{"id":1465,"date":"2011-04-04T16:19:43","date_gmt":"2011-04-04T16:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.wordpress.com\/?p=1465"},"modified":"2011-04-04T16:19:43","modified_gmt":"2011-04-04T16:19:43","slug":"10-ways-to-make-today-magical-87","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/2011\/04\/04\/10-ways-to-make-today-magical-87\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Ways to Make Today Magical"},"content":{"rendered":"

Happy Monday!<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

I’m sorry I’ve been so quiet lately.\u00a0 We went off to the wilds of Nebraska to visit Magical Mama Tiffany and her family for a week, and the kids and I have been battling various illnesses and ailments (on top of that pesky morning sickness).\u00a0 I think we’re finally over the worst of it, though (at last!).
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Here’s a few ways to add a little magic to life this week…<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Make a basket for the birds.\u00a0 Nest building season is coming.\u00a0 Help the kids gather lots of great nesting supplies from the house and put them outside in a basket for the birds to choose from.\u00a0 Wool, fabric scraps, very short pieces of yarn, fur, feathers, moss, hair and other soft, biodegradable materials are all good choices.\u00a0 Put the basket where you can see it from a window and see who takes off with the treasures!
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2.\u00a0 Make your own bath crayons!\u00a0 Kiboomu<\/a> has a recipe that sounds incredibly simple.\u00a0 We’re going to give them a try!\u00a0 (Note that the link is now dead, but a lovely reader has given the directions in the comments!)<\/em>
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3.\u00a0 It’s National Poetry Month!\u00a0 Celebrate by gathering a bunch of poetry books and reading aloud to the kids each day that you can this month.\u00a0 I have fond memories of my mother reading all sorts of poetry to me at bedtime, from silly (like “Daddy Fell Into the Pond”) to romantically tragic (like “The Highwayman”).\u00a0 Any poems by A.A. Milne are keepers and Shel Silverstein is a modern favorite of many.\u00a0 I especially love collections of poems old and new for children. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"poems\"<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Make some family flags.\u00a0 Use an old sheet or other piece of light fabric and cut a rectangle for each family member.\u00a0 Dole out paints, markers, trim or whatever you have on hand and let each family member design a colorful flag to hang in the yard (or inside, if you don’t have a yard).\u00a0 Flag poles can be made of thin branches, skinny dowels, etc.\u00a0 If you use washable paint or markers and the rain cleans your flags, just make them again!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 Serve dinner on the nice china.\u00a0 Decorate the table, dim the lights and make it special.\u00a0 If you like, start a collection of mismatched china from local thrift stores to use for your new everyday dishes.\u00a0 Plates are often as low as a dollar (or less!)\u00a0 and kids can help pick out patterns they love.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

6.\u00a0 Spend some time at a local nature center.\u00a0 Kids can bird watch, get up close with various types of animals, do projects, walk trails, learn some new things, get some fresh air and otherwise enjoy nature.\u00a0 Many are also free!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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7.\u00a0 Make some fun mobiles with odds and ends.\u00a0 Hand out some fishing line, yarn or string and then help the kids assemble a mobile of their liking.\u00a0 Kids can use natural materials like driftwood, pine cones, feathers and shells.\u00a0 They can make paper ones by painting hearts, stars or other shapes and then gluing two shapes together.\u00a0 They can also make colorful ones with parts of broken toys, painted items from the recycling bin, you name it. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

8.\u00a0 Make some colorful ankle bells for your kiddos.\u00a0 Mini-eco<\/a> tells you how.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

9.\u00a0 Get a big bag of gorgeous marbles or dragon tears and hide them all over the yard.\u00a0 Let the kids know you’ve done it, and all season they can hunt for treasures.\u00a0 They can use vintage wine glasses (another name for cheap ones from the thrift store!), tea cups, glass jars, baskets, mini boxes, homemade pouches or other containers to keep and display their pretties.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong> Periodically restock them when they get low. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

10. Hang a baby sling from ceiling hooks to make a fantastic hammock chair.\u00a0 I love this idea from The Curriculum is Not Compulsory<\/a>! I love those socks too!
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And with that, chickadees, I’m off to play in the dirt of my garden.\u00a0 Or perhaps cough a whole bunch, throw up a bit and hold my belly and moan.\u00a0 Probably all of the above!\u00a0 \ud83d\ude09
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Count your blessings, hug your kiddos and don’t forget to take care of you!
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n


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\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Happy Monday! I’m sorry I’ve been so quiet lately.\u00a0 We went off to the wilds of Nebraska to visit Magical Mama Tiffany and her family for a week, and the kids and I have been battling various illnesses and ailments (on top of that pesky morning sickness).\u00a0 I think we’re finally over the worst of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[253],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1465"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}