Tangrams Rule

I love tangrams. If you've never played with one, it is a square divided into 7 shapes. These 7 shapes can be arranged into an infinite number of designs. I found a website that showed how to make every letter of the alphabet and another site that specialized in tangram zombies. However, this was a project I devised for my MOPS (Mothers of PreSchoolers) group, so it needed to be appropriate for 4 year olds. This was my practice version, to save ink the boys and I coloured the shapes ourselves... The final project looked more professional but I gave them all away since this one works just fine! The square is 6"x6" on a peel-and-stick magnetic sheet. I also made a little cheat-sheet with a couple of designs for the kids to follow.

A bunny... the cheat sheet is to the right.

A house

Doing it himself: Jacob's Fish

A Doony... don't worry I don't know what that means either.

Daniel was so proud... he made a Lady.

Wishing For Spring

I often let the boys pick a craft off of the internet to do. Jacob found this particular one. And guess what? I had an ice cream tub full of lids because I have issues with throwing something out that might be useful someday.
I had the boys create their colourful caterpillar without any glue first, then I gave them the go ahead to touch the glue once they were satisfied. Googly eyes and legs added and they were done. (Daniel's is the one on the left, I did the first four legs and then he took over. Tallest caterpillar ever.)
And the best part about this craft? The next day they had a blast ripping all the caps off the leaves and destroying their caterpillars. Good thing I took a picture!

J is for Jellyfish

Another craft! Another kids' pick! You see, if I picked, it would probably have been something winter themed, or lent themed, or even ABC themed, or maybe even Valentines Day themed. Jellyfish just seemed so random. But, it was actually really fun.

So ours are basically a tinfoil individual pie crust pan with a bunch of random ribbons and yarn glued on the inside. Googly eyes are a must. Daniel wanted his to have a happy face which was really cute. Jacob said jellyfish don't really have mouths but that his was sad.

We took the jellyfish for a walk/bounce/jump around the house. 

Then hung them up by their spots at the kitchen table. What a weird lenten decoration.

The best part of the morning. I decided to ignore the mess the boys were making and let them have fun running around each with a ball of yarn. They got themselves and everything else all tangled up.

Peanut Butter & Chocolate

... One of my favourite dessert combinations! I remember as a kid going to "Ice Cream Galore" and having a hard time choosing between chocolate peanut butter ice cream and mint chocolate chip ice cream. Uh-oh. Now I want ice cream!
Anyways, I made another version of the homemade Reese's peanut butter cup. Less hurt-your-teeth-sweet than the original, and they turned out pretty too!

Melt 1/4cup butter with 3/4cup peanut butter in microwave for 45 seconds. Stir until smooth. Add 3/4cup graham cracker crumbs and 1/4cup sugar. Spoon into muffin tray (with liners). Makes 1 dozen.
Chill in fridge for 10 minutes to set.
Melt together in microwave 1cup chocolate chips and 1/4 cup milk. Spoon over peanut butter layer. Let chill for 30 minutes in the fridge before eating them.
Don't eat too many!

I don't know why the picture is sideways, but they still look tasty.

Wouldn't one of these be good with a scoop of chocolate ice cream?