Rainbow Scavenger Hunt- After Dark

My little Butterballs used to be afraid of the dark...

until Dad bought them little flashlights of their very own.

Now they love exploring the house when all the lights are off...
 

Great that they are not afraid of the dark...

not so great when you turn off the lights at bedtime 

only to find two little spots of light dancing around the room.

(they have the perfect hiding spot for their flashlights- under their pillow!)

We decided to do one last consolidation rainbow exercise -

a scavenger hunt using their flashlights.

I cut out a paper cloud and had the Butterballs cover it in cotton wool.

I then cut a few lengths of ribbon
 (the same ones that I used for the ribbon sticks)

into 20cm lengths and add a bit of double-sided tape to one end.

After covering one side of the double-sided tape with cotton wool, 

I stuck the cloud onto the playroom wall and  assembled my troop for a briefing.

Aim : Find all 6 ribbons in the dark, using only your flashlight. 

Stick the ribbons onto the cloud on the playroom wall.

The ribbons need to be stuck in the correct order.

Listen out for Mama's "hot and cold" directions to help find the ribbons.

The Butterballs love searching for stuff using the 'hot or cold' cues.

Also this activity reinforces : counting skills

-once started, they gotta work out how many ribbons are still to be found.

-color identification

And of course - the correct order of the rainbow colors.

I sent them upstairs with Dad while I stuck the ribbons all over the room.

At last everything was in place.

Lights, Flashlights, ACTION

The Butterballs ran around giggling so loudly

 it was a wonder they could hear me shouting Hot or Freezing!!!

Please excuse the quality of the pics 

- shooting in the dark, in the middle of a fit of giggles 

doesn't lend itself to perfect photography...

sorry.

After hunting down each and every ribbon, 

Tamlyn arranged them in the correct order

 while Ethan ran off to hunt for Dad with his flashlight.

A fun, energetic activity to end our rainbow learning - for now...

so until the next time I receive a rainbow colored in Black and shades of brown...

Life is like a rainbow, 

you need both the sun and the rain 

to make it's colours appear!

Rainbow Painting

After a week of singing the Rainbow Song and doing rainbow themed activities, 

I decided it was time to try out their Sunday School Activity again and see how they do.

I set out their paints and helped them into their aprons 

(God help us if we paint without aprons!!!)

Tamlyn was confidant and knew the correct order of the colors. 

Her only concern was that the rainbow only had 6 stripes 

and that she didn't have any indigo or violet paint.

After convincing her that purple would be just fine for the indigo and violet strip, 

it was all smooth sailing from there.

Ethan on the other hand,

 needed lots of guidance as his main concern was to complete the pinting before Tamlyn.

 Now that he has started attending school, 

I'm beginning to see a definite competitive streak.

After completing the painting, 

they waited impatiently for it to dry,

before sticking on generous amounts of cotton wool onto the clouds

I'm so glad that they finally know how to paint a proper rainbow!!!

Rainbow Sticks Active Play

Tamlyn loves watching gymnastics and ballet.

She also loves imitating those graceful moves so for today's activity I decided to make the Butterballs rainbow ribbon sticks.

I used the dowel stick that was attached to our rainbow pinwheels.

So convenient!! 
The sticks were sanded and had a neat little hole drilled into the end.

You can always purchase a dowel stick from the hardware store and sand it on your own...if you don't have a pinwheel stick lying about ;)

Next I threaded 6 narrow ribbons through the little hole and secured it with a double knot.


The ribbons were 2 meters long but Tamlyn asked me to shorten them. So they are now roughly 1.2 meters long. Just the right length for my little Butterballs.

She loved dancing and twirling around with the ribbon stick.
We even played 'cloud hopping'

I set 4 hula hoops on the grass  as clouds
and Tamlyn jumped from cloud to cloud 
waving her ribbon stick as she did so.

Instant rainbows :)))

Rainbow Cookie Push Pops

I saw this cute idea on mydecoratedcookie and just had to try it.

I have never served cookies in my push pop containers before
 so I was a bit concerned-

I needed to get the cookies to be just the right size to fit comfortably into the push pop container.

I decided to try a different sugar cookie recipe,
 this recipe had only half a teaspoon of baking powder
so the cookies didn't spread very much.
 Perfect!

Within a few hours the delicious smelling cookies were ready to be iced.

I lined up the different food coloring bottles on the kitchen counter 

and the Butterballs began singing the Rainbow Song.

"Hey mom! The red, orange, indigo and violet bottles a missing!" said a very miffed Tamlyn.

Sorry, Butterballs, Mama ran out of red food coloring after Valentines Day 

and as for the other colors...

we will just have to improvise.

And so we iced our not-really-rainbow-colored cookies.

Despite the color-issues, the cookies looked cute and tasted delicious.

They didn't last very long!!

Reminder to self: Buy more food coloring!!!

Rainbow Science

I have been singing the Rainbow Song to the Butterballs since Sunday!

They totally love it and sing along at the top of their voices,

I think that that's a great start!

The next thing I wanted to show to the Butterballs, was how a rainbow is made.

Yes, they know that God made the rainbow as a sign of his promise to man but they still need to know the science behind it...  or a very simplified version

We started of with a CD. By holding it at different angles, the Butterballs were able to see a rainbow.

WOW!!! What a response! 
Why didn't I do this sooner. 
They were so amazed!

Explaining about about light being made up of different colors, and each color moving on a different wave-length.... 
well that just went over their heads.
So on to the next activity. 

I dusted off our rainbow umbrella and played a quick game of 'color spin' with the Butterballs.
Each Butterball had a turn to spin the umbrella,
 they then stopped the umbrella and tapped a chosen section. 
The other Butterball has to name the color of that section.
What fun! 

Spinning the umbrella gave me another idea on how to show the Butterballs that white is made up of all the colors of the rainbow, 
so we began to spin the umbrella as fast as we could 
hoping to see it turn white.
Sadly things didn't go according to plan.
 While the Butterballs could see the colors blending together, 
they didn't see a white umbrella!

 
Next we tried rainbow colored pinwheels.
Bring on the Wind Power!
I thought that the wind would surely spin the pinwheels fast enough!!

It almost did work...Ah well, they will just have to take my word for it.

Rainbow 'horror' story

We are halfway through the month of LOVE. 

Valentines Day was awesome,

 my darling husband and the men from our special group of family and friends surprised us ladies by organising a Dinner and Dance on Friday night! 

Okay...so dinner was really a braai... 

it was still awesome and a really sweet gesture!

 Dining outside under the stars...

toasting marshmallows over glowing coals 

and dancing to soppy love songs under a full moon

... really special ... can't wait for our next Valentine celebration!

In the mean time,

 the Butterballs did an amazing craft at Sunday School today.

They learnt all about Noah and the Ark, the Great Flood and the Rainbow.

Their Sunday School teacher helped each of them color in their own rainbow and stick pieces of cotton wool at the ends to make fluffy, white clouds.

Just too cute !

(of course anything the Butterballs make is 'just too cute' to me) 

The only problem was...the rainbow!

The Butterballs colored in a VERY unique rainbow.

I didn't expect them to color within the lines perfectly,

but I did hope that their rainbow would at least resemble a proper rainbow.

Imagine my horror when they arrived with masterpieces that were colored in pink (that was Tamlyn of course!) and shades of brown and black!!

But I can't blame them... its my fault.

I didn't teach them about the colors of the rainbow,

an oversight which I intend on correcting very soon.

So its off to pinterest I go, in search of rainbow activities...

Valentine Fondue

We are officially a family of chocoholics!!

Anything and everything chocolate has our name on it!!

...and makes dieting an absolute nightmare!!

As the LOVE Day draws near, 

I decided to spoil hubby and the Butterballs

 with a yummy chocolate fondue.

I set up a dipper tray of fresh strawberries, mini heart-shaped cupcakes and strawberry marshmallows.

For the Chocolate sauce, I dropped squares of milk chocolate and a few caramels into a saucepan. I then added a generous splash of double cream and heated gently. 

The sauce was to die for!!!

A few bowls of Valentine sprinkles later and we were all set to go!

We used plastic heart-shaped drinking straws instead of skewers. 

I saw this idea on hoosierhomemade.com and just fell in love with it.

Too sweet!!

Unfortunately, the straws didn't hold the cupcakes very well. 

It was fine during the chocolate dipping and sprinkles-coating 

but as soon as the Butterballs attempted to bite into the cupcake, it all fell apart!

It did work perfectly with the marshmallows and strawberries though!

Perhaps my cupcakes were just too soft...

But despite the crumbling cupcakes, my family LOVED the sweet valentine surprise!

Every chocolate-coated bite ;)

Valentine Sensory Play

The Butterballs love playing with shaving foam.

Cos it's been so hot lately, I decided to combine the shaving foam with a fun 'keep-cool' element

...frozen paint!!! 

Valentine coloured, heart-shaped, frozen paint!!!!

I poured paint into a silicone heart-shaped muffin tray and added a few drops of strawberry essence to each heart.

(panda paints worked beautifully and created a stunning marble effect)

I popped it into the freezer for a few hours.

After covering the Butterballs table with plastic, I squirted a huge, fluffy mound of shaving foam onto it.

I stored the can of shaving foam in the fridge so it was super cold...just perfect for our hot summer afternoons!

I dropped in a few frozen strawberry-scented paint hearts and left the Butterballs to it...

They loved squashing, rubbing and mixing the paint into the shaving foam.

Because of the heat, the paint-hearts melted really rapidly and the Butterballs ooohed and aaahed over the beautiful coloured shaving foam!!

The cool, fluffy, shaving foam felt, looked and smelt awesome!!

A feast for the senses!!!

The yummy strawberry scent had us all craving a bowl of fresh strawberries so after a quick shower, off to Woolies we went, on our next mission... strawberry hunting!! ;)

First Day at School

At last, my Butterballs are attending school.

For Tamlyn, this is her third year and she is now in Grade 00.

Today was Ethan's first day at school!!

Nervousness, stress, tears.... all mine!!!

I'm so glad that he didn't cry at all. 

But at the same time, my heart cries, cos it feels as though he doesn't need me anymore. 

I know it's so silly to feel this way but I just can't help it. 

Thank God they both have awesome teachers...puts my mind at ease!

Watching my brave little man holding his sisters hand and walking down the pathway to school, had tears streaming down my cheeks.

I'm so very proud of them both!

Valentine Lovebug Bash

What a perfect ending to an awesome weekend.

Today was our annual Valentine Party.

Yeah, I know Valentines Day is only in 5 days time, 

but in our our family, we celebrate a week in advance.

This party is dedicated to the kids.

Adult celebrations are reserved for later in the week ;) 

Any excuse for a party :))))

I set up a simple, fun dessert table,

chocolate cupcakes, raspberry jelly, chocolate cake pops, cola

and of course chip, marshmallows and popcorn.

Oh, and heart-shaped lollipops...

whats a Valentine party without lollipop hearts??

Even though the party was mainly for the kids, I set a special table for the adults too.

The kids had a blast playing in the splash pool and on the slide.
It was an absolute mission to drag them out of the pool!!!

Good times + great friends and family = awesome memories!!

We are so blessed to have such amazing people in our lives!

Thanks Bashni, for cooking a truely delicious potjie!
Certainly cleared my sinuses better than any medication :D

Here's to making many more awesome memories!!