Family Fun

Beach Scented Air Fresheners

Scents of summer homemade air fresheners — Scents of summer

June has finally arrived and with it all of its summertime scents. There’s the delicious aroma coming from barbeques and cookouts, and the familiar smells of fresh cut grass, chlorine from pools, and most of all the familiar summertime scent of sunscreen.

My kids love the smell of sunscreen. The moment they smell it, they can’t stop talking about going to our local pool, to the beach or to the park for summer picnics and bike rides. So, I thought it would be fun this summer to find a way to put the scent of summer throughout the house by using their favorite sunscreen as an air freshener! Continue reading “Beach Scented Air Fresheners” →

Nature Photo Activity

by Elaine Ann Allen

Make these nature inspired photo frames from recycled materials.

My favorite season is the Spring. I love all the new life and new blooms on the trees, and every year I take lots of pictures of the kids in front of the new brightly colored trees that were so cold and bare just a few weeks ago. This year I decided to let the kids have a chance to be the photographers and take lots of pictures of their own. So, each with a camera in hand, they went out into the neighborhood to take pictures of nature. Continue reading “Nature Photo Activity” →

After School Smoothies

by Elaine Ann Allen

Smoothy2 — Healthy and delicious smoothies.

When my kids get home from school, they are hungry and thirsty. I would like them to eat healthy, nutritious snacks, but apple slices and carrot sticks are a hard sell when they’re craving tasty comfort foods. I have found, however, that my kids never say no to a fruit smoothie.

I like to vary the ingredients each day, but the basic recipe is below. To save a few dollars, I buy frozen fruit in big bulky bags from the freezer department at the grocery store. Some bags have all of the same fruit, like all peaches or all strawberries. Others have mixes of different berries or pineapple with mangoes. Continue reading “After School Smoothies” →

Homemade Bird feeders

by Elaine Ann Allen

IMG_1231 (2) — This bird is enjoying his snack.

These bird feeders make it easy to watch birds in the backyard. I helped my daughter make these for a science project at school. We made them out of recycled materials, including a paper towel roll, a shoebox lid, and a milk carton.

You can make one, or all three of these feeders for your yard and enjoy watching the birds as they return for spring. Beware of squirrels, though. They seem to like the bird feed as much as the birds do, sometimes knocking down the feeders trying to get at the food! But the fun of watching the birds close up is definitely worth the effort of putting the feeders back in place and refilling them. Continue reading “Homemade Bird feeders” →

Land on Mars: Fun Futuristic Fruit Salad for Kids

by Elaine Ann Allen

Sometimes it takes a little creativity to get the kids to eat their daily portions of fruit. I tried this fun futuristic fruit salad (say that five times fast) and the kids scarfed it up. With all the recent talk about possible future missions to Mars, could this fruit salad be educational? Who knows, maybe Martians really do look like kiwi with red grapes for heads;)

For variation, you could also use apple slices cut in half for the supports around rocket ship, and red cherries for the Martians’ heads. Also, if you can find a tiny American flag, that would be fun, if not edible. Continue reading “Land on Mars: Fun Futuristic Fruit Salad for Kids” →