Welcome to The Christian Mama’s Guide Pin-Tastic Summer! If you’re just joining us, click over to our intro post to find out what we’re doing and to see what other crafts, activities and projects we’ve done.

This week, we’re having Alphabet Week. Scroll down to learn how to make glow letters and then click here to find out what other awesome letter-loving activities we’ve done this week.

This activity is supersimple but my kids love it so much that I had to include it.  We spent more than an hour playing glow letters last week… what a fun way to spend a hot afternoon!

What You Need:

• 10-25 Glow sticks (get them in the $1 section at both WalMart or Target)
• A dark room

What to Do:

1. Go into a dark room with your kids.
2. Crack the sticks and watch them come to life.
3. Then give your kids a series of letter tasks with the sticks, depending on their age:

• For little kids, have them try to make a square, a circle, a line, a rectangle (making shapes is a skill they need to learn to write!)
• For preschoolers, call out letters that they know and see if they can make them.  Move up to having them write their name.
• For bigger kids, call out vocab words and spelling words and have them write them.

Tweet it!

Use glow sticks as a summer spelling lesson for your kids.  Find out how.  http://wp.me/p33YCp-rn  Click to Tweet.

Welcome to The Christian Mama’s Guide Pin-Tastic Summer! If you’re just joining us, click over to our intro post to find out what we’re doing and to see what other crafts, activities and projects we’ve done.

This week, we’re having Alphabet Week. Scroll down to learn how to make salt box letters and then click here to find out what other awesome letter-loving activities we’ve done this week.

What you need:

• A shoebox or shoebox lid.
• construction paper
• rubber cement or glue
• 1 cup salt
• glitter (optional, but fun)

What to do:

1. Cut 4-5 pieces of construction paper to the width of the box by about 4 inches wide.
2. Carefully lay the pieces in the bottom of the box, using rubber cement or glue to glue them down in stripes.  This doesn’t have to be a perfect process.
3. Pour salt over your construction paper.  Add glitter.
4. Have your kids write words in the salt with their fingers.
5. For my big kids, I would call out a word and have them write it and then I’d check to see if they spelled it correctly.  For Will, I guided his fingers to write the letters in his name and then I let him “doodle” in the salt.  For kids just learning letters, you could call out a letter like “write an A” and see if they can draw it.

Tweet it! 

Practice your kid’s letter writing skills with these fun, sparkling salt boxes.  Here’s how to make one:  http://wp.me/p33YCp-r7  Click to Tweet

Welcome to Pin-Tastic Summer Week 3.  If you’re just joining us, please click over to read the Pin-Tastic Summer intro post and then join us for some summer fun.

This week’s theme is:

This weeks activities include:

* Monday:  Salt Box Letters

* Tuesday:  Glow Letters

* Wednesday: Making Name Signs

* Thursday: Pretzel Letters

* Friday:  Letter Hunt

Alphabet Week Shopping List

If you’d like to prepare ahead so you have all components on hand, here’s this week’s shopping list.

Salt Box Letters

• a shoe box or other flat box
• construction paper
• salt
• glitter
• rubber cement or glue

Glow Letters

• a package of glow sticks
  

Name Signs

• masking tape
• heavy duty white paper
• watercolor paints

Pretzel Letters

• 2 packages active dry yeast (don’t get scared… these are so easy!)
• 3 cups flour
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil or melted butter
• 2 tbsp baking soda
• salt

Letter Hunt

• A camera that your kid can easily operate (or if your kid is small, you can help)
• A sheet of white paper
• A pen or pencil

Tweet it!

It’s Alphabet Week on Christian Mama’s Guide.  Click over to get five fun, easy and educational letter activities/ http://wp.me/p33YCp-qY  Click to Tweet

Welcome to The Christian Mama’s Guide Pin-Tastic Summer! If you’re just joining us, click over to our intro post to find out what we’re doing and to see what other crafts, activities and projects we’ve done.

This week, we’re having Rainbow Week. Scroll down to learn how to make golden rainbow art and then click here to find out what other awesome rainbow activities we’ve done this week.

What you need:

• A small bottle of Elmer’s white glue (or a half-full bottle)
• metallic acrylic paint (we used gold but you can use silver or bronze or glittered)
• watercolor paints
• cardstock or white paper

What to do:

1. Empty out half of the bottle of glue and fill with paint.  Shake well.
2. Carefully draw a rainbow on the paper with the golden glue.
3. Let dry 4-6 hours.
4. Once dry, use watercolors to fill in the rainbow.
5. If you want, you can add salt to the wet watercolors to add MORE sparkle.

Tweet it!  Make golden sparkling rainbows out of a magic potion of golden glue.  Find out how.  http://wp.me/p33YCp-qD

Click to Tweet.

Welcome to The Christian Mama’s Guide Pin-Tastic Summer! If you’re just joining us, click over to our intro post to find out what we’re doing and to see what other crafts, activities and projects we’ve done.

This week, we’re having Rainbow Week. Scroll down to learn how to make rainbow ribbon windsocks and then click here to find out what other awesome rainbow activities we’ve done this week.

What you need:

• 1 “ring”– I used rings I got from the craft store for $1.17 each but a bracelet, embroidery hoop or any other ring you can find will work.
• 5-10 spools of ribbon (I got mine for less than $1/spool at the craft store.)

What to do:

1. Cut the ribbon into 3-foot long lengths.
2. Have your kid fold the ribbon in half.
3. Teach your kid how to loop the ribbon around the hoop so the strings hang.  (My five-year-old and seven-year-old could do it easily with a little guidance, my two-year-old needed help.  I had him choose the colors, fold them in half and make the loop and then I wrapped the ends through.)
4. When you’re done, tie an extra piece of ribbon at the top for hanging.
5. Hang it off of your kid’s window or outside on your patio.

Tweet it!

Make a sunny colorful windsock out of ribbon with your kids.  Find out how.  http://wp.me/p33YCp-ql  Click to Tweet

Welcome to The Christian Mama’s Guide Pin-Tastic Summer! If you’re just joining us, click over to our intro post to find out what we’re doing and to see what other crafts, activities and projects we’ve done.

This week, we’re having Rainbow Week. Scroll down to learn how to make rainbow swirl cards and then click here to find out what other awesome rainbow activities we’ve done this week.

What you need:

• shaving cream
• a plastic bin (use the one from rainbow rice!)
• food coloring
• a squeegee
• card stock or white cards
• a fork
• newspaper to cover your work space

What to do:

1. Squirt a thick layer of shaving cream into the plastic bin.
2. Add several drops of food coloring on top of the shaving cream
3. Have your kids use the fork to mix the shaving cream and food coloring to make a swirl.
4. Place the card stock flat into the shaving cream.
5. Flip upright onto the table.
6. Help your kid to use the squeegee to wipe the shaving cream off of the card.
7. Let dry.

 Tweet it!

Make gorgeous rainbow swirl cards with your kids using shaving cream, food coloring and a squeegee.  Find out how.  http://wp.me/p33YCp-qe  Click to Tweet

Welcome to The Christian Mama’s Guide Pin-Tastic Summer! If you’re just joining us, click over to our intro post to find out what we’re doing and to see what other crafts, activities and projects we’ve done.

This week, we’re having Rainbow Week. Scroll down to learn how to make rainbow fruit dessert and then click here to find out what other awesome rainbow activities we’ve done this week.

I’m actually feeling pretty smug about this “activity” because my kids said it was the “funnest dessert” ever… and it was… but it was also pretty darn healthy as far as desserts go.  I mean, I did add whipped cream clouds but other than that, it was just fruit.

What you need:

• Fruit– one kind of every color.  I used raspberries, apricots, mangoes, kiwis, blueberries and grapes although you can get creative and get whatever fruits you can find.
• Whipped cream (optional)

What to do:

1. Cut the fruit into small pieces and put each kind into a separate bowl.
2. Give your kids a plate and let them make their own rainbow on the plate.
3. Add a cloud of whipped cream.
4. Eat!

Tweet it:

It’s healthy, delicious and rainbow-colored.  The perfect summer snack or dessert for kids.  http://wp.me/p33YCp-pt

Click to Tweet

Welcome to The Christian Mama’s Guide Pin-Tastic Summer! If you’re just joining us, click over to our intro post to find out what we’re doing and to see what other crafts, activities and projects we’ve done.

This week, we’re having Rainbow Week. Scroll down to learn how to make rainbow rice and then click here to find out what other awesome rainbow activities we’ve done this week.

My adorable nephew Jude and niece Greta helped me with this project.  Aren’t they cute?

What you need:

• 1 plastic bin
• 1 large bag white rice
• 5 tbsp rubbing alcohol
• food coloring
• quart-sized ziplock bags
• materials for playing in the rice– measuring spoons, cups, etc.

What to do:

1. Put 1 1/2 cups of rice into 4-5 Ziplock bags (depending on how many colors you want)
2. Add 1 tbsp rubbing alcohol to each bag
3. Add 8-10 drops of food coloring to each bag (mix red and yellow to make orange or red and blue to make purple)
4. Seal each bag tightly and have your kids shake until the rice is well colored.
5. Let bags sit open in the sun for 1-2 hours so the alcohol dries.
6. Pour in rows into the bin.
7. Let your kids dive in and mix up the rice using spoons, cups and their hands.

Tweet it:

One of my favorite kid activities:  Rainbow rice!  Colored rice meets cooking utensils meets hours of fun.  http://wp.me/p33YCp-po  Click to Tweet