Flower art
Red + White = Pink !
We made this craft ages ago, from time to time a craft will be made and shelved because I’ve posted a similar one, or one that used similar materials or in this case because I forgot about it. I am always looking for something to do with these applesauce containers besides using them in our play kitchen as bowls. Of course I snuck in a color mixing lesson and if I had more felt I would have made a few flowers with different color mixes like orange and purple.
- Gather your materials. You will need some white and red felt ( these are less than 50 cents a piece) , some red and white paint, glue, scissors and of course an plastic single serve container ( like applesauce, fruit cups etc…) .
- Start by pouring your paint into your cup.
- Mix the two colors, while your child is doing this make sure to ask about what’s happening.
set aside to dry.
- Cut out a large flower from the red felt.
- Cut smaller white petals.
- Add glue to the red flower
- Add the petals, be sure to count them. Don’t worry if some are upside down.
- When the cup of paint is dry add glue around the edge.
- Glue in the middle of the petals. Let dry.
Posted in Age 2-3 years, Age 3-5 years, Age 5 and older, Color mixing, Crafts, Felt Flower, Flower art | 
5 Comments »
5 Comments »
Vase V !
I was trying to decide what to do for the letter v and my brainstorming produced 2 things, vulture and vase. There wasn’t really a competition, my son is familiar with vases and I wasn’t sure how to make a vulture in the shape of a V anyway. I think I made the right choice!
- Gather your materials. You will need 4 pieces of construction paper ( the green piece can be a small scrap), some markers or paint, scissors and glue.
- Start by drawing a large uppercase V, ours filled about 2/3 of the page.
- Hand the V to your child to decorate with paint or markers.
- While they paint, draw some flowers. If your child is able to have them draw the flowers.
- Paint the flowers.
- While they are putting their own mark on the flowers, cut out some stems from the green paper.
- Cut out the V when it’s dry.
- Cut out the flowers. I asked my son how many and to pick which flowers he wanted.
- Glue the V on with the stems underneath.
- Glue the flowers on and let dry.
Books
“The Reluctant Flower Girl” by Lynne Barash is a sweet story about two sisters. One is getting married and the other is trying her hardest to stop the wedding. April doesn’t want her older sister to move out of the house and get married, so she tries her best to make the groom to be go away. I laughed loudly when April tells the groom to be that the bride still wets the bed! He takes all the antics well and never gets angry which I found refreshing and even teases back in an appropriate way. It’s a cute book and in the end it’s April the flower girl who saves the day.
“The Boy Who Grew Flowers” by Jennifer Wojtowicz is one of those books that stays with you. Rink is a little boy who’s family is strange, Rink is no exception, with every full moon he sprouts flowers , from his head. At school he is an outsider and only when a new girl comes to school does he make a friend. He reaches out to her because she too is an outsider, not at school, in her own family. In the end the kindred spirits celebrate their uniqueness. This odd romantic story will warm your heart and serves as a great lesson about how we all feel different and like an outsider sometimes. The illustrations by Steve Adams will stun you, they were so vibrant and paired so perfectly with the story. Wonderful!
Family Garden
I have had the idea to do this craft for at least a year, I don’t know why but other things keep being done instead. When I bought these doilies for a fancy flower garland I did on Crafitivity Corner I knew they would be perfect for this craft and I finally got my act in gear and made it!
- Gather your materials. You will need 2 pieces of construction paper(one should be green), a doily for each flower, water colors, a dish for water, glue, scissors, photos of your family and a circle paper punch if you want.
- Start by painting your doilies with the water colors.
- While your little one is painting, cut out the faces of your family. We just did Mom, Dad and Kiddo but extended family or friends can be included. Let your child decide, it’s interesting to see who they include.
- Cut out stems and leaves for the flowers
- Set the flowers aside and let dry.
- Add glue to your paper for the stems and leaves, I added it as a guide for my son. He’s been rather free with the glue lately! We’ll have to channel that into a more open ended activity later this week.
- Add the stems and leaves
- Add more glue for the flowers- this time I gave it to him , this is about 2% of the glue that made it onto the paper and is still drying 5 hours later ! He didn’t eat it though so it’s progress.
- Add the flowers
- Glue the pictures in the middle ( I should have cut the pictures in larger circles)
- Let dry and watch your family bloom!
Books!
“Something from Nothing” by Phoebe Gilman is one of those books that you read and think oh I love it, but will kids? I am here to tell you yes! They love this old Yiddish folk tale about a little boy, his very special blanket and his grandfather who made it for him. Over the years Joseph’s blanket transforms into a jacket, a vest, a tie, and handkerchief and finally a button. The story is beautiful and kids love not only the repetitive text when the grandfather is sewing but also the continuing storyline of the mice that live under the floor boards who use the scraps of material for all sorts of things. There are no goofy gimmicks, no lights or sounds just a great story and beautiful illustrations in this gem! A fantastic book about family and growing up.
“Stella The Star” by Mark Shulman is a tale about a little girl who is a very important star. Stella is in her school play and when her teachers sends home a note saying she is the star her parents assume she has the leading role. They are proud as peacocks even when they discover she is not the star of the show exactly. What I like about this book is that the parents seem as proud and loving after discovering their daughter has a small part . It’s a lesson to everyone that what’s important is doing your job, or role with all your heart and not whether you are in the spotlight that’s important.
“Jazz Baby” by Lisa Wheeler had my son clapping and be bopping in his jammies before bed. This book is so fun to read, the musical words are impossible not to dance to. My son loves jazz, and his only disappointment was that there were no trumpets in the book. He didn’t understand that the family in the book , which included grandparents, aunts , uncles and cousins were listening to a record. I tried to tell him it was like a cd but the illustration was clearly a record player and he wasn’t buying it. Still we loved this book , the family was loving and I loved that the older brother was holding the baby, not common in kids books to see a boy holding a baby. Great book even without a trumpet.
It was cold, dark and dreary today, so we made our own cheer with this fun project. This is a great project for a day when you are stuck inside because there are so many steps . You can act out how a seed grows into a plant while you are waiting for your sunflower to dry!
Books!
- Gather your materials. You will need a paper bag, a paper plate, some black rice, glue, yellow and green paint , a marker , scissors, a bath poof or sponge and double stick tape.
- Start by cutting open your grocery bag and drawing a long stem along one edge and multiple petals on the rest of it.
- Cut the stem outline out and have your child paint it green. My son loved using the roller paints for this because it was so easy to make long straight lines. Let dry.
- Paint the petals with the bath poof or sponge. I find that when we are painting a large surface it’s much better to use a big tool that covers easily.
- Paint the bottom of the paper plate with the yellow paint too. Let dry.
- Cut out the stem and petals
- Add glue to the center of the paper plate – more is better so this is a great time to have your child control the glue.
- Add the rice.
My son added a few at first then dumped the whole dish on. Let dry. This actually dried to the touch pretty fast.
- Flip the plate upside down and using the double stick tape tape the petals on.
- Tape the stem on.
- Brighten even the darkest day !
Books!
“The Tiny Seed” by Eric Carle is a story about a tiny seed who unlike the other seeds from his flower makes it against all odds to continue the cycle of life. I really enjoy this book and love how it shows all the obstacles along the way for a simple little seed. My son liked this book but didn’t make it all the way through, which I expected since it is a long book for a 2 year old.
“Planting A Rainbow” by Lois Elhert is a wonderful book to use for teaching about flowers and colors. The illustrations are bold and bright, perfect for little curious minds. I have always liked this book because you can sit down and dive into it reading each flowers name on every page , or browse it more casually with a younger child simply noting the colors.
Additional Activity
” Grow Little Seed!”
Additional Activity
” Grow Little Seed!”
I love teaching through acting things out, and just like all the classes I have had my son loves it too. For this theme we started as little “ta ta tiny!” seeds deep in the dirt. Then it rained and we started growing roots ( ours looked a lot like jazz hands) and then started to push through the dirt to the sunlight. Then the sun was bright and strong and we grew and grew, and finally blossomed. With older children I would have gone into more detail , maybe include a strong wind blowing us to and fro, sprouting leaves etc…
However you do it , go big, take your children’s suggestions and have fun!
Posted in Age 3-5 years, Age 5 and older, Crafts, Flower art, Nature Activities, Sunflower | 14 Comments »
14 Comments »
Recycle Your
Easter Eggs!
Egg Blossoms!
I have done this activity for years and never once called the eggs Easter eggs, they were polka dots with surprises inside. Obviously if you celebrate Easter there is no reason to call them anything else but if you don’t celebrate Easter you can still jump on the polka dot bandwagon and use them to have fun learning.
There are so many ways to reuse these little plastic eggs! Here are three creative ways to keep these colorful springtime staples out of the trash !
Egg Bugs !
- Gather your materials. You will need some plastic eggs that have pre made holes in them ( most do) , some pipe cleaners, label stickers and markers.
- Start by drawing on your label stickers ( they are matte so you can color them and it will stick). I was shocked with how much my son liked this step, glad I added it in.
- Next stick them onto the egg.
- Use two labels to act as eyes and draw some eyes on them with a marker!
- Pick out a pipe cleaner or 2 if you are a toddler and like to always say “Two?” whenever anything is offered. Thread them through the holes.
Egg Blossoms!
- Gather your materials. You will need some tissue paper, pipe cleaners, scissors and eggs.
- Cut your tissue paper into a flower shape. I used multiple layers for each egg.
- Break the egg into 2 pieces if it has a connector, and thread the bottom piece onto the pipe cleaner.
- Add the tissue paper by making a small hole int the middle and threading it on.
- Add the top piece.
Thread your pipe cleaner through and then gently tug, some eggs have one hole only, in this case make a little knot and tug, if there are 2 holes simply thread it back in.
Polka Dot Discovery
I have done this activity for years and never once called the eggs Easter eggs, they were polka dots with surprises inside. Obviously if you celebrate Easter there is no reason to call them anything else but if you don’t celebrate Easter you can still jump on the polka dot bandwagon and use them to have fun learning.
- Gather your materials. You will need some plastic eggs that open with room to hide things inside, you can also use small gift boxes. Some paper, a marker, some scissors and basket or bag.
- The great thing about this activity is that it’s versatile. If you are learning about shapes you can pop shapes in the eggs, if you are doing letters you stuff them with letters etc… So this next step is where you decide what to stuff them with and using a marker and paper make the surprises.
- Stuff the eggs and either hide them for a hunt, or place them in a basket for your child to choose from.
- When you child finds the egg make sure to ask them what color the outside is, and encourage them to open it up and find what’s inside.
- If your child is a young toddlers you can simply put fun toys in and they will be kept busy finding them. Just opening the eggs are great fine motor skills practice!
- One last note if you have an older sibling who is working on sight words at grade school you can pop those in some eggs for them too!
Posted in Age 2-3 years, Age 3-5 years, Age 5 and older, Bugs, Easter, Flower art, Number Recognition, Recycled Art | 14 Comments »
14 Comments »
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