Life as a Leach

If you've ever bought finger paint, you know how expensive it is.  Plus, someone inevitably squirts a large amount out on the paper and wastes it!  Abby doesn't like the consistency of store-bought finger paints , but will use the Color Wonders finger paint.   I found this easy recipe on Pinterest and used some of our many baby food jars to store them!  The "cooking" process only took about 10 minutes, and then it became the consistency of the Color Wonders finger paint.  Guess what?!  She LOVED it!!!  Abby painted for over half an hour and really liked the different colors.  She mixed them a bit after getting colors on her fingers and then dipping them in other colors, but that's ok.  Bonus:  This didn't cost me anything!  I already had the salt, sugar, corn starch, and food coloring! What a cheap alternative to store-bought finger paint!

Yes, this is another Pinterest-inspired activity! My sister actually pinned this off of a blog we both frequent , and I thought it was a great idea.  You take plain old Ivory soap (you know, the stuff that floats?!) and put it in the microwave. Yep, the microwave!   I'm not sure who thought to do that, but it is pretty stinkin' cool! ***Note:  apparently, it DOES need to be Ivory soap.  I haven't tested it myself, but several readers said other kinds of soap burned in their microwave.  I can't imagine that burned soap smells a whole lot better than burned popcorn, so I wouldn't advise using another brand.  Plus, Ivory soap is cheap! Basically, it forms this humongous cloud that Caleb then played with for quite a long time.  You just have to watch out for hot spots.  I let it cool a bit before I let him have at it.  Then, I just gave him a big tray and let his imagination run wild!!  I'm terrible at taking pictures of the proces...