Hip, Hip, Hula Hoops - Hooray!

Our county library has a great children's program, and this week they threw a "Beach Party Kick Off" to introduce this year's summer reading program. Regrettably, I did not have my camera with me to document the librarians in floral leis and grass skirts hula hooping to a Beach Boys CD.

After enjoying this exhibition, I figured it was the perfect time to get the girls a couple hula hoops, but I was not in the mood to shell out $10-15 for a couple plastic circles at Toys R Us. So I checked out my trusty Dollar Tree which has a giagantic luau/summer party section featured this month.

I was not disappointed: Hula hoops for a dollar. And not some flimsy cheapo hula hoops. They even have those ball bearings inside that make the fun swish sound as it rotates. Yay!

My six year old had a style all her own. I have NEVER seen anyone take her approach, and with seven grown nieces and nephews and a few years in childcare, I've been around a lot of little ones. Big fan of originality. Take a peek: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik3Opn3BlYo

They were actively playing with their hula hoops for close to an hour. They even broke a sweat! If the hippy spinning of your hula hoop is too monotonous, you could also try to

• Flip it up and over your head to use it like a jump rope.
• Throw it in the air (baton style) and try to catch it on your arm.
• Stand it up on its edge vertically and roll it, like they did in olden days. See whose goes the furthest.
• Lay it on the ground and have a toss game, making your kid(s) take a step away from it after each successful throw.

OR

You can spin it around your neck, the way my 4 year old mastered. How do you hula hoop?

Use What You Got

After a trip to the zoo, my oldest daughter decided she wanted to make animals out of the petals from the 'foam flowers' my girls used to pre-decorate our Christmas tree in this post.

So, I went to gather some simple supplies: sequins, pipe cleaners and googly eyes. The rest was supplied by imagination.

The girls started with two horses and a ladybug:

Then B went on to other free form objects. A 'playground' and a 'roller coaster':

Followed by a hot air balloon and a 'sum-barine' (known to most as a submarine):

Finally, my spider and butterfly:

By the way, do NOT leave B in the room with a new tube of foam glue. Very sticky ending to an otherwise fun craft!

Balloon Bubble Bath

I found a quick way to entertain the girls today. I blew up a ton of balloons (less than 100, because there are still some left in the package) and filled up an empty laundry basket. Then they dove right in!

For added fun, we tried to stick them on from head to toe (fleece jackets helped a lot in this department). And we had a balloon 'snowball fight'. Not bad for about 65 cents worth of balloons!