Snow Day Fun

Yesterday we were lucky enough to have our first Snow Day. After breakfast Saavan asked if he could have some tea; no worries, only Chamomile :) but as I opened the tea/coffee cabinet, I noticed the bleached basket coffee filters smushed in the back of a shelf. These were bought by accident on a shopping trip, since we only use the unbleached (brown) ones. I had hoped there would be a day I'd be able to repurpose them, now was my chance. I snatched those bad dads right out of the cabinet with another bright idea and quickly went to the bathroom to get the kids' water squirters from their bath toy bucket. Before we could make a plan of how to spend our snow day, my SELF-diagnosed ADHD swept me off into arts and crafts planning...at least I got the tea made and served first.
I set up our work area with a few supplies.
1. a large baking tray (with side walls) and a cooling rack
2. Three bowls of water mixed with a few drops of food coloring in primary colors (red, blue, and yellow)
3. White coffee filters
4. Kid-safe scissors
5. Two water squirters
Saavan was watching me the whole time and wondered what in the world was going on. I didn't want to give him too much information until I was satisfied with my thought process. All I told him was that I had an idea and asked if he wanted to do a Surprise Craft. A smile and a twinkle of the eye was enough to say, "heck yeah, mom!!"
This was the first time he had made/cut snowflakes. He LOVES using scissors so he was extra excited for this project. Once we cut out our 4 snowflakes, it was time to color them. We placed one snowflake in the baking tray. I loaded the squirters with two colors of his choice and and he went to town armed with one squirter in each hand. I loved watching his expression as he discovered the new colors he created by mixing the colors. He would belt out things like, "MOM! The yellow and the blue are making green now!!" it was awesome (and easy!). An added bonus was by using both hands at the same time, he was actually engaging both sides of his brain. Sweet.
As he finished each snowflake I carefully placed them one at a time on the drying rack, wiped down the baking tray, and refilled or replaced the colored water in the squirters so he could do the same with a new flake.
They dried up so incredibly pretty that I had to share this fun, simple, and successful project. Maybe next time, we can add glitter to them? Hmmm....