Archive for March 2010
The spring came then left in the rainy pacific north west and my twitter stream has been filled with others from around the world sharing my woe about dark rainy days. This rainy day craft is a perfect way to talk about weather , have fun and create. Hopefully the sun comes out soon and we can all get back to the best part of springtime, being outside!
- Gather your materials. You will need some construction paper ( any light color) , some blue paper, scissors, cupcake liners ( or coffee liners but you’ll need a larger piece of paper), some paint or markers, glue, tape and pipe cleaners.
- Start by having your child paint or decorate the cupcake liners with markers. We are using our Do-a-Dot Art
which we love , but markers would be great too.
- While they do that cut out some big fat raindrops out of the blue paper.
- Add some glue dots to the paper.
- Add your rain drops. This is where I usually ask questions about whatever we are making especially if it’s something literal and not free expressive art, So I will say something like ” Where does rain come from?” “Do you like the rain?” He shares his thoughts, I lead him to more questions and the facts.
- Fold the cupcake liners in half or cut. Then I bent and added the pipe cleaners to the with tape.
- Add more glue for your umbrellas.
- Add the umbrellas and let dry.
Books
I Love The Rain
Rainy Day Slug
Rain Makes Applesauce by Julian Scheer is a fantastical book. It’s obtuse and silly and my son didn’t get it at all. I liked the fantasy of it. Each page has silly statements with coordinating detailed illustrations by Marvin Bileck that really steal the show, followed by ” And rain makes applesauce”. My son did catch on to the repetition quickly and enjoyed adding it after each page. That said when I asked him what he thought , he said ” I’m not going to read it again, it was too silly, but not funny silly.” I think he is simply too young to appreciate the book, although wonder if he’d be interested by the time he is old enough to, I hope so! This book is out of print but many libraries carry it so check it out !
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I had no clue if this was going to work but when I saw that these reinforcements and stationary stickers were on clearance I took it as a sign. I had to t least try and find out. In the end it sort of worked, we had fun, I have blue fingers and hours after the fat only one egg has been cracked and subsequently eaten.
- Gather your materials. You will need some cooled hard boiled eggs, paper to protect your table ( we have some cardboard under the newspaper, stationary stickers, dye and a dye hook. I caved and grabbed the commercial dye , I swore I was going to go au natural this year but exhaustion got the better of me. Here is a wonderful post from Crunchy Domestic Goddess about how to dye them naturally, I bookmarked it intending to use it.
- Get everything prepped before inviting the kiddo to the table- dye is not something you want “help” with.
- Add your stickers. These reinforcements worked ok, but were really hard to get off once dry.
- This lace pattern was my favorite.
- My son wanted to make a happy face ( this was the egg that broke and turned into part of his lunch).
- The circle stickers were much easier to take off.
- Dye your eggs.
- Add in a color mixing lesson too! We added the blue to this pink after to make purple.
- Let dry and remove the stickers. Some came off easily, some did not.
Want more Easter Crafts?
Here are a few of my favorites from the past!
Find every one of our Easter crafts old and new here
Carrot C
I am always trying to find activities that can be part of a holiday we celebrate but aren’t so targeted that readers who do not celebrate it can’t use it either today or another time in the year. So this Letter C craft was born, carrots can be part of a unit on gardening, healthy eating or for us something we make in preparation for the Easter bunny.
- Gather your materials. You will need some cardboard ( paper will do but cardboard just makes it more substantial), a marker, a small dish, scissors, 3 or more green pipe cleaners, a sponge, hole punch, orange paint, a sheet of construction paper and glue if you are going to display it. Ours is resting on the blue paper in the picture but we didn’t glue it on, it’s part of our Easter craft mish mash on our table!
- Start by writing a C on the cardboard, I tried to make mine thicker at the top and thinner at the bottom to make it resemble a carrot.
- Pour some orange paint into a dish.
- Paint! My son loves this glass sponge and how it paints. I love that the sponges make the paint go thinner which makes it dry faster.
- Let it dry, cut out.
- Punch 3 holes in the top. My son was able to do this with help, the cardboard was too thick for his hand strength to do it alone.
- Chase your son around the kitchen when he runs off with the pipe cleaners pretending to conduct an orchestra. Try to decide if it’s brilliant or if you are just too tired and frustrated ( and pregnant) to indulge him when he says” No mama you need to play the Bassoon, I’ll be the trombone!” give in for a bit then consider bribing him with Easter candy just as he decides to come back on his own. Thread the pipe cleaners through the holes.
- Twist together.
- If you are gluing to the paper add glue to the back of the carrot , press onto the paper and let dry.
Want even more letter of the week crafts?
Check out my eBook Alphabet Crafts , it’s filled with letter of the week crafts from A-Z including 5 exclusive never before seen crafts !
Books
Coco The Carrot
A Very Big Bunny
Carrot Soup
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Frills Fluff and Trucks is a little like Martha Stewart Living on a realistic young family budget. I love the enthusiasm and all around domestic excitement Sarah shares with her readers. You can tell she adores being a mom, making her house beautiful and creating things with her kids, for her home and for herself. From organizing tips, to crafts with kids she dabbles in all things creative. I am second guessing NOT painting my kitchen cabinets after seeing how beautiful her low budget but high style DIY Kitchen Makeover looks. I am lucky enough to live in the same small town as Sarah but I actually started reading her blog before we became friends !
Check it out !
Like most kids my son is a fan of princesses, when I ask him why he loves his princess sippy cups best of all he says ” Because there are pretty girls all over them.” Makes sense. I expect more of princess books though, I don’t want to feed the princess obsession too much and think these books do a great job of balancing the fun and the healthy sides of our princess obsessed kids.
The Princess and the Pizza
Princess Smartypants
Pinkalicious
Good Night, Princess Pruney Toes
The Paper Bag Princess
What’s your favorite Princess book? Do you think it has a healthy message for kids?
