Glow-in-the-Dark Egg Hunt

I found a pin for an unusual egg hunt on Pinterest:

http://pinterest.com/pin/216383957066394684/

It's a glow-in-the-dark egg hunt! Like all of my favorite children's activities, the idea for this one is simple. You purchase some glow-in-the-dark bracelets (they're just like glow sticks, only thinner and more pliable). Then, you crack them to get them glowing and stick them in those cheap, plastic Easter eggs.

I read through the pin, and the woman who originally came up with the idea recommended using the large, plastic eggs. I'd saved our eggs from last year, and all but one were the standard sized. With help from Colleen and her brother, Gene, we were able to get the glow bracelets into the eggs, but the eggs wouldn't stay shut without the help of some tape. Once we got them sealed, the activity was a lot of fun.As I mentioned, we were in Texas at the beach over Easter (a very generous gift from my in-laws), and the weather was phenomenal. At twilight, the temperature was in the high 70s. We went out to the gazebo in the condo complex, and Colleen and Gene tucked the glowing eggs in the bushes, on some steps, and on some patio furniture. Andrew and I led Oliver outside and told him to go put the eggs in his basket. He did a great job! He had a lot of fun running around and putting them in, although I think I had more fun shouting encouragement and letting him know when he needed to keep looking in a certain area. Halfway through, he decided rocks were even better than eggs, and he started putting rocks in his basket as well.

This glow-in-the-dark egg hunt was a hit, as far as I'm concerned. I look forward to doing it in future years. The only downside I see to this activity is that, in other parts of the country, the temperature can be quite cold in late March and early April, especially at night. I'm sure there will be many years when an outdoor, nighttime egg hunt just isn't practical.

Pinterest Challenge Day 20: Fairy Glow Jar

I got excited for today's pin. I really thought I was going to make a cool toy for Oliver. Check out this pin:
http://pinterest.com/pin/216383957066231421/

Even though it's clearly photo-shopped, I could visualize a glowing, glittering jar, and I could just see Oliver's delight.

For $2 at Michael's, we bought a package of glitter and two packages of two glow sticks (for a total of four).

I had an empty, clean peanut butter jar that I decided to use because it's plastic and wouldn't break. I dumped the glitter in and then slowly added water, shaking it to keep the glitter from clumping. Then, following this guide from ehow, I cracked all the glow sticks. I took my scissors and cut one open...

Splat! Neon green liquid shot out everywhere, including all over my glasses, which I was happy I was wearing. Andrew helped me clean. I poured the glow stick into the jar, and, by poured, I mean I shook it vigorously for the liquid to come out drop by drop. When it hit the water, it stopped glowing. I thought maybe it was diluted, so I proceeded to use all the glow sticks.

Here's what I ended up with:

All the glitter clumped together into a goo, and the glow sticks dyed the glitter green. There was no glow inside the jar whatsoever. It was a jar of goo.

Andrew knew I was disappointed, so he tried to get Oliver to play with it anyway. He used the light of his cell phone to light up the jar from underneath:

That was pretty cool, but because Oliver couldn't run around and shake the glowing jar, he quickly lost interest. This pin bombed.

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 7: Glow Sticks

I was at Michael's the other day and spotted red, white and blue glow sticks for 70 cents! Thinking of Oliver, I bought one for last night (fireworks were on July 3 in our town).

As we waited for fireworks (which Oliver loved, by the way), I cracked the glow stick and handed it to him. He loved it! He immediately began spinning it and moving it around. He also wanted us to twirl it for him to watch.Unfortunately, the 70 cent glow stick didn't last long. Oliver tried to bite it once, and that was probably the cause of the hole that we discovered after some of the fluorescent liquid dripped onto the ground. Boo. I had to take it away from him (he handled it well, though).

Oliver typically goes to bed with the sun (by 8:30pm), so he doesn't spend a lot of time outside and in the dark. I really want to do glow sticks again with him, but I'm going to wait until the days are a little shorter.

I don't have much to base my grade on, since the glow sick only lasted about five minutes, but from what I observed, it deserves an A! Just be sure you watch your young toddler with it in case they decide it bite it like my son did.