Laura had asked for another countdown chain like the one we had last time. I wanted to ramp it up a bit/ do something a little different, so I made them this:
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| Rache, excited to find Marie on the chain! |
Each link is fashioned after a different Disney character for them to figure out, and with a related activity for the day written on the inside. Laura has been having a lot of fun trying to figure out who all the characters are.
This is what we have been up to:
Oct. 12
Characters: Woody & Buzz Activity: Watch the Disney World promotional video
After watching the video, the girls decided they want to visit the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique while we are there to have princess makeovers. We told them they can if they pay for it. Realistically by the next time we go, they might be too old to enjoy the boutique, so I don't mind them going this time, even though we will have to find time in our schedule to fit it in!
Oct. 13
Characters: Marie & Sofia the First Activity: A gift for two fancy little ladies like yourselves!
I had picked up some Sofia bangle bracelets at the dollar store a while back, and thought they would suit for a fun little gift for them today.
Characters: Princesses Snow White & Merida Activity: Make candy apples.
I thought making candy apples would be a good activity to pair with Snow White in particular. However, I have heard a lot of fail stories of other people trying to make them and how they didn't turn out, so I didn't have very high hopes. But! Martha Stewart, as always, had a great recipe and they turned out awesome! The girls really enjoyed it, and I got to throw in lots of educational tidbits, too, which always makes me happy.
Oct. 15
Characters: Ariel & Flounder Activity: Go swimming as a family.
The girls have swimming lessons on Saturday mornings, but this session is kind of a pain because Rachel's lesson is at 9:30 and Laura's isn't until 10:30. We have tried various ways to deal with the time gap, and for today I just decided we would all spend the time together in the pool. When I woke up this morning, I really wasn't feeling like swimming. I just wanted to stay cozy and warm, but I went along anyway, and ended up really enjoying myself. The pool we frequent is usually kept quite warm anyway, so all was good.
Oct. 16
Characters: Tinkerbell & Peter Pan Activity: Watch a magical Disney movie together.
Tinkerbell was probably my favourite link out of all 62 of them. :) Laura chose to watch the Tinkerbell movie today, so that is what we did!
Oct. 17
Characters: Wreck It Ralph & Vanellope Activity: Sugar Rush! Go to the candy store!
The girls and I headed out to Bulk Barn for a little treat today.
Oct. 18
Characters: Cheshire Cat & Alice in Wonderland Activity: Decorate a journal for the trip.
I am a sucker for kids' crafts. I always want to make one, too! I hadn't planned to make one myself, but luckily I had an extra one kicking around that I could make for myself too. I'm now planning to make it into a scrapbooky/journal deal of our trip. Love it.
Oh, and the kids' turned out cute, too. ;)
Oct. 19
Characters: Anna & Elsa Activity: Practice ice powers! (Ice seeding experiment)
So, I had planned to do this with the girls today, but I guess I should have tested it a bit first, because we tried it and it didn't work. :( I don't think I had super cooled the water enough. Boo. We did watch the video, though, and they still thought that was pretty cool.
Oct. 20
Characters: Sully & Mike Wazowski Activity: Watch Monsters Inc.
Oct. 21
Characters: Belle & the Beast Activity: Because Belle loves to read, they received a new Disney book.
A while ago I saw this idea on Pinterest to have the characters sign their page in the Encyclopedia of Disney characters. So I bought the book for them ages ago and have been waiting for the right time to give it to them. Today is the day! We had lots of fun looking through the pages of characters together, and Laura even read some of it herself! Who says Disney isn't magical?!
Oct. 22
Characters: Yoda & Darth Vader Activity: Make light sabers
Josh did his share of griping about "crafting" his saber, but once it was done, we all enjoyed a little glow-in-the-dark light saber fight! :D
Oct. 23
Characters: The Incredibles Activity: Watch The Incredibles
Our lovely friend sent us a package full of Disney-related items (as she knew about our upcoming trip), which contained The Incredibles movie, something Laura in particular had been wanting to see. It is one of the few Disney movies we don't own, so I had wanted to get a copy of it. The package arrived a few days ago, and I knew today's activity was to watch the movie, so much to Laura's dismay, I made her wait until today so we could watch it all together. haha
Oct. 24
Characters: Pinocchio & Bambi Activity: Receive new colouring books and pencil tins.
Laura isn't really into colouring books, but she was quite happy with her pencil tin. Rachel LOVES colouring books, so she was quite happy to have a new one. She coloured a couple pages this morning, but we are going to save the rest of it for the trip.
Oct. 25
Characters: Baymax & Lightening McQueen Activity: Make Baymax marshmallow snacks.
Daddy pretended he didn't want to make one, but happily enough ate marshmallows with us. ;)
They turned out pretty cute.
Oct. 26
Characters: Tiana & Pocahontas Activity: Make princess necklaces.
Also in our Package of Disney Awesomeness from Sarah, she sent two little Disney make-your-own necklace sets. I had already planned out all the activities on the chain (I had to write them on all the links before I could assemble it!), and conveniently enough I had planned a day to make necklaces AND hadn't purchased beads for it yet, so that was extra awesome. Anyway, the girls had fun today making their necklaces, and we got to learn about patterns and symmetry, too!
Oct. 27
Characters: Dumbo & Pongo Activity: Watch new 101 Dalmatians Sing Along movie.
When I was a kid we had a Disney Sing Along movie, and my sister and I went through a phase of watching it constantly. I have a bit of a soft spot for the Disney Sing Along movies because of this, even though they are generally kind of terrible. hahaha. This one was certainly no exception, but my girls seemed to enjoy it well enough, so I guess it's all good. Rachel is going through an extreme phase of pretending to be a dog, so you know, there's that, too.
Oct. 28
Characters: Rapunzel & Flynn Activity: Make paintings like Rapunzel.
We typically don't do a lot of crafts around the house, so this was kind of novel for them. I told them the only rule was that they had to fill in the whole canvas. I think they turned out pretty neat, and it was especially interesting how differently they painted (very similar to their respective personalities, I thought!)
Oct. 29
Characters: Lilo & Stitch Activity: Make homemade Dole Whips
Confession: I have never actually tried a real Dole Whip, but have seen all the hype about them, so I wanted to try a knock off version before we went so we could compare when we got there. After perusing several different recipes, I decided to go with Cool Whip and pineapple juice concentrate. I couldn't actually find any pineapple juice concentrate, so I just boiled down some regular pineapple juice to be a little more concentrated, and then froze it last night. We blended the tub of frozen Cool Whip in the food processor with the frozen pineapple juice "concentrate" (reserved a little of the juice to use for the float) and piped it into our glasses to create the swirled ice cream look. They turned out really yummy, and the girls thought they were great!
Oct. 30
Characters: Joy & Sadness Activity: Make Inside Out masks
This was what I was intending to do today:
Buttttt, we ended up carving our pumpkins instead and didn't actually get around to making these today. The pumpkins were cute though! ;)
Oct. 31
Characters: Jack Skellington & Sally Activity: Watch Nightmare Before Christmas.
We watched while handing out candy to trick-or-treaters!
Nov. 1
Characters: Jasmine & Aladdin Activity: Make Playdough Disney characters.
The girls' interest in the chain seems to be waning a little, so, although they cut the link, they got busy with their playing and didn't actually get around to playdough today. Oh well, one less mess for me to clean!
Nov. 2
Characters: Aurora & Maleficent Activity: Make edible fairy wands.
Fruit and berry fairy wands for Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather FTW!
Nov. 3
Characters: Donald & Daisy Activity: Make hair bows.
Nov. 4
Characters: Cinderella & Mulan Activity: Receive new shoes (Disney Crocs) for the trip.
Nov. 5
Characters: Lady & the Tramp Activity: Eat spaghetti and meatballs and watch Lady & the Tramp
Nov. 6
Characters: Goofy & Pluto Activity: Watch Disney's Once Upon A Christmas
Nov. 7
Characters: Tarzan & Jane Activity: Make painted nightshirts
Rachel's was possibly micromanaged a little much, and she quit half way through, so I finished it for her, but Laura did hers on her own, and I just touched up a few spots. #TypeAMom
They turned out cute, though! (And no, this activity doesn't particularly relate to the characters today.)
Nov. 8
Characters: Dory & Nemo Activity: Receive swim cover-ups.
I had bought these on clearance ages ago for our cruise and/ or this trip, so I figured I would gift them to the girls today as part of the swimming theme.
Nov. 9
Characters: Pooh & Piglet Activity: Make a picture to give to your favourite Disney character.
Laura decided she didn't want to make one, but Rachel drew a picture for Anna which was really cute.
Nov. 10
Characters: Bianca & Bernard (from the Rescuers) Activity: Talk about what to do if you get lost or separated from us at Disney World.
Find a cast member and tell them your parents' names!
Nov. 11
Characters: Minnie & Mickey Activity: Receive a pre-Christmas gift for the trip
For the sanity of us all, we gave Rachel her own LeapPad and for Laura a new car DVD player (which was really for both of them to use)
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