The Naked Egg Experiment - Guest Post

Samantha Williams from The Day Well Spent is back with an amazing, easy, two-ingredient, one-step experiment that kids love!

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The Naked Egg experiment. I found this a few days ago via Pinterest and it certainly caught my eye. I went to the website it was pinned from and watched the video, then I showed the video to Jack and we both decided this was something we had to try. So Saturday afternoon we gathered our supplies and got to it.

Guys this was so much fun. Before we started we happened to mention to grandma what we were going to do and she thought it was so cool that she also did her own naked egg experiment. I think Jack had as much fun watching her bounce her egg as he did his own! This is such an easy and incredibly fun activity that requires basic ingredients most already have in their home. I highly recommend giving it a try yourself!

All you need: An egg, a jar and vinegar.

The experiment takes 12-24 hours so I took a picture every time I noticed a change in the egg.

      

and then finally it was done! Squishy, squishy!

Of course, they will still...break.

If you want to try this yourself, check out this page for all you need to know! how to make a naked egg!

 

Potato Stamps: Make an Easy Fall Banner - Contributor Post

Today, I've got an amazing craft from Samantha over at A Day Well Spent. A great way to use potatoes and a great way to spend an afternoon!

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It doesn't quite feel like fall here just yet, but it is September, the kids are back in school and that is a good enough reason for me, to start fall crafting.

I have always wanted to give potato stamps a try, and I thought Ava would really enjoy them as well so we gathered the materials to make a fall leaf banner using potato stamps.

Yes, she was trying to grab the knife, you have to watch out for Ava. ;)

What you need:

a large potato

a knife

assorted leaves

pencil

paint 

paintbrushes

muslin 

To create the stamps cut in half your large potato. Trace your leaf onto the potato. Once you have traced the leaf you can go ahead and cut out around the leaf. The idea is to have the traced leaf sticking out of the potato, like so:

potato stamps!

 Next step is to paint! Once you have paint on your stamp, lay it flat on the muslin and press down hard. Carefully life straight up so you don't smudge the paint.

this is my favorite leaf, painted by Ava.

After you are done painting, you can hang up your muslin to dry. Once dry, you can then cut out the individual leaf prints and string them up. Then hang your banner up in a spot where you can admire your work for all of fall. :)

Erupting Colors - Contributor Post

Today, Samantha Williams, who now blogs over at The Day Well Spent, gives us a tutorial on how to make the most beautiful paintings ever.

Erupting colors.

What you need:
a pan with edges (a cake or pie pan works well)
food coloring
milk (we used whole milk, my cousin used 1% and the results were not as good)
dish detergent (I recommend basic blue dawn)

What you need to do:

1. Pour milk into the cake pan until the bottom is covered. 

2 Sprinkle several drops of food coloring on the milk.

3. Add a few drops of dishwashing detergent in the centers of the largest drops of coloring. 

4. Watch the resulting eruption of colors. 

5. If erupting slows down, try adding more food coloring and then more detergent. If the experiment wont work after a while, begin again from clean milk and add new drops of color and detergent.

6. When experiment is complete, pan washes easily in warm water. 

7. Take lots of pictures because the results seriously look like art.

To take it a step further, we then laid paper on top of the milk to see if we could transfer the images.

This is the result:

Rice Painting - Contributor Post

Do you have vinegar, rice and food coloring? Then you have an afternoon of entertainment! Samantha from Heart-shaped Leaves gives a tutorial that even I can follow!

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A while ago, a friend of mine passed on a link to a tutorial for colored rice and I was intrigued. So I bought the necessary ingredients (rice, vinegar and food coloring) and set Jack up at the table. We poured I think it was 2 tbsps of vinegar into four small bowls and then added 4 drops of food coloring. Then we added 1 tbsp of rice and let it soak.

After soaking we drained the rice and sat that out to let it dry.

After it had dried we went in search of the glue only to be unable to find it. This drove me crazy, but I still forget to buy any when I went to the store. Fast forward to later that week when I accidentally found the glue in the box where I looked earlier. I still haven't found the glue stick though.

So I set Jack back up at the table, this time with heavy paper (I used the back side of some watercolor paper), the rice, glue and a paintbrush. The only suggestions I gave him were to keep in mind that lots of glue meant longer drying times and that he couldn't glue the paintbrush to the paper. 

and the finished product

Check out more of her amazing crafts for kids on Heart-shaped Leaves!


 

Tape Painting - Contributor Post

Contributor Samantha has a great idea for revamping your painting activities! To see more creative wonders, make sure you visit Heart Shaped Leaves!

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The other day we tried something a little different when we were painting. I had the kids stick regular scotch tape to their canvases and then paint over them. The result was pretty neat, and definitely something we are going to try again. 

Step one: stick tape to canvas. (I originally wanted to use masking tape because I think it might peel off the canvas better, but scotch tape worked just fine. You may want to use masking tape if you are using paper though.)

 Step two: Paint over tape.

Step three: Once the paint is dry, you can then peel the tape off and hang up your masterpiece!

Jack's

Ava's

 

A Barefoot (Books!) Summer - Guest Blog

Samantha Williams is a talented cook, wonderful mother and avid reader. She combines all three every day and was gracious enough to write a post for me highlighting her latest project: Barefoot Books. She blogs her magnificent meals over at Heartshaped Leaves.

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First I want to offer a huge thank you to Darlena for giving me the opportunity to spread the word about Barefoot Books.

Barefoot Books is an amazing company that offers books to children that inspire creativity, encourage imagination and foster a love of the earth and diversity. Plus they do all that without relying on mainstream characters, which to me is a huge plus. The books are incredibly well illustrated and even more so they are well written.

Barefoot Books operates on five core values: Imagine, Explore, Create, Connect, Give Back.

Imagine
We offer books that are an authentic alternative to the commercialization of childhood. We encourage children to make time for make-believe, let their imaginations run wild and free, while never forgetting that childhood is a time for fun.

Explore
We help children explore other cultures, our planet, and themselves, providing them with ways to follow their imaginations on extraordinary journeys, both inner and outer.

Create
We believe that books with beautiful art and meaningful stories respect the innate wisdom of children and have the power to nourish the creative spark in everyone.

Connect
We are committed to using story to create deep and lasting connections—whether it’s a child and parent connecting over a book; a child connecting to the universal wisdom of other cultures; or a broad network of people connecting through shared values and the desire to help children become happy, engaged members of a global community.

Give Back
We support organizations that share our goals of global understanding, empowering children through art and story, and protecting and preserving the earth for future generations.

The month of July is an especially good month to support Barefoot Books. Our summer sale starts on July 15th and runs until August 15th. Our summer sale covers bestsellers and limited collectibles.
Also for every Bear's Birthday book purchased between July 1st and July 31st, Barefoot Books will donate a new book to the charity Birthday Wishes. Birthday Wishes brings birthday parties to homeless children, founded on the belief that everyone should have a birthday celebration.

I personally love the books because they really do get my son excited about reading. As soon as he sees me pull up the Barefoot Books website, he is in my lap telling me which book he wants. Not to mention he loves getting the books in the mail too, I mean what little kid doesn't like receiving mail?

But Barefoot Books isn't all books, we also offer puppets, puzzles, silk dress up skirts, and activity cards, there really is something to be found for everyone.

A few of our favorites are:

I dreamt I was a Dinosaur

 Life on Earth matching game

Yoga Pretzels

I do hope you will at least take a moment to browse our fantastic selection of books by visiting my marketplace: Barefoot Books.


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I am Samantha, a 26 year old stay at home mom to a three year old named Jack. I am married to the Army, I mean my husband serves in the Army. Our family is expecting a little girl around July 11th and we are all very excited. Well I am excited, I think the others are too. ;)

Let's see, what else, if you visit my blog you will find posts about food and food photography, I like cooking and taking pictures of the food I make. I also believe that reading is something every child should experience from an early age, this is why I joined Barefoot Books as an ambassador. and why I am now writing a mini bio about myself for this guest blog spot about Barefoot Books, enjoy!