Go Play in the Mud!

Okay, so we're a little weird around here but it is a happy weird.  Case in point, we just had seven tons of dirt delivered to our backyard.  The clerk at earth works asked us, the delivery guy asked us, our neighbors asked us, my sister asked us, even the kids asked us, "What is all that dirt for?" The answer... to play in. 

When I was a kid, my dad decided he wanted to build a swimming pool.  First step, order a truck full of dirt.  Well dad got the first step taken care of, he just never went beyond that. I'm so grateful he didn't.  We had a very small yard but with that pile of dirt and my sweet mothers blessing, well, let's just say we made excellent use of the vertical space. My sister, brother and I would play for hours.  We built tunnels for hotwheels, acted out epic battles with Gi Joe infantry and Barbie Nurses and baked up a ton and a half of mud pie delicacies.  Literally, best toy ever! 

Now it is time for the next generation to take a turn.  As soon as these kids heard that the dirt was specifically for them, they scaled the mountain. 

They ran for buckets of water, I ran for swim clothes to help contain the mess.  It didn't take long at all for them to figure out how to make a mudslide.  What followed was both absolutely common place and legendary, these kids hit that dirt and didn't let up.  They dug, they hoed, they watered, they slid, they rubbed, they built, they created; in short, they had a fantastic time! 

A quick dance in the sprinkler and a half load of laundry and the mess is gone, til tomorrow.  I'm sure, that there will be times that I get sick of the laundry and the footprints through the house. I'm human. But so are they and I want them to experience it all; so kids, you have my permission to "Go play in the mud!"

Thanks for reading,
LT

Best thing in the truck...

Today, we got a delivery from our local Menards.  It was a nice big truck full of wonderful things for our house.  We got some flooring, some insulation and an energy efficient washer and dryer *Pause for excited squeal: we went from FORTY FIVE gallons of water to FIVE to TWENTY gallons, WOOHOO* Okay, I'm back.  Here's a pic of our truck and one of our great delivery guys...

See good stuff... By the way, the delivery guy was insulted when I told him I was taking a shot of all the swag as a before pic for the blog. He only agreed to let me snap the photo, when I told him I would tell the world he was a great delivery guy. I swear, these attention craving delivery guys. Back to the point, sorry.

With all that cool stuff, the best thing by far was...

That's right! The best thing in the truck was the box that the washer came in. Because that is how we roll here in Casa Tindle. 
We added a little bit of this...

The kids did some of this...

and created the cubby of their dreams.  I hope they are prepared to defend it.

It looks like the Tombots are gearing up for attack! 

** If you are wondering why I took the time to flip through ALL of Picnik's super cool options, it's simple, I am in Hyper-Avoidance Mode.  Avoiding what you say?  Duh. The truck load of DIY home improvement work that is now residing in my garage.  I'm going to dodge that bullet as long as I can... now where is my sewing machine?

Thanks for reading,

LT

Summer Projects: Library Bags

My family loves the public library.  I began taking my children to story hour when they were still wearing diapers.  We all love to read and we all love sitting in and amongst all of those books.  Up to this point, I have always held every body's library cards and we've kept borrowed books on a shelf in our living room.  This made things fast and easy for me but the kids were missing out on an opportunity for independence.  When they began asking to check books out themselves, I figured it was time to change things up. We headed to Walmart and picked up some Tulip Fabric spray and a couple packs of canvas bags.  I used my Silhouette SD to cut some stencils from freezer paper and ironed them to the bags.

 

The kids each sprayed over the top of the stencil. I encouraged them to only use two colors to avoid the dreaded "muddy" look. One of my sons saw that as a challenge to his creative powers, so he dutifully took on three colors and managed a very cool blended effect. After the bags we're sprayed, we peeled off the freezer paper to reveal the design.  The kids loved this part!  

 If you try this project, I recommend that you spray lightly and have some paper towels on hand to dab up excess paint. We were able to achieve some pretty fun effects with just the four colors included in the pack of Tulips that we purchased. 

Each kid also made a boondoggle with a key ring to hook onto their bag and hold their library card. Now they can check books out, carry them home and store them in their bags until our next trip to the library. Judging by this smile, I think the new system will be a success! Thanks for reading. LT



Spanish for Kids: Colors

Team Tindle is studying Spanish as a second language this year. This is a new thing for all of us and we are doing our best, slowly moving through a new vocabulary. This week the kids are working on their Spanish numbers and colors. I decided to throw in an art activity to help cement the new words.

  

I gave each kid a sheet of paper and asked them to divide the paper into sections using tape. We used colored masking tape but I would recommend using painters tape if you do this project.  Once that was done, the kids used colored pencils to fill in each section with a different color.When they finished up their coloring, the kids began labeling each section with their newly acquired vocabulary words.



Then we peeled back the tape, very slowly and carefully. This made the different sections really pop. The kids loved the reveal!

Here is James, showing off his Spanish/Art homework. I'd say this simple activity was a success.  The kids all explored with their new Spanish words and each of them really likes their final product.

For more information on teaching Spanish to children visit Spanish Town.  It is a free site, featuring monthly segments of vocabulary for the early elementary grades.  Each new word can be played as an audio file, which has really helped me teach my kids accurate pronunciation.  Enjoy!

Box City

Inspired by Teacher Tom, we decided to build Box city.  We grabbed up all the boxes that we had around the house, pulled out the glue gun and some tape and set to work.   

 They were so excited to get to man the glue gun all by themselves.  Each of them ended up burned but when asked if they wanted to stop building they all emphatically told me no. Each child decided that he or she just needed to be more careful. 

They made sure that the city was aesthetically pleasing as well as structurally sound.  Of course there were plenty of booby traps and snares for any bad guys that might be lurking in the grass.  Two of my favorites were the spider trap (made from an old Parmesan cheese container) and the ball catapult and connecting track.  Sorry, no pics of those.  My camera's battery latch is broken and it is a serious pain to take photos with it. 

Here Carter is attaching his radio tower complete with several satellites and antennae.  Layne is busy fixing up an escalator so that the people can get into the party store. 

The Tindle kids spent about two hours building and fortifying their city.  It was complete with a pool, a satellite, a water tower, city hall, the public library, a science center, several hide outs and tunnels, a bridge, a couple hotels and a party store.  After they were all finished building they grabbed a ton of action figures, some of their great grandpa's old figurines and the kung zhu hamsters and spent another two hours racing the hamsters through the "dark city streets."  Four hours of play and learning for about fifty cents worth of glue sticks and a month's worth of recycling, yeah, I'm good with that investment. 

I think we will have a dynamic little play area, at least as long as the rain holds out.  If I'm brave enough, I might let them paint it Teacher Tom style in the next day or two.  We'll see.

Here is the academic breakdown.  

~ Everybody learned a bit about safe practices when dealing with heat and electricity. This also ended up being a great opportunity to talk about appropriate first aid for burns.  Each of the kids either dealt with their own burn or helped someone else dress theirs, with supervision. 

~They naturally learned a bit about structures and balance.  These "blocks" were very different from their stable wooden set in the house. 

~They added in social studies by discussing the purposes of the various buildings.  When they grabbed their toys and started acting out their stories they began putting a librarian in the library and a scientist in the science center. 

~Creative story telling is only a skip and a jump away from creative writing.  My kids had plenty of stories to tell about the building process, various "construction zones," different enemies and the heroes who would protect the city, etc.  This is an ongoing play mode in our home but what they create verbally while playing usually ends up finding it's way to paper eventually. 

~It was also a great exercise in cooperation and communication.  We had four kids and one glue gun, they had to work together in order to build anything. 

~It is an obvious art link, especially if we decide to finish decorating it. 

~We didn't, but you could incorporate math by counting boxes as they are added, multiplying by fours and sixes (number of sides) and subtracting if something was pulled off the structure.

See, plenty of learning to be had.

Hope you are all having a great week. Thanks for reading!

Leighann

Playing with Fire

Weekdays can be kind of hectic around the Tindle house so this Sunday we spent the entire day doing nothing. 

Well, not quite nothing.

We played with fire, actually we let the kids play with fire. 

Erik and I have grown enamored with Gever Tulley's Tinkering School concepts.  Gever believes that children can use grown up materials and tools to do grown up things in a grown up way, if we trust them to do so.  To that end Gever Tulley has written a book titled 50 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do. We've ordered the book but it won't come til May.  We just couldn't wait. 

When James found the matches and we realized we had some wood left in the pit we decided to go for it.  We asked James to strike a match.  He did.  It blew out.  Then he did it again.  It didn't light.  Then he tried one more time.  The match broke in two.  At this point frustration began to show.  Erik and I talked James through it and encouraged him to try some more.  Several tries later, he produced a flame which he quickly touched to some leaves.  FIRE! 

The kids were thrilled, until they saw their fire dwindle to smoke.  They asked to light another match.  Then they begged to light another match.  Erik and I held firm, where there is smoke there is fire.  The kids were incredulous but they got to work.  James began blowing...

Logan and Carter began gathering various forms of fuel supplies...

Layne began working on her tan....

Pretty soon their concerted efforts yielded this...

Soon after that there was an honest to goodness fire.  Though by then I had slowed in snapping pictures and so don't have a single one of the actual flames.  Too bad.  It was a great fire too.  The kids built it and maintained it all by themselves.  We were able to roast hot dogs and marshmallows for lunch over that fire.  The kids also took some time to experiment over that fire.  Did you know that plastic shrinks when you burn it?  Or that tape on a cardboard box boils and then liquefies?  Did you realize that wet maple leaves make green colored smoke?  Did you know that nuts in their shell can explode? These are just some of the things they discovered through tinkering with fire. 

What I discovered

When my kids are really engaged...

they are excited

they are cooperative

they are encouraging to one another

they are solution seekers

they are unstoppable

they are industrious

they are incredible. 

Well, they are that last one all the time but it really showed up on Sunday. 

Thanks for reading!

Leighann

Blast from the Past: Meramec Caverns

Last year we decided to nix birthday parties.  I'd done several in a row and thought we needed a change. Erik and I decided to take turns giving the birthday kid a special day by themselves.  We have four kids and it is almost impossible to get any individual time with each while we're at the house.  This has ended up being the coolest day of our kids' year. 

Carter turned nine this year and it was my turn to take him out on a birthday trip. I wanted to take him to a place he had never been before. I also wanted it to be grand, a place he would remember forever.  I hit gold with Meramec Caverns. 

I was a bit worried that the one hour tour would not hold my active son's attention. I needn't have worried. Meramec Caverns is a boy's dream come true.  It is a huge cave but it is so much more than that. Meramec was once the home of Indians. The union and rebel armies took turns occupying the caves and using it's resources to build explosives. The James gang used Meramec as a hideout and Jesse almost got caught right there but narrowly escaped by using the underground river to swim right past his would be captors. There have even been movies filmed inside Meramec caverns. Yes, they were old movies and one episode of Lassie but it was still Hollywood. 

Even without the history of the place, Meramec was beautiful and intriguing. We saw stalagmites and stalactites. Soda straw sculptures and a huge rock formation called the Curtain were beautiful. We enjoyed an underground light show and were amazed at the reflecting pools.  Meramec Caverns was a sight worth seeing.  When we headed above ground there was still more to be done.

We grabbed the a ticket and hopped on a boat for a guided tour of the river running past Meramec. We saw turtles basking in the sun, discovered a snake swimming our direction and met canoes paddling down stream.  There were also several interactive exhibits that day.  Carter was able to build a bat house and make an arrowhead necklace.  He loved it.  We also treated ourselves to a hard ice cream cone and a little shopping in the souvenir shop. 

On our way home we found this strange animal emporium.  It looked kind of beat up and I wasn't sure whether there were in fact any animals present on the grounds but Carter really wanted to go in and find out.  I really wasn't sure but it was his birthday. We went in and we were very surprised with what we found.  The front part of the shop was a strange kind of junk shop filled with Ripley's Believe it or Not type oddities.  The storekeeper assured us that there were animals behind the doors so we paid the fee and waited for our tour guide. Sure enough, he lead us back to several exhibits. Many of which were very hands on.  This was where I really earned the title of Coolest Mom Ever.  Yes, that is my sweet son holding an alligator.  In fact, while we were outside that gentleman behind Carter allowed him to go into the fenced enclosure where the adult alligators are kept.  He even allowed one to get within feet of Carter.  I have pictures but they are very blurry due to excessive shaking on my part.





Here is Carter holding the Albino Python. See how excited he is



 

Here is my picture with the same snake.  Obviously snake handling is not my cup of tea.  We left soon after this encounter. 

All in all, it was a fantastic trip.  Meramec has been talked about off and on for months and I don't think either of us will ever forget our introductions to the reptile kingdom. 

For The Love of Tinkering



Not a third world country just a 100 year old basement

 These kids come from a long line of tinkers.  Their great grandfather enjoyed tinkering with stained glass and terrariums.  Their grandfather enjoys tinkering with wood and electronics.  Their dad enjoys tinkering with paper and pencil. They enjoy tinkering with everything! 

They recently received a huge cache of figurines from their great grandpa's collection. They are thrilled!  They set right to work tinkering up an environment for the little guys. The paper, scissors and tape are flying in the basement.  I love it. I love seeing them engaged. I love watching them move and manipulate the pieces. The ideas are flowing and so is the teamwork.  Have you ever noticed that? If my kids are actually engaged in a project there is so much less fighting.  Don't get me wrong, the Tindle kids argue plenty but when they are really interested in something the squabbles dissipate. I love it! 



Logan floating his homemade canoe
He's pretty excited!



So what is tinkering and who is a tinker?  Well it can really be anything but it generally has to do with making something, especially a surprising something.  It can be big or little, take months or seconds.  Tinkering is what the tinker makes it.  Here are some photos of things we've tinkered in the past year. 

Carter displaying his bat box.
This kid has mad building skills.

They've worked with paper, wood, cloth, yarn, paint, glue, tape, string, branches, water, plastics, bricks, rocks, leaves, acorn caps, lots of recyclables. Most everything we've tinkered has come to us second hand or been purchased for very little money.  Many of these things were just something that the kids thought up and decided to do.  Some were more directed but most were kid led. Really that's the best kind of fun, right? 

Layne with a syrup arch shortly after
 visiting the St Louis Science center.

                                         

 We take as many opportunities as we can find to let them just go for it. There are tinkering spots everywhere.  We love the many child based museums, art and science centers that we have visited and we've had some amazing tinkering experiences there but most of the time we tinker at home or in our community. 

We built this sculpture on the beach
at one of our favorite campsites.

Tinkering is great.  It isn't a craft or a science experiment.  It isn't really art or math. It's definitely not report writing or spelling. Yet, somehow it is all of those things.  My kids would never be able to build a pulley system for their tree house without a little understanding of how simple machines work. When tinkering a recipe, units of measurement become critically important.  They use color, line, contrast, tints and shades to tinker cards for their family and friends.  Every academic discipline can be explored more fully through tinkering.  What a lovely thing.



Everyone tinkering with their new
color wonder cars. 



If you would like more information on tinkering check out this info by Gever Tulley the founder of Tinkering School.  You can also check out the blog Get Your Mess On to meet a mom who has taken the concept of tinkering and run with it.  Take a look at Berkeley's Adventure Playground for the ultimate example of child led tinkering and how far it can really go.  Don't you think every city should have one of these?



Do it yourself Clowning

So for this months' book club we have been working on Clowning.  "Clowning?" you say, "it is January, why clowning?"  Well, it is January, that's why.  Every year when January rolls around I am pretty tired of grey trees and grey skies.  In December it is okay but once the  Christmas season is over, I am pretty well done with old man winter.  So when contemplating this months' book club I decided to go with something cheery, bright, colorful; hence, clowns. 

Week one we read Roarr Calder's Circus.  I love this book, it is an absolute riot.  Maira Kalman takes Alexandar Calder's wire and twine sculptures and tells a circus tale that had my kids rolling.  What  a fantastic book.  The art was wonderful and engaging and while I didn't have time this go around I thought it would be a wonderful spring board for an art project of 3d sculpturing using found material.  Also you can add in this video, Alexandar Calder uses his figurines to perform a circus! So fun. 

After we read Calder's we got to work on some Tempra Clowns (idea came from deepspacesparkle.blogspot.com).  They were so much fun.  I gave them each a 12x18 sheet of white construction paper and set out muffin tins with the basic six plus black and some brushes.  The kids used pencil to sketch out their clowns with me reminding them to draw large and giving them a lesson in facial proportions.  Then they filled in their clowns with the tempra and once it was dry to the touch went back and did the outlines with a fine brush and some black paint.  The clowns came out so unique and very clowny looking.  The paintings will be used to decorate a wall in the library later in the month.  Here are a few of my young artists' paintings

Okay, so that was week one of DIY Clowning.  I'll share everything else we've done in upcoming posts.  So check back here for a four sessions of hands on clowning activities.

Talk to you soon, LT

Makeovers = Fun?

So, we have a little girl.  Did I ever think that I would have a little girl? Nope.  I am a tom boy who prefers blue and green to pink and purple, pants to skirts, trees to dolls.  As I carried my second child I just knew that the doctor would confirm my 'hunch' and tell my husband and I that there was another baby boy headed our way.  Not so.  That moment was amazing, surreal and scary all at the same time.  "It is a girl." Four little words. I didn't know what to do with a girl.  I was excited but terrified.  Then all I could think was, well she'll probably be like me and it will be fine. 

Nope.  God blessed us with the most beautiful, adorable girly little girl I have ever known.  She loves pink.  She loves princesses.  She loves babies.  She loves dresses.  I love her.  I have stretched more in the past four years than ever in my life.  I have painted nails and rocked babies and bought pink and allowed dresses (even if they are totally impractical). We have worked out a wonderful girly relationship.  She is so much fun.  She hikes through the woods and picks up frogs and then directly deposits them into her pink princess purse, that she just had to bring along.  She is notorious for wearing cute little pink or white dresses and destroying them in short order by rolling in the grass or digging in the mud.

Today we spent the morning with our home school group doing girly stuff. We painted nails, applied makeup, did hair; honestly, we had a blast.  The organizational/crafty side of me came up with some beauty recipes that the girls enjoyed. It was so neat watching Layne, she was absolutely in her element.  So for those girly moms and those moms like me who profess to be tom boys; here are a few of the activities we did.  They would make great party activities for a princess party or sleep over or just a little extra something for a playdate.

Sugar Scrubs.

Put 1 tbsp sugar into a cup, add a few drops of water to the sugar and mix until the mixture is a thick grainy paste.  Place the mixture in your palm and massage it into the

front and back of your hands. 

Rinse with warm water and enjoy the softness. 

Glitter body lotion.

Put 1 tbsp Cetaphil (or other emolient cream) into a cup, add a 1/4 tsp fine glitter and three spritz of your favorite scent to the cup.  Mix throughly and apply to skin. 

Bath Salts

Put 1/4 cup epson salts into a ziploc baggie, add 4 drops of food coloring.  Seal the baggie and shake the salts until the color is distributed throughout.  Add them to the tub at bath time and they will change the color of your water while softening your skin.

We also had a nail station, a makeup station and a hair station.  The girls enjoyed making some custom jewelry with beads and string that we had set out. Another mom brought in some dress up clothes and all the little girls went to town.

My comfort zone does not include makeovers; yet, I am truly having a great time experiencing this girlhood with my little one.  Thank you Lord for blessing me with a daughter.  Thank you Lord for the changes it has brought about in me.  Thank you Lord for knowing, much more than I, what it is that I need. Now I can say that makeovers do equal fun.

Love these Giant Geoboards!

We were inpired by Filth Wizardry to make these geoboards. http://www.filthwizardry.com/2010/01/giant-homemade-geoboard.html. We made them a couple of months ago and then slid them under the couch for storage. There they laid most of the time. We all loved playing with them but out of sight out of mind. Then we pulled them out to display for expo (more on that next post). A couple of minutes and six nails later, we remedied our out of sight out of mind problem. The boys have now been very busy designing for the past hour, with no end in sight. I thought this would be a temporary display but now I'm thinking they may as well stay for awhile. The kids are enjoying their new location so much that I don't want to ruin it for them. Our home is a school anyway right, it may as well look like one. If you want to add a little geoboard action to your play space, head over to filth wizardry and check out her tutorial.  So cheap, so easy, so fun. 

Later
LT