Legopalooza

    Before we dove into the Lego cake  we had activities for our young building enthusiasts at our Harry Potter Lego party. First up was the Lego head jars.  On Pinterest, they were prepared ahead of time and filled with candy Lego bricks to bring home as favors.  Instead, I used this as our opening activity as guests arrived.

Notice the additional Harry Potter touch?

Lego head jars:
10 baby food jars (labels peeled)
1 big jar of yellow paint
10 paint brushes
Sharpies

I set out paper plates with globs of yellow paint and let the kids go to town painting their jars.  When the jars dried, they drew Lego head faces.  Each guest took home a jar to use to store those tiny Lego pieces.

Lego artists

Next we painted with Legos.  We had a big bag of outgrown mega blocks.  The kids dipped these in different colored paints and used them as stamps.  I was surprised how much the kids got into this one.  When dried, we used the creations as wrapping paper or place mats.

Where will the sorting hat place you?

Next came the most popular activity of the day, the Lego Hunt.  Thanks to Librarian extraordinaire, Chrissie Morrison for sharing this idea.  The kids took turns hopping up on the stool to be sorted into their house colors.  When I took the hat off, I slipped a post it note from under the edge to reveal their color.  The guests really enjoyed combing the yard to get the hidden Legos.  Then the teams spontaneously built small creations with their found bricks.

 At this point we headed inside for Harry Potter Wheel of Fortune.  Using a dry erase board, I used the words and clues from a crossword puzzle I dug up from my lesson plans. The children remained seated in rows according to their team colors.  After their turn they went to the back of the line.  Luckily I had cousins to assist this activity.  We had to step up the difficulty when the teams solved the puzzle quickly!

We ended the party with cake and presents and every guest went home with their Lego head jar and a Harry Potter potions class Lego set.  It was a fun party to plan and of course, the birthday boy received many wonderful Lego sets to continue the building experience!

Happy Campers

  We are at the kick off point of summer vacation in my house.  Do you know what that means?  Sun, fun and activities for everyone.  It also means everyone is home in my house.  The upside to this is we are free to travel as a family.  The downside is my usual routine gets lost.  Apparently I am a creature of habit.  When we are off schedule I get a bit antsy.

   I feel like I spend the day saying, "Please clean up your room.  Please clear your dishes from the table. Please get ready so I can drive you to XYZ."

   Instead of living moment to moment I am being proactive.  We are going to have "camp at home". This is what I have so far.  The children will come up with a name for their room and earn clean cabin awards for keeping it picked up.  The living room will be the park and they will check it for litter.  This can also be applied to towels left on the bathroom floor.  Instead of nagging them to help out, they will receive prizes or outings for their effort.

   Monday will be our arts and crafts morning.  My daughter has been wanting to get into the Melty Beads, stamps and butterfly garden that she received for her birthday. Tuesday will be art. Wednesday is P.E. time.  Thursday will be a field trip and Friday we will have music time.  This is not set in stone, but is a reminder for me to stop cleaning the house and make time for their interests.

   I will not map out every minute of vacation.  There will be plenty of time for swimming, visiting friends, lounging with a good book and just good old fashioned play.  What ideas do you use for avoiding the "I'm bored" days and keeping the peace over vacation?