DIY Child Size BBQ Grill

Hello! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have been out of town for a few days and we are glad to be home. Our family has had such a busy month, and I would be crazy to think December would be any less then the same. In the last 6 weeks we have probably been to 9 or 10 birthday parties. I decided I needed to start making some of my gifts by the 4th or 5th one. Therefore, I whipped up two of these child size BBQ grills for two different sweet little boys.

 

Supplies:

 

Red plastic bowl

1 1/4" dowel rod

1" x 2" wood

1/4"-1/3" dowel rods

Wood glue

Drill

3 screws and washers

Silver spray paint

 

Let me start by saying I did these without my husband's assistance, which proves they are simple to make. However, if you have not used a saw before please get some safety lessons first!

 

Directions:

 

1. Cut two 1" x 2" pieces of wood to the appropriate length to slide into your bowl. I cut a 45 degree angle at both ends to help them fit snugly.

 

 

2. Cut small dowel rods as shown above. Make sure you allow room for them to hang off both sides of the bowl.

 

3. I marked my wood and put the design on a flat surface for the next step. Use wood glue to adhere your small dowel rods to the 1" x 2" pieces of wood at your marks.

 

 

4. Spray your grill top silver. (It remains removable.)

 

5. Cut 3 pieces of 1 1/4" dowel rod for your legs. I made my grill short for the 1-3 year old age range. I cut the top of the dowel rods at a 45 degree angle.

 

6. Next, I  drilled holes in the top of my dowel rods (the 45 degree angle section) and I drilled holes in the bottom of my red plastic bowl.

 

7. Drill your screws in place with a washer between the screw head and the red plastic bowl.

 

I made up a little grill basket to go with the grill and I had a little apron monogrammed to match.

 

Next, I tied it up in a cellophane wrap for a special birthday delivery!

 

I almost didn't make it out of the house with the child size grill because my 2 year old wanted to keep it!

 

 

Optional: You may want to put some supports between the legs if necessary. One of my plastic bowls held it securely without supports. However, the other style I bought did not. Just a tip.

 

I am wishing now I had taken a few more pictures along the way. Please let me know if the description does not make sense and I would be glad to help! Good luck! This would make a fun Christmas gift for a little boy or girl too. I think handmade unique gifts for kids are often the biggest hit!

 

Dog Book Box..Summer of the Traveling Books

Presenting box number four. This week my boys opened the dog book box in our continued adventure of the traveling book boxes. Summer is almost over, so we are winding down on our book box adventures. However, I really did enjoy keeping them engaged this summer with books and activities. They were excited each time I told them a new book box had "arrived." As always, the Clifford box had books, activities, games, crafts, and a snack surprise.

·         Clifford Book on stakes. Surprise your little one with a “storywalk.”  The stakes are numbered. Push them in the ground and let your little one walk to read the story. Leave plenty of distance between each page of the book. See example here:

·         Additional Clifford books to read

·         The Puppy who Went to School by Gail Herman

·         Spike by Paulette Bogan

·         Little red dog reading buddy

·         Clifford Suckers-Attach two felt red ears and some googly eyes to make a Clifford sucker snack for a treat at the end of your storywalk or treasure hunt (these were not quite as cute as I hoped, and hopefully they won’t scare your child. Lol!)

·         Treasure Hunt-Set up a dog bone search. Clues are numbered with recommended hiding places.  (This would be fun for a Clifford birthday party too. Let me know if you need the template)

·         Dog Bowls and placemats-Be a little silly. Serve your child breakfast or lunch in a dog bowl...or even popcorn.Guaranteed to make them giggle. Our cocker Mia looks on very jealous. Ha! It is not even her bowl. I bought it at the $1 store.

·         Clifford Maze-Let your child use the paw print stamp in each square to help Clifford find the way to his doghouse. (Red ink pad included)

 ·         Dog Bone Counting Game-Numbers are magnetic. Change out the numbers on the dog bowls and let your little one put the correct number of dog bones in the bowl. Dog bones have been glazed, so please don’t let your child or dog eat any!

 

My son really enjoyed this game. The bowls are just flat pieces of paper but they almost appear to be three dimensional in the picture above.

·         Have fun! Make sure everything on this list is returned to the book box for the next child.

Let me know when you have worn out your book box and we will trade. I am hoping to trade about every 3 weeks and just meet up with you. Thanks! Michelle

Traveling Tips for Small Kids

Last weekend, we took a family vacation to San Antonio, Texas. We only had three days, so we squeezed a lot in. My largest concern in regards to vacation, was keeping the kids entertained for a 5 hour road trip there... and back. I was trying my hardest to avoid the ultimate road trip question..."How much longer?!?" Did I mention I started worrying about this at 9 pm the night before we left. (Yes, I am obviously a procrastinator) Here was my quick solution.

I took some clothespins and glued brightly colored circles with the countdown. The cute little bug was something my son had made at bug camp the week before, so I figured it would be a cute addition. The bug signified when we arrived at our hotel destination. Some of the prizes were a new movie for our portable dvd player, a snack box, a new small toy to play with in the car, and a stop at Sonic to get ice cream.

I went to Walmart the night before the trip to stock up our pantry and buy some snacks. When I walked in the door, I saw some school supply boxes for 59 cents each. I snatched two up for snack boxes for our road trip. I used a bunch of jewelry bags so that I could have small portions and variety.

I think both boys were more excited about the snacks then the toys and the movie. Who would have guessed?!

After checking in to the hotel Friday, we went straight to Sea World for our adventure to begin. I was really trying to save money on this trip, and resist the temptations of all the little tourist shops, I knew would await us at Sea World. Here was my cheap solution.

As luck would have it, I ran across this book at a garage sale for 50 cents the month before our vacation. I found these two little "Shamu whales" at the dollar store. So for a total of $2.50, my boys received a souvenir before we even entered Sea World. When their little eyes spied treasures at Sea World, I simply reminded them of what awaited them in the car. It worked like a charm.

We had a great time at Sea World watching shows, seeing animals, and dancing in the streets with the Sesame Street friends.

Our four year old passed out to sleep the first night before our two year old. Complete success!!

Water Balloon Target Practice

Can't beat the heat..join it!! Nothing is suited better for a hot summer day then water...or even better...water balloons. As usual, I was dumpster diving a few weeks ago, and found some old water noodles on a curb. I grabbed the whole bag and took them home. I knew they deserved a second chance and I had just the plan. Of course, I hid them in the trunk of the car from my husband until the time was right. It is just not worth the sigh of exasperation some days and "What exactly do you plan to do with those?!?" He does say it all in good fun...but it is truly more fun to suprise the whole family with my crazy little plans for quality time.

 

To start with I filled a LOT of water balloons. The boys could hardly stand watching me get them ready, without getting their grubby little hands on them. (Next time, I might have to fill them up during nap time!) Ha!

I took my "noodles with a second chance at life" and taped them into circles. I used a sharpie to write on 1,2,3,4 for points. Line them up and get ready for target practice!

We brought out a chalkboard from inside my son's room and he named two teams. From the start, the score was never accurate. He gave himself points every time he had a chance. It was so much fun, that this was not the time to teach him true score keeping.

Let the fun begin!

Of course, my well planned game transitioned into many new forms. One being...jump on the water balloons and squirt your little brother. Hee hee.

We also ended up on the top fort of the swing set, bombing anyone who dared walk below. My boys are already requesting round 2 of the great water balloon target practice. I think my husband and I had as much fun as they did!!

DIY Fake Vegetable Garden for Kids

I hate to admit I have a huge wonderful area for a garden, but I have not planted one this year. I don't think I could keep up with it right now with work and my little ones. I just decided to skip it this year and keep my sanity. It's a small trade off I figure. I was missing digging in the dirt with the kids so I made a fake mini vegetable garden for them. It just might have ended up being a little therapeutic for me too. (smile)

I started by building a box out of some scrap wood we had at the house. You could just as easily use an old planter, or buy a cheap one at Walmart. I was just motivated to build one at the time.

I had some fake carrots I bought at a garage sale last year for 5 cents a piece. Cheap! I was planning a fabulous Easter project with them, but Easter snuck up, and passed. (Story of my life)

Good thing that happened, because this proved to be much more fun.

We dumped some dirt in the box, and pulled our plastic shovels and gardening tools out. We dug holes...then planted..then picked...then dug more holes...

My little one may look like he is not enjoying it, but this is his face of concentration. (Look at those chubby cheeks) It is hard work planting a garden! Good luck. Find yourself some fake vegetables and put your kids to work. The old tradition of kids digging in the dirt IS all it is cracked up to be. We had a great time!

Carve Fun Watermelon Creations

Throughout the summer I have watched the fun watermelon designs and creations that have been popping up around blog land. I was about to cut our watermelon the other day and decided it would be a lot more fun if I made a design. My son's friend was coming over to play, and his favorite character is Lightning McQueen. I made a simple version, and it was a big hit with the boys. My son insisted we set it on our lunch table so he could look at it while he ate.


Lightning McQueen out of Watermelon

I found that a melon baller worked best to scrape off the watermelon skin for designs. With only light pressure it peeled right away. I personally had no luck with a vegetable peeler or a knife. You can see in the picture below how I took off an extra chunk with the knife. Oops!

I inserted toothpicks and stuck them in small chocolate pieces for the eyes.

I highlighted the lightning bolt with a black sharpie and wrote the number 95. I know lazy...but it was not like a was entering a watermelon carving contest. I was doing it for the pure enjoyment of my son.

He loved his Lightning McQueen.

Here are some other fun watermelon carvings and designs I found around the Internet.

Watermelon Monster by 733 blog

Watermelon Frog by Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons

Watermelon Turtle by Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons

Watermelon Shark by Sun Scholars

Watermelon Baby Carriage by Taste of Home

Elmo Themed Watermelon

Watermelon Drum Set by David Leathers at Food Stylin

Shrek by unknown

Watermelon Teapot by Watermelon.org

Watermelon Treasure Chest by Watermelon.org

Be creative and have some fun in the kitchen with your kids!!

Parties I linked to: