Hanging Jellyfish from Education.com

We're 5 activities in on Education.com's Summer Activity Challenge. We still have 5 more to do in the next 27 days in order to complete the challenge.

Yesterday I decided to do the Hanging Jellyfish craft with the kids and while we were making it we were also watching Finding Nemo (perfect, no?). The kids really love coloring on paper plates, I don't know why they are better than just a pad of paper, but it works.

We did this craft a little different than how it says to do it online. We used crayons instead of paint, skipped the glitter (wonder why) and since I didn't have streamers we used tissue paper. The kids hated adding the streamers. Here's what it looked like:

For us pairing it with Finding Nemo worked out nicely because I could show them an animated version of the jellyfish.

For more info on the craft and on the Education.com Summer Activities Challenge check out their website.

Paper Plate Wind Spinners

A few days ago Jill (when she short napped me) and I did another one of the Education.com crafts for the Summer Activities Challenge. This time we made a Paper Plate Wind Spinner. Hands down this was the easiest craft, next to the tie dye baby wipes. Plus this was the least messy (so therefore my favorite).


All you need for this craft is a paper plate, scissors, markers/stickers/glitter/glue (for decorating) and string. I think Jill was more excited about getting to play with stickers than anything else. We talked about all the characters that were on the stickers that she put on the plate and then she colored around them.

I didn't cut the plate in front of her, I knew it would cause a meltdown, so while she was decorating another plate I cut the original into the spinner and this is what it looked like:

Cute, right?

There's only 34 days left in the challenge, which you can still join. All you have to do is complete 10 activities before the deadline to be entered to win the grand prize trip for 4 to Cancun.

Tie-dye baby wipes

Jilly and I did another of the Education.com crafts for the Summer Activities Challenge. Aaron decided to take a much longer nap than usual so I took the time to just hang with Jill. I knew she'd love this craft since she's all about markers lately (joy...). This actually worked out well with Aaron sleeping because he hates getting marker on his hands.

For the tie-dye baby wipe craft, all you have to do is wrap a baby wipe (dry it out a bit so it doesn't make as big of a mess) and tie it off, like you would if you were making a tie-dye t-shirt. Then you color the sections, untie and you have a super cute tie dyed project:

This totally did not hold Jill's attention that long, she was more into coloring on the giant pad of paper. Be sure to check out all of the activities on Education.com, they really are fun and if you finish 10 by the August 29th you are entered to win a trip for 4 to Cancun (hollar!).

Summer Activities Challenge

In the summer in Florida it's one of two things come afternoon time, super hot/humid or monsoon like conditions. There is no in-between. This has caused me to get creative, mainly to keep my own sanity, which really is questionable.

I found a great site called Education.com that does projects for preschoolers and it's anything from math to arts and crafts. We've tried two of their activities and are now participating in their summer challenge. The challenge is to complete 10 activities on Education.com by August 29th. It helps promote continued learning throughout the summer, and if you finish all ten you are entered to win a trip to Cancun, so hollar!

We've completed two of the 10 activities. The first one we did was their baked crayon art. I have a ton of broken crayons around this house, so this gave me something to do with them other than throwing them out. The kids loved this activity and I cannot wait to get frames for it.


The second activity we did was the egg carton caterpillar. Somehow I managed to forget to take a photo of the finished product. They say to use cardboard cartons that way the kids can play with them afterward, but I buy cheap eggs, therefore they're in Styrofoam cartons.


Jill was all about painting the cartons, she loves painting. Aaron could not get past the fact that he had to wear his smock. I mean really shame on me for trying to protect his white t-shirt. Silly mommy.

I can't wait to see what other activities we do, they have a bunch for 4th of July, so we definitely have to try one of those. If you have a chance, check them out, there really are a ton of activities for everyone from preschool to high school.