Showing posts with label arts and crafts for kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arts and crafts for kids. Show all posts
Monday, August 27, 2012
Easy Craft for Kids: Paper Plate Snails
Snails are the latest obsession at our household. The pet snails often go for a ride in the baby stroller, so it's only fitting that we create a craft for the pet snails. In fact, I can hear her right now, talking to "Rosita", who is the one snail that has survived our crazy household. Rosita is getting a lecture about why she needs to stay in the stroller and not jump out. I'm sure Rosita is listening intently.
Anyway, back to our snail craft. First we painted paper plates. My kids love to paint so much that Little Buddy often shakes with excitement when I just get the paints out of the closet. After we got finished with the plates, we had to let them dry. Then I cut a snail head from the outside of the plate. the kids helped glue the eyes and for the antennae we used small pipe cleaners:
Then we used scissors to cut the paper plate around and around to make the snail shell. Munchkin Girl helped with this a little, but I had to finish it for her. Little Buddy, of course, was off playing golf inside the house by this point.
Then, once we got everything cut out, we just had to staple the head and tail on and voila! Our own little snails!
If you need more easy crafts like these, please consider buying my book! I co-wrote it with former Kindergarten Teacher and best-selling author, Susan Case. We worked together to give both a Mom and a Teacher perspective and we give hundreds of ideas on ways to keep your kids busy, but in a productive way, so that they're actually learning while you cook dinner in peace! Here is what a reader wrote after she purchased our book:
I'm about halfway through your book, and it's a true gem in my quest to figure out how to yell less and enjoy my boys more. I'm glad I found your blog. ~ Prickly Mom
You can purchase a copy on Amazon or B&N. The Kindle version is $3.99 and the Paperback is $9.99. Thanks so much for your support!
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Tuesday, July 10, 2012
20+ Ways to Make Caterpillars With Your Little Ones
I've been a Mom now for four years and sometimes the things I don't know amazes me. For example, I only found out about squeezable applesauce about six months ago. Little portable applesauce packages that don't need to be refrigerated!?!? I don't know where I was living for the first 3.5 years of Munchkin Girls' life, but clearly I missed out.
A similar thing happened not too long ago when someone mentioned the author Eric Carle. Now clearly, as a Mom and a blogger, I should know this person. Everyone is always talking about him. Yet I didn't and as usual I felt worried that I was depriving my kids of an important and education opportunity that would likely stunt them for life. Harvard was clearly out of the question if I didn't do something fast (Don't worry. If you're new to my site, you will realize that I'm mostly being sarcastic). Still, I rushed out to Barnes and Noble that day and bought The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
I proudly presented it to my kids and started reading in my most animated voice. Now I'm going to admit something that will make most Mom bloggers cringe....My kids really weren't interested. Their eyes glazed over and they wandered off for something more fun to do. I'm not sure what that means. I was pretty surprised because most days we read at least 10 books. They usually adore book. They just don't seem to like Eric Carle books. They seem really smart in other ways, but they will never be appraising fine art, because from what I have heard, Eric Carle is truly the fine art of kids books.
To be honest, ever since we introduced the magnifying glass, my kids are much more interested in this book. Why? Because it came with 10 little fake bugs that they carry around the house to scare people. And they also like to look for bugs and caterpillars outside.
Still they do really love to make caterpillar crafts so the other day we got out some beads and pipe cleaners. First, I strung one bead around the end and secured it for Munchkin Girl:
Then she spent thirty happy minutes stringing the pipe cleaner with the beads
In the end, she really loved her little caterpillars almost as much as her outdoor caterpillar friends. I felt like it was time well-spent because she worked on her hand strength as she laced the beads, which will help her later when it is time to learn to write. Not only that, after we spent this quality time together, she wandered off for an hour and played happily with her dolls. I have found that after we do a project, she feels fulfilled and it really allows her to open up her imagination and feel secure enough to play alone, giving me some much-needed time to pay bills, do laundry or whatever I need to do. To find more simple ways to keep your kids buys in productive ways, check out my new book, The Happy Mommy Handbook: The Ultimate How-to Guide on Keeping Your Toddlers and Preschoolers Busy, Out of Trouble and Motivated to Learn.
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