Dr.Seuss Inspired Chalk/Magnetic Activity Board

As a child I loved Dr. Seuss books and my children loved them too!
So I always enjoy this time of year when we all celebrate the Dr. Seuss legacy and I can re-live some childhood and early Mom memories!

I am now a Grandmother and have the pleasure of introducing my Grand little ones to the great books of Dr. Seuss, so I was excited to participate in this Craft Lightning Edition and wanted to create something "Seussical" for the little ones!

I came up with this cute and handy little activity tray that I knew the Grandkids would love.

It was so quick and easy to make and the best part is that it was made from an old cookie sheet I had that had gotten ruined in the oven, so it is a recycle/upcycle project to boot!

Check out the collage photo below to see the "before" picture...you won't believe how yucky this pan was!

In most cases, you would be able to just hit an old pan with a piece of sandpaper to get off any baked on high spots...but in this case, the pan was so bad that hubby had to use some of his power tools to get it clean.

I used Krylon Chalkboard Spray Paint and it worked beautifully!

I couldn't believe how smoothly it went on and how quickly it dried.

I sprayed two coats, front and back and it covered good.

I taped it off and added the red trim around the sides.

I hadn't originally planned on doing this, so I had to "borrow" hubby's engine enamel!

(Hubs to the rescue again...what would I do without him??!!)

I added some washi tape accents on the sides and then added the foam sticker & button magnets for the kids to play & learn with.

(TIP: You could also add alphabet beads with magnets for spelling games for kids, or old scrabble tiles!)

The Grandkids were at the house when I finished the project and they were all pretty excited about it...we gathered them for a group shot...and their "Poppy" (aka: Grandpa) was standing behind me making funny faces to get them to laugh!

Here are the steps for making the project: 

Here are the tools and supplies I used for this project:

List of Tools/Materials:

Old/Used Metal Cookie Sheet (Not shown in photo)

Sandpaper

Die Grinder Power Tool w/Sanding Disk (Not shown in photo and not necessary in most cases...my tray was extra dirty!)

Krylon Black Chalkboard Spray Paint

Dupli-Color Engine Enamel Ceramic (Red)

Craftsmart Premium Satin Acrylic Paint (color: Pacific Coast)

Creatology Paint Brush

Water/Water Jar (to thin acrylic paint)

Absorbent Pad/Towel

Blue Painters Masking Tape

Brown Paper Bag (can also use Kraft Paper or Butcher's Paper) (Not shown in photo)

Recollections Wide Washi Tape (9.1m)

E6000 Adhesive

Mini-Wooden Clothespins (WalMart)

Buttons, Red, 1/2" (10 ea.)

Dr. Seuss Themed Foam Dimensional Stickers

Magnetic Strip, Crafters Choice, 1/2" wide

Magnets, Small, Round (2 ea.), (for the mini-clothespins)

Cutco Heavy Duty Scissors

Be sure to check out all of the other great Dr. Seuss Crafts being featured this week by clicking on the graphic below:

Thank-you for stopping by my blog, hope you enjoyed your visit and felt inspired to create!

This project/post is linked to the following sites/link-up parties:

Discovery Museum - Sunshine Kid's Blog Hop

I've found that one of the great things about living in California is all the fun places to visit and play!

Recently we took our Granddaughters to a great museum in Sacramento called the "Discovery Museum - Science and Space Center".

I wasn't sure at first if it would be "age appropriate" for our little one's (ages 2 and 5), 

but we were pleasantly surprised at the versatility and amount of exhibits!

Most of the activities could be easily enjoyed by a child or adult of any age.

The animal exhibits were really nice and geared so that even little ones could see and enjoy them.

I was very happy to see how interested our five year old Granddaughter (Little B) was in the more sophisticated displays, such as the mars soil, pine cones and bicycle gyro!

The museum has "rotating exhibits" and currently they have the "Space Quest" exhibit going on until January 2014.

I was not convinced that our "girls" were going to be interested in space stuff, but boy was I wrong!

They had a BLAST and our two year old Granddaughter is STILL talking about the robot "COSMOS" that she met there!

Here is a cute video of her and her sister having a "convo" with Cosmos!

Little "B" was really excited about the rocket ship play area and donned a space suit and played in the rocket ship with other kids that were there.

Another favorite for both kids was the "Cosmic Cafe" where kids can prepare play foods and serve them to Parents, Grandparents or each other!

They had a special show in the Planetarium for the younger kids, a movie of "Sid the Science Kid" which was perfect for Little B but a little tedious for the two-year old "C-Bear"!

We stopped for a short break and had a snack outside on the beautiful grounds of the museum and sat next to the duck pond.

My only regret is that I wish I had planned better and brought a more "healthy" snack for the little ones.

They had vending machines at the museum and we bought our snacks there.

To be honest, I did not think we'd be there long, as I mentioned before, we did not expect children as young as our grandkids to really enjoy the museum that much but I was really happy and very impressed with the whole program!

We had such a great time and our Granddaughters learned a lot and had fun doing it!

Here are some more photos from the fun activities the kids participated in while at the museum:
(You can click on this collage to make it bigger)

I would highly recommend this place to anyone in the area who is looking for a fun place to hang-out and learn with family and children, or to those traveling through Northern California who want to see the local sites!

We will definitely be visiting here again soon!

For more information on hours, pricing and upcoming exhibits see their website here.

Thank-you for sharing our adventure!

I am happy to be participating in a fun blog hop this week...

The Sunshine Kids California Blog Hop celebrates all that is wonderful about raising kids in the Golden State.

Link up your kid-centered posts about California: places to visit, books to read, crafts to create, recipes to try, and so on.

The blog hop will run from August 19 to September 2.

Thanks to Akane of Juggling With Kids for the beautiful photo!

You can also check out even more California posts on our collaborative Kid Friendly California Pinterest board!

 Be sure to check out our upcoming project, Exploring the California Missions!    
    

Participating Blogs:

Link up your kid-centered California posts below!