Archive for June 2011
Our 2nd Annual Summer Reading Challenge is on fire! So far more than 6000 books have been read by kids and parents. I am floored I am giddy with excitement knowing how many children ( and parents) have been spending a little bit of their summer flipping pages and learning together.
If you haven’t joined yet – no problem you can join in Our Summer Reading Challenge today all the details are in the link. But the basics are you read with your kid, you tally up how many books each week, submit it and that is your automatic entry for the drawing for a $50 Amazon Gift Card!
Remember only submit your tally once per weekly submission period .
June 3-9th , 10th -16th , 17th- 23rd , 24th-30th
July 1st-7th , 8th-14th, 15th- 21st , 22nd-28th
July 29th – August 4th
August 5th-11th , 12th-18th , 19th -25th.
The winner will be drawn on the 26th of August.
Submit Your Tally Sheet Here
My baby girl turns 1 today and I am in shock that it’s already been a year. As any parent feels it’s hard to imagine what reality was before this little book ripping, happy squealing , grape eating mama’s girl was here. So today’s post is devoted to all the infant activities we did this past year .
Baby’s First Finger Painting ( psst! It’s Sweet Potato!)
Done baby proofing? Have extra plug protectors? Turn them into a lesson about emotions with these playdough faces! This activity wasn’t planned at all, I went to the art closet to look for something, saw this unopened box of plug protectors and inspiration struck! We have used Mr.Potato Head pieces for play-dough before but this lets you create your own. It’s a fun way to talk about feelings and conflict in a neutral setting. As you will see further down this activity opened up a few doors of discussion while we played.
- Gather your materials. You will need some flat outlet covers, permanent markers and play-dough. Yes I love the store bought kind.
- Draw eyes on the plug covers with permanent markers. I asked my son to name some emotions and made those. you could also glue on googly eyes.
- Make some fun mouths , can you tell that one is a tongue sticking out? I am no artist!
- Noses – I thought I should tell you what they are just in case you can’t tell .
- Time to play! Oooh wait I should say that I waited a few minutes to make sure the marker was dry.
- He immediately made a grab for the angry eyes .
- When I asked why the guy was angry he said “He’s not angry just serious , he’s a police officer on duty.” I thought that was awesome as some police can look angry but I want my son to always feel like police are not intimidating and this craft let us chat about that and reinforce that police are there to help.
- This is the police man’s wife with a kiss on her cheek . I asked why she has a kiss he told me that husbands kiss their wives when they say thank you for making dinner. I totally wanted to jump in here with a lesson about how at our house that is the case but how cooking isn’t just for wives, but decided the fact that he is at least absorbing that gratitude is shown for every day tasks is good enough for today.
What’s your favorite play dough activity at your house?
Time to celebrate the USA with fun patriotic crafts and activities for kids. I have a few fun new ones planned for next week but I need to stock up on some red white and blue paint. Today I will feature the best from the past few summers so they don’t get lost in the archives!
Flag Craft – that flag lasted years!
Handprint Fireworks – great for all ages.
Cookie Cutter Prints make drawing stars a breeze.
These Cupcake Liner Fireworks are super simple and crazy cute!
This Star Garland can be a family project with toddlers pitching in with finger painting!
by Kim
My house loves animals. We love learning about them. So it is no wonder that the favorite show in our house is Wild Kratts on PBS. If you are not familiar with it I will give you a brief description. The Kratt brothers learn about different animals and how amazing they are by using their creature power suits. They push a button on the suit and touch that animal to essentially become that animal. They will talk about the neat things the animals do for the ecosystem, what amazing abilities they have, etc. They have been lions, cheetahs, honey badgers, and even made earthworms look cool.
So I made my son an easy version of a creature power suit. Now he can be just like the Wild Kratts!
You will need poster board (or card stock), markers, scissors, elastic, stapler, and self adhesive velcro.
First I took a small bowl and traced circles onto the posterboard. I had my son cut out the circles. I made 5 circles, but you can make however many you would like.
After he cut out the circles I had him write his name on one of the circles.
Then I asked him what animals he would like to become with his creature power suit. He was eager to draw each animal on their own circle.
While he was drawing, I cut a piece of elastic just a little bit over a yard (probably by about 4-5 inches). I tied the ends together in a knot.
I made the elastic loop into a figure 8 shape. Then I stapled the center where the elastic crosses over each other. You can hot glue or sew this, but I did stapling because it is easy, fast, and there is no hot things lying around for my kids to try to grab.
I took the circle with his name on it and stapled it to the crossover part I had just stapled. Then I put a piece of the rough/hard velcro in the middle of the circle.
Your power suit is complete. Just have your kids put an arm into each opening and make sure the name emblem is on their chest. It is easy for them to slide on and off by themselves.
Put a piece of the fluffy velcro on the back of each of the animal circles your child created. Now they can attach that animal to their power suit and become that animal!
We made a lion, “Jesus” lizard, Tasmanian devil, and a falcon emblem. Here is my son being a falcon. Doesn’t the puppy look impressed?
He ran through the house so fast that I couldn’t get a clear shot. 
We had fun talking about what those animals ate, where they lived, what they would be afraid of, and how they would talk and play with their friends. Man, I love little kids! This is a great activity/craft for learning about animals and using your imagination while getting the kids active.
Just so you know: The opinions about Wild Kratts is strictly my own and does not reflect any views Allie or No Time for Flash Cards may have regarding the show or PBS. This show is wildly popular at my house and this craft was a huge hit, so I thought I would share it with others. Neither this craft or this post was sponsored in any way. PBS and Wild Kratts have no idea who I am and never contacted me about this.
**If you do choose to use staples in this craft like I did, then you need to make sure the ends are curved in to ensure no scratching or cutting will occur. Obviously staples can be sharp and need to be used with caution. You can always use the alternatives mentioned in the post if you are uncomfortable using the staples.**
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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.
