CarePlay Easel for Four with Paint Trays

Where to buy: www.allchildrensfurniture.com

Kids love to demonstrate their painting and drawing skills, which can get very messy at times. I personally like the idea of an easel, for various reasons:

* It is easier for the kids to stand, paint and admire their artwork.
* The easel can be moved into different places, even outdoors, so kids can paint and draw what they see outside.
* It also allows children to unleash their artistic potential, paint like the real artists do and just have fun.
* The easel can also be used to prop up a big book or storytelling.

The Good

The CarePlay Easel for Four with Paint Trays is big enough to accommodate four children painting at the same time. The blue easel has two large dry erase boards, smock hooks to hang up your kid’s aprons and clips to attach the art paper to the board. It also comes with large paint trays. It is made of high quality molded plastic and is very durable, even outdoors.

The Bad

This product is not cheap.

The Bottom Line

This is certainly worth investing in if you are planning on using it for years to come. If you run a day care or after-school club, homeschool, or have several children, this would be a perfect easel to have. I like it because siblings, as well as friends, can paint and create artwork simultaneously. No more fights about whose turn it is.

How to Make a Birdhouse with Twigs

It’s not unusual for children to become enamored with wild animals. They want to touch or hold them when they see them, but as parents we know that’s not a good idea. However, you can encourage their love of birds by teaching them how to make a birdhouse with twigs. Let them hang it near a window so they can watch, and you may have a budding ornithologist on your hands.

Birdhouses can be made from a variety of items. Milk jugs, boxes, and soda bottles are common crafts items for children to try. Here’s what your child will need if they want to make one from twigs they find lying around the yard.

* Clean, empty 1/2 gallon milk carton
* Paint in natural colors like brown or grey
* Twigs from around the yard, broken in to various sizes
* Tacky glue or a low-temp glue gun if an adult will be helping
* Safety scissors, depending upon the age of the child
* Ruler
* Pencil
* Fishing line to hang the finished birdhouse

Measure 3 inches up from the bottom of the clean milk carton and make a dark mark. Continue measuring and marking 3 inches from the bottom on the remaining sides. Using the marks as a guide, have them cut the carton into two pieces. Be sure to save both parts; they’ll need them.

Starting with the top piece, your child can cut a 2 inch circle in one side of the carton. Then moving to the bottom part, have them cut 2 inches from the height. Place glue on all the outer sides of the smaller carton and push the larger one into the bottom. This will make the carton smaller than it was.

Glue the spout closed and then paint the milk carton one of the darker natural colors. Allow the milk carton to dry completely.

If your child hasn’t already done so, have them find a lot of thin, straight twigs or sticks. Thinner twigs will allow your child to break them with their hands rather than having to be sawn. Then have them break the twigs into different lengths to fit the sides and top of the birdhouse.

An adult will want to poke a hole in the middle of the top ridge of the carton. Let your child thread string or heavy duty fishing line through the hole and tie a knot in it. This will be how to hang the birdhouse.

Using tacky glue, have your child cover the sides of the milk carton with twigs, but leave the hole they made open. They may also want to push a twig under the hole so the birds have a perch to land on before they enter their new birdhouse. Glue it well.

Finally, they’ll want to cover the top of the milk carton by gluing sticks on it. They may want to leave a little of the twig hanging over the sides. When the birdhouse is completely finished and has had ample time to dry, help them find the best place to hang it.

Give your child the joy of watching nature by helping them learn how to make a birdhouse with twigs. Having a birdhouse near a window allows them to learn about nature from the safety of your home. It’s a win-win situation for both your child and the birds.

Making Your Backyard Wildlife Friendly

Having a yard that is friendly to wildlife does involve certain techniques and approaches to lawn care, some of them unconventional. The perfectly-groomed, square-cornered lawn with the carpet-like grass that never gets above 2 inches tall is not, unfortunately, the ideal environment for wildlife. So you may need to re-think things a bit to make your yard attractive to wildlife! Here are some tips.

What Kind of Wildlife?

First, identify what kind of wildlife you want in your yard. Bees? Deer? Birds? Making this decision early on will help you be able to be more focused in your yard care and design. Also, another first step you’ll want to take is determining what kind of wildlife is in your area. Then you can tailor your yard to fit the needs of local wildlife.

Let It Go

It’s been said that mowing, trimming, weed-killing, and other typical yard care regimens may actually repel most wildlife. If possible, let your yard or a part of your yard simply go to weeds. You could fence it off and label it “For the Birds” or some such if you are worried about what the neighbors will think. But many sources say that simply leaving an area of your yard alone and letting nature re-claim it can make a nice area for attracting birds, bees, and small animals.

Water

No matter what kind of wildlife you want to invite to your yard, water is important. Every living thing needs it and is attracted to it. Ground-dwelling animals like chipmunks enjoy water sources placed on the ground, whereas birds appreciate water sources a bit higher up (making it safer from predators).

Make sure the containers are heavy enough to accommodate an animal’s weight on the edge, and putting a rock in the center also helps to weight the container and to provide a safe “island” in case a small animal goes in too deep. Sources say water should be no more than about 2 inches deep, and that you should empty the water container daily and refill with fresh water.

Provide Food

There are several different ways to do this. You can hang out a traditional bird feeder, invest in deer feed, or plant fruiting shrubs or other plants that provide food for foraging animals. Some plants to consider are:

* Sunflowers (many birds like sunflower seeds)

* Flowering and fruiting shrubs, like cranberries, blueberries, elderberry, and raspberries will attract birds and small animals. They may even attract bears and deer.

* Flowering and fruiting trees such as dogwood, hawthorn, and conventional fruit trees such as pear and cherry attract birds.

* Flowers such as Echinacea (purple coneflower), thistle, and black-eyed Susan appeal to small, seed-eating birds like wild canaries and finches.

You might want to invest in a notebook to record what creatures visit your yard once you begin making it more wildlife-friendly.

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