Bird Nesting Craft

Last Spring we had a pair of birds that built their nest and raised their three youngsters in a floral arrangement that I had hanging on my front door. This year the floral arrangement isn't hanging on the door but what appears to be the same proud birdie parents have built their nest just outside our living room window (at perfect eye level) in a climbing rose vine.

It is very kind of Mother Nature to share this amazing lesson of devoted parenting and the nature of bird families to my grandchildren and I again this year. Last time we kept a spy cam on the nest so that we could enjoy a live feed on my computer screen anytime the grands wanted to watch the parents feeding and caring for their young. It was also fun to watch how quickly the babies grow! We even caught a glimpse of the babies flying from the nest.

This brings me to the Bird Nesting Craft that I created a few months ago. I now have proof that this bird nesting craft is appreciated and used by the birds! As I peeked into the nest above I saw multiple pieces of yarn, string, fabric strips, and shreds of batting tucked into the nesting materials.  So where did those supplies come from you ask?

It was me! I have watched the bird nesting supplies slowly disappear from this bird nesting craft so it was way fun to learn that they had actually gone to the birds! This would be a super fun and easy project to do with the kids. 

To make your own Bird Nesting Craft you could use:

String, yarn, twine, ribbon, thin strips of fabric, netting, and scraps of batting.

Cut the pieces into varied lengths and sizes.

I used some old wire cooling racks for the frame.

I used pipe cleaners to secure the racks together at the bottom.

You could use whatever you have on hand that would offer an

open frame work.

I loosely mixed up the variety of the scraps.

Then I loosely stuffed them into the frame. I used pipe cleaners

to wire the tops of the frame together.

Hang the finished "gift to nature" in a tree using twine or wire.

Maybe one day you will get a chance to find a nest

where your supplies have been used too. 

If not, you can be sure that your contribution to nature has gone

to two hard working parents and their hungry brood of babies!

Grandma Camp 2012

I proved to myself this year that you don't have to work on preparing Grandma Camp the entire year! It has been a year of big changes for me. My husband retired nine months ago as in he is home everyday! That is a big adjustment to a 30 plus year stay at home wife and mom. It has been one year since my mother-in-law was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and already seven months since she moved into our home full time. My youngest adult child moved back home a year ago too. So, my year of transition from being a stay at home wife and empty nester with a full time working husband has evolved into a full nest, added responsibilities in caring for my mother in law, little privacy, little alone time, thermostat challenges, TV remote sacrifices, and probably the hardest hit being far less time for my personal creativity time to bring me the joy that it once did.

Needless to say Grandma Camp was pulled together very differently this year and I did not began my camp with the 100% over the top organization that I usually do. But, guess what? If needed you can pull Grandma Camp together in two days and it seems everyone still has just as much fun!

Sadly, this year four of my grandchildren were unable to attend. Oh, how I missed them. So this year I had just six little campers and all boys! Another big change is that we moved the camp to the mountains this year!  My adult children graciously HELPED me pull grandma camp off this time.  We all (parents and kids) headed to our mountain cabin for the Memorial Day weekend.  We extended our stay to include grandma camp. The kids were okay with mom and dad being there but they were very concerned about where they would be during grandma camp and where they were going to sleep to no intrude on our special time together. Traditionally, it is no parents allowed. Seems to be a tradition the kids really like!

To kick off the camp we all (as in parents and grands) headed into town for a pizza lunch and arcade games.

Following lunch the moms and dads stayed in town for the

day to play and Papa and I loaded up our campers and headed

back to the cabin for Grandma Camp!

We had six campers between the ages of 2-11.

Once we arrived back to the cabin we all worked together

to set up the tables and chairs we needed.

Our first activity was talking about keeping a journal.

I then gave them each a camp journal to

record when and where our camp was, who was there, what we did,

how they felt, and their favorite things about grandma camp.

They were given time following each activity to

write or color in their camp journals.

Next up.... Since slacking grandma didn't get personalized

water bottle labels created before camp the kids made their own.

Each child was given a strip of card stock that would

cover the store bought label with a 1/2" overlap.

Each child decorated their labels using colored pencils

and they wrote their names on them. Papa used clear packing

tape (with the kids help) to attach the labels and to waterproof them

 to their camp issued water bottles.

Funny thing....

No one seemed to notice that Grandma Camp

had been pulled together in just two days!

What's next on the agenda?

Marshmallow Launcher

I saw this idea on Pinterest the other day and I decided to put it to the test. I was on my way out the door for a weekend at the mountain cabin when I remembered the idea. I made up a quick trial one in my kitchen. When it was time to launch I remembered that I didn't have any of the mini marshmallows on hand. Instead, I tore off a corner of a large fresh marshmallow and rolled it into a ball. I loaded it into the launcher and launched. The sticky ball of sugar flew out of it at lighting speed and has yet to be found. The test was a complete success with the exception of the missing sticky ball of ammo still being somewhere in my kitchen.

I have tweaked the idea since trying it out with the children (my focus group) at the cabin. The original idea was to use regular disposable plastic cups, a balloon, and marshmallows.

Although we did use the regular plastic cups because that is all we had we decided that a heavier duty cup would work better. The kids (and the adults) still had a great time with the launchers.

I came back home to my "test kitchen" to design a new and improved model of the marshmallow launcher. My results: A heavier cup works much better, like the kiddie drink cups you get at restaurants.

To make:

Cut the bottom out of a plastic cup, smooth any rough edges.

Tie a knot in the balloon.

Snip off the top edge of the balloon with scissors.

Stretch the open end of the balloon over the uncut end of the cup, try to center the balloon knot.

What was the top of your cup is now the bottom of your launcher.

That's it!

Load a mini marshmallow into the center of the launcher.

Find your target.

Pull back on the knot of the balloon.

and, Launch!

This is a great project for outdoor play or to use as an idea for an organized and controlled party game. Turning the kids loose with marshmallows on a hot summer day might not be so good for the black top, sidewalks, driveways, patios, and the bottoms of shoes!

Pinterest has my Interest!

Have you checked out the new Pinterest website? Awesome.  I have been compiling tons of grandma ideas there. Save yourself some time and check out my creative grand parenting board. Visit my other boards while you are there too. I have a Grandkids Christmas Day Camp board...... so much fun!!! Great Fall holiday board too. You can follow me if you like so you don't miss out on any of my creative finds! Best of all. It's free.

Campfire Cupcake

Campfire Cupcakes

Toooooooooooo Cute!

Check out the very easy how-to instructions here.

 I am filing this very creative idea away for next years Grandma Camp.

Kids would love making these anytime. How about 

taking some baked cupcakes and all of the decorating 

fixin's on your next family camping trip?

Making these WITH the ones you love

will surely warm hearts!

Eat, Sleep, This, and That.

Grandma Camp 2011

Continues... If you are interested in all grandma camp ideas hit "Top Secret" link on the side bar.

Grandma Camp is all about eating, sleeping, playing, and a bit of learning too. My goal through doing these things together is to build bonds and lasting memories between the generations and between the cousins.

Eating

When you have nine kids to feed it takes some planning. I always plan a gathering snack when the kids arrive to an activity. That way everyone can top off their tummies and be on the same eating schedule.

At grandma camp we start with a gathering snack of usually crackers and cheese or crackers and fruit.

Dinner in the past has always been foil dinners that the kids put together themselves and they bake while we set up camp. This year we made Top Secret pockets..... a pizza hot pocket of sorts but the goal was to put the fillings in and seal it up without anyone seeing to keep what was inside a secret.

We ate our meals outdoors to save on indoor clean up!

Dinner held us until we shared an evening snack. In years past we have roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. This year I kept it simple and we had ice cream sandwiches.

Breakfast was scrambled eggs, ham, juice, and silver dollar pancakes with dipping syrup. We had some hungry campers.

Between breakfast and lunch we had another snack.

Cantaloupe, Whales,

and lots of conversation between the cousins!

(love it)

Lunch was sack lunches that we took 

outdoors to eat as a picnic.

Sandwich, chips, drink box, and cookies.

Sleeping

Climbing into the tent with grandma and Papa and the cousins

is always a very exciting time for the kids.

I LOVE sharing in the excitement with them.

My youngest campers made their beds next to each other.

So cute!

Our morning was early with the campers 

being excited about getting on with the day.

We were wall to wall campers!

Good Morning Campers!

This

The older campers help the little campers when needed.

And That

This just might be my favorite picture from this year's camp.

Despite still being in my nightgown and my hair not done

for the day can you see how they are holding to my

every word?

I love my little campers!

One more thing...

Here you will see why some kind of camp tote is a must.

They were filled to the brim when it was time to go home.

Bomb Search Activity

I know, I know it is a bit strange to encourage your grandchildren to 

make bombs. but boy or boy did we have fun doing just that.

We first talked about ways that bombs can be used for good.

My little recruits came up with some terrific ideas.

In my defense, I was running a 

Top Secret Agent Training Camp!

Secret agents need to know how to use bombs for good,

how to search for them, and most importantly how to defuse them.

Our bombs however were going to be used for a training mission.

The Training Mission: A Bomb Search

To have a bomb search we first needed some bombs.

Here are the supplies we used: 

A variety of tin cans, toilet paper rolls, red and black

 construction paper, red string, black electrical tape,

scissors, glue stick, and bomb making clip art!

The kids were able to use the resources however they liked.

Some were pretty advanced.

Grandma's Bomb Making Ideas

On the open end of the can stretch two pieces of electrical tape across the center of the can. Allow enough tape length to come down the sides of the can a bit.

Cut a fuse about 12" long, I used a piece of dollar store rope in red, untwisting it and only using one strand as the fuse. Stick the fuse between the two pieces of electrical tape on the can so that you have about an inch or so of fuse on the under side. Stick the fuse to the sticky side of the tape then cut another piece of electrical tape and sandwich the fuse between the underside of the top and the new piece of tape.

Now you are ready to cover the entire open end of the can with black electrical tape. Dollar store electrical tape works great. They are like five rolls for a buck! I had purchased enough so that each child had their own roll of tape.

Cut a piece of construction paper in black or red to fit the can between the two rims. Having a paper cutter on hand helps to get nice straight cuts. Allow a little extra length so that you can wrap it around the can with a bit of an overlap. Glue your first edge to the can, wrap around, overlap and glue the end in place.

Now you are ready to decorate the bomb. We used computer generated clip art such as timers, dynamite sticks, and warning signs.

To finish off the top we cut a 1" circle of black construction paper, punched a hole in the center, slid it down over the fuse and glued it to the top of the can.

With nine bomb makers we ended up with dozens of bombs. Now we were ready to have our bomb search.

Bomb Search Activity options: Like an Easter egg hunt and hide them over and over. Or, let the kids help hide the bombs, take turns letting the children choose one bomb and marking it as the "It" bomb. The kids search leaving the bombs in place unless it is the "it" bomb.  Or, use a timer and the goal is to find the bomb the "it" bomb or all of the bombs before the timer goes BOOM!

This proved to be one more way that bombs could be used for good and a for a whole lot of fun.

Grandma Camp Spy Gear

Spy Gear box pictured bottom left corner.

Last September I was already watching for fun finds for my 2011 grandma camp when I came across clearance priced latching pencil boxes in a smokey gray color. I knew immediately what I was going to use them for. I picked up ten of them for waaaaay cheap. They were going to become Grandma Camp Spy Gear Boxes for our Top Secret Camp.

I  had already filled the boxes with spy gear and everyone was waaaaaay into this little camp give-away. We discussed each item in the box and how we could use it when doing secret agent work. They were all thinking like secret agents and they came up with some highly classified ideas.

A camera could be used to capture crime scenes, evidence, and to document sightings of the bad guy.

The kits had a sterile evidence container, gloves, tweezers, a pad of paper, a pen, a magnifying glass, a dusting brush, a large clip for safely picking up toxic items, chalk, a baggie, cotton swabs, a file, and a plastic cap.

We had to be ready for those bio-hazardous missions too you know!

Decking out the boxes:

Once our discussion was over we crafted to make a topper for the box.

(Pictured above)

White card stock was cut to cover the top of the box.

Red card stock was cut 1" smaller to leave a 1/2" band of white showing.

Top that with black card stock cut 1" smaller.

I printed out on white car stock:

TOP SECRET SPY GEAR

and some small clip art keyboards.

(I love to add the bling!)

Center the wording and the clip art and glue in place using a glue stick.

I covered the entire topper in clear packing tape to make it more durable.

Hot glue the topper to the box.

For extra security I had printed padlock graphics (1" in size).

I covered both sides of the printed copy in clear packing tape to make it more durable.

The kids cut out the locks and I hot glued them to the latch. 

I  had other graphic print-outs that they could decorate their boxes with.

The agents added their agent number to the side of the box 

using black and silver number stickers.

To our Spy Gear boxes we added our secret agent badges that we had made.

Our passports.

The Top Secret ID badges are stored with the spy gear between missions.

The agents were also issued small flashlights on the 

stake out that they added to their spy gear boxes.

Playing pretend with my grandchildren is waaaaaay  fun!

If you are interested in this grandma camp theme keep scrolling through the posts. I have several different posts where I share my Top Secret ideas. It is taking me forever to get it all posted. I have no idea how we got so much packed into our time together.

Top Secret ID Badges

Grandma Camp 2011 

Continued...

I was thrilled to find these little gadgets on clearance back in February. Check out the past post that describes the "moment" and you will see just how crazy in love I am with my grandma camp finds!

My son, a professional web developer and graphic designer designed our personalized ID Badges for our Top Secret Grandma Camp. We had taken Papa's Fedora hat and a black t-shirt to a family gathering the week before. Each child took a turn putting on the hat and shirt and having their Secret Agent ID picture taken.

My son also designed our grandma camp logo for us. So cute! The kids were thrilled with their ID badges, the lanyards, and the retractable thingy really got me some extra brownie points with the kids.

If you are ever in need of web development, design work, or video services my son does excellent work. He does it all electronically so he can serve your needs regardless of where you live. He has a great portfolio of print, web development, and video services on his website. And, the best of all..... he is quick and fairly priced. Check out his website today!

The Stake Out

Grandma Camp 2011 Continued:

What would a top secret grandma camp be without a stake out for her secret agents. It is a tradition that we sleep outdoors in a tent at the camp out. When it was time for bed everyone climbed into the tent and got into their sleeping bags. That is, everyone but Papa. I told the kids that he was taking a shower.

Wouldn't you know it..... When we were all settled in for the night we received a highly classified delivery.  This was not just going to be a sleepover for the agents, it was going to be a stake out! We received word that a fugitive had been seen in the area and we were needed to help catch him. We were given information that would lead us to the bad guy.

The tent turned silent as I read the details.

1. This individual was wanted for a crime spree of helping himself to goodies and treats across the globe.

2. He had hit ice cream trucks, donut shops, candy shoppes, bakeries, vending machines, cookie factories, kids lunch boxes, and even peoples pantries!

3. This guy had a real sweet tooth. In fact, he only ate sweets.

4. It was also known that he never brushed his teeth and that he had a mouth full of rotten teeth.

5. He had an imaginary friend that he talked to.

6. He littered the ground with his wrappers and his extra goodies.

6. He liked to brag about all of the goodies he had taken.

7. He was about 6' tall, brown hair, and he wore a size 9 shoe.

As soon as we finished reading the information we heard something outside our tent. It sounded like candy being unwrapped. Then we heard it. A really weird voice talking about the goodies he was eating. He started bragging about all of the donuts he had taken recently. He even said; "I don't like kids!" and how he loves to take the goodies out of their lunch boxes and eat them himself. We sat silent in the tent listening for the clues.

As soon as we thought he was gone two of the kids quietly unzipped the tent and peeked outside.

Our lookouts said that it appeared that he was gone so we decided to go out and look for evidence. We took our flashlights. Sure enough there was candy wrappers all over the ground, unwanted goodies thrown down, and cookie crumbs on the sidewalk. The trail of litter and goodies led us to chocolate footsteps in the driveway.

When we were trying to figure out what size of shoes those footsteps were from Papa came out of the house to see what was going on. They all started telling him what had happened.  Once he had everyone's attention Papa smiled at them and guess what? His mouth was full of rotten teeth. All of the kids screamed and ran.

The parents report that the stake out was the highlight of the camp out and the words "I don't like kids!" are going to be long remembered.

Top Secret Messages

Grandma Camp 2011 

continued:

The agents mission was to create code words in disappearing ink.

Supplies needed:

unbleached paper 

(I used cut up sheets of packing paper)

lemon juice

Q-tips

small dishes for lemon juice

Write out the word or message using a Q-tip dipped in lemon juice.

The kids each made a few of them.

Once they are done set them aside to dry completely.

The message or code word disappears as it dries.

To make the word reappear hold the paper over a candle flame.

The lemon juice darkens to reveal the secret message.

Adult supervision required.

We also did a scratch off secret message that I did not get pictures of.

To make a scratch off message you will need:

card stock

clear tape (I used packing tape)

liquid detergent

metallic acrylic paint

Q-tips

Cut the card stock into business card size pieces.

Draw a square in the middle of the card.

Write a word or message within the square.

Cover the square with a piece of clear tape.

Mix 2 parts liquid detergent and

one part metallic paint.

(I would suggest mixing the paint mixture up a few hours ahead of time to allow it to

thicken a bit for better coverage, stirring occasionally.)

Use a Q-tip and apply the mixture over the entire square.

Kind of glob the paint mixture on to cover.

Keep level and set aside to dry overnight.

Scratch off the painted area with a coin

to reveal the secret message.

Mission: To Locate a "Wanted" Fugitive

Grandma Camp 2011 Continued: 

Links to past posts.

One of the decorations that helped transform grandma's house 

into a Secret Agent Training Camp was a wanted poster.

I cut four fun pictures from magazines, I gave the pretend fugitives 

names, and placed them on a "Wanted" poster.

We had the G.Q. Man, Hula Hula, 

The Underwear Bandit, and the Cat's Meow.

The agents were told that they needed to memorize

 the faces and names of these individuals.

On day two of the camp it was time for the mission.

One of the fugitives was thought to be in the area.

Papa had secretly taken the picture of the G.Q. Man and placed it

on a block wall quite some distance from camp.

Each child had a turn to focus and scan the 

wall in search of the fugitive using a scope.

Once they found and recognized the fugitive they 

 whispered the name into Papa's ear.

Mission Accomplished!

Some of our top recruits continued to scope out the

nearby mountains, trees, and rooftops!

The kids only had one complaint about this activity.

They wanted to use the scopes to find the other

three wanted fugitives too.

Papa and I just might have to surprise them with a 

follow up activity one of these days!

Top Secret Alias Activity

Grandma Camp 2011 

Continued...

Links to all previous camp posts can be found here.

Every secret agent needs an alias. This activity was an opportunity to play pretend on top of playing pretend! As with all of our activities it was announced as a special mission. The mission papers arrived each time in a sealed Top Secret cylinder. Once the missions were complete the mission papers were put in a file that read "Mission Accomplished".

This mission read: Report to the Top Secret File Room to create an "alias" for your undercover missions. The invites had told them to come to camp with an alias name chosen. They were all prepared. We started out this activity by filling out a top secret alias profile worksheet for their file.

It asked for: Agent's name, Agent number. Alias birthdate, age, marriage status, citizenship, other alias's they have had, what countries they have traveled to, what languages they speak, occupation, and where they lived. Once the worksheets were complete and added to their files it was time for the arts and crafts part of the project.

Name Plate: We used old magazines to find and cut out the letters in their alias names. We used pieces of vinyl fencing scraps for the name plate base. The alias names were glued to a band of red construction paper. See photo. 

Lay it all out before gluing anything.

Head must be even with the  bottom or a little higher.

This project is meant to sit on a desk.

The head cutouts are from Michael's.

They come in a multipack for a very fair price.

Supplies needed:

Some kind of base, head cutouts, facial stickers (if desired), 

colored pencils, construction paper, variety of yarns,

 glue stick, scissors, old magazines,

and some top secret imaginations!