Watermelon Tie Dye Beach Towels

I've been scared to death to attempt tie dye with my kids for a long time now.  And since I don't love the look (most of the time) there's never really been a reason to risk the stained hands, clothes, house, LIFE,  etc.

The other day, though, when I saw these adorable watermelon tea towels and realized that the same thing would work with beach towels, I knew it was time to take the plunge. 

When I turned to facebook to get some moral support and tips, my first piece of advice was a reassuring "DON'T!" from one commenter who does tie dye quite a bit but never with her kids.  Her warning further solidified in my mind that if we were going to attempt this project, I really needed to think it through ahead of time.

From this commenter and from other people I came up with a plan of attack.  And I'm happy to say...we survived!  Nothing was irreparably damaged, and I would even do tie dye again if there was another project I was excited about.  (Look for an upcoming post about doing tie dye with kids without losing your mind!)

But specifically, to do this project and make the cutest, juiciest beach towels on the beach, here's what you do:

What You Need:

• White, 100% cotton towel.  (we bought super cheap bath towels which work just fine for kids)
• 2 buckets that will hold at least a gallon of water each
• Some sort of stirring stick (one that you don't mind getting stained)
• Rubber bands
• Gloves (at least one pair for each person participating)
• Hot Water Dye Powder (you could use cold water dye, but the nice thing about hot water dye is that once it cools down, the drips don't stain as much) in two colors, green and either red or pink (or both if you'd like to layer it!)
• Black permanent marker (big size)
  

What You Do:

1.  Wet your towel. The wetter the towel the more blurry your dye lines will be. (I let the kids do this part with a hose in the back yard).

2.  Tie the towel in two places with rubber bands.  The space in between the rubber bands will be the white part of the watermelon.  I made my white space a little bigger than I should have because I was afraid the colors would bleed into the white space, but they really didn't.  

3.  Heat water to almost boiling.  Pour in dye powder and stir. (the kids helped me stir)

4.  Dip one end of the towel into the bucket of dye.  Dip as far as the rubber band or a little further if you'd like a faint white stripe there.  (the kids did this part)  Let it rest there for up to a half hour.  The longer the rest, the darker the color.

5. Squeeze out the dye (use gloves) and repeat with the other side in the other color.

6.  Allow to dry overnight. 

7.  Take off the rubber bands for the reveal!  (the fun part- the kids did this)

8.  Hose the towels down again and wash separately from anything else (the first time they will bleed a little bit) in the washing machine with cold water.  

9.  Once the towels are dry,  use a black permanent marker to draw on the seeds (the kids did this part)

Time to head to the beach!

Waterbeads and Marbles Fishing Game

Have your kids played with waterbeads yet?  They are really the neatest things.  You can find them in the floral department of craftstores or even Walmart or the Dollar Store.  Waterbeads start off as tiny seed-like balls and expand dramatically as they soak in water.

Kids love the feel of them in their hands, and lots of people have written about ideas for playing with them.  Teach Preschool has a very fun list with lots of inspiration.

For M and G's birthday we filled a large tub full of them, added some water and threw in several dozen glass and plastic marbles.  Since it was a rainbow fish birthday theme we thought it would be fun to turn it into a fishing game.  Each child took a turn with a blindfold and had a minute to pick out as many marbles as they could.

It was harder than it looked!  The plastic marbles floated, and the glass marbles sunk; so contestants were free to find the method of sorting that worked best for them.  Any waterbeads that ended up in the fishing bucket counted as negative points.

We had some competitive kids.  They played over and over, beating each other's scores for over an hour and a half.  (My poor husband was such a trooper in overseeing the game for that long!)

The next day, M, G, and I had bonus fun throwing the waterbeads at each other. We found them to be terrific ammunition as they are soft, bouncy, and wet.

Invitation to Blow Bubbles

This set-up was part of the girls' joint birthday party that we had the other day .  We filled the sandbox with homemade bubble solution (corn syrup helps the bubbles to not pop as easily).

The bubbles kept some of the kids busy while others played the one and only party game  (more about that later!)

Watercolor Painting on Sand Dollars

Did you know that painting with watercolors on sand dollars produces a really neat effect?  I didn't until the other day when my kids and I spent a morning painting.

Lately, I've tried to maximize our fun to clean-up ratio by saving  messy art for times when we have two or three full hours to devote to the fun.  So, the other day, I covered our kitchen table with a drop cloth and we spent the morning finding everything and anything our imaginations could think of to paint on and with.

That happened to include a couple of large sand dollars that I had saved in my craft cabinet, waiting for a good use. (Unfortunately, success stories in this department encourage me to keep my craft cabinet full to the BRIM)

The super absorbency of sand dollars means that they soak up the paint, and the color spreads across the shell like magic.  (If you do this, make sure you use lots of water with your paint.  A dry watercolor brush doesn't do much at all)

It's hard to improve upon God's creation.  The sand dollar was probably actually prettier in it's original pure white form, but I think these are lovely in their own way as well.

I got my sand dollars at a garage sale, but I discovered recently that you can also buy sand dollars on Amazon.

(that's my affiliate link)

Leftover Easter Egg Idea: The Pool!

When I saw the fun Easter egg sensory tub over at Et Tout Et De Rien the other day, I knew I was going to have to buy up some extra clearance Easter eggs this year.

Backyard Sprinkler Ideas

I don't know about you, but sometimes a trip to the pool can sound just plain exhausting. When days are hot and you want to save yourself a drive a backyard sprinkler can make a great substitute for swimming. Here are some creative ideas from around the web for making your backyard sprinkler extra fun.

1. Savy Mom explains the rules for Musical Freeze Sprinkler as well as some other fun ideas for a backyard sprinkler party.

2. Kristy Makes shows you how to make a homemade sprinkler out of a hose, a soda bottle, and duct tape.

3. Swinging through the sprinkler on a tire swing like they did over at The Unconventional Doctor's Wife is a great idea!

4. If you are feeling ambitious, you can make some pretty neat homemade sprinklers out of pvc pipe. This model would be pretty fun to ride through on a tricycle.

5. ok, so I haven't heard anyone talk about this as a toy, but Amazon sells a pretty highly rated motion sensor sprinker. It's intended purpose is for scaring away neighborhood pets, garden pests, but would your kids not have fun playing with something like that?

6. Make a fun homemade slide with a clear visqueen, a sprinkler, duct tape, grommets, and some dish soap.

Guest Post: Summer Fun Ideas for School Aged Children

If you are looking for a quick list of creative summer ideas for school-aged children check out my guest post at  Heidi's blog Free Fun in Austin.

Watermelon Popsicles

A little late for Memorial Day but still a refreshing summer treat.
I finely chopped a couple of slices of watermelon, spooned them into an icecube tray, and stuck in craft sticks.
Two hours later, we had an easy and healthy snack! (it is definitely less sweet than your average popsicle, which is good in one way, but may be a little disappointing if you are looking for something different)

Summer Gift for Grandparents

I've seen some really cute hand and footprint art; and so when I was trying to come up with a unique grandparent gift lately I started poking around the internet for some ideas along that line.  I found a fun blog called Hand and and Footprint art where I saw the author had made some cards with footprint flip flops.

Since my summer-loving mother in law was about to have a birthday, a hand-decorated beach tote seemed like just the thing.  I'm sure some of you crafty sorts could do a better job executing this concept, (I'm more of an impatient, imprecise idea person) but even doing it simply like I did turned out cute. 

The girls enjoyed having their footprints made (giggled like crazy because the paintbrush tickled ).

The canvas tote, fabric paint, and coordinating ribbon to line the bag with all came from Michaels.  For the pattern of the flip flops I traced around a pair of M's shoes and a pair of G's shoes, but when I filled in the pattern with paint, I enlarged them slightly (because footprints are slightly larger than feet).

I had the girls sit down and placed the bag on the ground for the print.  After each print, I washed the foot and filled in some of the spotty places on the footprint with a paintbrush.

Getting the straps on the flip flops to lay right turned out to be a little tricky.  I'm not going to include a tutorial on that because I think there's probably a better way than how I did it.  :-) 

Sprinkler Game

Do you have a little one that is just a little afraid of playing in the sprinkler? We had good success the other day with turning the whole thing into a game. I sang "Here we go Looby Loo" and when we reached the parts that said "You put your right hand in, you put your right hand out, you give your right hand a shake, shake, and turn yourself about," she put the hand, foot, etc into the sprinkler. She loved it!

Review: Island Adventure Water Table and Your Ideas for Summer Fun

It's certainly fun to have a new enticement for little ones to want to spend time outdoors; so when I was recently given the opportunity to review the Island Adventure Water Table made by Little Tikes, I jumped at the chance.

Here are the table's basic features:
- three bellows for the child to push
1. to make a water fountain spurt up
2. to cause a drawbridge to go up over the moat
3. to make the water in the moat circulate and push the toy boat forward

- a small waterwheel that turns when the child pours water into a spout
- a toy car and toy boat

Pros:
- Probably the best recommendation is that we've had it for weeks, and my daughter still asks to go play with it just about every day. She can play by herself, and play imaginatively and creatively.
- The water wheel works very well and is fascinating to toddlers
- The height is just right for 2-5 year- olds to play standing up

Cons:
- The bellows for the drawbridge and water circulating in the moat don't work very well at all. In fact, we have yet to succeed in getting the water from the bellows to push the drawbridge up- even once.
- The legs fall off every time every time the table is moved.
Bottom Line: If you are looking to buy something engaging and relatively inexpensive for summer fun, I think this is a good option, but I would suggest maybe letting your kids discover what the moving parts do on their own. If you get them excited ahead of time about the way it is advertised they may be in for a disappointment.

The water table is a fun choice, but I'd also love to hear about other summer toys that your families have bought or made or ideas you've come up with that don't require any props at all!

Twice the Fun Tuesday- Dish soap bottles

Old dish soap bottles (and other squeeze bottles) can be reused as fun pool or bath-time toys for young children!

Just be sure to wash the bottles out thoroughly first. (I distinctly remember squirting the bottles into my mouth as a child).

You can go here to check out more great tips for this week.

Be sure to come back next Tuesday, October 14 (and following weeks) when I will be hosting Twice the Fun Tuesday- complete with a Mr. Linky for you to share your own ideas for reusing old objects around the house. They can be simple tips, like reusing newspaper for cleaning mirrors- or more elaborate, such as beautiful or creative crafts you've made. It will be so fun to see your creative recycling!