Hand Print Turkey Puppets!

I have always wanted to try this Thanksgiving project, and this afternoon was the perfect opportunity. I used an image from Google Images as my starting point:



These were the materials we used:

• brown and pink construction paper
• glue sticks
• hot glue or regular glue
• popsicle sticks 
• crayons
• laminator and laminating sheets (optional)

I was too distracted to take pictures during the actual process of making these, but I have some of the finished product. It was a really simple activity that even Baby E (newly two) really enjoyed. I traced each child's hand on a piece of brown construction paper. They colored the hand prints, and then I cut them out. I cut out little pink construction paper feet, and the kids glued them on with glue sticks. Next was the kids favorite part - laminating! We laminated the Turkeys, and then glued them onto large popsicle sticks. The hardest part was waiting for the glue to dry!

Here is the finished Turkey puppet:

You could also make these into cute cards or centerpieces.

Happy Thanksgiving!

End of Year Gift for Pre-School Teachers

A was in Preschool this past year for three days a week. We had a great experience, and I wanted to find a cute but inexpensive way to acknowledge all the teachers and staff who worked with him.

I ultimately decided just to have A make cards for the teachers, and then I packaged them nicely with a chocolate bar. I'm happy with how it turned out, and it was all done for under $15.

For the cards, I let A go to town with his art supplies on a few pieces of construction paper. I picked two of the pages, and cut them in half, which gave me a half-sheet to use for each card. I typed up a short message, and had A glue them inside the cards. I laminated them as an extra step, just to make them a little bit nicer.

I stuck them in cute bags with the large chocolate bars, and that was it!

How are you planning to thank your child's teachers?

Counting Fun and paper Chains!

We are snowed in today. Being snowed in with little kids can be an interesting adventure. The 3 year old has been keeping himself pretty busy, but Baby E does not like being cooped up inside.

Making paper chains is a great way to pass the time and have some fun. All you need is paper, scissors, and glue.

There are lots of ways to incorporate counting into this activity. We counted out our pieces of construction paper, we counted as we held our edges together for 10 seconds after gluing, and we counted the rings on our chains!

What toddler or pre-schooler doesn't enjoy the opportunity to cut (with mommy's help) and glue to his heart's content?

Now onto the next activity!

Chanukah Placemats

Happy Chanukah!

Last night was the first night of Chanukah. I love this holiday and it's extra fun that this year it coincides with Thanksgiving.

I picked up a Chanukah Placemat coloring set for a small project my toddler could do. He enjoyed coloring the pictures, and really any holiday pictures can be printed and used for this project. 

I set out some crayons and stickers and let Munchkin decorate the placemats. He barely colored, because I told him we were going to laminate and he was way too excited!

We then laminated the placemats and they have so many different uses. They would make great mats to put under the menorah to catch any dripping wax. Munchkin also wants to use his placemats for meal times on Chanukah. These would also work as great placemats for a Thanksgivukkah meal! They could also work as mats to spin dreidel on.

Wishing everyone a Happy Chanukah!

Arts & Crafts: Toddler Style

These days, Big Brother A will choose arts and crafts over most of his other toys. Painting, gluing, coloring, stamps, etc. he wants to try them all. He can actually spend a lot of time working on his crafts, which is nice. He still wants me to be near him and chit chat with him about what he is working on, but it gives us some nice quiet time together. His interest in crafts has really picked up in the last 4-5 months, before that the only craft related things he was interested in were stickers. Here are my top ten suggestions for everything you need to get started:

10. Crayons: I like crayons because they are not messy. Obviously this makes them a low priority for A who prefers anything that makes a mess. 

9. Pipe cleaners: This is more of a joint activity, but we have a lot of fun making different things with the pipe cleaners. I am thinking of cutting them up as another texture he can glue onto his pictures. 

8. Paints: I have introduced him to water colors a couple times, but he is not really into them yet. However I just purchased these dot paints, and if today is any indication, they will be getting a lot of use. 

7. Lots and lots of paper: We go through a lot of paper in this house. He loves construction paper, printer paper, notebook paper, any paper. I need to find a way to manage the paper consumption. I like when he is in his notebook phase, because at least then all the artwork is contained. 

6. Glue Stick: This is A's new obsession. He constantly asks me to cut him shapes that he can glue onto random papers. He still needs some help using the glue, but he loves it. 

5. Stamps: I originally tried to make my own stamps by cutting up sponges. He liked them, but he is way more interested in some other Melissa and Doug sets I have since purchased. Washable ink pads are expensive, but he is satisfied with this small starter set, and a larger animal set. 

4. Stickers: A can sit and do stickers for a long time. Foam stickers like this are his favorites, and he will usually neglect all his other stickers if there are foam ones around. The foam stickers can be pricey, but I try to get them on sale at Michael's with coupons. There is a bit of a learning curve for peeling the foam stickers, but A is pretty good at it now. 

3. Washable Markers: We get a lot of use out of these markers on a daily basis. I store his markers and colored pencils in a regular pencil box. 

2. Crafts display: A is ok with some of his things being thrown out if I do it when he isn't looking, but he does want to keep certain things. I came across this easy way to display kid crafts here using rope and clothes pins, and I thought it would be perfect for our long hallway. We only moved into our house last year, and most of our walls are still bare. I went to my good friend Mr. Google, who directed me to another blog with easy instructions about how to make my very own wire display. 

It's hard to get a good picture because the hallway is so narrow, but I just connected string between 2 nails, and I use clothespins to hang up the artwork

1. Toddler friendly work surface: This may be the most important aspect of kid crafting. I found this kids table on Craigslist, and I think having a kid-sized place to sit and work really helped foster his interest in crafts. 

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