Sweet Silly Sara

Fun Tech DIY To Do With Kids

Children have a thirst for knowledge and love to experiment. Sometimes it can be challenging to find
projects that you can do from home that can help encourage this. DIY technology projects can be so
much fun, and usually, you can find the items in the house, or source them pretty quickly online. So
here are a few fun DIY projects that you can do with the kids.

Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash

Earmuffs

You might have seen these in a store already, but you can create your own music earmuffs at home.
The critical thing to remember is that you won’t be able to put your earbuds in your ear. Instead, they’ll sit
behind a layer of fabric. Kind of like can headphones - but warmer. Simply cut a small space in the
center of ear earmuff, slide the earbud inside and stitch it back up again.

If you are feeling extra adventurous, you can use larger headphones, and replace the fabric entierly. If
you don’t love the idea of musical earmuffs, try putting on-ear headphones Into a woolly hat instead.

Echo

You can create your own Amazon Acho by using a Raspberry Pi. Amazon has a range of walk throughs
and coding sources to help you manage it. And once you have tackled that, you can move on to turning
it into a Twitter Bot, a Minecraft Game server, or even just private storage.

FireStick

If you have a firestick or Apple Tv, you might be surprised to know just how much you can do with
them - aside from watching TV. TroyPoint has a few really fun DIY projects that are really simple to
tackle.

USB Drive

Sure we mostly use cloud storage or HDD now, but the simple USB drive has a lot going for it. Even
more, when you take the time to create your own case. You can opt to do something with dried flowers
and epoxy or perhaps building something with LEGO. You can get super adventurous and use an oven
bake clay to create a dinosaur or a happy potter wand. Bake for a few minutes in the oven and voila!

Jewelry

Geek-chic and ‘nerd’ jewelry is a big deal. Even more to the people who are genuinely in that culture.
You can create some incredibly unique pieces of jewelry like earrings or necklaces with old
motherboards. Of course, other circuit boards will do the trick, but motherboards are more prominent,
and you’ll be spoiled for choice on the textures.

You’ll need to saw the board into the shapes that you want, and it is recommended that you wear
gloves and eye protection while doing this. Smoothing down the edges doesn’t take long with some
epoxy.

You can pick up old defunct computers at car boots and online, rather than consider sacrificing old
motherboards that you have in the home (that can be used to build your own computers)

Simple and fun ideas to help encourage your children to get creative with technology and DIY.

Brown Sugar Overnight Oats

Breakfast has never been easier or tastier than it is with this simple Brown Sugar Overnight Oats recipe.

Some of the best things in life are simple; this recipe embraces that and plays on the goodness of pantry staples. I love that you can literally toss this together in under a moment for a no frills, but tons of flavor start to the day.

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Ingredients
1 cup of old fashioned oats
1 cup of 1% milk
1/8 teaspoon of vanilla
1 tablespoon of brown sugar

Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a food storage container. Allow to sit in the fridge for at least 3 hours. Overnight is ideal.
Serve cold, or heated in the morning for a nutritious and delicious breakfast.

This recipe will last for 3 days covered in the fridge.

I love this cold and often opt for it over dessert. It is that good! I consider it my happy food these days. If you have a favorite overnight oat recipe I hope you will leave a comment and share it with me.

Find some of my favorite recipes here:
Reader favorites include:
Cold Veggie Pizza Loaded Jalapeno Bites

Why Sweden Is The Perfect Place For Your Next Holiday

Pixabay - CC0 Licence

For a relatively quiet country in the chilly North of Europe, Sweden has quietly assembled a large
collection of fans over the years from those who love the country’s contributions to such diverse
categories as music, furniture and sport. It’s also a country that is on many people’s travel bucket lists,
and it’s that last point that we want to talk about today. If you’re looking for somewhere ideal to take your
next family holiday, then below you’ll find plenty of good reasons to get packing and head to the
Scandinavian paradise that everyone is talking about.

1. It’s a super-healthy country!

If you’ve ever wanted to be inspired to live a healthier lifestyle, then holidaying in Sweden is enough to
convince anyone of the benefits. Not only are Swedish residents some of the happiest in the world,
they’re also among the most active - and they make it look like a whole lot of fun, too. Whether you’re
taking long, beautiful walks in Skåne or heading to the northern Lule river to get the best use from your
Tailored Tackle ice fishing rod and other items, there’s a great opportunity to get the family out in the
fresh air, enjoying life together.

2. It’s full of beautiful scenery!

If you head to Sweden on holiday, it’s advised that you take plenty of photographic equipment with you -
or at least make sure your phone has a decent camera. There’s such beautiful and diverse scenery in
the country that you’ll want to record as much of it as possible. Whether from the rustic fishing villages
of the Gothenburg archipelago or the old-town charms of Stockholm’s Gamla Stan, there’s something
beautiful everywhere you look.

3. Swedish people take food and drink very seriously!

If you enjoy taking time out for a quick snack or a hot meal, then you’ll fit right in in Sweden. There is a
tradition of warming, wholesome dishes such as köttbullar med gräddsås - a national institution - while
both mid-morning and mid-afternoon are seen nationwide as fika time. At these times of day, it’s
considered traditional to stop for a cup of coffee and something sweet to eat; and in any of the cafes
dotted around the towns and cities, you’ll be welcome to join in.

4. It’s a great place to visit with kids!

Some European holidays are best enjoyed as a couple, or a solo traveller, due to the large amounts of
walking and “grown-up” attractions that make up much of the itinerary. Sweden, for its part, has plenty
to appeal to the younger tourist. Skansen, a much-revered open-air museum in Stockholm, offers an
interactive look at the traditions of Swedish family life, as well as the city’s popular zoo. Amusement
parks are also never far away - among the best you’ll find Gröna Lund, near Stockholm, and Liseberg in
the Gothenburg region to be very popular with both young and old.

If you’re looking for the ideal holiday for the whole family, you’d be hard-pushed to beat Sweden. It’s got
something for everyone, and is sure to put a smile on your face!

Play Doh Pre-Writing Activity

This play doh pre-writing activity is a fun way for preschoolers to work on letter recognition and writing while using their developing fine motor skills.

As we prepared for kindergarten, I wanted to make the process of learning the letters fun for Harper. We turned to our local discount store to find supplies. I came up with a really cute and easy way for her to practice her letters and see them printed too.

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Supplies:

A bag of letter beads; I found mine at Dollar Tree.
Play Doh
A Pencil or Play Doh Tool for Writing

Directions:

Invite your child to flatten a can of play doh .
Ask your child to pick on letter bead from the bag of beads.
Encourage your child to write the letter in play doh using a pencil or play doh tool.
Instruct your child to find more beads in the same letter and place them around the letter they wrote in the play doh.
Repeat with more letters.

This was a fun hands on way to practice letter recognition, letter formation and fine motor skills. It was the perfect way to mix play time with learning.

You can find all of my play doh recipes and ideas here.

Favorites include:

Play Doh Pie Counting

Play Doh Ornaments

Glow in the Dark Galaxy Slime

My kids have been begging to make slime for a while now. I finally caved and made a really pretty glow in the dark galaxy slime. This was easy and fun to make. My kids loved it in the daytime, and at night too!

We loved this slime because it can technically be made with stuff you already have. I happened to have glow in the dark powder at home, so I added it. Use whatever glitter or confetti you have to make this easy slime.

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