Archive for March 2011
St. Patrick’s Day is coming and the kids and I made these cute four leaf clover bouquets. The idea for this craft struck me when I was making a Valentine’s Day heart wreath. All you will need are toilet paper rolls, green paint, green chenille stems, scissors, and a hole punch.
Have your little one paint the toilet paper roll with the green paint. Be sure to get it covered inside and out.
Once dried (we let ours dry overnight) bend the roll in the shape of a heart.
Use your scissors (big kids can cut this, but little ones will have a very hard time) to cut slices a little less than an inch wide.
Use your hole punch to make a hole very close the the bottom tip of the heart.
You can have your little one thread a chenille stem through the holes on four hearts. Then turn the end and twist it to the stem tightly. Be sure to fold the exposed tip over to avoid the metal poking your child.
This is the final result. I wanted to get pictures of my daughter threading the hearts and holding the clovers, but we were having a toddler meltdown moment about getting our picture taken.
These make great four leaf clover wands, you know to turn things green or make rainbows appear. You can use them for decoration. You can always use your four leaf clovers for something more fun. Like maybe something to diffuse a toddler meltdown…a silly mommy.
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Kim is a contributing writer for No Time For Flash Cards, a mom to a toddler, a preschooler, and a foster parent, too. She juggles her day by trying out fun activities and crafts with the kids. After all, she is just a big kid herself. See what she has been up to over at Mom Tried It.
I love including my son in making something fun and useful for his sister. This discovery bottle is a fun way of using a holiday theme and gives your infant something fun to play with too. Remember with infants all activities and projects are intended to be used only when directly supervised. Also only you know what is safe for your child, if they aren’t ready for an activity bookmark it and try it when they are.
- Gather your materials. You will need some plastic bottles with lids a hot glue gun, a shamrock bead necklace, scissors and some rainbow ribbon. I also use tape on the bottles that run the risk of making huge messes if they open. For the gel and sparkle bottle you will also need a funnel, some gold sparkles and green shower gel or shampoo( got mine for a buck at the dollar store). For the rainbow shaker bottle some pom poms in rainbow colors.
- Start by drinking the water.
- Next take off the label.
- Next cut the shamrock necklace into the bottle. This is awesome for fine motor development and takes a lot of patience. I was amazed my son was not only able to do this without help but how into it he was. They grow up so fast!
- Next add the sparkles.
- Next add the gel.
- I used hot glue to glue the top on. Then more on the outside to seal it, and wrapped it in tape. Be careful some bottles are so thin that they will melt with hot glue on contact. If you are worried consider using crazy glue. Whether you are using hot or crazy glue should be done by adults only.
- Cut a small piece of rainbow ribbon and glue it on.
- Let everything dry and cool completely .
- For the rainbow shaker Cut the necklace in.
Pop in the pom poms.
Glue the top and ribbon on as above.
- Play!
For the photos I had her in the crib so the bottle wouldn’t roll too far when I was trying to take a photo. I am not suggesting giving it to your infant for independent play, these discovery bottles are for closely supervised play only.
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Have a great week.
I love David Shannon Books and so have every child I have ever had the pleasure of reading them with. When I volunteered for Frontier College when I was in university my reading buddy would choose No David every time it was available. If you are new to this author / illustrator I hope you check his books out soon.
A Bad Case Of Stripes is about a little girl so worried about impressing others that she keeps changing and looses who she really is. This story is a cautionary tale about being yourself, and not being yourself. A great book for older preschoolers and young elementary aged children. At 4 my son is starting to get the message of this book, but has enjoyed reading it and giggling at the antics for sometime now. 
Alice The Fairy
Duck on a Bike
No, David!
Too Many Toys
Years ago I fell in love with this Pot of Gold craft from Make and Takes and every year when I am brain storming St. Patrick’s Day crafts I keep going back to it. Well I wanted to make something similar for friends and family with materials I could get at the grocery store , this is what I came up with ! Thanks to Marie for endless inspiration.
- Gather your materials. You will need black cupcake liners, clear treat bags, candy in gold wrappers , scissors and rainbow ribbon.
- Pop 2-3 cupcake liners for strength (or snack cups would work great!)into the treat bag and fill with gold candy.
- Cut your ribbon.
- Tie with ribbon to make a rainbow over it!
- Spread some lucky gold to friends and family.
