Butterfly Drawings

We have been all about butterflies this week! Since our field trip to the conservatory, we took our butterfly guide and colored butterfly cut outs to look like some of our favorites we saw. We had some great discussions about all that we learned about butterflies that we didn't know before.

Butterflies!

Last summer we raised some butterflies of our own and the kids had so much fun doing it. They were amazed at every step of the metamorphosis. We got caterpillars and everything we needed to properly raise our 5 new friends from Bugville. I highly recommend doing this with your kids. It comes with a DVD that explains the process and what to expect and tells you how to care for them. I can't tell you how engrossed the kids were. They loved it. I must admit that I thought it was pretty cool too. :)

Franklin Park Conservatory

We went on a field trip to the conservatory to check out the butterflies that they have every year. The kids had so much fun looking for them and see what kind they found on their Butterfly Guide! I highly recommend the visit if you live in Ohio. It was so much fun!

Thanks for being patient!

I apologize for the lack of posts lately.  It has been pretty busy at the LuckyMe! house.  The end of the school year for my kids and for me (I am a teacher too) has definitely kept us on our toes and we even managed to take a VERY exciting trip to Chicago.  I promise to get back on track soon.  I appreciate the emails and blog comments.  I promise all is well here and I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.  Keep coming back!  I will be posting again soon!  :)

Sock Puppets

Using some kids socks we made a cat and dog sock puppet. We also used felt and fabric glue as well as pom poms for the nose. Make sure the glue dries completely before letting the kids use them. You may also need to put a piece of cardboard in the sock so that the top and botton don't get glued together. Hours of fun!!!

Paper Plate Lady Bugs and Bowl Turtles

Using some things we have a round the house, we made some lasy bugs and turtles. We painted both first and let them dry. After the lady bug plate was dry we glued down some black spots and a head with googley eyes. We also included pipe cleaner antenae. For the turtly we used construction paper for a head, tail and legs. So cute!

"Hand" Made Totebag

This is such a cute totebag that my son made me in preschool. It is such a cute gift idea for parents and grandparents. It has been designated as my library bag to transport books to and from the library. I love it!

Supplies needed:
fabric paint
plain tote bag (you can buy them at Michael's or JoAnns)

Kid Created Flower Hanging Basket

My husband took the kids to the nursery to pick out some flowers and this hanging basket to give to me for Mother's Day, but it was so much fun for them that this could be done any time. They picked out some colorful flowers and planted them in the basket using their little shovels.

They were so proud of the finished product. Anytime someone comes over to our house, they take them in the back yard to show them the hanging basket they created. They also love to use their watering cans to water them. I will never forget to water them because they ask to water them all the time :)

Dot pictures!

When I pulled out the box of sun catcher supplies the other day, the kids saw the paint dots and wanted to play with them as well. We made pictures just with dots today. We made flowers, caterpillars, and creatures. We also had some pictures that were made of circles that they could just fill in. So much fun! My son then began practicing writing his numbers using just dots. The possibilities are endless. We have also done this using stamp pads and fingerprints.

Painting Sun Catchers

I got these supplies from Oriental Trading . The kids love to paint them and they make great gifts. The paint will last a LONG time since a little goes a long way. You can also buy these things at Michael's also.

Spring Felt Board

We made felt boards about a year ago by covering pieces of cardboard with felt and gluing it on. I cut out a bunch of basic shapes at first and the kids had a ball. Then I made them a set of cut outs that would help them build snowmen and it was a huge hit. As I noticed my son making another snowman today, I thought it was about time to cut out some spring shapes. Here are our creations today. :)

Button Caterpillars

My daughter and I made caterpillars out of buttons. They were so much fun and very cute. We also added some googley eyes so we could see where the head was. :)

We liked our caterpillars to be multicolored but you could easily make these using patterns.

Supplies needed:

buttons

pipe cleaners

googley eyes
glue

YUMMY Brownies!

I had two small children look up at me tonight and ask desperately for some brownies. It was kind of sad actually. Not thinking I may actually have all of the ingredients to make them, I looked for a recipe on my good friend's website (Martha Stewart) :)

I came across this one and I actually had all of the ingredients and became the hero for the evening. Boy, were they delicious!! Click on the link below.

Martha Stewart's

Super Fudgy Brownies

(since the recipe calls for 8 oz of semisweet chocolate chips and the bag had 12 oz in it, we mixed the remaining chips in the brownie batter and had chocolate chip brownies)

Homemade Bubbles

I saw this on Make and Takes and just had to try them.  We had so much fun!  

Supplies needed:

4 cups water

1 cup dish soap (we used Dawn)

1/4 cup Karo syrup

cookie cutters

bubble wands

pipe cleaners

Painting Planters and Planting Seeds

To celebrate Earth Day, we had some old, faded metal pails and we decided to liven them up a bit by adding our personal painted touches. The kids also planted some daisy seeds in them and can't wait to see them grow.

Earth Day Crafts

We have a bunch of crafts that we have done that use recycled materials. Here are some ideas for some fun crafts you can do to celebrate Earth Day tomorrow!

Water bottle flowers
Musical Instruments
Foamerator
Milk Jug Bird Feeder
Funny Feet
Thread the Tube Game
Egg Carton Caterpillar
Crazy Faces
Color Collages
Crayons
Painted Vases

Painted Vases

It was beautiful outside so we decided to go outside and paint!! We took clean, empty spaghetti sauce jars that will be some new flower vases and painted them using acrylic paints. They dried so quickly by sitting them in the sun for a bit. So beautiful!

Simple Chick Craft

I found these cute little chicks on kiddio . They are so cute! We made these today and they are currently in little hands flying all around the house.

We used a cup and traced circles onto card stock and folded the circles in half. Then we made little beaks and the kids colored the bodies with crayons and colored pencils. We glued on some googley eyes and taped a couple of feathers underneath the body.

Supplies needed:

Cardstock

feathers

crayons/markers/colored pencils

googley eyes

tape

glue

Paper Plate Easter Bunnies

Easter is coming soon!! We made some Easter bunnies out of paper plates and the ears were made out of card stock. We also used buttons and googley eyes, pom poms and a black marker. They are too cute!!

Bunny Basket

Instead of taking our nice Easter baskets outside in the wet grass on Easter for the Easter Egg Hunt, we made these. It is really nice that there is a handle and the kids can easily carry them around.

We took an empty gallon milk jug, cut off the top and added eyes, nose, and ears and then we drew whishers and a mouth on the face with a permanent marker.

supplies needed:

gallon milk jug

colored paper/cardstock

felt

permanent marker

glue

stapler

Easter grass