Another Book Idea....

We use these bags every now and again to have scavenger hunts for small things. We used them for this fall craft and we used them again here. I made a pocket out of a clear plastic sheet protector on the front of the bag big enough for an index card to fit in to remind the kids what we were looking for. We were focusing on our colors. This is an activity that can take a couple of weeks if you choose to do one color each day. After the child has found things that are the color of the day, take a photo of all of it and make a book out of it! They are so proud of the things they have found.

Personalized Books For Kids

I made a counting Book for my son years ago, but I used white cardstock pages and laminated them with laminating sheets and then took it to my local office store to be spiral bound. That worked out really well and he still loves looking at it. When I saw these blank board books on the Oriental Trading Website, I had to order some and use them for my daughter's book.

I took pictures of things of hers that she loves and printed them off on sticker paper, stuck the sticker to the board book and then I put laminating sheets over those. I personalized the cover with a picture of her and SHE LOVES THIS BOOK! She has been taking it to bed with her to read over and over.

Supplies Needed

Blank Board book, found here

laminating sheets

camera

sticker sheets

Glass stone Caterpillars

We used our glass stones again! We cut out a leaf out of card stock and drew a line of glue across it and the kids placed the stones across the glue. Then they added some pipe cleaner antenae and some googley eyes!

Supplies needed:

Green construction paper or card stock

Glass stones

googley eyes

pipe cleaners

glue

Glass Stone Picture Frame

I have had these glass stones for a while because I used them for an activity once in the classroom. The kids have loved playing with them, so I decided to use some of them in a couple of crafts this week.

We made a picture frame out of craft sticks and used some markers to color them. Then the kids placed the stones on the frame where they wanted them and I used the hot glue gun to stick them on. The kids were very proud of their creation and loved having a photo shoo0t to choose a picture to put in them.

Supplies needed

craft sticks

glass stones

markers

hot glue gun

Homemade Musical Instruments

We have started a band and are taking our show on the road. I bet if you listen closely, you could hear our instruments right now....even in other countries. It is a little loud, but so much fun. They are learning a lot as well.

We made a guitar out of a shoebox lid and several rubber bands of various sizes and thicknesses. We talked about the different sounds the rubber bands made and why they all sounded different.

We made a kazoo by taking a toilet paper roll and covering it with scrapbook paper. Then we punched a hole in the side (so the wax paper wouldn't be blown off when they talked into it). Then we covered one end with wax paper and fastened it on with a rubber band. We talked about the vibrations that are made with the sounds we make.

We made a drum/shaker by taking a container with a metal bottom and covering it with scrapbook paper and putting some dried beans inside. They can shake this or use pencils to drum on it.

We made our jingle bell instrument by putting beads and jingle bells on a pipe cleaner and connecting the ends together.

Foamerator

We hopped in the tub with our suits and started making some crazy bubbles. We cut off the bottom of a water bottle and we used some old wash cloths and used a rubber band to put them on the end of the water bottle. The kids then dipped the washcloth in some water to get the wash cloth wet and then we dipped it in some bubble bath and blew in the top of the bottle to make some bubbles. Such fun!! We found the idea here.

Supplies needed:

water bottle

wash cloth or old towel

rubber band

liquid soap/bubble bath

Beach in a jar

We made a beach in a jar! Just when we are about to get some more snow, we are ready to look forward to warmer weather. We used a canning jar and poured in some sand. Then we put in some sea shells. It is a very simple thing to do, but my kids were born 5 miles from a beach and we miss it some days. They played with the shells for about 30 minutes even before we started making our beach. Whenever we feel like we are ready for the sun, we can look at our jars and day dream.

Supplies needed:

jars

sand

shells

Smoothies

We had a delicious treat during our Hawaiian Luau. We made Strawberry yogurt smoothies. The first thing we did though was decorate our cups. We used some of the left over flower cut outs from our lei making and glued them on plastic cups.

Next we made our smoothies:

2 cups of strawberries (1/2 a quart)

1/2 cup yogurt (we used strawberry yogurt)

1 cup of ice

1/4 cup orange juice

2 T. sugar

Throw all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Tissue paper flowers and grass skirts

Continuing with the Hawaiian luau we had on Monday, we also made some tissue paper flowers and grass skirts. First we got some green tissue paper and cut slits all the way to the top except for a couple of inches at the top. Then we tucked it in to the bottoms of their suits.

Next we piled layers of tissue paper traced a circle from a plate, cut out the circle and folded them in a fan and wrapped a pipe cleaner around it and pulled each layer up to form a flower. We wrapped those around their ankles.

After we did this, we turned up the Hawaiian music (thank you internet) and danced around. We also did a limbo contest.

Supplies needed:

tissue paper

pipe cleaners

Hawaiian luau party--Making a lei

The kids and I all have the day off for President's Day, so since we just bought the kids some new bathing suits from the Old Navy sale, they have been dying to wear them. We are all ready for some warmer weather, so today we cranked up the heat and decided to have a Hawaiian Luau party. Every day this week I will be sharing some of the things we did to celebrate. The first thing we did was work on looking like we were a part of a Luau. We made our own lei. I found a template of some flowers online and cut them out. I used a small screw driver to punch holes in the center of the flowers making it easier to string. Then we got some colorful straws and cut them in 1-1 1/2 inch pieces. Next we put them on the string. We alternated flowers and straws and they turned out really cute.

supplies needed:

straws

paper flowers

string

Daddy's Valentine's Card

Today we made Daddy a Valentine's Day card. The kids glued hearts left over from our heart art on a posterboard heart and told me all the reasons why they loved daddy, so I could write it down for them. They are so excited to give it to him.

Valentine's Day Cookies

This is a recipe based on the one I found here.

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 3/4 cups of all purpose flour

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla and mix until smooth. Add the cream. Next add the flour and baking powder and mix into the mixture. Cover the dough and chill for 2 to 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters and place them 1 inch apart on the baking sheets covered with parchment paper, a silpat, or greased with butter. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until bottoms and edges of cookies are light brown. Remove from baking sheet and cool on wire racks.

Then I used the icing that we used for our Christmas cookies from my friend Jenn's recipe.

Basic icing:
4 cups of confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup of unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup of heavy cream
2 tsp. vanilla

I was feeling a little under the weather tonight, but making these sure did perk me up. Perhaps it was all the sugar in the air. :)

Valentine Stamps

We made some stamps out of our foam stickers. We stuck the stickers to some toy blocks we had and then we put them in the ink pad and stamped some paper that we are going to use as wrapping paper for Daddy's Valentine's Day presents. They turned out really well and we were able to take the stickers off and clean the blocks up to throw back in the block box. I can only hope that the kids will be able to keep the secret about what we got Daddy. ;)

Supplies needed:

foam stickers

blocks

paper

ink pads

Valentine Dessert Pizza

The kids loved every bit of this process. We used frozen bread dough for the crust (thawed in the refrigerator).

Then we divided the bread dough into 4 parts. The kids smashed and flattened out their part and I cut them into hearts. I lightly greased a cookie sheet and put the dough in the oven at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes or so. Just until the tops were lightly golden brown.

Then we spread peanut butter over the entire thing and the kids put semi sweet chocolate chips, peanut butter/chocolate swirled chips, m & ms, and marshmallows. Then I put them in the oven for a couple of minutes just until the marshmallows got soft and all the other toppings were ooey gooey. One heart of their dessert pizza will last them all week. You certainly can make more hearts so that they are more of an individual serving, but I took the easy way out. :)

Valentine Heart Flowers

We used our trusty foam stickers to trace on some cardstock. The we cut them out and stuck a lollipop through. These are GREAT to hand out with cards on Valentine's Day.

Supplies Needed:

card stock

suckers

Heart Sun Catchers

We made some heart sun catchers today using laminating sheets. You could also use contact paper, but I have found that these are a little bit easier to work with. I cut out a heart shape and then cut out the inside of the heart, leaving about 1/2 an inch border. Then I stuck the heart on the laminating sheet and cut off the excess around the heart. Then the kids stuck little squares of tissue paper all over them, completely covering it. I then punched a hole in the top and tied some cording so we could hang it.

Supplies needed:

laminating sheets (or contact paper)

tissue paper

colored paper for heart

Secret Valentine messages

I used a white crayon (try to avoid the washable ones) to write on some white paper and told the kids I had written them a secret message. They were blown away when they started painting and saw the message. You can't really see the message in the picture, but it was there. They wanted to draw pictures with the crayons and give each other secret messages. It was really cute.

Supplies needed:
white paper
white crayon
water color paint
brushes

My First Blog Award!

I got my first blog award from Mary Anne at Thrifty Craft Mama
Thanks so much!!!


I am passing the award on to:
Ramblings of a Crazy Woman
The Entertaining House
Just For Fun
Diaper Bag Diary

Her Cup Overfloweth

Kidoozy

Valentine Shirt

My daughter wanted to have a Valentine shirt, so we pulled out the sponges, brushes, paint and plain white T-Shirt (we bought several at Michael's when they were $2 a piece). We dipped heart shaped sponges in the paint and then pressed them on the shirt. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SOMETHING IN THE SHIRT SO IT DOES NOT GO THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE, can you tell I have done it before ;). We just put a magazine inside the shirt. Then we used the brush to get any white spots covered. After our 3 hearts were on the shirt, I got a brush and outlined the hearts in black.

Make sure you read the directions on your fabric paint. Ours says you can't wash it for 72 hours. We love painting shirts. We seem to do it all the time. She looks so cute with this shirt over her red thermal long sleeved shirt.

Supplies needed:

Shirt

fabric paint

brushes

sponges

Valentine Bugs Felt Board

Using the boards and shapes that we already made from our Winter Felt Friends, I cut out a bunch of hearts in different sizes and let the kids loose with them. At first, they weren't sure what to make, but when I suggested bugs, a lightbulb went off and there was no stopping them. They spent over an hour playing with their felt boards today. They really love them.

Groundhog's Day Craft

Happy Groundhog's Day!! Here is a cute groundhog made mostly of hearts. You will need a large brown heart for the head, a small white heart for the teeth, a small brown heart to cut in half to make 2 ears and a black heart for a nose. You will also need 2 googley eyes and long cream or white strips for whiskers. I don't know about you but I would love to hear some good news from this little guy today.

Supplies needed:

brown, black, cream, white paper

googley eyes