Spring Fling
Flower
Cookie Cutter Prints
This is such a simple activity that kids of all ages can enjoy, perfect for the weekend when your family is together all day. My son loved doing this and I thought it was the perfect,simple way to end a great Spring Fling Week here at No Time For Flash Cards. Thanks for celebrating the changing of the seasons with us!
- Gather your materials. You will need some paper, a cookie cutter , paint and a plate.
- Spread your paint on a plate.
- Dip your cookie cutter in the paint
- Print !
- If you want add another color and keep going!
Peek – A- Boo – Eggs !
How cute are these? If you think these are cute you are going to be falling all over yourself at the photos on Katherine Marie Photography’s site. Wow. Beautiful and she is crafty too. To see more of this adorable spring craft pop over to her site Katherine Marie Photography. Here is how we tried ( tried is the word to focus on ) to recreate them.
- Gather your materials. You will need some cardboard, paint, glue, paper in yellow for the chick, and pastels for the dots, a paper fastener,marker, scissors, a feather , googly eyes or buttons and some tape.
- Start by drawing an egg on the cardboard with a zig zag break in it.
- Have your child paint this. Try to stick with light colors, we used pretty dark ones and it made our egg look more dinosaur than Easter… Let dry.
- While they are painting draw a simple chick on the yellow paper.
- Add eyes a beak and a feather – I taped the feather on.
- Cut out small circles for decorating the egg- I used scrap card stock.
- When the egg is dry cut out
- Add your glue for the card stock dots
- Add the dots, let dry.
- Poke holes in both the top and bottom egg shells and thread the fastener through.
- Add your chick, again I used tape.
- Open
- Close
Thanks to Katherine Marie for sharing this wonderful craft !
Book !
“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!
Growing up I always looked forward to the “pink trees” and the days when the wind would blow the petals down onto the ground where we could kick them up and watch them fall again. In our neighborhood the trees are starting to bloom and after a long walk past many “pink trees” we came home to make this.
- Gather your materials. You’ll need some cardboard ( if I did this again I would use a paper bag instead of a glossy cereal box , it was hard to glue) , 2 shades of pink tissue paper, scissors, glue, brown paint and a sheet of blue construction paper.
- Start by drawing a bare tree on the cardboard.
- Next have your child paint the tree brown, crayons or markers would work great too.
- While they paint cut the tissue paper into small squares.
- Let the paint dry and hand your child the tissue paper square to crumple. Be warned that for days after my son has asked to crumple many many things around the house.
- Cut the tree out and glue onto the construction paper. I had to hold down the cardboard for a few seconds because of the glossy side not wanting to glue.
- Add glue to the tree top , I flipped it upside down for my son so it was easier to reach.
- Add the blossoms!
Whether you add a few or many it will look beautiful!
Books !
“The Falling Flowers” by Jennifer B. Reed is the perfect book for this craft ! I was a little too loud when I found it at the library, my son told me to shhh! The story is very sweet, it’s about a grandmother taking her young granddaughter on a surprise outing in Tokyo. It turns out that she is taking her to see the cherry trees in full bloom just as her grandmother had done with her.
“Suki’s Kimono” by Chieri Uegaki has been on my shelf for years. I really really like this book, the message is fantastic! Suki loves her Kimono, she doesn’t care that her sisters think it’s not cool to wear it to school, her grandma gave it to her and she likes it. I love that she is depicted as confident but not 100% sure of herself, it allows readers to really connect, recognizing those times when we are putting up a brave face even if inside we aren’t so sure. It’s a lovely book!
“The Falling Flowers” by Jennifer B. Reed is the perfect book for this craft ! I was a little too loud when I found it at the library, my son told me to shhh! The story is very sweet, it’s about a grandmother taking her young granddaughter on a surprise outing in Tokyo. It turns out that she is taking her to see the cherry trees in full bloom just as her grandmother had done with her.
“Suki’s Kimono” by Chieri Uegaki has been on my shelf for years. I really really like this book, the message is fantastic! Suki loves her Kimono, she doesn’t care that her sisters think it’s not cool to wear it to school, her grandma gave it to her and she likes it. I love that she is depicted as confident but not 100% sure of herself, it allows readers to really connect, recognizing those times when we are putting up a brave face even if inside we aren’t so sure. It’s a lovely book!
On day two of our Spring Fling week we are making something everyone loves, butterflies! My son had a lot of fun making this and really took his time. Adding small embellishments like the sequins add a fine motor activity to this project . Learning about life cycles is an appropriate science topic for preschoolers and the butterfly life cycle is a great one to start with. Also make sure to pop over and see a slightly different and very adorable butterfly at Ramblings of a Crazy Woman.
- Gather your materials. You will need 2 pieces of construction paper,scissors, crayons, glue,googly eyes and some sequins.
- Start by tracing your child’s hands.
- Next give them the 2nd piece of construction paper and have them draw whatever they want.
- While they create a butterfly habitat or just scribble ( it’s all great practice and creativity!) cut out the hands and lay the thumbs on top of each other. Trim the bottom so it looks like a butterfly glue together. Older children can do this and should do the cutting if they can.
- Glue onto the decorated paper.
- I used a crayon to outline where the body was and some antennae.
- Add the glue
- Add the bling! Start with the eyes.
- Next add lots of beautiful sequins. Picking up these tiny sequins is an awesome fine motor activity,encourage your child to pick them up making an O with their thumb and index finger,not by sliding them off the table.
- Let dry !
Books!
” Bob and Otto” by Robert O. Bruel is a lovely story about 2 friends who must part ways , in this case because one is a caterpillar who needs to build a chrysalis and the other an earth worm who needs to dig deep into the ground. What I like about this book is that it goes on to explain that the earth worm’s digging is vital for the trees to grow so that the caterpillar can eat the leaves and turn into a butterfly. I like the lesson about how we all play a part!
” The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle is a classic, that most preschool teachers like myself can recite from memory. It really is a fantastic book, not only does it explain the life cycle of a caterpillar/ butterfly it also is useful for lesson about day of the week and healthy eating! It was a childhood favorite of mine and if the fact that he sleeps with his ” Pillar” every night is any indication it is already one of my son’s favorites too!
“The 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.
Green Grass G !
When I think of spring I think of the flowers and the grass peaking from the snow, for the letter of the week we are going green and celebrating spring !
- Gather your materials. You will need 2 pieces of construction paper, some green markers or crayons, green Easter grass , glue and scissors.
- Start by drawing a large upper case G
- Have your child color the G with the green markers.
- Next add the glue !
- Add the grass- I pulled some of the grass apart to make it easier for my son to glue it on.
- Keep going until it’s covered. Let dry
- Cut out the G and glue it onto the 2nd piece of paper.
I was really surprised by how much my son loved this, I thought he would enjoy it but we ended up playing with the grass for a long time after the craft, and I am trying to think up ways to using it later in the week!
Book!
“Stanley Mows The Lawn” by Craig Frazier is such a visually stunning book, I love the color green and my eyes were in heaven looking at page after page of the different hues, perspectives and uniquely Frazier illustrations. The story holds up well too it’s simple but effective. My son loved Hank the snake who inspires Stanley to mow the lawn in a new and creative way and begged for more as soon as I closed the book!
Don’t forget to enter the Music Together , Family Favorites CD giveaway I am hosting over at Blissful Kids !
Posted in Letter G, Letter of the week, Letter Recognition, Spring Fling, Springtime | 
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