Some Summer projects...

***I finally got my problem fixed...after a week of being home from
our camping trip...sorry about all that. Here's one more post before
my camping tips. I will be posting like mad now :)

This post contains a few things we've done so far...a great recipe for
gluten free playdough...and some fun traveling ideas.

I have been getting very inspired lately with some great
scrapbookers & crafters out there. Some amazing ideas for
sure!
We are leaving for Yosemite on Saturday and I'm trying to get
a bunch of stuff together to keep the girls entertained on the
long drive and to help preserve their memories of this trip. So,
I wanted them to have a travel journal, but decided that I wanted
it to be different than just a comp book. I found these little card-
board books @ Micheals. I would have made them with the girls,
but we were limited on time. And they were cheap!! My new
favorite thing is chipboard scrapbooks, so we made them kinda
like those.
Here they are painting their covers...

I had them pick out papers, embellishments & stamps. And had
them decoupage the paper onto the covers...

And here are the finished products....

I'm so excited about this trip and to see what their journals will
hold when we are all done!!

Here are a few travel ideas...if you are going on a road trip or a
long plane ride.
Tonight, I went to Target and found a bunch of educational work
books about the US Presidents, math, reading, etc in the dollar bin.
There was also flash cards with a bunch of different subjects.

We pack totes with a lot of activities to do while riding in the car.

Here are some more ideas: flash cards, coloring, road/car bingo
(HERE is a link to some pages you can print out.), MP3 player,
books on tape/CD, travel journals, dry erase markers with a small
board or they can use them on the windows, card games, stamps,
educational handheld video games, pipe cleaners, ABC game
(pick a category...ex: animals...name an animal for each letter of
the alphabet, surprise bag (have a bag with surprise snacks, games,
coloring pages, toys, etc & give them out every so often during the
trip), old baking sheets w/fun magnets (it can also be used for snack
trays, play dough trays, etc), "find it" jar (fill an old peanut butter jar
with dried rice, beans, etc...and add a bunch of different little things.
Make a list of what you put in there and then let the kids go on a
scavenger hunt. They can check off every item they find.) Here's what's
in our jar: ring, Q-tip, scissors (small pair from an old sewing kit), marble,
plastic castle (from an old game), rock, battery, guitar pick, eraser, lock, key,
barbie shoe, crayon, penny, nickle, dime, screw, bobby pin, domino, paper clip,
clothes pin, marker, magnet, scrabble tile, rubber band, dice, button, bell &
zip tie.
Here is our playdough day. We made our own, girls picked out the
colors, and it was super easy & quick. They were playing with it
within 20 min. And they've been playing with it ever since!!

Gluten Free Playdough:
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup corn starch
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp cream of tarter
1 cup water
1 tsp cooking oil
Food coloring, if desired
Preparation:Mix ingredients. Cook and stir on low heat for 3 minutes or until mixture forms a ball. Cool completely before storing in a sealable plastic bag.
I made one batch for each girly!