.m. - 9 p.m.), Saturday, June 2 (10 a.m. - 6 p.m.), Sunday, June 3 (10 a.m. - 5 p.m.)
Fairport, NY
Food, music, crafts, and more along the Erie Canal. Be sure to check the web site for events schedule, directions, and lots more information.

Exhibit Opening: Design Zone
Saturday, June 2 from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. - Sunday, June 3 from 12 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Strong National Museum of Play, 1 Manhattan Square, Rochester, NY
Design and test a virtual roller coaster, skate park, and bike race. Test your spinning skills in a DJ Recording Studio, engineer your own light show for a dance party, and more. We can't wait to check out all the fun features of this new exhibit. Free with general admission.

Exhibit Opening: KEVA Planks
Saturday, June 2 from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Rochester Museum & Science Center, 657 East Avenue, Rochester, NY
Use your imagination and build your own masterpiece. Create castles, bridges, trains, buildings, or farms...then have fun knocking them down when you're through. Free with general admission.

CLOSED for Zoobilation
Saturday, June 2 - ALL DAY
Seneca Park Zoo, 2222 St. Paul Street, Rochester, NY

Bike Rodeo & Child Safety Day
Saturday, June 2 at 1:00 p.m.
Winslow Elementary School, 755 Pinnacle Road, Henrietta, NY
Outdoor event to learn and practice safe biking and other practices, for children ages 2-13. Must bring your bike and helmet to participate in the bike rodeo. Check out the fire safety demos, school bus tours & safety, bike safety inspections & training course, plus register to win prizes. This is a free event. For more information, contact Robin Watson at rwatson@rochester.rr.com

Stroll for Strong Kids Walk & 5K Run
Saturday, June 2 - 8:30 a.m. for the 5K, or 10:30 a.m. for the 1.5 mile Stroll/Walk
University of Rochester's River Campus, 252 Elmwood Avenue, Rochester, NY
This year's superhero-themed event is family-friendly, and all proceeds benefit the Golisano Children's Hospital. Check out the web site for registration information, a pledge form, map, and to make an online donation. There will be a bounce house and more. Free to anyone who raises $30 or more for the hospital.

CowapaMOOza
Sunday, June 3 from 12 p.m. - 3 p.m.
Wickham Farms, 1821 Fairport Nine Mile Point Road, Penfield, NY
Kick off National Dairy Month with a dancing cow, games, a milk mustache photo booth, and butter making. Meet a baby calf, and enter the MOOOOOing contest. The dairy events are free; other Wickham Farms activities (mini-golf, batting cages, jumping pillow) are regular prices.

Trolley Rides
Sunday, June 3 from 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

New York Museum of Transportation, 6393 East Henrietta Road, West Henrietta, NY

Purchase a ticket for a unique trolley ride when you arrive. While you wait for your trolley, explore the train cars, antique cars, fire truck, and the model trains in the museum. At your departure time, board the trolley and enjoy the 1-mile ride to the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum. Explore the second museum before boarding for a ride back to the Museum of Transportation. 

Stay dry and have fun this weekend! As always, thanks for reading.

Make a Sun Catcher! (Now, where is that SUN?)

We've been in the house way too much this week. My sons and I have been taking turns being sick for the past couple of weeks, so we've been laying low, trying to get better, and trying to keep our germs to ourselves.

We've played outside a bit, but mostly it's been a rotation of Play Doh, crayons, foam stickers, baking cookies, domino runs, puzzles, and blocks. Repeat.

Yesterday we broadened our crafty horizons and made our own sun catchers. It was really fun, they look awesome, and most likely you have all the materials at home. This craft was perfect for my four-year-old and we did this while my two-year-old was napping; I don't think he has the patience for this one. It's probably best for ages 3 and up. Enjoy!

Spring Time Sun Catchers

1. Assemble your materials:

• Newspaper or newsprint paper
• Wax paper
• Adult scissors & safety scissors for the kiddies
• Old and/or broken crayons
• Pencil sharpener
• Iron 
• Small bowls (optional)
• Empty cereal boxes (optional)

2. Spread some pieces of newspaper over the work area. Set your iron to the lowest, non-steam setting and place it out of the way until needed.

3. If your child is old enough to use a pencil sharpener, you can skip this step. Otherwise, remove the labels from the crayons and use the pencil sharpener to create piles or bowls of colorful shavings. I found that Creatology brand crayons worked best, and that Crayola was the most difficult to work with. The cheaper crayons were more crumbly. And in this case, crumbly is good.

If you don't have a pencil sharpener handy, the web site where I originally found this idea called for a box grater. Just know that it is nearly impossible to clean the crayon from the grater so it will become the Crafting Grater from this day forward. You can try this, but I don't recommend it unless:

     a. You have a spare grater because your college roommate also brought one, but moved out first and left the grater behind 

     b. You were planning on replacing your current grater anyway

4. Either you or your child will need to cut two copies of a shape from wax paper. Free-form is great but if you want to get fancy, draw a shape on the inside of an empty cereal box, cut it out as a template, and then cut two copies from wax paper. You could also trace a shape from a coloring book if drawing is not your specialty.

5. If you skipped Step #3, have your child hold the pencil sharpener over one of the wax shapes and shave some crayons. Otherwise, have your child spread the crayon shavings around to cover one of the shapes. We found that you don't need much of the darker colors since the wax will spread. What you see below is actually too much.

6. This step is for adults only: Carefully place the second wax sheet on top of the crayons, then cover with a few more sheets of newspaper. Iron on top of the newspaper for a few seconds, then check on the sun catcher. Every iron is different, but it should take less than a minute to melt the crayon shavings.

You can hang the sun catchers on a window, or punch a hole in the top and use string to hang several from the ceiling in a sunny spot. Or just show off your creativity sporting your most adorable expression!

Maybe if enough of us are sporting sun catchers in our windows, it will bring the sunshine back to this season. Thanks for reading and have fun being crafty!

Beat the Rainy Day Blahs

Last week's weather here in Rochester, NY was such a tease! We wore t-shirts and shorts. We opened the sandbox and played on the swing set. We went to the park. We spent hours in the glorious sunshine (protected by sunblock and hats, of course). And best of all, it made the kids so exhausted that they slept incredibly well last week.

Not so much, this week.

Playing indoors seems like double torture this week, after tasting that sweet warmth just days ago. Going back to long sleeves, pants, and jackets is disappointing, to say the least. So far this week, I've softened the blow with a trip to the library, Strong National Museum of Play, and a stop at Petco to pick out two new goldfish. But today we are stuck indoors so we are beating the Rainy Day Blahs with a couple of sure-to-make-'em-smile activities.

ROCmomma's Rainy Day Blah-Beater Activity #1: The Obstacle Course

We've done a few variations of this activity. Sometimes I scatter couch cushions around the floor, and we are bunnies hopping through the garden; if we hit a cushion, we fall down the rabbit hole. A fellow ROCpoppa pointed out that this is a variation of the Hot Lava game. There was even a Tosh 2.0 clip on YouTube where he talked about playing this as a kid; unfortunately that video has been deleted. It was funny. Oh well.

Indoor obstacle courses are fun and can be altered after playing for a while, to keep them occupied even longer. It doesn't matter how much or how little space you have; it will still be fun. Try to find things that the kids can go OVER, UNDER, AROUND, or THROUGH. If you have cardboard boxes or those colorful cardboard "bricks" you can even build a wall for them to smash. Grab a mixing bowl or soup pot and some kiddie spoons for a tossing-game obstacle. Be creative!

We started in front of the fireplace:

1. Crawl OVER the ottoman
2. Crawl UNDER the tall chair
3. Go AROUND the bean bag chair
4. BALL TOSS - get one squishy ball into any hole

     
5. BEAN BAG TOSS - three bean bags in each bowl; get one into the bucket to proceed

      6. Jump OVER the tiger, jump OVER puppy 1, and jump OVER puppy 2
      7. Crawl THROUGH the tunnel

      8. EGG TOSS - get one plastic Easter egg into the basket

      9. Cross the Finish Line - Hooray!!!

    10. Do it again!     

This lasted for about 45 minutes, with no variations. I just had to replace the squishy balls, bean bags, and eggs every so often. In between, I washed the dishes, swept the floor, and even read a magazine article. Woo hoo!

ROCmomma's Rainy Day Blah-Beater Activity #2: Baby Chick Eggs

For this craft project you'll need:

• Plastic Easter eggs, any size
• Google eyes (or cut out white circles and color the pupils in yourself)
• Orange foam sheets or cardstock
• Glue sticks, plus white craft glue or glue dots, and perhaps some masking tape
• Assorted feathers, pom poms, and/or tissue paper
• Scissors

1. Cut heart shapes from the orange foam or card stock, then trim the two curved tops of the heart with some zig zig snips to make webbed feet. This is all free-hand; just eyeball it.
2. If you're using glue dots, put a glue dot in the center of each set of feet, with some of the backing paper still on top. Otherwise, leave as is for now.
3. Cut small triangles from the orange foam or card stock.
4. Set up stations for each child with eggs, google eyes, feet, noses, a glue stick, and any decorative touches (feathers, pom poms, tissue paper, etc.)

      5. Kids can remove the backing paper from the glue dot on the feet and attach to the bottom of the egg, or attach with craft glue.

       6. Kids can attach eyes with glue dots or craft glue (I started running low on glue dots, and craft glue was actually taking too long to dry...so I rolled up strips of masking tape and we used those!)
       7. Kids can attach nose and decorations with glue sticks

      8. Perch the baby chicks around the house, or place a few in a basket filled with crinkle paper/ basket-fill. Enjoy your sweet creations!

ROCmomma's Other Random Rainy Day Blah Beaters

• Play Doh and any plastic cookie-cutters you have in your collection; or an assortment of plastic cups, spoons, forks, and container lids.
• Silly String (officially, it's "Unique Wacky String") - I've found it in the party aisles at both Target and Michaels in a variety of colors; just shake well & often, and avoid carpets and furniture; otherwise it cleans up easily. 
• Boat Races in the bathtub - for this one, we don't actually get in the bath tub; either fill the tub part way or pull the infant tub out of the attic and place on a few towels on the kitchen floor; add a few toy boats or other water toys; be sure to STAY WITH KIDS AT ALL TIMES WHEN WATER IS INVOLVED. Please, and thank you.
• Indoor Sandbox - First, cover the table with a tablecloth or other protection. Next, fill a large shallow container or bowl with anything you've had in the cupboard for a while and won't need anytime soon: unpopped popcorn, oatmeal, raw rice, uncooked pasta, dried beans, Cheerios, or even flour. Give your kids some spoons, measuring cups, small plastic containers, even a small plastic shovel or truck. Super ROCmommas and Super ROCpoppas can even add a few small dinosaurs, army men, or Littlest Pet Shop creatures and tell the kids they're digging for treasure.
• Or check out these ideas to "Beat Cabin Fever" on Kiwi magazine's website.

Good luck to everyone stuck indoors with kids. I hope these ideas help you battle the blahs, and that your kids love the activities so much that they'll tell you what a great ROCmomma or ROCpoppa you are! Thanks for reading, and please post your own great ideas - or your success stories with these activities - in the Comments section.