Non-Lame Playdate: Upcycling Crafts

 I actually did these projects for a Brownie Meeting with an Earth Day theme, but I thought they would also work well for a fun play date.

I love the idea of "Upcycling" - someone's trash can indeed be someone else's treasure!

I found all of these ideas on Pinterest and they turned out to be pretty easy for a group of 8 year olds!!

Project 1: Tin Can Flower Pot/Pencil Holder/Vase

Materials:

Tin cans (I had all different sizes to choose from)

Burlap 

Twine

Ribbon 

Glue or Spray Adhesive (I used the spray adhesive in the interest of time although an aerosol can did not really fit my Earth Day theme!!)

Directions:

• I precut the burlap ahead of time and placed in the tin cans because I had a group of 10 girls and I wanted to make sure I had enough! It also made the process a little smoother to have this part done. 

• Spray the burlap with adhesive. 

• Line up the bottom of the burlap with the base of the tin can and wrap the burlap around the can. 

• Measure a piece of ribbon so it fits around the can. I bought a few ribbons for the girls to choose from so they had some unique looks. I also told them they could place the ribbon where they felt it looked best - secure the ribbon with glue or spray adhesive. 

• Lastly, measure and tie a piece of twine around the ribbon.

You could also collect or have them bring upcycled items to design their new can like buttons, artificial flowers, lace, etc. It is always fun to let them really design their own unique look!!! 

Project 2: Pop Top Bracelet 

Materials:
Pop Tabs (about 12 for each)
Ribbon - One 12 inch piece per bracelet

Directions: 

• Since I did this as a group activity, I found it easiest to make this as a "Ready to Craft" kit. Along with the pop tabs and pre-cut ribbon, I put the instructions into each baggie so that they could do this project again on their own and there are more complicated ways to make these too. 
• Weave the ribbon through the first pop tab and tie a knot, leaving enough ribbon to tie at the end.
• For the rest of the bracelet, we did the simplest bracelet design which is just weaving the ribbon through the pop tab holes - make sure the pop tabs are going in the same direction.
• For the last pop tab, I had the girls tie the end of the ribbon with the remaining ribbon from their first knot. You could also get a simple toggle in the jewelry department.

Project 3: Word search!

If you are doing this for a Girl Scout Troop or school group, I also found this lesson planwhich had some great activities. I printed out the word search and gave it to the girls that finished first so they were occupied while the others finished up. (Any teachers or troop leaders know why this is a very important back up plan!!!).

Department of Energy K-5 Lesson Plans

 

Snack: Edible Bird's Nest  

I thought this was a cute Earth Day themed snack!! I had seen it around Easter time.

Ingredients: 
5 cups Rice Krispies
40 large marshmallows
1/4 cup Margarine
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Yogurt Covered Cranberries (3 per nest)

Directions:

• Spray muffin tins with Pam, set aside
• Melt the butter in a large pot
• Add marshmallows and stir until mixed
• Remove from heat and add the Rice Krispies and chocolate chips, stir until mixed
• Fill muffin tins with mix
• Use a spoon or melon baller to shape each one into a "nest"
• Let cool 
• Once cool, remove "nests" from muffin tin and place on a platter. 
• Add yogurt covered cranberries to each nest

 

 

Non-Lame Playdate - Cooking Club

According to Natalie, it was time for another Non-Lame Playdate and this time, she came to me with ideas to pitch!! Her choices were:

1) Book Club where everyone was to read The Velveteen Rabbit beforehand and come prepared to read their favorite excerpts.
2) Crazy Make Up playdate....self explanatory (and also immediately dismissed by her mother).
3) Cooking Club where everyone brought their favorite recipe and ingredients to prepare their recipe for the group.

After some back and forth discussions on the Book Club vs Cooking Club...she and I settled on the Cooking Club playdate.

Cooking Club Play Date

This activity took a little planning and preparation, but the end results were more than worth the efforts required to make it a successful day.

The Concept:

• Natalie made invitations a week ahead of time and instructed the girls to bring a recipe to swap and an apron if they had one.
• Picking the recipe - my goal was for the girls to do the majority of the work and I didn't want it it to be too difficult. I also would advise double checking on any allergies!!
• We had two friends to participate (this was the perfect number...any more than that and it would have been a bit much to facilitate!!).

 

Shopping List:

• Ingredients for the recipe
• I bought cookie boxes for the girls to take their granola bars home.
• I bought small photo album for the girls to put their recipes in.
• Make sure you have enough baking supplies so that each child has their own "station"

 

No Bake Granola Bars

Yield: 10 Bars

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 cups quick oats (not rolled oats!)
• 1 cup crispy cereal
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, raisins, etc.

Directions:

• Line a small jelly roll pan with wax paper
• In a large bowl, stir oats and crispy cereal. Set aside.
• In a saucepan, melt the butter, honey and brown sugar together over medium heat until it bubbles. Turn down the heat to low and cook for an additional 2 minutes, constantly stirring.
• Once done, stir in the vanilla.
• Pour the mixture over the dry ingredients and gently fold until evenly coated.
• Pour the entire mixture into half the pan, pressing down in between. You want the bars to be about 3/4 inches thick. Make sure sides and top are packed tightly.
• Sprinkle with choice of chocolate chips, raisins, etc.
• Cool to room temp before cutting into bars.

 I set up their individual cooking stations and got all the ingredients out prior to the girls arriving. I went step by step through the recipe (my Mom would be proud as there were a few opportunities for math lessons as the girls were measuring their ingredients - fun AND educational!!).

The only part of the recipe that I had to do was the stove top part (I had three sauce pans going at once!!). I also poured the melted mixture into the dry ingredients for the girls.





 
While the granola bars were cooling, I had the girls sit down for lunch where they toasted their culinary achievements and they shared the recipes that they brought. One girl brought her great grandmother's recipe for peanut butter pie and they talked about how special that person was to her Mom - it was such a sweet conversation!

 After lunch, the girls were able to decorate their recipe book covers to make them as individual as they are!

It was finally time for dessert and to test the fruits of their labor and the little chefs just raved over their results (I tried some too and have to say it was really yummy!!). Some of the granola didn't stick together, but I put that in zip lock bags for them to add to ice cream or yogurt.

 

 

 

 As the girls went off to play before being picked up, I cut the bars up and put them in the cookie boxes (separating the layers with parchment paper).

I attempted to add dishwashing to the list of the day's activities, but it was voted down. :O) However, the girls had such a good time that even facing the dish pile at the end of the event was worth it!!!

The Non-lame Play Date - Spa Day

My 7 year old daughter has been begging me to have a play date with friends from school. We had an opportunity for her to have a play date today without her little brothers in the house (rare event!) so I really wanted it to be fun for her.

We brainstormed some potential ideas that would not be "lame". Maybe it was the anticipated peace and quiet of a non-brother afternoon, but Natalie decided she wanted a spa day for her play date. With two hours to put it together, off to Target we went!

Snack

Every play date needs to have a snack (especially if Natalie is in charge!). We decided that a yogurt smoothie would be a healthy spa themed snack.

• 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
• Choice of fruit ( we had bananas, blueberries and strawberries)
• 6 ice cubes
• 1/2 cup orange juice 
• Blend together and serve in a fun goblet

Activities

After the girls had their smoothies, I turned on some relaxing spa music, had them sit on the couch and brought them gel facial masks that were warmed. I really thought that I was going to get my turkey soup into the crockpot while they enjoyed their moment of zen...apparently, a 7 year old can find her zen in about 3 minutes because they announced that they were "relaxed" and ready for the next activity in the time it took for me to get the crockpot out of the cupboard!

Next up...Mani/Pedi time! I had some Dead Sea Salt and Dead Sea Body Butter from when I got completely suckered at the mall by those people who show you all the gross skin cells that come off with their "amazing" product...I purchased it just so they would let go of my hand!! So glad that I end up using it on two 2nd Graders. Seriously though, their hands and feet were super soft when I was done with their treatments, although one lesson I learned is that these girls have very ticklish feet!


Now that their hands and feet were baby soft, the girls picked their nail colors and I also got nail stickers to jazz up their mani/pedi's.

The end result.....

A very non-lame play date!!! I had two girls with very fancy finger nails and toe nails but more importantly, a nice afternoon for two friends to giggle, enjoy some fun time together and have some much needed time away from their siblings!!!