(for your next party!)

Photo from Pinterest.

What a cute cute idea for kids!  A water balloon pinata for those sweltering days of summer.

From Apartment Therapy,

Instead of a traditional pinata that involves lots of candy, make large water balloon pinatas. Just carefully string up large balloons filled with water and then let kids take turns swatting at them on a hot day. The inevitable downpour of cool water will have all the kids squealing with delight.

My kids would love this!

I spent many happy hours in our vegetable garden growing up as a child of the 1960′s.  We’d help pull weeds sometimes, but mostly we’d hide behind the rows of green bean plants and sneak and occasional cucumber or tomato. Nothing tastes as good as vegetables eaten fresh from the garden.

It would have been amazing as a kid to have had a teepee to play in while in the garden.  Here’s how you can make one from e-info pages. The site does not allow copying text, but it’s pretty simple.  Just click through to read.  Here’s what it looks like (from Pinterest).

As a child, as a teenager, and as an adult, I have always loved cloud watching.  I used to look for dragons, pirate ships, and bears. As an adult I keep my eyes open for angels floating in the sky. Watching clouds is a great way to spend time with your kids and children of all ages can enjoy it!

Here are the clouds at my house today.

What do you see here?  I see a seal with a ball on its nose.

I was looking up how to make glowing bubbles and found this cute idea for kids.  A glow bath!

From Dabbler Mom,

Little C usually loves bath time, but sometimes he’s too busy with his important play duties to be bothered.  When he was refusing bath time last night, my resourceful husband went into our supply of glow-sticks.  … He broke them to turn on and through them in the tub with the lights turned out. 

So cute!

By the way, you can make glowing bubbles simply by adding glow stick liquid to bottle of bubbles…

Photo from Betty Crocker.

When yelling, “Pick up your toys!” and “Clean your room!” just don’t quite work for little children on a rainy day, perhaps you need to rethink the activities you have planned to fill the hours.

Six Sisters Stuff have come up with 101 fun, easy and cheap indoor activities for kids.  For example,

40. Make lacing cards with their favorite cereal boxes.
44. Make a necklace with yarn, beads or Fruit Loops.
45. Have a talent show.
46. Cut paper snowflakes.
56. Manicures.
57. Take silly pictures and e-mail them to Dad/Mom at work or other relatives.

There are (obviously) at least 95 more things to do, so go have some fun with your kids!

Unfortunately my decorating ability is limited. When we have a birthday at my house, I’m lucky to put up streamers and even when I do, I twist them too tightly so the fold together instead of gently spiraling.  However, I might even be able to manage the genius that is The Pleated Poppoy and her art party,

i wanted everything to be really bright and colorful, so we went with all the colors of the rainbow!
i also needed to be very economical since we also hired an art teacher for the party, so the decorations were done on the cheap.

The balloons are amazing! The table is fabulous! Even the colorful paper chain is cute.  Kudos to the art party decorations!

Photo by Eileen Renger Kundin from etsy.

You might find your blood pressure elevated with this homemade edible glitter concoction, but it’s sure to be nontoxic for parents who worry about their children’s safety.  I wonder where you find gold and silver food coloring, though.

From PlanetPals.com,

Tools needed for this project

Baking Pan
Tin Foil
1/4 cup of salt
1/2 teaspoon of food coloring
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees.

Directions:

Mix 1/4 cup of salt with a 1/2 teaspoon of food coloring in a small bowl until the salt is uniformly colored.
Spread the mixture out in an even layer on a foil-lined baking sheet.
Bake in the oven for ten minutes. Allow your homemade glitter to cool before using it.

NOTE:

You may also store it in an air tight container for several months.
This glitter can be used for almost any type of project and may even be mixed with glue for special crafts.

Photo by adore more.