We needed to go to Home Depot to get air conditioner filters. We have a friend from church who works at Home Depot so Hazel and I always take Steve's list to him and he helps us find everything Steve needs so Steve doesn't have to deal with Home Depot on a weekend. Hazel also loves to go visit our friend. I remembered seeing this pin for a doll clipboard and mistakenly thought it was sample floor tile, so we got two of those while we were there. Now the floor samples are square and did not make the perfect clipboard (I may go back for the counter sample).
While driving home Hazel commented how the square tile would make a good checkers board. She had fallen in love with the one at the American Girl Doll Store that came with the Fun and Games Table for $58. We were able to make one for free! We got a wood floor sample from Home Depot and used a printed checker board (which I will provide as a download), Mod Podge glue, red and black foam sheets and a hole punch. You could also use a 4"x4" square of cardboard instead of the floor sample.
At first I made a typical black and white checker board, but Hazel wanted a red and black one, so I made another print out and covered the black and white one. For my printable, I offer both in case you have a preference or your doll does. All I did was cut the checkerboard out and use the Mod Podge glue to stick it to the wood sample and then put a thin coat of the glue over it. I used a glossy finish because it is what I had.
Now I was going to buy buttons to be the checkers, and I stopped at Joann Fabrics yesterday to see what they had for button sizes. I didn't buy any since I wanted to figure out the size of the squares first. Then last night I was trying to think about what else we could use for buttons and I was thinking of cutting them out of paper, but that would be too thin and I thought of foam. I went to our foam supply and got a regular hole punch (I was wishing I had a slightly bigger one) and punched twelve checkers from a red sheet and a black sheet. Sorry with the lighting the black ones are hard to see on the black squares.
Finally Hazel's dolls were ready to play a game. Hazel invited Mimi over for a game.
Hazel is getting ready to make the first move.
So instead of $58 to get a checkers game we made one for free! I thought about doing a box, but decided since the board cannot fold, not to bother. For more DIY doll ideas check out:
Hazel has decided her birthday party will be a Frozen theme this year. I saw in a few places making easy Olaf mugs and t-shirts. While pulling out some supplies for our mermaid play date, I found some white mugs I had bought for Hazel's Tea for 2 Birthday Party. We had left out paints for the older kids to decorate them. We only had one taker so I have six left over. Although painting and drawing are not my strong points, I thought I would give it a try. Olaf's face is rather easy. I pulled out my paint markers: black, white, brown, orange and blue.
I started with his mouth outline and then drew the spot for the teeth (which I later enlarged with the white marker). Then I drew the eyes and hairs and finally the carrot for a nose.
Then on the back I wrote: "I like warm hugs."
The first one I did I thought the mouth was too big, but I actually liked that one better in the end. Our plan is to have a hot chocolate bar with the mugs and then have the kids take the mug home as the favor.
Disclosure:NCircle Entertainment gave me a copy of the DVD free of charge and is supplying
the one for the giveaway free of charge. All opinions in my review are
my own and I did not receive any other compensation.
Today I get to review a wonderful Octonauts DVD. The Octonauts is among one of Hazel's favorite shows. She recently told me she wants to be a scientist who studies animals when she grows up. (Of course her idea of what she wants to be changes all the time at this age.) She loves any show that helps her learn about animals. The Octonauts is one of them. It amazes me the information she retains from the show. Every once in awhile she will come out with one of the animal facts. I love it!
The DVD we are reviewing today is The Octonauts: Deep Sea Mission. Its official release date is September 2nd, however there was an early release on August 5th through Walmart and Sam's Club. If you follow the link you will be taken there. Of course you can pre-order the DVD and find all the other Octonauts DVDs and other great DVDs at NCircle Entertainment's website. Now as I mentioned Octonauts are one of Hazel's favorites. She loves learning about the animals and the six episodes on this DVD are wonderful. They explore the Midnight Zone and the creatures that live in the deepest part of the water. I love the fact that Hazel knows about the Midnight Zone and knows some animals. I'll admit every once in awhile I google one of the creatures just to make sure they are actual creatures and not just made up, because I have not heard of them. (I recently googled spookfish from one of the episodes on this DVD. The images on Google are great, but none that I can legally use here, so you will have to Google it yourself.)
Disney Junior has some of the creatures from Octonauts available as color sheets and creature information cards. They have not kept up with all of their seasons though. Above is the one of the spookfish. Hazel had fun coloring it. Another part of watching all the Octonauts episodes and DVDs that I love is that Hazel wants to explore more sea creatures. Our public library recently had a program with The Whale Mobile. This is a group of people who come to a location with a life size model of a real humpback whale that has been seen off the coast of Massachusetts and you can go inside the model and see the size of things like the heart, lungs, stomach and ribs. It is so neat. They teach a bit about whales. It was really interesting. To give you an idea of the whale here is a picture of Hazel next to its head.
I love this DVD and all the Octonauts DVDs for the lessons they teach Hazel and how they get her so curious about the sea. Yes, our dinner conversations are sometimes about which is the largest creature in the sea. And yes, Steve and I are learning from watching them with her. And we actually enjoy the shows unlike some children's shows.
Now I get to offer you a chance to win this amazing DVD. Follow the Rafflecopter and enter to win! Winners must live in the USA or Canada and be 18 and over and follow the rest of my Giveaway Rules. Good luck!!
