You'll need:
- Food coloring
- Water
- Baking soda
- Silicone baking cups or an ice cube tray
- Newspaper

To make your watercolors, fill your silicone baking cups (or ice cube tray) about 2/3 of the way full with baking soda. Add a couple of drops of food coloring to each cup and then fill the rest of the way with water.

Stir until combined and the baking soda is dissolved.

Stick your watercolors in the freezer for 3-4 hours until solid.

In the meantime, take your old newspaper and cut out shapes to paint. These make beautiful garlands or decoration once painted as well! Ethan had special requests for certain shapes he wanted to paint.

Once the watercolor paint is frozen solid, get to work painting! When our paint was very frozen, Ethan dipped his paintbrush into a small cap of water before the paint for brighter colors.

Your little one's paintings are sure to be beautiful and unique!

~ Lindsey 

You'll Need:
- A jar (mason jar or apothecary jar)
- Succulents
- Potting soil
- Gravel
- A few rocks
- Activated charcoal

What you will do
1. Find a few small rocks in the yard -- this is always a fun part for the kids! Add the rocks to the bottom of your jar.
2. Add a thin layer of gravel on top of the rocks.
3. Following the gravel, add a thin layer of activated charcoal. You can find activated charcoal for cheap online or at any hardware store in the gardening area.
4. Top with some potting soil. Make sure the soil is damp, but not too wet.

5. Add your succulents to the jar.

6. As the final step, have your child decide on what kind of "animal habitat" they would like to make the terrarium! I suggested dinosaurs but Ethan had other plans: he thought a unicorn and some birds were the perfect addition. I have to agree, he was onto something!

7. Caring for your terrarium succulent is easy and fun for little ones. Simply mist the succulent every so often to keep it happy and thriving! 

~ Lindsey 

Tools needed:
- Three 2-liter bottles
- Aquarium gravel
- Aquarium dechlorinating drops
- Freshwater aquarium plant life (such as anachris or elodea)
- Freshwater aquatic life (snails work, but we used a Betta fish per the pet store employee's recommendation)
- Piece of mesh fabric (I used a pair of tights from the dollar store)
- Rubber band
- Earthworms
- Potting soil
- Clear packing tape
- Sprouting seeds (we used mustard seed but alfalfa or grass seed also work)

1. On the first 2-liter bottle, cut the bottom piece off and set it aside for later use. On the second 2-liter bottle, cut the top spout off. On the third, cut both the top spout and bottom portion of the bottle off -- this will be your coupler piece to connect the other two bottles.

2. Take the bottle you removed the top spout from and fill with a few inches of aquarium gravel. Fill with room temperature water and add 3-4 drops of dechlorinator. Add your plant and make sure the roots are tucked nicely underneath some of the gravel. Add your aquatic life, such as your freshwater snails or Betta fish.

3. Now take the bottle you removed the bottom portion from. Keep the pour spout facing down -- the top will be the open bottom of the bottle. Take a small square of your mesh fabric and secure it over the pour spout opening using a rubberband. Add a slight layer of gravel to serve as drainage. Add some potting soil and then 2-3 earthworms. Add more potting soil over the top of the earthworms and sprinkle some seeds. Push seeds gently into the soil and give the soil a quick spray with water. If you see any dead leaves outside, feel free to add these to the top of your soil.

4. Take the coupler piece -- the bottle you removed the top and bottom from -- and place it just slightly over the bottle with the aquatic life. Use clear packing tape to ensure it's attached sturdily. Place your earthworm bottle into the top of the coupler and tape the two together as well. Take the bottom piece that you had cut from the bottle and set aside, and reattach it to the top bottle using clear packing tape.

5. You now have your self sustaining ecosystem! Keep your ecosystem near a sunny window (but not right on the windowsill -- your fish won't appreciate harsh direct sunlight!) and your seeds should begin to sprout in 3-4 days. The water in your aquatic life bottle will evaporate up and then rain down onto the earthworm level. The seeds will begin to sprout from the rain that falls onto the dirt level and the clean water is circulated back down to your fish!

This was a fun science experiment that Ethan (age 3 1/2) and my sister (age 18) both enjoyed doing. It is a great lesson to teach children about the ecosystem and the life cycle and Ethan has enjoyed waking up each morning to see nature at work! The earthworms and Betta fish -- which Ethan has named 99 Red Balloons -- are welcomed new additions to our little family!

~Lindsay

Materials needed:
- Clothespins or small clips
- Paint

 What you will do:
1. Collect your clothespins or any small clips. These will serve as the base of your paint brushes.
2. Go on a nature walk! This is a great opportunity for kids to be able to explore the world around them.
3. Collect your natural materials: leaves, weeds, flowers, sticks all make great paintbrushes.
4. Assemble your paint brushes using your clothespins/clips and your natural materials -- and then get busy!

It's a wonderful opportunity for children to explore the outdoors as well as uncover different textures!

~ Lindsay

Materials needed:
- birdseed
- water
- flour
- 1 small envelope gelatin
- honey
- vegetable or olive oil
- cookie cutters
- string or twine

Directions:
1. Lay your cookie cutters out on wax paper. Using a small amount of vegetable or olive oil on a paper towel, grease the inside of each cookie cutter.

2. In a mixing bowl, mix together the 1/2c water, 3/4c flour, 1 envelope gelatin and 3 tablespoons honey until combined.

3. Add 4 cups of birdseed and mix well until combined.

4. Using your hands (for a great sensory experience for the kids), push the birdseed mixture into the greased cookie cutters laid out on the wax paper. Be sure to pack them tightly.

5. Using a straw or other rounded object (we used a nearby birthday candle), push holes into each cookie cutter birdseed ornament.

6. Allow ornaments to harden. They work best when left to harden overnight.

7. The next morning (or 7-8 hours later), gently push birdseed ornaments from the cookie cutters. Use twine or string to hang the birdfeeders onto tree branches.

We hung our birdfeeders on several trees around our house, including trees in front of the window so we could watch the birds come by to eat!