Treasure Hunting

Having fun at Elioak’s Farm

We heard there was treasure to be found at Elioak’s Farm, a local attraction not far from us in Ellicott City. So, we (my husband and I with our two kids) headed there last Saturday for some afternoon fun.

There was a petting zoo, a maze of evergreen trees, fun whimsical statues along a hayride trail, and acres of open land. After the congestion of our ever-growing, little city, it was a pleasure to be out in the open country. It reminded me so much of where I grew up on the Eastern Shore.

The kids loved the farm animals. They were sweet and friendly, including a pony, two horses, cows, pigs, goats, chickens, bunnies, ducks and an emu. My son’s favorite was the emu. He named it Furry (even though it has feathers) and gave me strict instructions to take photos, frame them, and put them up in his room before the day was out. He would like to visit Furry the emu again soon, and stay friends…

Making friends with Furry the Emu

Despite the pleasures of the open fields and friendly animals, one of the best parts of our visit was yet to come. A treasure hunt. It was actually a traveling attraction called, Mobile Mining Experience. You could buy a bucket of ore (dirt) and scoop the dirt into a seine (or sieve?), put the seine in a trail of rushing water and wait for treasures to appear. My daughter chose a bucket with gemstones while my son chose one with sharks’ teeth. In the fist small scoop, my son found 4 sharks teeth. You may not know how exciting this is for a 5 year old boy, but trust me when I tell you it was a moment to remember. By the end of our mining experience, my children were loaded with bags of gemstones, sharks teeth and tiny, million-year-old fossils to boot!

But, even with our new treasures, there was more fun to be had. While there, we were all given raffle tickets for prizes. We stood in a group of about 20 other ”miners” waiting for the raffle numbers to be called.  My husband and I waited with anticipation as the chances of winning something were pretty good considering the small size of the group. All the kids in the group were stoically quiet, staring at the large gemstones, geodes (million-year-old rocks with crystals inside) and the grand prize, a large polished squid fossil. I saw my son eying it while he stood beside me quietly. I kept thinking how awesome it would be for my kids to not only have their newly found treasures, but prizes that they had won for themselves. Icing on the cake for our family fun day.

Finding treasure with Mobile Mining Experience

My daughter was the first to win, garnering a beautiful cluster of amethysts. She grinned from ear to ear. Then we watched as the man from Mobile Mining Experience doled out the next 10 or so prizes to almost every kid in the group. I was thinking how great it was that the prizes were spread out amongst the kids. They all looked so happy. But I kept looking down at my son, wondering if he would be upset if he didn’t win something. Finally, there was one prize left, the grand whopper of them all, the squid fossil. I stared at the raffle tickets in my husband’s hand and held my breath.

And then I heard the numbers. After a nudge from me and a ”hey you won”, my 5 year old proudly walked up to receive the heavy fossil. For the rest of the day he hugged his new treasure and kept saying in wonder, “I can’t believe I won.”

Squid fossil and Amethyst cluster

My husband and I could not have been happier. We took the booty home, spread everything out on the kitchen table and researched every piece. The petting zoo had been a big hit, and the Mining Experience was unbelievable. It may sound odd, but I know this one little visit to a petting farm on a Saturday afternoon will be something my family will always remember.

Leftover Easter Bunnies

Use leftover plastic eggs to make these cute bunnies.

I hate to say goodbye to Easter, especially so early in the Spring. So, I couldn’t resist grabbing some of those leftover plastic eggs that are all over the house and making a fun craft. Check out these adorable Easter bunnies. I used cotton balls for the feet and tail, pipe cleaners for the ears and whiskers, and of course, wiggle eyes. The blue bunny has a clear bead for the nose, and the green bunny has a yellow pompom. They each have their own little personalities and my kids adore them. Unfortunately, so does our cat, Frisky, who is rapidly deconstructing our new little creatures as she bats them around the floor.

I’m going to attempt to save our little bunnies and tuck them away for next year when I can pull them out again to celebrate one of my favorite holidays.

A beautiful Spring day in Maryland

The kids are on Spring break, and although the weather isn’t quite what we had wanted it to be, it has brought the first soft snow of the year. The snow is big and soft and fluffy. Just right for a snowman. Meet our very own Frosty.

Leprechauns invade

My kids love all the holidays, especially ones with little fairies involved that dress in green hats with buckles and leave gold coins in their wake. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day coming up, we spent last Friday evening making our own little leprechauns out of egg cartons.

First the kids cut out sections of the egg cartons and painted them green.

After they dried, we used construction paper for the buckles around the hats and orange ribbons curled up to represent curly leprechaun beards. Wiggle eyes make them come to life. Don’t forget the gold coins made with paper and yellow markers!

By the time we were done, we had enough leprechauns to form a soccer team. Three are pictured here on the left.

Another fun idea for St. Patrick’s day is to make a little place for the leprechaun to visit while he is here. That way he’ll leave more coins;)

My daughter made this little “apartment” using part of an old doll house. It is fully equipped with a hammock, lounging area and disco room. The light fixture has a strobe light. I don’t remember where it came from, probably the dollar store along with some of the other items here. The “stage” is made from the tops of play dough containers.

Leprechaun apartment

Pretty cool retreat for your average leprechaun on a break from making mischief on St. Patrick’s Day.

This little “apartment” will go out on our porch this Saturday night and hopefully the leprechaun will enjoy it and leave plenty of gold coins behind.

Featured Item: Art Door

Create an Art Door for your children’s art work.

Ever wonder what to do with all the art work that your children create at home and at school? This is a constant issue in my household as my kids are constantly creating art, and I love everything they come up with. Not only do I want to save them all (by the mountain load), but I want to display them so that all can see my talented artists’ work.

A friendly neighbor gave me this fabulous idea of pinning the art on the interior of the basement door. This is a door that is open a lot and frequently used. But, it can be easily shut it if I want to hide the clutter from guests.

I keep this door updated every week and put the older pieces aside for saving, or to hang in the toy room. This way the art becomes a wonderful focal point in my kitchen and a constant source of pride rather than a pile of clutter in a drawer.

So the next time your little one hands over the thousandth piece of art work that still manages to melt your heart, grab the tape and put it on display!

Lecture “Spy” Series: Mission 1, The MDQ

It took many years of practice to learn the deceptively simple task of crafting a children’s story. I’m going to share some juicy tidbits about how it all works in the “Writing Section” of this website.

To all of my writers out there, I’m going to add some intrigue to this section with my “Lecture Spy Series”. No, it’s not about writing spy novels; you’re going to be the spy. I’m going to give you a mission and a few clues and you are going to complete the mission.

Mission 1, The MDQ

Go to your child’s bookshelf or the children’s section of the library or bookstore. Pull books off the shelf and look at how the author presents the MDQ. What’s the MDQ you ask? The BIG QUESTION, i.e., will your character blank? “Will Billy find his bicycle?”, or “Will Janie learn to eat her vegetables?” The MDQ, aka the Major Dramatic Question is pretty important when coming up with a story. Without this question there is no story.

The stacks of Barnes and Noble. Check out Olly nestled in the middle.

So, go to your local stacks and pull a few books. Don’t worry, the store workers won’t kick you out. They don’t know that you’re gleaning valuable insights from some of the best children’s authors out there … for FREE! It’s your secret…

Clues

Here are a few clues to help you in your search.

1. The MDQ will be apparent in the first few pages of a children’s book, the first two page-spreads for a picture book.

2. These questions are not necessarily part of the story text, but they with a little sleuthing they will pop out at you after reading the first few pages, sometimes the first few sentences.

3. If you still have trouble figuring out the MDQ, think about what would drive you to finish reading the story. The MDQ gives readers a reason to turn the page.

Once you’ve found the MDQ in several books, your mission is not complete. It’s time to go home and pull out your own manuscripts that you’ve been tapping away at and can’t quite figure out what’s not working. I guarantee you’ll be reading and revising your work with a new perspective

One last thing, and this part is very important–be sure that you don’t answer the MDQ until the last few pages of your book—the last two page-spreads for a picture book. Once you answer the MDQ, the story will feel complete for the reader. If you keep writing too much after the resolution, the reader will lose interest. In other words, don’t answer your question on page one!

Mission accomplished

Check back again for another installment of my “Lecture Spy Series”.

Until then, happy writing,
Elaine

Joy in Winter

Been having the winter blues lately…

My children don’t have this problem…

They only see the joy in winter…