Kids Crafts- Aquarium Diorama

Another glorious spring Day here in New Mexico. With 6 kids with me today I had to be prepared. I took the time over the past week to make a new Pinterest board of things that would be fun and age appropriate to do this summer. The board is accurately named 'Summer2014'. One of the first things I saw (that I had all materials on hand) was this Aquarium Diorama.

Amazingly, I even had the foam sea stickers! I bought a package of them from amazon that was three times the size I expected. I have enough of these to last 5 more projects! 

I skipped the sand and 2nd color of paint. Too much for these little guys and my patience. ;) 

The painting of the plates was quite time consuming for these kids and gave me lots of time to get a snack ready and feed  the babies. 

I used Dixie plates and wished I had used regular cheep paper plates. The paint was runny on the waxy surface. I added some flour to it to thicken it up.

The kids had a lot of fun doing these and ran out of room for all the fish they wanted. We used tape instead of staples and Saran Wrap for the window 'glass'. 

This is one of the better projects Ive come across for 2 to 4 year olds. They were able to do mostly all of the steps themselves with minimal assistance. They were talking about ocean life and naming all the fish and asking questions about each one. 

And best of all, they were super excited to show their loved ones and take them home to keep enjoying. 

Definitely a success. 

(The middle plate is the 1 year olds) 

Potty Training Chart

The little man is FINALLY showing signs of being ready to potty train. Am I ever ready for it! We've been on two solid days of potty training with one accident each day. They both happened shortly after working hours where I lose track of the time. He tinkled in the kitchen yesterday and today immediately After sitting on the potty he went into the other room and pooped his pants! Argh! As soon as I cleaned him up and ran a bath, I went to look of there were any 'leftovers' in the room he chose and the damn puppy peed right in front of me! Some days I could just dig a hole and crawl inside. Some days I wish I was just at the beach.

Any-who, I couldn't find a potty training chart that I like enough. They all were either two short or not interesting or exciting enough. So naturally, I made one. Poster board, foam backing, sharpies and stickers.

The goal is for Z to fill each puff of smoke with a sticker, working his way to each planet in our solar system starting from the sun. He gets one sticker for pee and 2 for poop. (And only one per hour, to keep from multiple trips to get more rewards, tricky buggar will do that!)

 Each planet has a reward. Mars = a Sucker, Venus = a trip to the park, Earth = a trip to the zoo. 

 He earned his sucker in one day so as to experience the reward and catch on to the goal. I think it's going to work out well. :)