Ladybug Planter

Spring has sprung here in Vegas and I'm ready to try to prove again that I wont kill every plant I've ever touched.  This year the girls are old enough to garden on their own so the plants have a much better chance of survival.  I packed up the twins and CeCe and headed off to our home away from home, Lowes. 

As we walked up and down the isles we searched for things we would want to grow and planters to plant them in.  We bought some cilantro, basil, and rosemary.  As for the planter, I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for.  As I stood debating the shape of the planter to buy, GG sat down to get the sand she had brought with her out of her shoes.  Then it dawned on me, dump the sand box I can't stand and fill it with dirt!

Although the sandbox has a lid I would find the baby crawling into it to eat the tasty sand.  The girls had been tracking it in our house for over a year and I was over the need to have a sand box.  It was time to convert it to something more useful.

I dumped the sand out and found a colony of little bugs, ew.  Apparently it had been time to convert it for quiet some time!  My husband drilled some holes in the bottom to help with drainage.  Seeing their sandbox empty was an invitation to play!

 CeCe had so much fun hang'n out in the empty lady bug that we really considered leaving it that way!

 The girls loved that the cover could fit with them in it!

After the holes had been drilled we covered the bottom with rocks a bit larger then gravel then filled with soil.

The girls planted the cilantro, rosemary, and basil all by themselves. I'm excited to show them that we can pick the herbs and use them directly in our cooking.

All the girls chipped in to water the newly planted seeds.  I gave the twins water bottles in hopes they wouldn't drown the seedlings....they screwed off the tops and poured it in anyways!  I didn't even know they knew how to screw things off yet.  The small amount in the bottles was perfect for watering.

The best part of the garden being in the ladybug is Little Miss CeCe has forgotten she can lift up the lid which means now when she's outside we have no fear of her eating the dirt and pulling up the herbs.  I'm now addicted to find different things to use a planter.  If you have any great ideas please send them to me.  I'll happily link to your post!

Earth Day Grass Caterpillars

Celebrate Earth Day

and the Letter C

I found these adorable caterpillars all over the Internet while searching for crafts my playgroup could do for Earth Day. It looks easy enough for a bunch of 2-4 year olds to accomplish mostly on their own! So I gathered up my troop of princesses and headed off to Lowes to pick up some grass seed, potting soil, and some cute shovels for the kids. After much searching I found a small bag of grass seed, and several other seeds I wanted to try out with the kids as well.

Our playdate began with the moms prepping our breakfast counter. We poured soil into 2 containers figuring more then one kiddo would want to participate in the craft at one time. In a large bowl we mixed the grass seed with the soil then cut up our pantyhose. I never knew how much fun it would be to destroy my pantyhose! 

We set up the kids with a bowl of soil and grass seed mix, handed them shovels, and opened the pantyhose for them to pour it all in. It was a mess, but fun none the less!

FamilyFun Magazine says to use ponytail holders and we tried that on one of the caterpillars. That worked well as long as you use the thin holders, the thick ones were too hard to wrap around the worm. But it did work well. Another mom brought regular rubber bands, hers turned out great as well. 

I refused to part with any of my pony tail holders and honestly didn't want the girls to think they could use their small ones for anything other then their hair. So I wrapped the pipe cleaners tightly around the worm making segments then used what was left over as legs. These pictures also show the placement of the tie off and I personally prefer making it the nose as seen in the first photo!

Earth Day Grass Caterpillars
Caterpillar with rubber bands and legs pushed into the side:

Caterpillar with pipe cleaners wrapped around then used as legs:

*Tip - You may want to wait on putting the eyes on. We didn't, as you can see and were worried they'd come off during the soaking. So far neither of mine have lost their eyes but that may just be luck!

After the legs are done its time to work on the antenna. There are a couple ways to affix the pipe cleaner to the caterpillar. You can cut the pipe cleaner in half and push it through the pantyhose 0r you can cut 2 slits in the hose and feed the pipe cleaner through. Bend in the middle and curl the tops.

Now its time to soak! Soak for 10 minutes.

After your caterpillar is done soaking its time to put it in the sun. Since the girls garden is barren in the middle I thought it'd be a nice home for ours till we can plant the seeds we bought at Lowes.

Once your caterpillar has dried out a bit, you can affix the googlie eyes on without much worry. Water your caterpillar every other day. Have your kiddos go out with you to observe how the grass is growing, the texture, color, and length. I measure out the water for each girl and let them water their own, otherwise they'd be mud by now!


*Additional note: Once the grass begins to grow the eyes you glued on will disappear. The FamilyFun site says to use a bobby pin and glue the eyes on that way. I tried that but had an impossible time keeping the bobby pins upright. I also didn't find the need for a yogurt container or pom poms.