Mad Scientists: Set the Stage to Engage!

So what do you do when one of your dearest, best friends, who just happens to be a teacher, comes to your house for a week? YOU MAKE THINGS! It all started on the way home from the airport when I told her I wanted to make some lab coats for Megan’s kids. Next thing you know, she is on pinterest! We didn’t use a coat that we found, but looked at several different styles and then created the style you see.   Here’s how we did it:

• We purchased men’s small (and a few medium) tshirts, black ribbon, black and gray buttons, spray adhesive, and hot glue.
• We cut the ribbon and used spray adhesive to stick it to the shirt. (I got the easy job, I cut!) We didn’t want to cut the tshirts. Mainly because that would have been more work, but also because then the fabric might be in the way when they are actually doing experiments.
• Then, we hot glued the buttons along the ribbon.

   We found the gloves at Dollar General and the goggles at the Dollar Tree. Now I should make those both plural! I think we went to 5 different Dollar Trees to get enough goggles,  even sending a friend of mine to look in her town. AND we went to 3 different Dollar Generals to find enough gloves! We spent 2 full days shopping and making! (We also made sailor hats for Ginny’s room. I’ll share those another time!) Oh, and earlier in the week while Kathleen was working in Megan’s room, she snapped pictures of all the kids wearing a mad scientist wig! I used the pictures to make nametags for each of the kids.

Then, the big day had arrived. We kept it a secret all week! Thursday morning, we packaged everything in a brown box so that it would look like it came in the mail. We packed up the SUV, (with 2 babies in tow), and headed to Megan’s room. To say she was surprised, would not hardly do it justice. (And yes, that’s Matthew! The boys were really good!)

  The kids LOVED them! They were so excited and so thankful.

Who can have a mad scientist party without some mad scientist food? We found some shallow plates at the party store. Kathleen made jello and we filled them up. We added the worm right before we went.  I found some of the containers for making popsicles at the Dollar Tree. My son cut them out for me to make test tubes. We served up some science potion!

And then, just like that, I had to take her back to the airport. We laughed and joked that if we lived close it would be crazy, but soooo much fun! Miss you bunches, Kathleen.
So now what? Each week I am packaging up a Mad Scientist kit for Megan and Ginny. Each kit will have all the things they need to do an experiment that week. Want to know what is inside? Check back tomorrow and you will see what was in the first Mad Scientist Kit!

Thanks to my sweet friend Hope Wheeler King who coined the term, “Set the Stage to Engage!”