Craft Archives - Page 8 of 11

Earth Day Craft for Kids- Wearing a Newspaper Hat

April 29, 2012 By Deirdre

We just celebrated Earth Day on Sunday and so I thought I would share with you a wonderful hat JDaniel and I made of newspaper and some odds and ends.

JDaniel wasn’t interested in wearing it for the picture so, I placed it on a rocking horse we keep in the guest room. I think he looks very dapper in it.

This hat is so easy to put together and it only has three supplies needed.

You need two sheets of newspaper, masking or duct tape, and odds and ends (feathers, ribbon, paint, cloth bugs, etc..)

How do you put together your newspaper hat:

Place the pieces of newspaper on top of each other with the top piece at an angle.

Place the newspaper on your child’s head and smooth it down around their head.

While the newspaper is molded down to the crown of their head, wrap the tape around the newspaper where the brim should be.

Take the newspaper off their head and roll the outside edges of the newspaper toward the tape band.

The hat should look like a bowler hat now.

Decorate the hat with odds and ends.

Read.Explore.Learn.- Hopper’s Easter Surprise

March 30, 2012 By Deirdre

Welcome to Read.Explore.Learn.! This meme was designed to be a place for you to share the learning opportunities, crafts, field trips, and other activities you have done this week that tie into children’s books.

I look forward to seeing the ways you have learned with and explored books.

Steps:

- Link your activity below.

- Please place the Read.Explore.Learn. the badge on your post or create a link back to this meme.

- Please try to visit at least three of the other people that have placed links below and leave a comment. I will visit each of you and leave a kind comment.

- If you are not linking up an activity and are just visiting, please try to stop by a few of the links below.

My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:

Hopper of Hopper’s Easter Surprise by Kathrin Siegenthaler and Marcus Pfister is a delightful book about an arctic hare that long to be different.

Hopper’s mom points out that he has a blue-tipped ear, but it isn’t enough for him. His mom points out that his fur will change in the summer and that isn’t enough. Then Hopper’s mom points out that he will look like the Easter bunny. That comment gets his attention.

Hopper wants all the facts he can get on the Easter bunny from his mom and seeks to find out some facts for himself.

On the way, he finds a fox that chases him, meets a friend, and tries to carry an egg the way he thinks the Bunny would.

When he brings his friend home they discover the Easter Bunny has been at Hopper’s house and delivered him an egg. Hopper and his friend fall asleep dreaming of how they will decorate the egg.

What did we do?

Spool Painted Paper Bag Season Trees

Hopper was interested in how his fur would change when the season changed. I thought it would be a great opportunity to talk about the seasons and paint colors to match each of them using a spool.

St.Patrick’s Day Craft for Kids- Simple Rainbow

March 17, 2012 By Deirdre

I was in charge of the St. Patrick’s Day party in JDaniel4’s preschool class on Thursday. I looked and looked for a craft or game to play with the children and couldn’t decide on what to do.

It was during a trip to my local grocery store while looking at school supplies that the idea for this craft came together.

Everything in the craft was gathered from the school supply area or the pharmacy section.

Supplies:

Colored Dots

Cotton Balls

Unlined Index Cards

Directions:

1. Draw three arches on each index card prior to passing them out to the children.

2. Give the children two sheets of dots to place on the arches.

3. Pass out cotton balls for the children to glue to the end of the rainbow.

Weather Activities Hop With Kid Bloggers

March 6, 2012 By Deirdre

Last week I told you I thought March would come in like a lion here in South Carolina. It has for the last four years. Well, it turns out South Carolina may have been one of the few places this area of the world to have a lamb day on March 1. We have had some rain since then but, March the first was amazing warm and beautiful.

It was so pretty that I pulled JDaniel’s water table out of the shed and he had a great time taking his plastic boats on a winter water ride.

After celebrating outside, we came inside and made a styrofoam peanute lamb. JDaniel was sure that lambs need various colors of wool.

I hope you will visit the other weather related activities below to see how other bloggers are featuring March weather.

The other Kid Bloggers hosting this hop are:

NurtureStore :: The Golden Gleam :: Rainy Day Mum :: Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas

Putti Prapancha :: Sun Hats & Wellie Boots :: Montessori Tidbits :: Kitchen Counter Chronicles

Reading Confetti :: Dilly-Dali Art :: Growing A Jeweled Rose :: The Iowa Farmer’s Wife

AngeliqueFelix.com :: Kindergarten Basics :: Mommy With A Selective Memory

Glittering Muffins :: Creative Family Fun :: Living Montessori Now :: Toddler Approved

:: Teach Preschool
The link isn’t appearing as it should. Please visit one of the blogs above to link up weather related activities.

Celebrating Dr. Seuss’ Birthday with Fox in Socks Sock Puppet

March 2, 2012 By Deirdre

Fox in Socksis filled with such fun. You can read tongue twisters about Mr. Fox and Mr. Knox. Mr. Fox can read tongue twisters and Mr. Knox gets his tongue twisted. JDaniel loves wordplay. He loves coming up with words that fit a pattern. Tongue twisters offered him a great way to explore words in a fun way. We recently made a Fox in Socks sock puppet. It will be great for retelling the tongue twisters.

Making the Sock Puppet

We made a fox using a sock. I found a wonderful template on the internet that I was able to trace onto red felt. That template is no longer available so, here is a Fox in Socks Template for a Sock Puppet template I made for making the sock puppets. The set also includes a larger version of the fox’s head. It would be fun to use to make a paper bag puppet.

Once the fox head had been cut out, JDaniel helped me glue the eyes down onto the felt.

I then attached the fox head to the red sock using a few tiny stitches.

Practicing Tongue Twisters With The Sock Puppet

JDaniel wasn’t sure about wearing the fox puppet on this hand at the beginning. When I started having the fox puppet on my hand do tongue twisters, he decided that the fox was really cool. Then he had to do it.

By showing him how to use the puppet and what kinds of things the fox could say he felt more comfortable.

Another Fox Puppet Available on the Blog

A paper bag version of the fox puppet template is available. If you don’t have a sock ready to become a puppet, you will want to check out the Fox Paper Bag Puppet Template.

If you like this Seuss activity, here are some more wonderful activities based on the Dr. Seuss books:

Cat in the Hat Math Mats

Learning Activities with Seuss Characters

Playdough Created in Seuss Colors

Lorax Adding Mat

Truffula Tree Sight Word Activity

Recycled Lorax Collage

This fox sock puppet could be used for retelling these fox themed children’s books.

No Matter What
My Lucky Day
Fletcher and the Springtime Blossoms

You will find more book-themed learning activities on my Read.Explore. Learn. board on Pinterest.

Disclaimer: Links in the post to Amazon are affiliate links.

Read.Explore.Learn.- red sled Fun

February 17, 2012 By Deirdre

I look forward to seeing the ways you have learned with and explored books.

Steps:

- Link your activity below.

- Please place the Read.Explore.Learn. the badge on your post or create a link back to this meme.

- Please try to visit at least three of the other people that have placed links below and leave a comment. I will visit each of you and leave a kind comment.

- If you are not linking up an activity and are just visiting, please try to stop by a few of the links below.

My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:

We loved reading red sled by Lita Judge. There are very few words in this book. The pictures tell the tale of a red sled that is left outside each night by a young child. Each night the sled is borrowed by a bear who likes to go on on evening sled rides.

As the story unfolds, other creatures decide to join the bear in his sled rides until seven animals are sledding under the evening stars.

Finally, one morning the child notices bear footprints outside his house. The child decides to watch out his window to see if the bear returns.

When the bear does the boy joins the bear and his friends on a sled! ” Wheeeeee!” says the boy as he holds on to a moose antlers as the sled slides down the hill.

What did we do?

Craft-Sled Making

I built the red sled using the directions I posted in my How to Make a Cardboard Sled post last year.

JDaniel and I rolled out bubble wrap to create a path for the sled and loaded the sled with some of his lovelies.

After a few trips up and down the bubble wrap, JDaniel decided that we need to add a hill to the path and see what happened.

Poor Teddy fell off the sled and didn’t even make it up the first hill.

Valentine’s Day Crafts: R2D2 Valentine’s Day Card Box

February 12, 2012 By Deirdre

JDaniel loves Star Wars! I thought I would surprise him by crafting him a Valentine’s Day card box that looked like R2D2.

I’ll have to admit a felt a little like I was doing a uncover project. I worked on it during his “quiet time” and when he was playing with a friend. When he walked by as I was working on the pictures for this post, he commented that it looked like someone has a cool R2D2 online somewhere. I have to suppress a giggle knowing that it really is his.

How did I make it?

Supplies:

Paper lunch bag

White card stock

White crayon

Blue paint

Sponge

Small oatmeal container

Glue

Directions:

1. Find an outline of R2D2 online and print it out on white card stock.

2. Color every area of the card stock with a white crayon that you don’t want blue.

3. Sponge paint the cardstock with blue paint.

4. Cut out the outline of R2D in two pieces.

5. Lift up the flap of the paper bag to cut off the top half of the area under the flap.

6. Glue the top portion of R2D2 on the flap and the button on the body of the bag.

7. Slip onto a small oatmeal container.

8. Place a few notes of love into R2D2 for JDaniel to find when I put out his Valentine’s Day card box.

Pinterest- Leaping into Groundhog’s Day

February 2, 2012 By Deirdre

Happy Groundhog’s Day! Whether the ground sees his shadow or not, I think spring has arrived in South Carolina. The temperatures have been in the 50’s or 60’s all week. I thought it would be fun to celebrate Groundhog’s Day with JDaniel anyway. I made a leaping groundhogs game due to the fact that it is a leap year too and searched Pinterest for Groundhog’s Day crafts and snacks. The leaping groundhogs game is the only thing I really made myself. You will find links to the other ideas I found under each picture.

Leaping Groundhogs GameSupplies: Sections of a white milk jugBrown feltGreen felt Wiggly eyesBlack construction paperMargarine tubDirections:1. Cut three-inch-long sections out of a white plastic milk jug for as many groundhogs as you will need2. Fold each strip into thirds.3. Cut out a groundhog-shaped head out of brown felt4. Glue the head onto the front third of the strip with his nose facing away for the bend.

5. Cut a black circle out of construction paper.6. Glue two wiggly eyes and a black nose onto the groundhog head.7. Cut a green rectangular piece of felt that will fit around your margarine tub and is a little taller than the tub.8. Snip off some of the green felt that reaches above the tub to make it look like grass.How to play:1. Bend the groundhog into thirds. 2. Place your thumb on the groundhog’s nose.3. Watch him fly into the margarine tub or back into his hole.Here are some wonderful ideas I found on Pinterest:

This is a really cute craft from Playschool Playbook. Here is its link on Pinterest.

Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons came up with this really cute snack. Here is its link on Pinterest.

Two Bears Farm made this really cute Groundhog’s Day lunch. Here is its link on Pinterest.

Gourmet Mom on- the Go made this wonderful drink! Here is its link on Pinterest. Click on the word Pinterest if you would like to follow me. I will follow you back. This post is linked to several places including Mama Kat’s Writing Workshop and Link and Learn.

Read.Explore.Learn.- An Orange in January

January 20, 2012 By Deirdre

My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:

This wonderful book An Orange in January follows the travels of an orange as it makes its way to a boy’s home. I love the warm pictures in this book and the opportunity to share how food gets to our table.

We really loved getting to read about how one of JDaniel’s favorite foods gets to our house. We also loved the boy’s brainstorming at the end of the book as to what you could use an orange to do ie: juggle with one.

What did we do?

Mapping

We took out our atlas and looked for Peru. Peru is the homeplace of the oranges we purchased from the grocery store

Craft- Making Orange Circle into Something

I put out paper with orange circles glued on them and had JDaniel transform the circles into something else.

Orange circles for the An Orange in January book extension

Orange circles randomly glued onto blue paper

JDaniel then was asked to create drawings with the orange circles. I loved hearing him tell me about what he was coloring while he colored.

This picture is a bouncy ball with green spikes on it. Besides the ball is a robot with his legs tucked up under him so you can’t see them. It is such fun to see what kids crate.

This picture is a worm and two bugs coming out of a hole that is beside some grass. It is a sunny day!

This is my idea of what a giraffe looks like.

Adventures-In-Mommy-Land- and a Christmas Craft: An Egg Carton Tree

December 14, 2011 By Deirdre

I saw the tree below in a Christmas craft book and knew we had to make it. Once I had gathered all the materials, creating it was sort of an adventure. JDaniel wanted to play with the decorative elements and I wanted to decorate the tree. Actually, he wanted to pretend to bake a cake and decorate it with decorative elements. He really enjoyed it.