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I have never been as excited to share a product with you as I am today. I am so impressed with this game "Build a Robot" from eeBoo. The instant I opened my package from The Organized Parent and my boys saw it, they begged me to open it up so they could play. It has quickly become a favorite at our house.



Since the robot pieces are numbered according to where they belong on the puzzle, I love that my preschooler gets number recognition practice while playing this game.


And I've got to tell you, even though I'm 30 years old, even I enjoy playing this game with my boys. Why?? Look at the excitement on Luke's face after being the first to complete his robot. Priceless!

I was blown away with the detail eeBoo puts into creating their products. Look at the inside of the box. Do you know how many instruction manuals we have lost in this house because they were loose in the box and they mysteriously disappeared? eeBoo prints the instructions on the inside of the box...Plus, on the bottom right corner they have an entire section of recommended books to go along with their game.

If you are a regular follower of my blog you KNOW how much I LOVE children's literature...And in honor of this fabulous game and their book suggestions, we dedicated an entire week to learning about robots at our house. You can read more about it HERE. I definitely recommend this game for families, preschools, and early elementary age classrooms. It is a perfect compliment to any Robot Unit!
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1. Leave a comment on this post.

For additional entries (Make sure you leave a separate comment for each additional entry):

1. Visit The Organized Parent and come back and leave a comment telling me which eeBoo product you would love to have the most.
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My boys are fascinated with robots. We recently received a new game called "Build a Robot" from The Organized Parent and after playing it, we felt inspired to build our own robot. These are some of the fun robot books we read before making our robot, which were all recommended by our game.



We started with two different sized boxes. Big box of granola bars from Costco and Girl Scout Cookies (Tagalongs, YUM!).


The best part of our robot was that we decided to make it double-sided. Andy's artwork is on one side of the robot and Luke's is on the other, but since there is eyes on both sides, no one is fighting over whose artwork was put on the front of the robot. Sneaky, I know! Here are my boys sitting with their robot, Luke's side on front. (As you can see, Andy was more interested in acting silly than giving a smile. Lol)


We covered the head completely with foil. I showed the boys how to wrap it like a present and then we taped the sides. For the eyes we decided to use plastic Easter eggs. I just split them in half and put one half on one side and the other half on the other side. We used a black permanent marker to draw the pupils on the eggs.


For the neck we covered a toilet paper roll in scrapbook paper and then cut slits down both sides then glued it to the body and head.


The arms are two toilet paper rolls covered in foil, then wrapped in bubble wrap. We just taped the arms to the body with clear packaging tape.


We used fruit cups for the legs (we were too inpatient to paint them, but they would have been better painted). We glued the legs to a piece of cardboard covered in foil to stabilize it.


I had intended on just covering the entire body with scrapbook paper but they boys said they wanted to decorate it themselves, so we covered the front and back with white paper for them decorate, and then used scrapbook paper for all the sides.

Projects like this never get old with boys. They were actually disappointed that we were only making one robot and wanted to make several. The truth is, I don't even know where we are going to store this guy since he's so big, but still....SO WORTH IT!

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So I was up in the middle of the night thinking about plastic fruit cups yesterday...I'm sure you've noticed how I've used them a little in some crafts over the last couple months. First in the Polar Bear Mask and last week to make Leprechaun Hat Treats.

Well, it all started several months ago when my husband got a little antsy about my growing collection of them in the cupboard. I can't really say I blame him because seriously people, it was definitely a collection! We have been through this battle before with empty toilet paper rolls...To his dismay, I was adamant in keeping them because I was going to come up with something brilliant to make with them. A couple weeks later he received Dynamite TNT Bombs filled with candy, made out of Toilet Paper rolls for Father's Day! Bahahahaha! I still laugh to this day thinking about how it was my way at getting back at him.  :)

So when I was up the other night with my brain in overdrive, I suddenly had a light bulb come on in my head with billions of ideas of what I could make with fruit cups. I know, I know, I have issues! Since yesterday was the first day of Spring and we have had some pretty bulbs pop up in the front yard, we decided to get out our favorite Springtime book Plainting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert and then we planted ourselves a very pretty rainbow (using fruit cups of course!)....

It is now the centerpiece on our kitchen table and every time I walk by it, it is greeted with a cheery smile! I love Spring!

To make your own Rainbow Garden you will need:
-An empty Egg Carton (we used one for 18 eggs)
-9 Fruit Cups
-Colorful Paint
-9 Large Wooden Craft Sticks
-9 Large Pom-Poms
-Green construction paper
-Green Easter Grass (we used the paper kind)
-Glue

This spanned out to be a two day project for us. We painted everything one day and let it dry completely overnight. Then we finished assembling it the next day.

Start by painting the inside of your fruit cups all of the colors of the rainbow (No need to paint the outside). We threw in some pink and a couple different shades of blue as well. Also, paint your wooden craft sticks green and the bottom of your egg carton brown. Let the paint dry completely.



Affix the bottom of the fruit cups to the wooden sticks. You can use school glue but since we are inpatient around these parts, we used a hot glue gun.


While you have the hot glue gun out, glue a large pom-pom in the center of each cup. Try to use a variety of different colors instead of just yellow. I let my kids choose the colors and place them inside the cups once I had put some hot glue in them. Then my kids cut some stems out of green paper and glued them onto the stems with school glue.

In order to poke the flowers into the egg carton, an adult will have to use a craft knife to cut a small slit in the middle of each egg carton section. You won't be able to place a flower in each section because they will be too crowded, so scatter them out over the egg carton.


Now you can poke all of the flowers into the egg carton. Last, we diluted some school glue with a little bit of water and used a paint brush to paint it all over the egg carton. Then spread the green Easter Grass all over the egg carton.




Happy Spring!!

To see what we did last year after reading Planting a Rainbow, CLICK HERE.

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I wanted to put together a Scavenger Hunt for my boys for St. Patrick's Day so earlier this week Luke marble painted some shamrocks for me. While the paint was still wet he sprinkled green glitter all over them to make them sparkle.
 

The best way I have found to do marble painting is by purchasing an aluminum cake pan with a lid from the dollar store. After adding the marbles covered in paint, just swish them around in the pan with no worries about spills or messes. The best part is that if you wash out the pan immediately after using it, it comes out perfectly clean and is reusable. Look how much fun Luke had painting his shamrocks!


I wrote clues on the back of all the shamrocks and put them in their places around the house today for the boys to find. The last clue guided them to a cute little Leprechaun Hat filled with gold treasure (chocolate gold coins). I was inspired by THIS pin on Pinterest in making these fun Leprechaun hats.


I got out some of my trusty Dole fruit cups that I save to use for the hats and painted them green. I didn't paint the inside of the cups, only the brim that was visible when you turn it over. Then I glued some black ribbon around it, a yellow buckle, and added a glitter shamrock sticker on the side of the hat. They turned out so cute!


Turn the hat over and fill it with chocolate gold coins and then package them in a clear bag sealed with some rainbow ribbon.


The boys were so excited to find their treasure! I think we will make it a yearly tradition. Hope you had a fabulous St. Patrick's Day! I'm excited to move on to some Spring crafts this week!  :)

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I am in love with how cute Luke's Leprechaun Craft turned out today. He was pretty smitten by him too and told me his name was "Shammy." Too cute, right?!

It is so simple to make. I cut the face out of a manila folder so we wouldn't have to color or paint it. You can always use white paper and just color it. You can see my pieces cut out for the face and hat pictured below. The orange construction paper will be used for the beard.


To start, glue the two hat pieces together and then glue it onto your Leprechaun Face. I had some shamrock glitter stickers on hand so Luke added those to the hat to make it special. Then tear off small pieces of orange construction paper and glue them around the face to make the Leprechaun beard.


Luke also tore a couple small pieces to use as eyebrows. When you are finished with the beard, glue on the eyebrows and two large wiggly eyes.


Lastly, use crayons to finish making the face details (nose, mouth). Luke added freckles which I think made him extra cute!  :)



Lila was mighty curious about the hairy fellow...


We paired this Leprechaun Craft with the book Shannon and the World's Tallest Leprechaun by Sean Callahan. Loved this story!!

Shannon, with her old scuffed shoes and home-made dress, worries she will not be a strong enough competitor in the Irish step-dance contest against the other girls with pretty costumes and shiny new shoes. When the heel of her shoe breaks, her will almost does, too, but she doesn't lose hope and counts backwards in Gaelic for a leprechaun to come. When she opens her eyes, a five-foot-eleven man with a beard stands before her: Liam, the World's Tallest Leprechaun. But when she makes her wishes, he doesn't simply grant them with a poof of magic dust, he grants wishes in the way that counts! Shannon finds herself working for her wishes to come true.

Hope you have a happy St. Patrick's Day!!

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When Lila started walking at 6 months old I was completely thrown of guard. I thought I had at least 2 more months to get my house baby-proofed...Can you imagine how unprepared I was when she started walking at exactly 9 months old and mastered the stairs at 12 months?? To put it lightly, this baby girl of mine is a handful!


I put off purchasing baby-proofing items for way too long, mainly because I hated the thought of having to screw holes into all the drawers. Especially since I knew that when I went to remove them in a couple years I'd be left dealing with all those unattractive holes. Another pet peeve of mine is how difficult those outlet covers are to remove. It seems like every time I try to remove one I end up with a broken or bent fingernail (Ouch!). They are just not practical!

The Organized Parent introduced me to company named Rhoost who specializes in baby-proofing items. The company came to life after two Mom's witnessed the same impracticality as I experienced. I took one look at their Outlet Covers and said, "Genius!"

These Outlet Covers feature a patented groove-key removal system to help prevent chipped fingernails. Simply put the end of a plug into the corner to pry the cover off and viola!....Goodbye and good riddance broken fingernails!  :)

I also love their Cabinet Closures. No screws or adhesive needed for installation so you won't have to deal with holes or sticky residue when you remove them. It doesn't get any better than that! You can purchase them in black or brown.


The Organized Parent wants you to try them out too, so they have provided me a set of each to give away to one lucky I Heart Crafty Things reader. This Giveaway includes one 12-Pack Outlet Cover ($7.95 value) and one 4-Pack Brown Cabinet Closure ($9.95 value).

HERE IS HOW TO WIN: Please make sure your email is on your profile, or include it with your comment. Only U.S. residents are eligible for this giveaway. (Big apologies to all my International readers!)

1. Visit The Organized Parent and leave a comment telling me which Rhoost product is your favorite. 

For additional entries (Make sure you leave a separate comment for each additional entry):

1. Follow I Heart Crafty Things via Google Friend Connect, Linky Followers, Facebook or Twitter and leave a comment on this post telling me where you follow.
2. Like The Organized Parent on Facebook.

 Good Luck!

Giveaway will close Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 10:00 am MST! Winner will be notified via email.


***The Organized Parent provided me with a set of Rhoost Cabinet Closure and Outlet Covers free of charge in exchange for reviewing their product, but all opinions are my own.