I’m including a small metal pail for toting around the bean bags and to use for toss games.  A great open ended toy in itself, my girls find plenty of alternate uses for their bean bag pail. 

I won’t bore you with the details of how I made these basic bean bags. Instead I’ve put together a list of tutorials for some creative and clever renditions of this classic toy.  Enjoy!

Ribbon Loop Bean Bag by Sew Like My Mom
Bean Bag Numbers by The Idea Room
Juggling Chooks (Chicken Bean Bags) by Red Ted Art’s Blog
Reverse Applique Felt Bean Bags by Whimsy Love
Mini Bean Bags by Art Nest
Pyramidal Bean Bags by ikat bag
Strawberry Stenciled Burlap Bean Bags by One Charming Party
Freezer Paper Stenciled Bean Bags by Claas Creations
Japanese Otedama Bags by Tea Rose Home on Living With Punks
Counting Bean Bags by One Inch World
Spelling Bean Bags by Chez Beeper Bebe
Jeans Pocket Bean Bags by Chica and Jo
Sock Bean Bags by A Little Tipsy
Photo Bean Bags by Penny Carnival
Bean Bag with Ribbon Tail by Kirchenzeit

• child’s watercolor painting
• scissors or paper cutter
• heart-shaped paper punch
• white card stock
• glue stick

Instructions

Cut painting into 3″ x 4″ rectangles. Punch a heart from the bottom, right corner.

Now comes the fun part, mixing and matching the punched hearts with the cards. My daughter loved doing this. We found that hearts and cards of contrasting color made the prettiest Valentines.
Cut the white card stock into 3.5″ x 4.5″ rectangles. Glue the watercolor card onto the white card stock. Glue the punched heart inside the hole. And done! Simple, sweet, handmade Valentines, what more can you ask for?

I used cheap, black nail polish to paint their spooky little faces, and a string of white Christmas lights to make them glow.  Super easy and it cost next to nothing! My ghosts are haunting the front yard, but I think they would also look cute displayed indoors on a mantel or windowsill.  I see glass shades at the thrift store all the time, so check there first if you want to make some ghosts of your own.

To start, I took several photos of each girl, instructing them to make different faces.  After cropping and enhancing the photos, I printed them on glossy paper.

Then we cut out their eyes, noses and mouths.  This was easy enough for Juju, but I had to help Imp because she isn’t that good at cutting small shapes yet.

Next, I had them glue their faces to the gourds.  Again not a problem for Juju, but the two year old needed constant attention to keep her on task {not gluing the faces to the table and her shirt!}  After the girls went to bed, I brushed a layer of white glue over the entire surface of each gourd to seal it.

The girls started playing games with their gourds as soon as they got up this morning.  When I showed this picture to Juju, she exclaimed, “Mommy, it looks like I have three heads on one body!  I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!”  Five year olds can be so dramatic. Here is the

finished product……

These were so much fun to make and the girls love playing with them.   I think we have a new Halloween tradition!

I will say, after cutting seventy-two wood shims with a hack saw, my husband may just be ready to buy a table saw.  Maybe I should come up with a few more projects that require him to cut wood by hand, hee hee. What do you think?  In what ways have you been resourceful when you did not own the necessary tools and supplies?

Gather your supplies.  You will need:

• pony beads (ten different colors) + one large bead
• elastic jewelry cord
• printout of the first few hundred digits of pi (http://digitsofpi.com)
• ten cups for sorting beads
• pencil, scissors and a paper clip

First, have your child sort the beads by color into the cups.  My three year old was happy to help with this step.  Now ask your child to assign one of the numbers 0 – 9 to each color, using each number only once.  Write the number on the corresponding cup of beads. Cut a piece of elastic cord to your desired necklace length plus a few inches. Tie one end to the paperclip to prevent the beads from falling off the cord.

Time to start beading!  Start with the large bead, which symbolizes the first digit in pi.  Following the printout of pi, string the beads choosing the color bead that corresponds to each digit.

For an example, see the photo below.   The first digit in pi is 3.  Juju assigned 3 to yellow so she chose a large yellow star for her first bead.  The next digit is 1, which she assigned to red.  The next digit is 4, which she assigned to black. And the next is digit 1, so another red bead. Cross out each digit as your child beads it so they do not lose their place. Keep on stringing those beads…… When the necklace is long enough, remove the paperclip, securely knot the cord, cut off the excess and gently push the knot inside the large bead.  Done!

Miss Juju learned some things about pi while making this necklace.  She loves to find patterns in the world around her.  At one point I found her staring intently at the printout.  I asked her what she was doing and she said she was looking for a pattern.  I explained to her that there are no patterns in the digits of pi and that is one of the things that makes it such an interesting number.  She was skeptical at first, but after looking at it a little longer she decided that I was right. Juju also learned that pi never ends.  “If we used all the beads in the world, would we reach the end????”  “No, you will never reach the end of pi, it goes forever.”  Her jaw dropped.  The concept of infinite numbers still blows her mind!

And that is how Miss JuJu ended up with this happy rainbow jumper dress.  It is perfect for St. Patrick’s Day and I have just enough fabric leftover to make a matching skirt for Miss Imp.

I used Bonnie Blue Designs Pattern Number 137 Madison view 1.  The dress is fully lined in white poplin and buttons down the back.

For the cloud applique I used knit fabric so I would not have to worry about fraying.  I added rain lines with my sewing machine and sewed on raindrop shaped acrylic beads.  The bead packaging did not specify if they are washer/dryer safe.  I was a little concerned and ended up performing my own tests to be sure…….  10 minutes in boiling water and 30 minutes in the dryer on the high setting….. obviously they passed. I absolutely love how this dress turned out!   And in this case at least, I am happy that I am so easily distracted.  Now excuse me, I have some pants to sew.

Watching the girls I reminisced about the winters of my childhood…..snow ball fights, building snow forts, sledding, ice skating, making snow angels, playing king of the mountain on the snow drifts, building snowmen, catching snowflakes on my tongue, and eating fresh snow with maple syrup drizzled on top!  This was the inspiration for my winter mantel.

Starting on the left, I have a yarn wrapped bottle containing a sprig of gold berries and a collage of  snowflake photographs taken under a microscope by a farmer in the year 1900.  I added a few pine cones and glittery bird in a milk glass candy dish. At the center I placed a pair of ice skates that I wore as a kid…… …..and three snowballs created from Styrofoam balls coated with glue and rolled in Epsom salt and glitter. On the right, two more yarn wrapped bottles with berries and a large milk glass pedestal bowl filled with pine cones. A snowflake garland hangs across the top of the mirror.  I bought the wood snowflakes on clearance after Christmas, then painted and glued glitter onto them. The mantel from a couple more angles….. I lived near Chicago when I was kid and the snow cover seemed to last the entire winter.  Here in St. Louis the snow rarely accumulates.  When it does, it melts within a couple days.  I really do miss it.  If I can’t have snow outside, then I am bringing it indoors this winter!

I scanned both sides of real coins, enlarged and then printed them. I tried to keep the relative sizes intact, but if I had to do it over I would scan all four coins on the same page with a ruler to make it easier.

My daughter helped by cutting them out and I decoupaged them to the juice can lids using slightly watered down white glue. For storage, I found an empty powdered drink container, removed the label, and glued on a chart of coin to cents conversions.

You are as sweet as a disaccharide of glucose and fructose.
{You are as sweet as sugar}

Download Valentine

Uranium + Iodine carved in a tree trunk.
{You and I}

Valentine, you shine like a carbon allotrope.
{You shine like a diamond}

The last one is an interactive valentine!  The heart really phosphoresces because I painted it with glow-in-the-dark acrylic from Plaid.  I have provided the anatomical heart drawing as a separate file so you can paint it without worrying about staying in the lines.   Once the paint is dry, just cut it out and glue it onto the valentine.  I used three coats of paint to get a bright glow.

Valentine, you make my heart phosphoresce.

{You make my heart glow}

Download Valentine and Heart Remember, the printables are for personal use only.  Please do not sell or distribute them as your own.  If you would like to share, please link to this post and not directly to the download site.  Thank you! Craving some more chemistry valentine puns????

• Valentine, I have my ion you.  {I have my eye on you}
• Au Valentine, you are my gold.  {Hey you Valentine, you are my gold.  Au is the elemental symbol for gold.}
• You light my bunsen burner.  {You light my fire}
• I sure miss you when you Argon.  {I sure miss you when you are gone}
• My heart combusts for you.  {My heart burns for you}
• We make the perfect electron pair.  {We make the perfect pair}
• I’ve fallen in the potential well of love.  {I’ve fallen in the well of love}
• You can Xenon me.  {You can lean on me}
• I will alloys love you.  {I will always love you}
• You are the conjugate acid to my base.  {one of those you are the blank to my blank quotes}
• You are sodium fine, be mine.  {You are so darn fine, be mine}
• You always make my line spectrum bright.  {a play on the term bright-line spectrum}
• You complete my valence shell.  {You complete me}

Do you know any other chemistry puns?  Put them in the comments, I would love to read them!