Circle Sculpting: Liberty Bell

Have you ever had a project that didn't quite turn out the way you thought it would? That would be the definition of this project. I started it because I wanted to have some 4th of July decorations and we didn't bring any with us. The goal: make some red, white, and blue globes to hang up out of 4 pieces of paper. 

What actually happened: a sort of liberty bell. I learned a lot on the way though and will try to go for the globe look again. I just ran out of paper :)

I started with 2 12x12 papers and punched 1 3/4" circles out.

I used a cardboard equilateral triangle to fold each one.
Then I used a glue stick to glue them together so they look like this.  Can you tell it is the beginning of a globe look?

Well, this is where I started to run into trouble.  Do you see in the photo above that there are 5 "petals" to the "flower"?  Well, to make a globe/sphere shape you have to have the same number of petals in every flower as you go around.  I had some with 4 and some with six.  I decided to turn them all into 6 petal flowers.  It took a lot longer, got a lot bigger and then I ran out of paper.

But when I folded it together it looked like a bell.  And that has a liberty feel to it so I turned lemons into lemonade and went with it :)

The bell had the same issues: some "4 and some 5 petal flowers".  It gave it an oblong shape that was nice and small to provide the bell part.
All in all, we have a 4th of July decoration to hang up :)

I wish you success with your 4th of July Projects and I hope you will link in your Project of the Week below and share your ideas!

Edible Sparklers and Rockets for your Party!

We've been having a great time making edible sparklers and rockets.  We're celebrating a bit early because we won't all be together on the 4th of July.   The fun thing about both of these treats is that not only are they fun to eat, but they are fun to make too!  The edible rocket fireworks are pictured above and the edible sparklers are pictured below.  

We'll start with how to make the Sparklers First:

To make your Edible Sparklers you will need: Frosting, Holiday Marshmallows, a spreading knife, sprinkles and stick pretzels.

This is a kid-friendly project. If you are having people over for a party, you may consider having someone help the kids make these while the adults chill and chat.

1- Spread a little frosting on the star marshmallows.

I also tried using the trees. They look a little like rockets later?
2- Insert the pretzel.

3- Sprinkle some patriotic colored sprinkles and you are done!
I love to eat these because they are the perfect combination of sweet and salty.

Now for the Edible Rocket Fireworks!

To make your edible Rocket Fireworks you will need: at least one color of marshmallows, frosting, a spreading knife, pull-n-peel, and sprinkles.

1- Make a cut through the marshmallow and cut off a piece of pull-n-peel.  Mine came in bunches of 9 little pieces put together.  I liked groups of 5 the best.  I experimented with different lengths and longer looked better to me.  Around 2 inches is about right, give or take :)

2- Insert the pull-n-peel into your marshmallow. {Little Project Tip:}  It is easier to pull it apart now before you insert it.  Peel it most of the way down.

3-  Spread frosting around the outside of the marshmallow. 

4- Then roll it in sprinkles.

5- Take another marshmallow and frost it and roll it in sprinkles as well.  I used a different color for this second marshmallow.

6- Then frost the top flat part of the marshmallow.

7- Stack your marshmallows on top of each other with the sticky frosting holding them together.  {Little Project Tip:} If yours need to sit and look pretty for along time you may want to fortify them by using a piece of a stick pretzel through the middle of the two marshmallows to help them stand up.  The pull-n-peel can make the rocket a little top heavy after awhile.
8- Eat and celebrate!

 I hope you have a fabulous and safe 4th of July!

More Little Project celebrating ideas for the 4th of July to come. Be sure to link up with yours!

Swap a Skill

There are so many skills and none of us can have them all. A skill I wish I had? Speaking more than one language. One of my goals in life is to help my children have the opportunity to learn a second language. My husband can speak German, but he says that Spanish is more useful :)

A while back I did a Skill Swap with one of my piano students. I taught her piano lessons and she came and tutored us in Spanish. It was great. Then we moved. For the past year I haven't had anyone to swap that skill with. My husband is a full-time student right now so we don't have the extra cash for a Spanish tutor.

But guess what? I found a friend to swap with again even though we are only living here for the summer. So we are doing a summer skill swap. I am teaching her son piano lessons and she is teaching mine Spanish. It is a win win for us both.

My sister has a preschool co-op that is a great example of a skill swap.  My sister teaches the dance and music classes, and the other Moms teach what they are best at.  I went and observed and I can tell you this: It was better than any other pre-school I'd ever scene!  How often do you have an expert in her field teaching EVERY subject at preschool?!  They would have been paying big bucks for something they all could share.  Bonus: It was a ton of fun, a great way to make friends, and a fun way to teach their children, and an awesome way to use their skills!

I have 5 sisters and when we all lived in the same state we would get together and teach each other the new things we had learned (making soft pretzels, stitcheries, etc.)  It was quality time all around: fun together, fun learning together, a new skill learned to share with others.

Have you ever done a Skill Swap? If you have I would love to hear about it!
If not, I hope you are inspired to try one. Tutoring for homemade bread, Sewing lessons for babysitting, bicycle maintenance for cooking lessons, music for Spanish lessons... The possibilities are endless and it is a fun way to make a friend!

It may take you a little out of your comfort zone to ask someone if they want to do a skill swap with you, but what do you have to loose? Summer is a great time to do skill swaps and it is certainly a FUN Little Project!

Friday Favorites and Freebies

I'm one of those people that likes "favorites." I can tell you my favorite ice cream, day of the week, music to listen to, etc. My husband is not that way. He's more of a general kind of fan. 

Today I'm sharing some of my Favorite links that I've come across as well as a few fun freebies. It's Friday after all. I hope you find something to fit your fancy :)

Free Art work to download. I am amazed at the talent! These would make really beautiful cards to share too. Feed your Soul here.

This site is new to me, but if you like my post "How to make a book from one piece of paper" you and your kids will love all the different kinds of books you can learn to make here (for free!)

Free GeoTrax DVD (you don't even pay shipping) click on "select country" to start.

Get a free photo everyday on your start page that relates to something you're passionate about Here

Make your photos awesome with these great fixes

Did you know that The Hungry Caterpillar story turns 40 this year?  These cards remind me of Eric Carles work and are a beautiful way to recycle your children's art work.

If you are in the mood to organize this weekend, check out a few printable label freebies here and here.  They are great for gift giving too!

Happy Friday!  We're taking off for the weekend :)

SpellQuizzer: A Review

SpellQuizzer is a spelling program for helping children learn their spelling words.  My little Jay loves to spell.  I helped him along, but he largely taught himself to read at the age of 2.5 years old.  We started reading with him by spelling with him.  We would talk about sounds and how they added up to words.  I really believe that the game of spelling is what spurred his desire to read so early.  I was excited to review SpellQuizzer, but to really take it to the test, I asked a Kami, a friend of mine to give it a try with her daughter Lily who is 7 years old.

I teach Kami's daughter piano lessons and know them well.  I know that spelling is a HUGE challenge for Lily.  I knew that Kami was already spending 1 hour EVERY NIGHT working with Lily on her spelling words.  Even with all the time and effort she spent with her Lily was definitely still struggling.  She never got good scores on her spelling tests at school.  Lily has mild dislexia.  Spelling can be a struggle for anyone, but was a real challenge for Lily.

(Note: the names of my friends have been altered to respect and protect little Lily)

Kami was eager to give the program a try.  She was thrilled to find out how simple to use and to enter the words in.  You are able to enter and save each spelling list individually.

Both Kami and Lily love the option of creating a sound recording to accompany each word.  With just a click of the button Kami says the word and a sentence that uses the word.  It takes just a few minutes for her to put Lily's entire spelling list with sound recordings into the computer with her computer's microphone.

  An added benefit seems to be vocabulary use.  With the each word that Kami inputs, she also records a sentence to go along with it.  It's VERY easy to add the recording that goes along with the words. Just click, speak, and click.  

SpellQuizzer chooses the words randomly and the recording is available for Lily.  She simply types in the spelling word that she hears.  If she is right, she goes on to the next word.  If Lily makes a mistake, it shows her the way that she spelled the word, as well as the correct spelling.  Kami said that this was a HUGE benefit for Lily.  She receives immediate feedback so she could correct the spelling.

At the end of each spelling list SpellQuizzer displays how many words were correct and asks if you would like to retry the list again.  Kami used to go through the list with Lily 3 times a night.  Now, Lily just goes through the list on her own until she gets all the words right.  Since they started using SpellQuizzer Lily has shown tremendous improvement in her spelling tests at school.  Kami also appreciates the benefit of not being tied to spelling practice for an hour each night.  Once she sets up the list, Lily is all set for the week and can practice on her own.  

Another benefit Kami has seen with Lily is that she has improved her typing skills by using the computer each night for her spelling practice.  At school, Lily's spelling test is also a handwriting grade.  So Kami has Lily practice writing the words in cursive as well each night, just like they did before.

Since Kami has been putting Lily's spelling lists into the computer for several weeks, she has them all saved there and Lily can continue to practice them through the summer, another benefit of the program.  Kami is hoping that by using SpellQuizzer through the summer too that Lily will find next year to be easier for her.  She can always add new lists in too.

SpellQuizzer has changed their family's life.  Kami said that before, life was miserable.   She was tied to Lily's spelling and neither was enjoying it.  Now, Lily is learning to take responsibility and work on her homework independently.  It also allows Lily to test herself and not rely on Mom to do it (but it's easy for Mom to check in).

SpellQuizzer allows you to download spelling lists too from their website.  You can also change your lists or come back and add more words into the list.  The flexibility of this program makes it useful for a variety of ages and levels.  Especially since it was so EASY to use!

The one downside for our family with SpellQuizzer is that it is only formatted for a PC and we are a Mac family.  Luckily, Kami has a PC that has a microphone in it so it worked great for her.

Homeschool families would also really benefit from this program.  Mom has a lot to do already with teaching the material.  Utilizing SpellQuizzer would allow the children to practice on their own with the different lists saved for each child.  Younger children would move up into lists already inputted for older children.  For more info about the benefits of SpellQuizzer for spelling practice to Homeschool families click here.

SpellQuizzer is easy enough to use that a child can enter the spelling word lists by herself/himself as she/he gets older.

SpellQuizzer is very affordable and you can also download a 30-day trail for free.  Lily said that she enjoyed using the spelling lists and doing the spelling tests.  There was less tension in  the mother/daughter relationship too :)

So, would I purchase it for my family?  The answer is yes, as soon as it is available on a Mac... In the meantime, we're over at Kami's to play with it :)  You can use it to teach/learn a new language as well.  We recently started Spanish lessons and it seems like SpellQuizzer would be beneficial there too, since it is so easy to customize.  I could have our Spanish teacher record the words with the correct pronunciation.  Hmmm...the possibilities!

SpellQuizzer was a fun and educational Little Project.  Go check it out :)

Link Your Blog Project of the Week

You know that great feeling you have when you create and finish a project? Well, now is your chance to link in and share YOUR ideas and CELEBRATE completing a project (because that is half the fun :) I know that there are a ton of you out there that have great projects that you are just waiting to share.

And a "project" isn't just a craft so you can blog about your gardening, cleaning, learning activity, recipe you tried, book you read, etc.

I'm going to host a "Project of the Week" Meme here at This Little Project so you can do a blog entry on your blog and link in here to share your Project of the Week. I will put Mr. Linky up on Wednesday and he will stay up through Sunday night. Just paste the address of your blog post into Mr. Linky (not just your blog address). Mr. Linky will be up each Wednesday so you can post and share YOUR Project of the Week :)

I've been wanting to do this for a while, and finally got it all together! Get ready to inspire and be inspired by FUN project people just like YOU! Come link in and share Your Little Project!

Be sure to add a link to This Little Project from your blog so your friends will know how to come and share their Project of the Week too! Let me know if you have any questions about how to participate. I hope you will join in!