A Play Dough Party

  

Let's all admit -- Play Dough is FUN!  I think it can be therapeutic as well.  Soft squishy dough squeezed through your fingers....creative & imaginative play..... laughter, creativity, joy....

It can be messy, but really EVERY child really does love to play with the dough!! 

My girls decided that they would have a play dough party today.

They donned themselves with chef/artist hats & aprons! You must dress the part!

Out came the homemade play dough (recipe & links below)....and then came the creativity.

Honestly, they spent hours creating with play dough.  

My dear Sophia wanted to preserve the memory of their creations with pictures.  (The play dough lasted only a week on the countertops before it dried up and was shamely put to rest in the garabage)

She plans to make a photo journal book of her "creations" -- what a great idea!  So, that is our next step in the creative process for my Daisy....to get a photo album and create the Play Dough Creations Journal!

Home Made Playdough

2 cups flour 1 cup salt 2 tablespoons cream of tarter 2 cups of water 1 tablespoons mineral oil food coloring Mix all ingredients in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring until stiff. Allow to cool, then knead.

THIS SITE was a great place to find all sorts of recipes for play dough! 

Play dough Party was super fun!! 

Ladybug Picnic

1,2,3,4,5,6,

7.8.9

10,11,12

Lady bugs at a Lady bug picnic!

My sweet precious baby celebrated her 1st birthday with a darling Ladybug Picnic! 

Ladybug Fruit Salad

Ladybug's munchies - Veggie Tray

Ladybug Pasta Salad

Ladybug Pinata - taking rest on the piano!

Ladybug Cupcakes!!

Audria

Ladybugs decorate the letters

Plates in a basket

Picnic Basket full of supplies

A little decor of ladybug

The table decorated with gingham

Sweet  lady sitting "on" her blanket with her cupcake!

Celebrating Easter

GOOD FRIDAY LIL DAISIES FANS! Are you celebrating this Resurrection weekend?

This was a post that I wrote when I was a guest post HERE at Creative2xMom. I thought I would share this today with you.
Robyn at Creative2xMom has written a fantastic POST about an Early Easter Gift that promotes the idea of doing good in our own communities. It gives a chance for bloggers to give back to their own community. A fabulous idea. Go check it out!

We are in the midst of celebration activities here at Lil Daisies. Some of the activities you read below we have done or will be doing as we are celebrating our Lord & Savior! We pray that you have a blessed Resurrection Sunday!

"They will celebrate your abundant

goodness and joyfully sing of your

righteousness."

~Psalm 145:7~

How do you celebrate Easter with your children?

I have had several people ask me this question. And, I think it is an important question to reflect upon -- Let me share with you our journey of celebrating Easter in our own home.

There are some that have the unsettled feeling about celebrating Easter with baskets and bunnies with little else to pass on to their own children. I have felt this way many times.

Since my family has a relationship with Christ, I desire for Christ to be a part of our family's daily life -- not just Sunday only -- everyday. I am finding ways to to bring the message of Jesus' resurrection into our home to our children.

I do want my girls to experience some of the "fun" of Easter, but I also want them to grow up learning WHY we celebrate Easter!

Just like Christmas, we develop traditions -- traditions that celebrate Easter in a fun, tangible way that still portrays the true meaning of this season: The Resurrection!

Traditions -- especially those children can see, hear, feel, smell and taste -- provide vivid impressions on which parents can build year after year. I will share with you some of our traditions that will hopefully enrich your own family's celebration of what might be more accurately called Resurrection Day.

Choose a few traditions from this collection that you think might suit your family. Share their meaning in whatever words your children will understand. Then, keep the traditions you like as part of your family's Easter heritage.

Whatever your activities or traditions that you create for your family, they should clearly include something meaningful and pointing to the true meaning of Easter and the Gospel.

Some excellent ways to teach your children why we celebrate Easter are through books, poems, crafts, activities, and object lessons.

STORY TELLING:

Explanation of the story: Read the account from Scripture (Use a toddler bible if children are younger). Be creative with ithe telling of the story and use props such as a grave cloth, stems from a rose bush for crown thorn, 30 dimes for pieces of silver, etc.

Make a tomb out of couch cushions -- act out the part of the story to give them an idea about the tomb and why it is so great it became empty on the third day!

Use Puppets or Flannel Board if you have them. Be creative!

MEAL

Make a special breakfast for Easter morning ~
cinnamon rolls baked on a cookie sheet in a cross shape.

One way that we are using to teach our kids about the death and resurrection of Jesus is through Resurrection Cookies. Each ingredient and each step symbolizes a portion of the events that led up to the resurrection.

Good Friday - make hot cross buns.

BOOKS:

• The Parable of the Lily
• Benjamin’s Box

CRAFTS & ACTIVITIES:

• Resurrection Eggs - You can make these eggs yourself. Each plastic eggs contains an item that symbolizes a part of the Easter story along with the appropriate scriptures.
• Easter Surprise - On Easter morning, your kids will get a surprise because Jesus has risen from the tomb (shoebox) in which he was buried only a few days earlier.
• Resurrection Rolls - This project symbolizes the burial and resurrection of Jesus. The only ingredients needed are crescent roll dough, marshmallows, butter, cinnamon and sugar.
• Jelly Bean Prayer

The NEW Jelly Bean Prayer

Red is for the blood He gave,
Green is for the grass He made,
Yellow is for the sun so bright,
Orange is for the edge of night.

Black, white, brown, yellow and red is for the children He made
All of these colors receive the grace He gave,
Purple is for the hour of sorrow,
Pink is for the new tomorrow.

Give a bag full of jelly beans,
Colorful and sweet,
Tell them it's a Prayer....
It's a promise..
It's an Easter Treat!

EASTER BASKETS

We still give our children Easter Baskets. They still have some typical items in the basket such as candy, stickers, and/or stuffed animal. But, I will also throw in creativity and do something a little different. I like to create themed baskets sometimes -- that are useful, especially as we head into the Spring/Summer seasons.

In the past, I have made:

"Garden Basket" with shovels, seeds, gloves, watering can

"Jesus": Coloring Book, Bookmark with Scripture, Puppets, etc.

" Artistic" : Coloring items, pens, pencils, paints, playdough, etc.

"Beach": Sand Bucket, Sand Toys, Bathing Suit, etc.

"Spa" : Fingernail polish, Fingernail stickers, Lip gloss, Hair pretties, etc.

From LIL DAISIES, we hope you and your family have a WONDERFUL and BLESSED Easter!!

The Piggy Party!

So...this is what many have been waiting for: A Peak into the Piggy Party! It was a HOG wild time! Lydia really had a fabulous day. Enjoy our reading and looking through our Piggy Birthday Party Day! FUN!


The Piggy Bank Craft Project
This was a great hit! Each child was able to decorate their own piggy bank using ceramic paint pens (which I LOVE!) and stickers. Then they had a cute piggy bank to take home with them. One little boy spent almost the whole time painting his bank...he was sooo into it. Fun and cute!


Paint Your Piggies!!
We had lots of beautiful painted toes and fingers...even some of the boys had their own done in GREEN or BLUE!!





The Three Little Pigs Acting Story
What better way to celebrate pigs than to act out the classic story of The Three Little Pigs. It was fun and creative. Everyone could take part that wanted too (of course they all want to be the Big Bad Wolf or one of the Three Pigs) by being a straw, stick, or brick house or one of the main characters. My mom read the story out loud and each character did their part...the main characters even had lines. "Who is afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"



Pin the Curly Tail on Nellie
Isn't she cute? Yes, I drew and painted her. A homemade project. I used pink curling ribbon for the tails and stuck them on with sticky tabs (the tabs had their names written on it).


Piggy Hunt: You must wear a snout to participate!
This was fun too. While all the kids were playing and getting their snouts and bags ready---several helpers and I quickly put out prizes around the yard...some of the prizes included money to put in their piggy banks!! Once everyone was set with a snout and a bag..."On your mark, get snout..HUNT!

Mudpit!
Now...if you are going to have a piggy party...what would be a piggy party without the mud?? Right? Well, for those that would venture into it, had a lot of fun...though, I think some didn't like mud being thrown at them, but still wanted to throw mud on others (That would be the birthday girl!)


Piggy Cake: Lydia named him Wilbur
Yes, my friends --- I even made this little friend too! I was very pleased with the turn-out of the cake ( I was really nervous for awhile as to how this little pig would turn out)! Wilbur was the hit of the party too. And, of course how am I going to cut up Wilbur? We did. We sliced off his head and had brain surgery!!

The cake was a coconut pink flavored cake. The frosting is fondant.

The FOOD:
The Menu for our Piggy Party! Piggy's in a blanket, Curly Tails (Cheetos), Pig "Ears" (Potato Chips), Pink Piggy Juice (Pink Lemonade), Piggy's Veggies, SLOP! (Pudding w/ mini marshmallows & gummy worms), watermelon



Present Time
This took a little while...but, she had fun opening all her sweet gifts. A favorite was a pig that made sounds named Albert. Another favorite was a doll named Heather who tells of the weather. I didn't get a picture of this. And, of course money....

(Rosi -- playing with Lydia's new pig Arnold!)

A Happy Piggy Birthday Party Lydia!!