Mindport ~ Bellingham

When my friend Christy mentioned Mindport as a good place to bring kids, I have to say I was a bit skeptical.  A few weeks ago, we finally met Christy, Gavin and Kaia at Mindport for a few hours of exploration and fun! Mindport is located at 210 West Holly in Bellingham. Parking is metered, so don't forget your change. {Or, in my case, raid a piggy bank.. shhhhh don't tell Mia, I owe her $1.50}

Mindport has varied days and hours of operation {check the website}. We arrived almost 15 minutes early {I am almost always early} and Karen came to the window to let me know they would be opening shortly. The girls kept peeking in the windows and told me they were "cited" to play.

Mia decided it was time for a potty dance, and Karen was kind enough to let us through to use the {huge, clean} restroom before paying {I can't thank her enough}! When we made it back to pay {a mere $2 each, I am still flabbergasted by that price}. Karen got down to the girls' level and let them know they were expected to have fun and that they needed to try their very hardest not to run {which we had to remind them often}. She let me know that there were a lot of buttons {which my kids are experts at pressing} and that most things turned off by themselves.  We were then instructed to look up, and were delighted by some wonderful art!

The girls were quick to lead me to water. They found a river with rocks to build dams and little pieces of wood or boats to float. It was awesome {and wet}. A majority of the girls' time was spent here. The creators thought of everything and even put a hand drying station nearby!

Mindport is filled with fun, imaginative, creative {etc} activities for exploration. There is even a tornado {or, as Addy would say "nortado"} that you can put your hand in. You can race scuba divers through tubes, observe an aquatic ecosystem, practice writing with chalk while looking at a mirror, play with ping pong balls in tubes, make fairy music, play with burl jives {one of the coolest musical things I've ever seen}, a musical Allella {another neat creation}, pipe organ and many other equally fascinating things.

I wish I would have taken more pictures, but I was so enthralled with everything. Christy and I spent some time trying to figure out the puns on the miniature train's route {Karen was the creator of the train and we were able to ask her questions, which was really neat}.  There are manuals next to almost everything {we chose to ignore them, for the most part}so this can be a very educational, as well as fun, experience.

Mia, my shy girl, quickly developed an attachment to Karen, and ran {she does not follow directions well} to her multiple times. Karen was very nice about it, and even kept an eye on her for a minute while I checked out Addy's magnet art. {Seriously, this place rocks, if you haven't figured it out}.

We highly recommend this place for anyone, with or without kids!  There is much to be explored within, we barely scratched the surface during our visit. Plus, the price is budget friendly. We will visit Mindport again in the near future... most likely for some rainy day fun!

Rainy Day Fun ~ Homemade Play Dough

I don't like {not going to lie, I REALLY dislike} the mess it makes, but my girls love it. We're all out of the store bought stuff, and Mother Nature has decided to water my garden for me today {it's raining, thus putting our beach play date on hold}. We are determined to have fun anyways, so this morning we made our own play dough. We were out of some of the ingredients, so we improvised, and it turned out great!

We Googled play dough and found a gazillion recipes, so I'm not going to give credit to any one source for this recipe. There are many versions and this seems to be one of the more popular ones.

We gathered our ingredients and measured out:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

4 teaspoons lemon juice {or 2 teaspoons cream of tartar}

1 cup water

1 tablespoon oil

1 tablespoon cupcake sprinkles {or 2-3 drops of food coloring, which we didn't have}

We then combined the dry ingredients in a saucepan {flour & salt, in our case} and mixed everything together.

Next, we combined the wet ingredients & coloring {water, oil, lemon juice, cupcake sprinkles} and stirred well.

Then, we slowly poured the wet ingredients over the dry and mixed well.

I placed the saucepan on the stove over medium heat and stirred constantly until the mixture became doughy and stuck together {this took only a couple minutes}.

Then, I dumped the dough out onto a board and waited for it to cool a bit. Once it cooled, I kneaded it until it became smooth.

Once smooth, you can store in baggies or containers {it is supposed to last a long time if stored properly}. Or, do what I did, allow it to cool enough for the kiddos to play!

And create!  

This stuff was neat. We used course sea salt because I didn't want to grind 1/2 cup of salt. As a result, we were left with some chunks of salt in the dough {Addy called it sparkly and fun so it wasn't a big deal}. One of my biggest pet peeves is the mess the store bought stuff leaves behind. This stuff left way less mess & was much easier to wipe up.  Plus, it smelled {MUCH} better. I think I'll buy some food coloring {or more sprinkles} and make some more!

:) Jen

Rainy Day Fun ~ Dollar Tree Birdhouses!

So far, we have not had much of a Summer... or none at all, according to an article that was in the Bellingham Herald the other day. I don't think I'm the only one who tends to go a little crazy when I'm cooped up in the house with two little ones {at least on the days when they are fighting non-stop}.  It is nice to have some fun crafts set aside for those not-so-nice days.

We found these little wooden birdhouses and acrylic paint sets at the Dollar Tree for a whopping {you guessed it} $1 each, plus tax. Later, we saw more birdhouses and paint sets at Joann Fabrics for the same price, with way more paint sets to choose from, even glitter! Next time Joann's has a 20% off your total purchase coupon, I am definitely stocking up on more. {I kind of want to make my own...I have a thing for birdhouses}

 

The girls had a blast, and I had fun watching them! Mia dipped the paint brush in every color so her house would be multi-colored. Addy was more concerned with the birds liking hers. Both girls concentrated for longer than I expected and were so excited that they made some new homes for the birds in our back yard. I sprayed both with a clear UV sealer so we can enjoy them for a long time, even if the birds don't ;) 

I would appreciate it if you would take a second to check out the poll on the left... Thanks! 

:)  Jen