Saturday Mornings at Lowes

Twice a month, Lowes offers a FREE Build and Grow workshop for kids. I have been taking my boys to these workshops for about a year and a half and they really enjoy each project! 

 

Everything you need to build the project comes in a prepackaged kit, and Lowes provides child-size hammers for your kids to use all on their own.





 

Usually, an adult needs to help read (or interpret) the instructions, but the kids can help locate the pieces, do the hammering, add the decorations, etc. These Build and Grow workshops do not use paint as part of the activity, so you don't need to worry about your children staining their clothes! The projects are themed and are usually based on current movies. Each kit contains full color stickers, cardboard cutouts, and/or other materials for attaching to the project.

 

My boys love coming home to play with their new 'toys'. I love how they get to create something with real tools (and how the projects actually hold up during rough play).





 

Don't forget to pick up your FREE Build and Grow apron so that you can iron on all the patches you will be receiving at each workshop! *Note- You do have to preregister for each workshop. Sessions fill up quickly!*

 

 

Have your children ever been to a Build and Grow workshop? What do you think of the projects?



Easy DIY Dry Erase Boards

As a former elementary school teacher, I know all about the magic of dry erase boards. Ask kids to write a math problem on paper. Grunts, groans. Give 'em a dry erase board and they're solving quadratic equations all over the place. Sometimes my own children get tired of the same old paper and crayons too. Today I remembered an old trick of mine that I used to use in my classroom. Do-It-Yourself dry erase boards! You only need three things to make one, and you might even have everything at your house already:  Paper, dry erase markers, and sheet protectors.

Just slip a white or colored piece of paper into the sheet protector and voilà. You can obviously use dry erase markers, but some wet erase markers work well too. Try it. It's amazing how much you will want to doodle! Ooops. Mom made a little mistake here. Let me just wipe that line up real quick. What's that? Three plus one does not equal 15? Darn. I'll just erase that and try again.

It's cheap, easy, and portable, and great for art, homework, or homeschooling. The downside... when your kids draw a really wonderful picture, it's guaranteed to smudge off. I just take pictures...

 

What are some cool DIY projects you have come up with?

 

 



Making Gingerbread Houses

We decided to make gingerbread houses this year. Here are some photos of the process with some tips, in case you want to try it out.

 

 

I was going to buy the individual ingredients separately, but my husband found pre-assembled kits at Home Depot. I bought two kits so that each of my boys could decorate their own house. The kits came with the gingerbread, two colors of icing, decorating bags and icing tips, and candies. The first step of the instructions did not make any sense, by the way. A very confusing jumble of words basically said... squeeze the icing into the decorating bag.

 



 

I added my own step here. Using some wax paper, I wrapped the cardboard that came with the gingerbread so that the boys could have a clean surface to display their houses on. I just folded the edges of the paper and taped it together like a Christmas present!

Here are my little guys using the icing to glue the walls together. My husband was helping with this part. The icing was a bit stiff and it was difficult to squeeze it onto the house (even after we 'softened' the icing for several minutes). For some reason, the icing was not working out so good for my three-year-old. He was doing a great job holding the walls together, but the poor house started tilting like some Fun House from a circus!

 

 

Once the roof pieces started going on, the houses became a little more stable. Then, FINALLY, they could begin decorating! It was rather fun. The candy looked like little Christmas lights and the boys did a really great job making the houses looks very yummy. However, the icing did not taste too good. Every piece of the kit is supposed to be edible, but who knows how long those boxes were sitting on the shelf at Home Depot. We also ate some of the candies. They weren't too bad, tasting a little like stale NERDS. My boys are counting the days until Christmas has passed when they get to eat some of the house. Ewww.

  

 

I had a lot of fun helping out with this project. The whole thing probably took about an hour to do (with two adults helping). If I do another gingerbread house in the future, I will probably let the kids pick out the gram crackers, candy, and icing from a regular grocery store. I think these pre-assembled houses were perfect for us beginners this year, but next time, we are going to need a challenge.