Archive for the ‘Crafts’ Category

Painting on toast and even rice cakes have been featured on two of my favorite blogs Make and Takes and Mom Tried It but I had never tried the fun craft until today. My son only wants one thing for breakfast these days, waffles. When I was looking at them today I thought, I wonder if I could paint on them too?  Oh and if I used a cookie cutter they could be Easter eggs! It was such a hit we used up all our waffles.

1. Gather your materials. You will need some food coloring, milk, a paint brush, waffles ( lightly toasted), and an Easter egg cookie cutter.
2. Mix your food coloring with a splash of milk, you don’t need much!
3. Cut the waffle into the shape of the egg.
4. Start painting. 
5. I made stripes. My son was more free form.
6. Toast and serve!
7. Eat.
8. I have to show you what a hit this was, after he ate the first two he made a third – and ate it too.  My kid doesn’t eat that much, this was a feast for him!

Egg Books

The Golden Egg Book by Margaret Wise Brown is one of those books I have clear memories of from childhood. Thing is I don’t really remember the story so much as the cover. In this case it’s ok to judge a book by it’s cover because although the ending has always seemed tacked on to me I enjoyed this simple and cute book about a bunny and the egg that he finds. My son liked it too, although he was much more into the illustrations of butterflies in the first and last few pages.

First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger is the perfect book to introduce life cycles to young kids. It doesn’t go into great detail, but it doesn’t have to it is perfectly effective just the way it is. Each page shows one stage like a seed and the following the result of a flower. My son loved this book and I think older children would too, it’s simple but isn’t infantile. I think the Easter bunny may be bringing this to our house for keeps in a few weeks!

I love remaking masterpieces with my son. It gets him excited about art and gives him the confidence that he can do it too. We made our own version of The Great Wave Off Kawagawa a few months ago and he is still excited to go see the real one in person next month when it comes through town.  So teach them some art appreciation by doing not just looking!

1. Show your child the painting “Squares With Concentric Rings” by Wassilly Kandinsky. Ask them what they think he used to make the art. Ask them what they would use.
2. Gather your materials. You will need a variety of paper ( bare minimum 2 pieces), a wide variety of markers or water colors, scissors, and glue.
3. Start by cutting the paper into smaller squares. We did 2 rows of 3 ( so 6 squares total). The original has 3 rows of 4 , but that was too much for a 3 year old. Adjust to your child.
4. Start making circles! I didn’t really structure this other than saying to my son ” Can you make circles like the artist did?”
5. Keep going.  On his 5th his interest was dwindling, so I busted out a new color of marker and it did the trick. If it hadn’t I probably would have left the craft on the table and returned to it later.
6. Add glue- the top to ours fell off ( and covered me)  , oops but he still wanted to add more.
7. Add the squares and let dry.

Books

Babar’s Museum of Art by Laurent de Brunhoff is one of my favorite art books for kids. My son has recently decided he hates it because he doesn’t want to see the elephant versions of the art. All the art in the museum are masterpieces that you will recognize redone with elephants. He slams the page in the way only toddlers with a definite sense of justice can and says ” No elephant paintings Mama, real ones!” Trust me though this book is awesome and he loved it a few months ago. The story is about how Queen Celeste wants to change the abandoned railway station into a museum to house all their collected art . The museum itself looks just like the Musee D’Orsay in Paris and the story also explains art for children.

Museum 123 by The Metropolitan Museum Of Art is another simple but beautiful counting book.  What I love about this book is that the number is not on the same page as the onbjects/images the child is being asked to count. Instead a simple question of how many is followed by a painting with the objects, and the next page has a large number. My son loved counting then flipping the page exclaiming ” I knew it , I said that number I was right!” My only complaint is that it only went to 10!

SQUEAKING OF ART, The Mice Go to the Museum by Monica Wellington is a fun book to read before and even more fun to read after a visit to a museum. This book follows a group of mice that all explore the museum, and the art on it’s walls. Each page is a different theme and the text is a dialogue between the mice and their Cat guide about the art displayed. The art itself are the author illustrator’s versions of art you will probably recognize. There are multiple paintings on each page and if you are like me and like to quiz yourself on your ability to name the painting and artist this book is for you. There is a guide at the end of the book for every page. I think I like this book even more than my son for that reason. My son likes it because he can recognize some paintings, but thy are redone in bright vibrant colors and have a more cartoon look, which I think appeals to my son even more than the originals. When we “read” this book we often skip the text and simple look and explore the art.  No matter how you read it this is a fine addition to any library for those who love fine art.

My days of green beer are long over but St. Patrick’s day is still a blast with these ideas. There is something for all ages!

Gold Hunt!

Yummy ( and healthy) Green Popsicles!

Potato Stamping!

St. Patrick’s Day Sensory Tub

Leprechaun Beard

Shape 4 Leaf Clover

Even more St.Patrick’s Day Activities.

Wings w !

My son was on 4 flights in one week and each time we sat by the wings and each time had a discussion about flying, and all the different things that have wings and fly.  So today we decided to make a fast and easy letter of the week craft that built on his experience of talking about wings and all sorts of things that fly. If you don’t have feathers you could use aluminum foil and make metal airplane wings for your w.

1. Gather your materials. You will need 2 pieces of construction paper, some markers, scissors, glue and feathers.
2. Start by writing a lowercase w with some wings.
3. Have your child decorate the w – if we had made airplane wings you can draw a cockpit or decorate it with airplane stickers. My son is still into tracing the w but I don’t structure this step at all.
4. Add glue to the wings.
5. Add feathers.
6. Let dry.
7. Cut out and glue to the 2nd piece of construction paper.

Books With Wings!

Birds by Kevin Henkes , illustrated by Laura Dronzek is stunning. I love this author but this book is absolutely about the pictures. The cover is beautiful but there are pages that I just wanted to look at the way I look at paintings at a museum. The book is perfect for toddlers and young preschooler, it’s non fiction , simple and has a great flow. The colors are so vibrant I would bet that infants would dig it too! Awesome awesome awesome!

Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons is a small book filled with facts about these beautiful and amazing insects. What makes this book a great non fiction pick for your preschooler is that the pictures are so descriptive that even young toddlers can sit ,look at the pictures and have you describe them without going into the text which is more appropriate for preschoolers. Preschoolers will love all the facts about these beautiful butterflies.

Angela’s Airplane by Robert Munsch captures children’s fantasies about flying planes and adds in a cautionary tale about what could happen if the fantasy became reality. Angela finds her way onto a plane and starts pushing buttons, before she knows it she is in the air alone. The plane crashes but she is ok, and promises to never fly another plane. Do you think she keeps that promise? My son adores this book and while you may think that the crash would be scary for kids it’s not , the ridiculousness of a 5 year old flying a plane makes the crash equally as fictional though effective in opening a dialogue about touching buttons you shouldn’t!

Looking for more Letter Of The Week Crafts? Check out my eBook !

Alphabet Crafts

Friendship is something that should be cherished and making something special for a friend is a great way to show friends how much they mean to you. Shrinky dinks can be found at any large craft store or here Shrinky Dinks Craft Kit. They are fast and fun to watch shrink , these can be made into zipper pulls, key chains or necklaces.

1. Gather your materials. You will need some shrinky dink paper, black and green colored pencils, a hole punch, a brown grocery bag ( or parchment paper), a cookie sheet , scissors and some ribbon or chain.
2. Start by drawing some shamrocks- I can’t hide the fact it took me a while to get it right .
3. Next color it green.
4. Cut out
5. Punch a hole in it.
6. Place it on the paper bag on the cookie sheet and place in the oven ( follow the instructions given for the temp).
7. Watch the WHOLE time. It only takes a minutes or two.
8. Let cool.
9. Thread the ribbon through and give someone you care about some luck of the Irish!