Monsters Inc Handprint Monsters

We had so much fun with our Handprints Minions that I thought we would do Mike & Sulley from Monsters University!! Handprint monsters are super versatile and so much fun to make. Fingers make legs, arms, long necks for eyes. Toes can be short legs or hair or even eyes as well. Use up some of those tiny google eyes and swirl the paint colors that have been ignored. (Even little boys like pink and purple monsters). Have fun and be creative!!!!

Supplies:
Green, blue & purple paint
Google Eyes
Black marker

Instructions:
To make Mike: Paint your child's palm, and fingers OMITTING the ring finger. Thumb and pinky will be arms and other fingers will be legs. Press onto paper with fingers outstretched. Allow paint to dry then glue on a large google eye. Embellish with two short horns, a grin and claws.

To make Sulley: Paint your child's foot blue. Press onto paper with heal at bottom. Paint blue arms and legs and add purple fingerprint dots all over. Allow paint to dry and add two medium google eyes. Embellish with large horns, sharp teeth and claws.

Handprint Minons

These were so much stinking fun to make!!! 

Supplies:

Background paper (white cardstock)

Yellow paint

Blue paint

Google eyes

Glue

Black marker or crayon

Directions: 

1. Paint your child's palm yellow, leaving a small area near the fingers to paint the pants. Paint the middle two fingers blue down to the first knuckle as well as the gap on the palm. 

2. Press your child's hand onto the paper firmly. Add google eyes with glue and allow the paint to dry. When the paint has dried draw hair, a mouth, and goggle straps. 

Mystery Box Craft Challenge for kids

It seems that I am up to my ears in random craft supplies left over from one project or another. Here is a fun activity that I gave to my kids this afternoon - grab a handful of random supplies and challenge them to make something from all the items. It can be timed or not (I chose not hoping they would stay busy for a while). I also gave them some supplies in a "tool box" to help them with their craft. Another fun variation would be to add a theme or inspiration - an animal, holiday, letter of the alphabet, etc. You could also give one set of supplies and have them work together to make one thing.

The Tool Box:

Crayons & markers

Scissors

Glue stick

The Mystery Box:

1 milk jug lid

3 cotton balls

1 google eye

1 feather

They were stumped at first and kept asking for paper - I encouraged them to only use what I gave them and after a minute here is what they came up with....

Speed RISK {Capture the King}

My 7 year old LOVES the game Risk, but with the little ones running around I don't have the time or space to leave the game set up for the time it takes to play it. Today we came up with new rules to make the game ALOT faster. The first time we played it took 30 minutes from set up to winner. The second time it only took about 15. All the fun and strategy of the full version without the time it takes to play it. Here is how we played! 

Speed Risk: Capture the King

Players: 2-5 (ages 7+)

Time: 1 hour or less

To Win: First player to occupy the "King's country"

Setup: 

1. Draw a country card at random - this is where the "king" will be. Place 20 neutral colored soldiers on this county. Place 5 matching neutral colored soldiers on every country that directly touches the "king country". (See photo above)

2. Remove the cards for the king's territory from the deck. Shuffle the remaining cards and distribute evenly between the players. If there is an odd number of cards, the king will occupy any that are leftover. 

To Play:

1. Roll to see who will go first. 

2. Just like in the full version, attack adjacent countries by rolling the dice. Attacker rolls with 3 dice or one less than the number of the soldiers in his country. (You must have 2 or more soldiers to attack. 2 soldiers roll 1 dice, 3 soldiers roll 2 dice, 4+ soldiers roll 3 dice). The defending country rolls with 2 dice or the same number as they have soldiers. 

3. You may roll to attack any adjacent country up to three time per turn. At the end of your turn you may maneuver troops to neighboring countries without penalty (leaving at least one in each country). Or you may move troops from any non-neighboring country and skip your next turn.     

4. In this version you do not gain more troops during the game. 

VARIATIONS:

- You must occupy all of the king's territories to win

- You must occupy the king's entire continent to win (place 5 soldiers on every country within the kings territory to start)

- Unlimited number of attacks per turn

S'mores Trail Mix

Ingredients:

10 oz bag mini marshmallows

12 oz box Golden Grahams cereal

11 oz bag milk chocolate baking pieces

1/4 cup butter

Directions:

1. In a large stock pot over medium heat, melt the butter and marshmallows. 

2. Stir in cereal until well coated with marshmallows.

3. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and low to cool for several minutes until cool to the touch but not yet hardened. 

4. Stir in chocolate pieces. Allow to completely cool - this is the hard part (the kids and I ate a lot of it while we were waiting).

5. Crumble into bite sized pieces and store in an airtight bag.