Family Fun Friday- Water Bottle Bubble Blower- Just right for Earth Day

Looking for an Earth Day Craft? Trying to find a fun, family activity for your next camping trip that's also frugal, and uses recycled materials? Well, this fits the bill! Make a water bottle bubble blower!

You will need:
bubble solution
an empty water bottle
an old sock
scissors

Cut the bottom off an empty water bottle. Insert the cut off end into a sock (you may need to trim the scok first, depending on the size.) Remove the lid, dip the sock into the bubble solution, and blow!
Presto- magical bubble snakes!

The best thing about this craft is that pretty much anyone will have water bottles and socks while camping. When the kiddos get bored (HOW does that happen while kids are camping? I mean, seriously, they're outside! Sticks, mud, bugs, nature.... ), grab some dish soap if you don't have bubble solution, and blow away! (It's okay! Dish soap actually makes way more bubbles than regular bubble solution, and I know you've got that in your camping supplies!)

Happy bubble blowing!

(Almost) Guaranteed Method to Stop Kids from Fighting: The We Will Get Along Shirt

The "We Will Get Along Shirt"

I'm hoping you, dear readers, were blessed with children who love one another all the time and never, ever fuss, fight, or argue.

If you are that fortunate, do not read any farther! Really! I'm warning you... you really don't want to know what some poor parents have to do to get their offspring to get along!

Now, I'm assuming if you're still here, you have children, like my own darlings (who I wouldn't trade for anything in the world), who sometimes have just a small amount of trouble getting along together. Maybe they argue over toys, or video games, or the poor, unfortunate cat who gets pulled between two wrestling kids like a Stretch Armstrong. Perhaps the little angels occasionally hit, kick, bite, pinch, tussle, pull hair, or, ahem, flatulate on one another.

If you're like this mama, eventually Enough. Is. Enough. Sometimes, you just can't take one more minute of the children that you produced trying to maim one another. Sometimes you want to get a fork.

The following solution is rather drastic. It may shock you. It's a little unconventional. However, I can attest that is does work.

You will need... one adult size T-shirt you don't mind ruining upcycling (mine is adult XL, but I bet L would work too!)
                         Scissors
                         Permanent Markers  (or fabric markers, or puff paint if you're trying to be all creative!)
                         2 or more arguing siblings
                         Camera

1. Use the scissors to enlarge the neck of the Tshirt to accommodate 2 heads.
2. Use your markers to write "The I will get along shirt", or whatever text you choose.
3. Insert two unwilling children. Inform them of the length of time they must wear the shirt. If they fuss, the time is lengthened!
4. Take a picture to mark the moment for posterity. If you're evil like me, part of the punishment is posting said photo on Facebook! Bwa-haha!

Trust me-- after a time or two of wearing "The Shirt", the mere threat of it will straighten any arguing kiddos right back up!

And, it takes up such little space, you can easily toss it into the camper!

The Coolest Last Minute Halloween Costume EVER - Glow Stick Man

My little man (you know, the one that's not so little anymore, the one who was simply too cool to trick or treat this year) decided TODAY that he wanted to trick or treat tonight after all!

So, a-Googling I went. There's a lot of last minute costume ideas out there, but not a lot of cool ones. Yeah, he could be a hobo or a football player, but... Eeh.
I stumbled across this idea, which,of
course you can purchase online...but A, that's more than I wanted to spend, and B, uh, hello, last minute?
It's called a Glow man (we're PC here... Or Woman)! And OMG, how easy ! All you need is black pants, shirt, stocking cap, and glow sticks.

I hot glued the ends and middle of the glow sticks to the shirt and pants in a stick man design. Be sure to do front and back so you can see it from both sides. Then I had him put the cap on and made a circle out of three glow sticks and hot glued the top of the circle to the hat. You want the circle to frame the face like a stick person face.
That's it! Took maybe 20 minutes to hot glue everything together. I will warn you... Activate the glow sticks BEFORE you glue. Before. I activated after, and had to pull off about 5 glow sticks that were duds.
We used 48 glow sticks total, for a cost of about $5. I actually spent $8 for 80 glowsticks, but we had a lot leftover.
The clothes we used were play clothes, so I'm gonna call them free!
The picture of this costume really don't do it justice. This baby is sooooo cool looking! And did I mention cheap and easy?

Fun Camping Activities

AKA... What do you DO all the time with 2 kids in a camper?

One of the things we love about camping is the price tag. With the economy as it is, many families have to forego family vacations altogether. Camping is the perfect solution. Sure, it would be great to go to Disney or Universal or some other amusement park for a week, but we can camp for a month or two on that hefty cost.  There are so many great family activities to do while camping that don’t cost a dime.  Here are our top ten favorites:

• 1.       Go for a walk. It’s amazing the conversations that go on while walking. Sometimes it’s easier to discuss a serious topic while walking, almost nonchalantly. We have found that, if one child is misbehaving, moody, or sad, a walk with a parent usually clears it right up. Same goes for spouses as well! We also pick up trash while we walk. It’s appalling how much trash some campers can leave behind! We always seem to meet new and interesting people on our walks as well.
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• 2.       Play in the water. No, we don’t have a boat. Everyone is amazed at that. Yes, we would love one. But we have a great time swimming, splashing, floating, etc. We also love to snorkel in the lake. We each have a snorkel set and find fishing lures, goggles, toys, even money! That’s great for summertime, of course; but we also play in the rain during other seasons when swimming’s not a possibility. No thunderstorms, though!
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• 3.       Watch and listen to the wildlife. We throw out birdseed for the birds and squirrels and have a ball watching them. In fact, I’m fairly certain I was blessed out yesterday morning by 3 little birds. They flew all around my campsite, pecking and acting like they were looking for something. When I got them some birdseed, they rewarded me with a song! You can collect bugs, fallen flowers or plants, or even photograph the wildlife you encounter.
• 4.       Play games. We have a game cabinet in the camper stocked with family board and card games. That’s probably my favorite thing to do with the kiddos. My guys also love to make up their own games. They’re currently playing one they’ve recently created called Jackpot. I’ll let them post the rules later!
• 5.       Color or draw. I don’t care how old you are- everyone loves to color, even if they don’t want to admit it! Bring out a fresh box of crayons and everyone gets involved! You can make crayon rubbings of plants, bark, trees, leaves, etc.  Sidewalk chalk is a HUGE hit around here too…. Then you can draw hopscotch, tic tac toe, or hangman also!
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•  6.  Go fishing. 
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• 7.       
• Make crafts. Like our Pinecone Bird Feeder, Jewelry, Beasley campground sign, windchimes, cloud dough....
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• 8.       Play ball. There are so many varieties- softball, baseball, kickball, dodgeball, volleyball, ladderball, croquet, and, our current favorite, bocce ball (think mobile horseshoes).
• 9.       Go on a bike ride.
• 10.   Just sit and talk… relax. Too many people today don’t take the time to stop and smell the roses, and so many parents are too busy working, cooking, cleaning, carpooling, yardworking, etc. to really talk and listen to their kids. I know I’ve been there many times. It’s something I have to fight to remember to do sometimes. But remember, time is love.

You may also like Boredom Busters or Frugal Family Fun