Fruit Loops

 A few weeks ago (yes, I'm just getting around to posting now) my four year old friend and I decided to graph the frequency of colors in a cup of fruit loops. I drew the lines on the graph and the outline of the fruit loops in the first column, but she did the rest of the work by herself! What could be better than an activity that is fun, educational, and YUMMY?

Pizza!

October is national pizza month, and to celebrate, we made some pretend pizzas! We used a grocery bag for the crust, red paint for the sauce, red paper circles for pepperonis, and pieces of yellow tissue paper for cheese. When our pizzas were dry, we cut them into slices and wrote "Happy National Pizza Month!" on the back.  The kids gave them to teachers, friends, and neighbors!

Stuffed Apples!

Last week, we read a book about apples and made some of our own apples to go along with it! To make your own stuffed apple, you will need to make two large identical apples. I used grocery bags, but you could use whatever paper you have. Then you staple the apples together all around the edges, leaving a hole in the top for the "stuffing." You'll also want to cut out a stem and set it aside. Next, your child can use a glue stick to glue tissue paper squares all over both sides of the apple. Finally, your child can help you stuff the apple with paper scraps. We just ripped up the rest of the paper bags and crumpled up the pieces. When you staple the top shut, you can attach the stem. We punched holes in our stems and used red yarn to hang them up. The apples look so cute, and they were very easy. My two year old friend really enjoyed this craft!

Easy Tissue Paper Bowls!

A while ago we made these tissue paper bowls, but I'm just getting around to posting them now. To make one, you will first need to cut up a bunch of tissue paper squares. Next you spray a bowl with cooking spray then cover it with plastic wrap. Finally, you'll need a mixture of 1/4 cup flour and 1/2 cup of water. Then comes the fun part! Set your child loose with the flour and water mixture. They will need to paint the outside of the bowl and stick tissue paper squares to it. They will continue to paint and stick until they have at least 5 layers. I recommend painting a good coat of the flour water mixture over the entire thing when they are done, before leaving it out to air dry. Ours took three days to dry, but it was worth the wait! Ours were made with Valentine's themed tissue paper, but you can use whatever you have on hand. We are already planning on making some and filling them with candy for Christmas gifts!     

 

Spiders!

The other day we made these adorable hand print spiders. They do these every year, at just about every school, but I couldn't resist making some of our own.









It was nice to make a craft that we could include the baby in. More of the paint ended up in his mouth than anything, but he had a blast....and it's non-toxic!

Then I made a giant spider web with my 2 year old buddy. I decided to do this part outside, so I wouldn't be sweeping up glitter for the next week. It would have been a good idea if the wind didn't kick up just as he started shaking the glitter.  After some frustration and a lot of good team work, we finished off the web with our spiders and Happy Halloween letters.

I'm baaaaaack!

So I didn't blog all summer, because I didn't craft all summer! I was busy working with newborn twins, and a 6 month old friend! Working for teachers left me with an open summer, and I happened to find two wonderful families, both with babies, to occupy my time!

When the school year started back up, and I was getting back into the swing of things with my "regular" family, we had a horrible flood, that effected my family and theirs. So once again, crafting, and blogging got delayed.

Now that October in full swing, and we're finally settling into a routine, I'm ready to blog again!

I'm really enjoying being back with my four (going on fourteen) year old girl, my two year old race car obsessed boy, and very sadly, my walking, almost talking, way too grown up, one year old boy. As always, my four year old friend begs to do crafts every day, and I try my darnedest to please her. So without further adieu, here's one of our latest crafts!

Yes, you are seeing correctly. We made penguins.....in October. This craft probably would have been more appropriate for the winter months, but we just love penguins any time of the year! We started by gluing five popsicle sticks together and painting them black. We made the faces out of old Christmas snow. I'm not sure exactly what the stuff is called. It comes on rolls or on large sheets and is made to lay out under Christmas villages. The beaks and feet are made with orange felt. The eyes are googly eyes, and the wings are made with construction paper. Finally, we added pipe cleaner hangers! I think they turned out super cute!

Happy Mother's Day!

My four year old friend and I made these beautiful craft foam flowers for Mother's Day. To make them you will need craft foam, green pipe cleaners, and buttons.

I started by cutting out 8 large flower shapes, 8 small flower shapes, and 8 medium sized circles. I used the point of the scissors to punch 2 small holes in each shape. Then I showed my little friend how to stack them up and let her put together the color combinations she wanted. Next I helped her poke the pipe cleaners through the flowers. You poke them through the first set of holes on your stacked flowers, through the first button hole, then loop them into the second button hole and through the second set of holes in the flowers. Finally we twisted the two ends of the pipe cleaners together to form a stem. To add extra sparkle she painted the large flower petals with glitter glue.

The vases are made from a piece of craft foam wrapped into a roll and stapled

shut.