No Time For Flash Cards

preschool activities, preschool crafts, and preschool books.

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Spring Tree

Spring Tree Craft

This craft was spur of the moment, I was sitting looking out at my backyard and decided to replicate our little cherry tree. While my son played with play dough I made this. He stopped playing and I offered him the option to make one but he just wanted to watch. I love how the Q-tips made perfect little buds and how rich the colors are. Young kids could easily do this if you made the tree for them, and older ones would have no problem doing the whole project independently.

Spring Tree Craft

  1. Gather your materials. You will need some white paper, a brown marker, watercolors, a tiny bit of water in a dish..or perhaps an old sippy cup that happens to be on the table….and q-tips.Spring Tree Craft
  2. Start by drawing the outline of a bare tree. Spring Tree Craft
  3. Dip your q-tip in the water and then get it nice and covered in paint. Spring Tree Craft
  4. Dab it on. Spring Tree Craft
  5. Add more colors. Spring Tree Craft
  6. Paint the bark if you want. Spring Tree Craft
  7. Let dry. Spring Tree Craft

Chapter Book

Gaia Girls

I don’t often do chapter book reviews but this book is so good I recently re read it for fun !  So many great messages and with spring break coming up I thought I’d give a nod to an older book in hopes that some of you with older kids ( girls especially) would grab this for them.

Gaia Girls Enter the Earth by Lee Wells .  I love to share a book with my older readers. The story follows Elizabeth as she spends her summer on her parents small organic farm, learning that not all farming is as responsible as her family’s. But that’s not all. Elizabeth meets someone magical and discovers she has a special power that can help her fight against the factory farms moving into her area.

I love the magical aspect of this book. The author manages to make it work in a very down to earth way and it sucks the reader in. The strong environmental call to action in the book is wonderful, not only are the issues like factory farming explained but solutions and alternatives are as well. The girl power undertones are well done too. Elizabeth’s power isn’t exerted irresponsibly and she is conscientious about how to use it. I wish more books were this good.

You May Also Like

Japanese Cherry Tree Craft
Colorful Forrest
Q-Tip Dandelion

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20 Comments

  7. Tara @ Feels like home says

    It’s lovely. We tried to do something like this last week, but it turned out badly. At the time, Joe said I should’ve done the tree and branches first and the blossoms second (instead the other way around, which was what I did). If we redo it, that’s what we’ll try.
    .-= Tara @ Feels like home´s last blog ..Feels Like Home Recap – February ‘10 =-.

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  12. Dara says

    My 3 1/2 yo daughter loved doing this today. All morning she had been asking me what we would do for our craft today and I was a little uninspired, thinking I would just let her paint. My mother visited from out of town today so my daughter made a spring tree and little poem for her and my father.
    She really enjoyed it and couldn’t wait to tell her brother about it when he got home. Now he wants to do it too!
    Photos of our creation:
    http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/BRzm4aAFVX57l1p7CSbdIw?feat=directlink
    and
    http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/BRzm4aAFVX57l1p7CSbdIw?feat=directlink

    Thanks for the inspiration!

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