Sponge Balls

I made these for summer a few years ago and they were a hit.  They last for a little while but will eventually fall apart but you will get a lot of good use out of them before they fall apart.  They can get kind of spendy, even if you buy your sponges at the dollar store.  It all depends on how many you decide to make.  The kids have a lot of fun with them though and it is a fun alternative to a water activity for the kids during the summer.

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Original pin can be found here: http://innerchildfun.com/2011/07/sponge-bomb-bucket-toss.html

Chore Card

I love this idea for chores.  I have to say we have tried so many things in our house and they always work for the first few weeks and then die down.  This has brought a whole new motivation into our household to get chores down.  Seeing the punch card get punched and seeing it get closer to the end is enough motivation to get them to keep doing their chores.  I am not sure how long this will last but for now it has worked really well. I have to say I sort of understand, I love watching my punch cards from stores get closer to that one free thing, or that ten dollars off or whatever incentive it may be.

RESULTS
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Original pin can be found here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/92267945/diy-printable-punch-cards-4-colors-chore?utm_campaign=Share&utm_medium=PageTools

LARGE BUBBLES

This pin worked to a certain degree.  That is it made bubbles but nothing as large and bouncy as these bubbles.  They say that they can bounce and not pop and I did not have that happen with mine either.  It was a bubble solution that made medium size bubbles but it did not make large bubbles.

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Rice Krispie Suishi

These were so easy to make and so much fun, my kids and their friends gobbled them up in seconds.  Love the person or people who thought of this great idea. 

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Original pin can be found here: http://jordananddillan.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/candy-sushi/

Magic Slushies

I did not actually try this pin because when I went to the link she stated that she only got it to work one time.  Bummer, the kids would have loved this and without knowing what makes it work and what does not it was not worth trying.

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I will be labeling this with my new slogan for Pins Down

Skittles Paint

This pin states that you can put skittles in water and then use it as paint.  I did not like this pin at all, while the skittles did turn into paint, the paint was really, really light and was hard to see once on the paper. Plus, unless you already have skittles you have to go buy some and the cost of skittles is more expensive than paints.  It does smell good though. 

RESULTS

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****-ease

*-effectiveness

**-cost

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DIY Bath Colors

 This pins states that you put water into an ice cube tray and then put food coloring into the water and then freeze them, once they are frozen you can take them out and put them in your kids bathtubs and they turn the water colors.  The only reason I do not like this is because I know I would forget these were in my freezer and then it would take up more room in my freezer then I would want.  It is easier for me to just buy the color tablets next to the bathtub to just put in when the kids take a bathtub.  Other than those many reasons, this did work and the kids thought it was fun but I just know I don't have the time for this and I would definitely forget about them.

RESULTS

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*****-ease

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Original pin can be found here: http://www.randeesorganizedchaos.com/2012/04/toot-your-own-horn-thursday.html

Paint Bags for Kids

This pin has you put paint in a ziploc bag and then let you kids play with it like that. 

 The paint was really hard to get mixed around in the bags and I did not want to tape them to my table because it would take the finish off.  The paint was really hard to move around and would be hard for the kids to get to move around, especially how they would want it too.  Kids would give up pretty easy on this one.

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Water Blob

So this pin says you can take two plastic drop cloths, tape them together and fill it up with water and then it becomes this big bouncy, water blob. 

I have to say I had really high hopes for this one and can I tell you this was a MAJOR Pins Down.  Not only was it a complete pain to get the sheeting out straight and to keep it straight but to then tape it all together, it took forever! Then it took forever to fill it up! Even after all of that, I was still excited to see how it would turn out.  As you can see mine would never stay in a rectangle and kept folding over itself.  It would not fill up all of the way so it was hard and not bouncy when you stepped on it.  I followed the directions to a tee but yet it still did not come out anything like it should have.  When I finally finished and went to walk on it, I discovered there were about three or four holes, that at some point, had happened.  This was definitely not worth the time or effort you put into it! There are so many other things that are easier and quicker and last longer.

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no stars- ease
no stars-effectiveness
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DIY Slime and SIlly Putty

I am putting these two together because they are the exact same recipe. I have tried slime recipes before that have worked but I could not get this one to work at all.  Despite kneading it and stirring it forever it never came to the right consistancy.  You can see in the picture that it was stringy and crumbly.  It never became one solid piece like it should have.  I will be sticking to my other slime recipe for the future. 

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***-ease

*-effectiveness

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Remember that Antibiotic

This pin has someone putting a timeline on the side of the medicine bottle with a sharpie, that way you can mark off when you have given the medication. 

This person is genius, why have I never thought of this.  Of all the antibiotics I have given the kids and something like this did not occur to me !! I did this with our last round of antibiotics, this time for strep throat, and it was a life saver.  I was able to see when I gave the antibiotic and if I had missed one and needed to make it up.  Thank you to the smart person who came up with this, this is why I love Pinterest.

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Renewing you Markers

I tried this method out and it did not make any differences it actually made the markers worse than they were before I tried this.  Too bad it did not work because my kids always leave tops off of markers and then they do not work anymore.  Excuse the picture, I did have them standing straight up like the picture but I forgot to get the picture then. 

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ease-**

effectiveness-*

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Shaving Cream Bath Paints

Some of you may have seen this on The Daily Dish but I wanted to post it on here as well.  This is a great paint for the kids to use in the bathtub.  It is so easy to put together and cheap.  All you need is a can of shaving cream, I got mine at the dollar store for 1 dollar, and some food coloring.  I keep mine in a small, round Tupperware with lids so they do not dry out.  Put in your shaving cream and add a few drops of food coloring, mix all the food coloring in and that's it.  Give your kids some paint brushes and let them go to town.   I have to say that I tried all of the paints out there with corn starch and soap and they DO NOT work but this one is a pins up all of the way.  The best part is that it just washes away with the next shower!

                                                                my kids art project

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Painting Swimsuits on Barbie Dolls

This is another idea that when I say it, I thought, why have I not thought of that before?  We have a whole bin of Barbies and they always end up naked with no clothes on.  This post suggests you use nail polish which I did do on the first Barbie but not only did it take forever, with that little brush, it smelled really bad.  So I tried to just paint a swimsuit on the Barbie with acrylic paint.  That worked just as well and it dried faster and did not smell.  Now all of our Barbies are not naked anymore.

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Directions- paint a swimsuit on your Barbie dolls with any color of acrylic paint.
Original post-http://lemontwiggsanewjourney.blogspot.com/2011/07/no-more-naked-barbies.html

Colored Glue Paint

My kids loved this and played with this until they were bone dry.  Make sure your glue bottle has a little gone or you will not be able to get the food coloring distributed throughout the bottle.  Love this and the kids loved it too.  Cheap, Fast and Easy!!

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Directions: place a few drops of food coloring into glue and knead to mix in, then let the kiddos paint.

Original pin- http://almostunschoolers.blogspot.com/2011/07/turning-school-glue-into-paint.html

DIY Playdough

As you can see in my pictures below this play dough did not turn out at all.  It was sticky and not like play dough at all.  It was easy to make and it smelled good but it did not turn out at all.  I just threw it away and I didn't let the kids play with it because it was not something they could even play with.

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DIY Mod Podge

This one is all over Pinterest as "an amazing mod podge" so I wanted to try it out.  I went to the original source and the author made a note next to it stating that she was not sure how this got posted all over Pinterest as mod podge because it is actually a glue and would not work as a mod podge so I did not want to make it and use it for that purpose.

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Bubble Snakes

These were so easy to make and my kids had a blast with them.  They have asked to play with them over and over again.  Cheap, easy and really fast, fun thing for kids.

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ease-*****
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Original post: http://www.housingaforest.com/rainbow-bubble-snakes/

Sponge Water Bombs

These are so fun but let me warn you they will probably only last one or two times.  This should be used with littler kids because the older ones can throw these hard enough that they hurt.  All you do is get a sponge, cut it up into thirds and then tie wire or something to secure it around the center.  Once they are formed you put them in water and then let the kids throw them and play with them until their little hearts are content.  They will not last long, depending on the abuse they receive,  but they are not expensive to put together.  You can get packs of sponges at the dollar store and you probably have something laying around that you can use to secure it. So make a few and have a blast!!

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Magical Drinks

How fun are these?? These would be so fun for a party, especially a magic party.  My kids thought these were so cool, they really look magical.  All you do is take some cups, put some drops of food coloring in the bottom and then cover it with ice, then put a clear drink in and as you pour the drink in, it mixes with the food coloring and magically the drink changes that color.  Fun, cute and easy idea.

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ease-*****
effectiveness-*****
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DIRECTIONS
1. get a cup and food coloring
2. put a few drops of food coloring in the bottom of the cup, you choose your colors
3. put ice on top to cover the food coloring
4. pour in a clear drink and watch it change colors