indoor carnival morning

I had a cold the other morning and had to figure out how to keep the kids busy for a little while. I decided to set up an indoor carnival for them! We set up five stations: bean bag toss, ring toss, fishing for money, hallway bowling, and hopscotch. Hallway bowling we've done before, and there are plenty of other great tape-on-the-floor activities along with hopscotch here. We luckily have a bean bag toss game, so that was easy! If you don't have one, cut several large holes in a piece of cardboard.

The biggest hit so far is a money game I made up. We haven't settled on a name yet, but let's call it "Fishing for $1" for now. We taped play money coins to card stock circles (nickels, dimes, quarters, and half dollars) and put a paper clip on each circle.

Then we flipped all of the circles over so the coins were hidden, and fished them out until we reached a dollar. This was fun a few times, then H came up with different amounts he wanted to reach. Finally, he decided he wanted more of a challenge, so I added a subtraction sign to a handful of the chips. This made the game really fun for him! This is a great way to stay sharp with money math, too!

Here is the ring toss I set up. If you have a base of a shape sorter, or even an old cd/dvd spindle tower, you can use that to toss your rings onto. We used magformers as our rings, but if you have the detachable rings from toddler bowls (to suction to a tray), those also work great.

This kept the kids busy for a good bit of the morning, and I am thankfully feeling mostly back to normal. I will have to stock up on some carnival "prizes" for next time to add to the fun - maybe pencil erasers, pencils, pennies, and bookmarks?

happy valentine's day!

One of my sweet valentines!

nemo

A few pictures from our recent blizzard:

Untouched.

Untouched and roughed up.

Snow tunnels are so much fun!

I think this pic says it all!

Chocolate or Candy LEGO Valentine's Day Treats

Yummy Homemade LEGO Valentine's Day Treats

One of my kids detests chocolate. Though I know chocolate is a traditional Valentine's Day treat, I decided we would make white chocolate treats this year. Since both my kids love LEGOs, and I already had a minifigure mold from a LEGO-themed birthday party, this Valentine card seemed like a no-brainer!

Make Your Own LEGO Valentine's Treats

Please note: I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you downloads of value and information about educational resources. The link below is an Amazon affiliate link. You can read my full disclosure here.

What you need:

• LEGO figure mold (I used the LEGO Minifigure Ice Cube Tray (aff link)
• scissors, string, single hole punch, 2.5" hole punch (or you can cut out the circles)
• chocolate, white chocolate, or candy melts
• small bags to put the finished product in
• template (below, or download the pdf, or feel free to make your own!) - these would also be cute cupcake toppers!

Template: background graphics from www.mycutegraphics.com

Melt white chocolates in the microwave in a glass bowl/measuring cup, an pour into the mold.

After the minifigs cool (you can refrigerate to speed up the process), gather your supplies.

Punch out the circles and then punch two small holes in each circle.

Loop the string through the holes and tie to secure the LEGO minifigure.

Sign the back, place in a poly bag. Done!