Simple Summer Crafts For Your Kids All Summer!

Summer is here, you know what that means; you're kids are going to be home all day every day for about 8 weeks. I know for sure that kids love crafts, especially when having a sleepover or maybe as just a fun project on a rainy day. I have gathered a pair of killer crafts for summer!

Coloring pages are great, little kids love to color their own little masterpiece, all you'll need is a coloring book, some crayons or markers, or some other type of artsy coloring utensils. If you can't find a satisfying page for the tot, try printing one out. The most exiting thing to a young child is to save up all of their drawings or coloring pages and make their own coloring book, just add a piece of copy paper to the front, staple, let them decorate the copy paper as a book cover!

Another adorable craft: a personalized journal. This is great for a girl's sleepover, they are cute, fun, and are great for the creative mind. All that you will need is a composition journal, glue/tape, ribbon, buttons, scissors, decorative paper, stamps, etc. All that you will have to do is help them prepare and set up a work space that is neat and easy to reach everything. This is also a great bonding activity to do with your little girl, what girl wouldn't want their very own creative personal diary? That's right, almost every girl on earth will want one!

A great younger boy's craft, great for the rowdy little tots who are still into playing with power rangers and toy cars. Your child will go fanatic over having a hand made sock puppet, imagine the endless possibilities, a pet dog, a dinosaur, a monster, a boy, a teddy bear, a dragon, a knight in shining armor, a bear, a cat, a fish, a snake, need I go on? All you will need is some felt glue, a colorful sock (color depending on the desired character), Googly eyes, colored felt, and some yarn if your planning on doing a dog or a boy, or anything that needs hair, you might also want some other small trinkets like a ribbon if you are making a dog collar for your son's pup, or maybe a cute straw hat for a little bear, or anything else his heart desires. This is actually quite an easy craft, all that you need to do is maybe help him glue it all together, it helps to have him arrange it on the sock first, and then glue them down. Have fun creating!

Is your daughter going to camp this summer? If so, this is something she will definitely want to get her hands on, literally! She will be in-fashion this summer, showing off her handmade friendship bracelet! All that is needed is embroidery floss, or any other string product you find suits your daughter more, tape (scotch and masking works best), and beads (optional). Your daughter will need to know how to braid and how to tie a simple knot. If she doesn't know how to braid, twisting is cute too! Just cut three strands in multi colored embroidery floss, all of the same length, which is about the size of her wrist. Now tie them together in a knot in the top of all of the three strands. Next, start braiding, you can add a bead here and there to add a flash of bling. These will surely make your daughter feel like a supermodel!

Here is a bit of a more challenging craft that will involve some effort on your behalf also, but it really brings a smile to a child's face to be able to pick and water plants or flowers from their own garden, the materials you will need is a few packets of seeds, vegetable, fruit, or flower, it's completely up to you, a growing area preferably outside, but if not available outside, a cute windowsill garden will work also, potting soil or dirt, water, and a lot of patience. First you will make sure there is dirt in your desired space, lots of nutrient rich dirt. Next you will get out your seeds, poke your finger down to make a small hole to place your seed in, do this for each seed. Now you will put a seed in each hole, cover the whole up with dirt, and water it. Wait a couple of days and see the sprouts of your child's first accomplishment.

Last but not least is the most common easy craft for any age. This summer do you plan on visiting the beach? Do you plan on having a luau? Well even if you don't plan on any of those, you can still make a decorated beach ball. Materials you will need are sharpie markers in rainbow colors, fun foam stickers, and anything else you can think of, and of course a beach ball of any size. Simple, quick, fun, and easy, draw, and write on your beach ball, put the foam stickers on to add personal flair. This takes about 10 minutes and after your children can have a fun game to play!

These are super fun, super easy summer crafts for your whole family. When making these, use your imagination and have fun with it!! Get you whole family to join in and have a blast at family night! Even wow the other moms on the block when your kids have such a fun filled summer. Have fun with your family!

Tennis Balls - Simple and Effective Massage Tools

Tennis balls as a massage tool are easy to come by. Most people have one at their house, even if it's the old slobbery one from the dog. Tennis ball massage is great to use on sore or tight muscles in between your professional massages. With a couple guidelines anyone can do self massage with these perfect sized balls.

How to use

Put two tennis balls into a tube sock. Push the balls to the bottom of the sock and tie a knot in the sock close to the balls so they won't separate. Then you can lay on the floor with the balls under you or lean against a wall with the balls between you and the wall. Using a wall allows you to adjust the amount of pressure against the balls by leaning onto them more or less.

Where to place the balls

With the two balls next to each other, the groove between the balls is a perfect place for your spine. Each ball will be massaging the muscles on either side of the spine.

Back and neck: You can begin with the balls up at the base of your skull. This is great for massaging the muscles that get tight and cause tension headaches. Simply roll the balls down your spine, stopping along the way at the areas that need it the most. Those spots that are sore and hurt as the tennis balls put pressure there are the spots you want to focus on. You might feel that "good hurt," where it hurts like heck but you don't want to stop. You are your own best judge of your pain level. Put as much pressure on that area as you want, sometimes as much as you can take. Then move to the next part of the para-spinal muscles. Once you've massaged the muscles all up and down the spine you can use those tennis balls to massage any other areas along your back and hips.

Buttocks: You can always separate the balls and use one at a time. This works well to massage the gluteal group of muscles. This works best laying on the floor. Begin by lying on your back with knees bent, feet flat on the floor. Let both knees fall to the left and place a tennis ball under your right hip. Slowly bring your knees back to neutral and then over to the right. You'll feel your weight plus gravity give a nice amount of pressure to massage the glutes. Move the ball around to different areas of the buttocks as you continue to take your knees back and forth to adjust the pressure. Then repeat on the other side.

Feet: Another option for a single tennis ball is to roll it along the arch of your foot. Sit in a chair and place your bare foot on top of a tennis ball. Push down and roll the ball along the bottom of your foot. This is helpful self-massage for plantar fasciitis.

The next time you see a tennis ball, you might look at it differently. With a tennis ball or two and a sock you can create a handy massage tool. Massage your neck, back, glutes and feet or make up your own ways to massage different areas! Get creative, have fun and then give the ball back to the dog.

For more information on massage, please visit my website: http://www.arobertsonmassage.com
Angela Robertson B.S., LMT

Training Your Golden Retriever Pup - Simple Practical Tips To Train Your New Dog

Teeth Training:
Teeth is probably the most common training tip for Golden Retrievers. These puppies love chewing and will gnaw at anything they can get their mouth on. Though there are chew toys available in the market just for this, there is an easier way for you to help your golden retriever satisfy its instinct to chew and also help reduce the pain of new teeth growing.

The easiest way to begin is to fill a sock of yours with many ice cubes. After this, knot the opening of the sock and put it in the freezer. When your golden puppy starts looking for things to chew, give him this ice cube filled sock. Keep many such ice cube filled socks handy in the freezer. This will ensure a constant supply of chew toys for your dog. Always be by the side of your dog when it has the sock. Else, it might consume pieces of the sock leading to serious health concerns.

Leash Training:
Often people leash their dog during training and drag it along the directions they want it to go. This is most certainly not the right way to train the dog. It gives a bad message to the puppy and makes it dislike being in the leash. A better approach is to first help your puppy get used to the leash and the collar. Put it on the dog and allow it to move freely in a fenced area dragging the leash along. This makes the pup understand that leash does not affect it in any way.

Once the dog gets used to having the collar and the leash along with it, pick up the leash and then call the dog over to you. When he does come to you, praise the pup and pat him or offer him a treat. This shows the pup that it is doing the right thing. Patience must be always at the top of your emotions since this training can take a long time. Continue praising him when he does the right things and give him more time to get used to the leash.

Digging around

Digging is another natural instincts of the Golden Retriever and it loves to dig too. This can drive you nuts if you don't give this pup an area he can use for himself. He might dig too many holes in your backyard for your liking. Also keeping him indoors can make him claw at the couch or bed or the floor. You shouldn't punish a golden retriever for digging since it is their nature.

For giving yourself peace of mind and to help your puppy satisfy its urge to dig, give him some place where he can dig. A kiddie pool or a sandbox is more than enough. Bury a treat or two under the mud. This will give your retriever clues as to dig in that spot for treats and toys and will use the same spot every time he feels the urge. When the pup gets older, by means of constant training, you can make him get his habits and natural instincts under control

You can train your Golden Retriever really well by following the above tips. They are really fascinating dogs, if only you show the some patience. They have a slower learning curve in spite of their smartness. But once they have learnt the basics, they will become an inseparable part of your family.

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Simple Woodworking Projects - Selecting the Right Kind of Wood

Selecting the right kind of wood is probably the most important part of starting simple woodworking projects. Simple woodworking projects are great for beginners as they allow them to grasp the basics of woodworking quickly and easily.

Although woodworking is incredible fun you must remember that you are going to be working with very sharp tools and hence you need to be careful. Also it must be kept in mind that the right kind of wood for the project has to be sought and selected by you. When you are looking for lumber, you basically want to look for a stock without many defects in it. Defects can come in a lot of different shapes and sizes. Typically, these defects are easy to spot because they do not look right. Next time when you are scanning some lumber for your simple woodworking projects look on all six sides of it for any bumps, burns, knots, fungus, or any holes left from previous nails.

This is not to say that defects are entirely bad or not useful. Many defects are seen to add character to the final assembly and it is entirely at the discretion of the woodworker decide what kind of defects he wants in his particular project.

Typically, errors and effects come in the following formats:

Twists: these are twisting down the length of the stock. They are also the most difficult to deal with and lumber with twists should be avoided for this reason.

Bow: a stock is set to have a bow when one side of it is disproportionately warping against the other side. You can look for about by pulling out a stock and looking down the spine from one end. If you find that two ends of the stock are not (more or less) the same then you can conclude that the stock has a bow.

Cupping: A cupping is a dent along the width of the board and generally speaking pretty hard to find. Cupping is very common in boards over 1 inch in thickness.

Cracks: cracks can come in all shapes and sizes and are extremely common in lumber. You might either want your stock to be completely free from cracks or you may tolerate a few small ones.

Tired of trying to get started into woodworking and not getting anywhere? It always helps to start by procuring plans that you can refer to, especially when getting started. Click here to go through over 14000 plans on various woodworking projects.