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.

Thumb-Bunny Bags

We decided to decorate some left over treat bags with fabric paint and permanent markers.

The bunny heads and bodies are made with thumb prints. Then we added arms, legs, ears, and faces. Finally, we wrote "Thumb-bunny loves you" and filled them with goodies for Mommy and Daddy!

Easter Chick

This sweet little chick is one of my favorite Easter crafts to make with the kids. His body is made by stamping a round bath pouf in yellow paint. His nose can be made with orange construction paper or craft foam. His eyes are made with black paper and a hole punch, and his wings, or course, are yellow feathers. So cute!

Another drawing

A picture of Lightning McQueen that I drew for my favorite two year old.

Pin the Tail

This is a pin the tail on the bunny game that I made for my favorite kindergarten class. I hope they enjoy it!

Easter Buckets!

We made these cute chick buckets today! The beaks and feet are made out of craft foam, and we carefully used a permanent marker to write the kids names and make eye lashes. We made wings with feathers, and got jumbo googly eyes! Everything was glued on with Elmer's glue. A glue gun would have worked better. I may have to go back and reinforce the eyes and feet. Overall, I think they turned out great, and will look super cute filled with Easter eggs!

Watermelon

We made some paper plate watermelons the other day. First I cut some paper plates in half and had the kids paint the inside of their plates red. Then I realized we were out of green paint, so I mixed blue and yellow and came up with this baby poop green. The kids painted the outer edge of their plates with the baby poop green and finally used their fingers to dab on black seeds.

Clothespin Bunnies

Whoo Hoo! We finally got around to making these clothespin bunnies I've had on my mind for weeks now.

April Showers....

This is a poster that I helped the kids make today. We used their handprints as umbrellas and flowers, and their finger prints for rain. The grass was cut by my four year old, and she also had the idea to use her yellow handprint for a sun.

ribbit

This is a froggy puppet that my four year old and I made. We were inspired by her baby brother's awesome pants!

Hoppy Easter!

Our first Easter craft this year! These are some paper plate bunnies made by my four year old and two year old little friends.

Happy Late St. Patrick's Day!

St. Patty's Day fruit loop rainbow!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's almost St. Patrick's day, and to celebrate, I had the kids make some Irish flags out of construction paper. They loved parading around the house with them and when we were done playing, we hung them up for a nice St. Patty's Day decoration.

I love Mod Podge

This is a frame I made for the neighbor kid, using scrapbook supplies and a butt-load of mod podge. I'm addicted to making these frames. It's nice to sit down and finish something. Every time I start a scrapbook, I just never seem to get it done!

Finger painting

I recently started cutting up paper grocery bags and letting the kids finger paint on them.

It gives them a much bigger surface to paint, and it's stronger than construction paper. This was our little experiment with mixing yellow and red to make orange. It worked!

Valentines

Yeah, yeah. I know. Valentine's Day was last week and I'm just now posting a picture of some of my four year old's valentines. I'll try to do better for St. Patrick's day. I'm so in love with these buttons. My mom got me a big bag of them that has lasted for years. I'm just now down to my final few buttons. :(

Snow Painting

One thing I always enjoy doing with the kids in the winter is painting the snow. You just fill up spray bottles with water and food coloring and spray away!

Stained Glass Hearts

We made beautiful stained glass hearts the other day for Valentine's day! They were made the exact same way as the fall leaves we made a few months ago. This time I took the extra step of cutting out the heart. (instead of just leaving it as a square with a heart inside) These look so pretty in the windows!

Happy Birthday

I had the kids make a Birthday banner for my now 4 year old out of a paper grocery bag, paints, and some leftover puff balls and confetti! It turned out pretty cute even after having a cup of water spilled on it. Nothing the hair dryer can't fix!

frame

This is a frame I decorated with scrapbook paper. It makes me want to be a 10 year old girl again!

Valentine's Garland

The other day, I set out some valentine'sy type stuff and let my three year old have at it.

This is what she came up with!Then I turned it into a pretty garland to hang in the kitchen window.

Grown up Craft!

It's been a while since I've posted anything! I've been so busy with Christmas, birthdays, and my new found love of facebook, that I haven't been around here much at all. I'll try to do better, I promise.

This is my latest grown up craft. It's made with a $1.00 wooden plaque, scrapbook paper, buttons, ribbon, some leftover wooden stars, and a butt-load of mod-podge!

Me want cookie!

Sorry, sorry. It's been forever since I've posted something. What can I say. It was hard having a week and a half off from work! Anyway, now that Christmas is over, we move on to birthdays! My little guy turns two tomorrow. These are the cookie monster cupcakes I made for him.