Archive for November 2009
Sparkle !
I love glitter and it’s a good thing because my kitchen , my son and I are all covered after this and we bought pre-glittered stuff! I figure a little extra sparkle is never a bad thing! This advent craft is a fun number search every day leading up to Christmas, it’s also a great Christmas centerpiece. My plan is to take each number off the tree and place it on to our Christmas tree ! These are great kid friendly ornaments that add sparkle but not a lot of cost to your decorating budget.
- Gather your materials. You will need some fun wire decorative branches, some snowflake ornaments, some labels ( pre cut circles ones would be way easier) some crayons, a marker and a vase.
- Start by writing out the numbers 1-25 on the labels. I didn’t have circle ones so we cut ours into circles but if i did this again we’d get pre-cut circle ones.
- Have your child color the numbers, and identify the numbers they are coloring too ! Yay Math!
- Cut into circles if you need to.
- Peel and place the stickers on each snowflake ornament. Press firmly.
- Hang onto the tree!
- Have fun counting down to Christmas!
Books!
The Little Drummer Mouse
Merry Christmas, Mouse! 
McDuff’s Christmas
Today’s post is by Tara of Feels Like Home, Thanks Tara for such a fun fall kids craft !
For weeks, Gracie has been asking me to make a duckie project. We didn’t have any feathers to make the duckie that Allie previously posted, so I had to make something up. Being that it’s fall on the east coast, we had lots of leaves to work with. I decided that we’d crumble the leaves and use them to cover our duckie. This craft goes together really quickly at the end, but it takes a little planning ahead.
1. Go outside and gather lots of leaves. We chose a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors. Of course, while we were outside, we talked about the different trees. We talked about why trees drop their leaves, and how they go to sleep over the winter. It was a lovely science lesson.
2. When you get back inside, spread the leaves out on newspaper to dry. Our leaves were quite wet because we gathered them in the morning, and they took most of a day to really dry out. 
3. Gather the rest of your materials. You’ll need glue, a marker, a piece of construction paper, and a googly eye. We didn’t have a googly eye (a fact that distressed me slightly), so Grace and I raided my button bin for a suitable eye.
Finding an eye was another great lesson. We sorted the buttons into piles by shape – hearts, footballs, flowers, and circles. I didn’t initiate the sorting; I just followed Grace’s lead.
6. Once your materials are all ready, draw a duck on a piece of construction paper. I had a problem with this step. After drawing two mutant squash, I finally got something that resembled a bird. My husband thought it looked more like a turkey than a duck, but you can decide for yourself.
7. Allow your child to smear glue all over the bird, and then help her to tear or crumble the leaves to cover up the glue. While we were working, Grace squealed, This so messy Momma! in the middle of our project. And then she asked for more glue, so I’m pretty sure that messy was a good thing. 
8. Make a beak for your bird using leaves or a scrap of construction paper. I found a cool orange leaf with pointy ends, and I cut off two of the points to use as a beak. I glued the beak on myself.
9. Find two leaf stems that you can use for bird legs. I asked Grace to put some glue on her ducky where his legs would go, and then handed her the legs to stick into the glue.
10. Ask your artist to put some glue on the bird where his eye belongs. Stick the button or googly eye into the glue. (finished turkey photo)
Grace thought that our duck needed some grass to hide in, so she glued a few leaves onto the paper around him.
11. I was going to cut the duck out and put him on a new piece of paper, but we would’ve lost the habitat Grace worked so hard on. 
12. After your duck is dry, hang it on the wall.
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Tara Ziegmont is a mom of 1 and a teacher to many. You can catch up with Tara on her blog Feels Like Home !
Thanksgiving is just days away so here are some of our favorites, old and new to get you in the thankful spirit! Making one of these Thanksgiving kids crafts with your child can become a fun family tradition. Click on the pictures of the projects to see the original post and full instructions.
A World of Thanks Wreath
Bubble Wrap Indian Corn
Thanksgiving Garland
Native American Headdress
Thankful Box Craft
Shape Turkey
Check out even more Thanksgiving Crafts
Fire f
I know I am only part way through the lowercase alphabet and I am repeating f, but true to what I preach I wanted to make something that was relevant to my little man. He is very into firefighters right now and he has had me read the books below countless times so I thought it more important to focus on his interests than if we’re repeating a letter or not. Also he is not in the pictures today because he was out with his grandparents for a birthday treat. We will be making this in the morning .
- Gather your materials. You will need red and yellow tissue paper, one piece of orange construction paper, one piece of black construction paper , glue , a marker and scissors.
- Start by writing a lowercase f on the orange paper.
- Cut your tissue paper into rough strips.
- Add glue
- Add your flames ( tissue paper)
- Let dry
- Cut out
- Glue to the black paper.
Books
Firefighters A to Z
The Little Fire Engine 
Fire Engines
Valerie over at Frugal Family Fun Blog is chocked full of ideas for your whole family. Reading her blog makes me wish I’d listened more carefully when my mom was trying to teach me how to sew. I still can’t sew but luckily Valerie has many crafts that don’t require talent for that. Best of all her whole concept is frugality something I know all of us can appreciate. Check out this awesome blog if you haven’t stopped by before.
