Reduce, Reuse, Recycle... Light Fixture Flower Pots and a healthy treat!

Good Morning!

Today I'm sharing 2 great ideas that you can do with your child{ren}!  First, a fun gardening project that will help you teach your little one about recycling while enjoying time together.

My little guy is 4 years old and loves trash.  Anything to do with trash.  Recycling, yard waste, trash, compost... you name it, he's into it.  So I decided to show him that you can take something that might be thrown out and recycle it into a cool garden flower pot.

When we bought our house, the sunroom (which is the playroom) came with a stained glass ceiling fan. Now, it was never my style, but since it worked, well, one can't complain.  The other day our ceiling fan broke, it actually came apart from the ceiling and was hanging by a wire, which is scary but luckily we weren't in the room.  My husband took the fan down and took it apart, but I asked him to save the light covers.  Here's what we did with them...

We turned them on their tops...

Then I put a coffee filter to cover the hole in the bottom...

We then added gardening soil and planted our flowers.  Adam did everything, I just held the coffee filter in place while he dumped the dirt in!  I know, I normally like to get photo's of him doing things, but my hands were covered in dirt, so handling my phone didn't seem possible!  You can find old light fixture all over the place, if you have a Re-Store (the Habitat for Humanity Store) near by, they often have there... so do yard sales and thrift stores.  Adam and I both love our pretty flower pots and he's been the lookout for other items that we were going to throw out to turn into a planter!

And since the weekend is upon us, and it's been super hot around here, we're sharing a frozen treat today - you probably have everything you need on hand even!

 
We grabbed out Popsicle forms (you could use a disposable cut and a Popsicle stick or plastic fork too!), 100 juice and some grapes (you could use different fruit but this is what we had on hand!).  I cut the grapes in half and then asked my helper to fill the cups with juice... yes, I was a little nervous about this part, but hey, I've got to let him figure things out!  (and I had a hand on the juice box too!)

Then have your little helper put the grapes in each of the pop-forms.  I had him count out 10 grape halves each - hey, might as well practice counting while making something yummy! 

He then put the lids on - look at those yummy grapes! 

We put them in the freezer while he napped - I promised he could have 1 once he woke up!

And he remembered!  He's my little guy, half asleep, eating his 100% fruit Popsicle!  Yup, I think his eyes are still half closed - he really was still mostly asleep!

The frozen grapes were so refreshing - the Popsicle wasn't too sweet and the chunks of grapes were like getting a prize!  I'm already planning on making more of these... maybe with strawberries and kiwis?  Or oranges and pineapples?  Oh, and we talked about why and how liquid freezes and how they melt, so it was a pretty educational treat as well!

Have a great weekend!
Andrea