Archive for February 2009
Valentine
Dump Truck!
My son requested a truck for art time, since this will be our last Valentine’s post I figured I would throw in some hearts. It can easily be done sans hearts with other shapes or even stickers. The dumper is an envelope so you can really pop things in and out too!
- Gather your materials. You will need 1 full piece of construction paper, some scrap paper, an envelope, markers, glue and scissors.
- Start by drawing a flatbed truck. I practiced first but luckily my son’s pjs had a good model on them for me to copy. You can have your child color the truck if you want, mine was jonesing for the glue so we skipped that step.
- While they color cut the top off the envelope.
- Cut or punch out some small hearts for the truck.
- Cut some larger ones to go in the dumper.
- Next add the glue!
- Glue on the envelope
- Glue the hearts on to decorate!
- Now slip the cargo into the back of the truck!
Friendship Wreath !
Every holiday whether it’s a hallmark one or not deserves a wreath! This craft uses holiday photo cards and recycles them into a fun Valentine’s tribute to friendship. You can also sneak in a color mixing lesson if you want , by making pink paint with red and white. As you will see further down when a 2 year old has decided he is done- there isn’t much you can do.
Roll with it !
Roll with it !
- Gather your materials. You will need a paper plate, a cereal box, some paint, glue, a marker, scissors , some ribbon, photos and a heart shaped paper punch.
- Draw some hearts on your cereal box.
- Have your child paint the hearts. Let dry.
- While they are painting, cut out pictures of your friends using the paper punch. Older children can do this themselves after finishing painting.
- Cut out the center of the paper plate.
- Cut out the hearts.
- Try and try and try to get your child from the sink to come and glue the hearts on but understand that bubbles and water are second only to Dora the Explorer and accept defeat.
- Glue the pictures on the middle of the hearts.
- Glue onto the paper plate- even if your child hasn’t staged a mutiny this step is tricky so be prepared to help a lot .
- I put my plastic place mat on my wreath for a few minutes to press it down, it did the trick!
- Let dry.
- Loop some ribbon around it and hang up to cherish your friends this Valentine’s Day !
Books !
“Jessica” by Kevin Henkes is a cute book for anyone who may have a child who has an imaginary friend. I think it’s more a book for adults to clue back into what these invisible people really are all about than a book for kids, although your child will like it. The story follows a little girl Ruthie and her imaginary friend Jessica. I have had children over the years tell me they can see the invisible Jessica in the pictures and I am just too old to see. As a parent I so enjoy this author’s ability to remind big people the depth and complexity of small children’s emotions and motivation. He gets it !
” Slugs In Love “ by Susan Pearson had me giggling while reading it. The story is about 2 slugs who write poetry to each other while admiring each other from afar. The book is too complex for the tiny crowd but PreK and up will appreciate the humor and it could be a great springboard for a unit on poetry . A silly but fun book about those slimy garden pests!
Pizzas are a perfect cooking activity for young kids, they don’t require to be near a hot stove and they are practically a shoe in even for picky eaters. My son has recently started picking everything except meat and cheese off his pizza so I blend carrots and peppers into the sauce, mama always wins ! Also using tortillas makes it easy to shape the crust into a heart.
Valentine’s Play-dough
Gifts
- Gather your materials. You will need a pan, oven , tortillas, pizza sauce, pepperoni , mozzarella , kitchen sheers and a heart shaped cookie cutter.
- Start by folding your tortilla in half and cutting it into a heart.
- Next using the cookie cutter make your heart shaped pepperoni, you could do this with a host of other toppings as well.
- Time to gather the kiddos! Mine was a little hungry after nap and decided to taste test the crust.
- Spread the sauce on
- Add the cheese, I am not sure if he is putting it on or taking it off in this picture. Shred much more than you need if your little chef is a fan of cheese!
- Add the pepperoni!
My son insisted the hearts were eyes, so we made a mouth too.
- Bake- I baked ours at 400* for about 10 minutes, checking on it often.
Valentine’s Play-dough
Gifts
How cute are these? What a sweet idea instead of giving cookies or candy for Valentine’s Day , give a gift that keeps on giving, home made play-dough, recipe and a heart shaped cookie cutter . I wish I had thought of it, but I didn’t, Jessica at The Entertaining House shared this with me and I am so glad she did. So if you are looking for a cute and sugar free gift check out how she did it !
The Entertaining House
Paint Some Music!
Although my son did some of the steps in this project, I did far too much of it for me to really say he did it. However school age children would be able to every step so I am posting it as a Naptime Creation, which for those new here are projects for school age kids. Activities like this help to explore the basics of music and can be a way to see if your child is interested in exploring the subject further .
- Gather your materials. You will need a cereal box, marker, 2 pieces of construction paper, paint , glue , a ruler and scissors. * You may also want some sheet music where you can show your child that musicians use this to tell them what to play, depending on your child’s age and knowledge you can go into notes, clefs etc… I grabbed some and showed my son explaining it very simply.
- Have your older child use the ruler to make the staff – they need to draw 5 lines in total, cut out when you are done.
- Next grab the cereal box and cut it open. Have your child draw some notes , we chose 2 eighth notes and a quater note. I didn’t even try to explain those to my son, he simply pointed to ones he wanted to make in a song book. With older children you can explain the basics .
- Time to paint. All ages can do this no problem! We are using a pastry brush but any brush will do. Let dry.
- Glue your staff
onto the other piece of construciton paper.
- Cut out your notes.
- Glue on.
Here I just let my son glue them on where he wanted, but with older children you can have them specifically choose notes.
For the musically un inclined ( or totally deficient like me!) here is a link that teaches the very basics so you can introduce these concepts. I couldn’t remember much from my jr. high band days and had to look up some terms. The site isn’t child focused but will bring parents who need it up to being able to explain the very basics.
Let Me Count The Ways !
Using things like candy for math activities is a fun and novel way to get your children interested and learning. Jennifer over at Ramblings of A Crazy Woman shows us how to make this perfectly lovely Valentine’s counting game using heart candies! For the full how to and a million more awesome ideas head over to her blog:
Ramblings Of A Crazy Woman
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