recycle the recycle..upcycle

We have a busy household with a active 3yr old, keeping him occupied and busy while I get some work done takes some planning. I'm forever collecting bottle caps, egg cartoons,cans and packing material for future use.  So for this project a covered a few big boxed with white paper and let my son use his imagination.

Supplies:
Egg cartoons
Bottle caps and bottles
Soda cans
Kitchen towel rolls
Glue
Finger paint
Tape
Cereal box or any other kind of packing material
Use anything you have at home (thats the whole idea)

I covered a few big boxes with white paper and helped my son(Aarav) tape a  few pieces together. What started as a car quickly turned into a robot, with a little imagination and lot of glue Aarav was ready to color his robot. Soon the robot had a name..Mr.Memorybot. Aarav took his time to color it with his fingers and paint brush.


It was hours of fun, you can never go wrong with glue, color and boxes(give it a try)

Tips:
Start a conversation of what you are trying to make, before you start joining the pieces, get the kid(s) excited.
Go with the flow, let them use their imagination
Make it fun, add color or sparkles like their favorite color.

Tips for first play date

Some easy tips for planning your first play date:

• Talk to your child about calling his friends over, specially about sharing his toys
• Its Ok to hide a few of his favorite toys if he is not comfortable sharing them all with friends
• Plan in advance how long will the date last, activity or theme arrangements
• If the kids will be dropped off or will the parents stay with the kids 
• Some kid friendly snacks like popcorn's, cookies, juice etc.  also for the moms some snacks like coffee and sandwiches.
• If its your first time hosting a play date keep it simple and make the house rules clear to the kids. 
• Its a good idea to have kids of same age group so they can enjoy the play-date together
• If possible inform the parents in advance about the play-date  theme or what activities you have planned for the kids.
• Be ready to play with the kids even when sitting and chatting with the moms seems like a good idea. kids love the interaction.
• While babies love to play side by side, toddlers love simple crafts, keep some time aside for singing and going silly.
• Kids will fight or cry, be ready to play referee
• Invite  the group to another play-date, or you can rotate houses.

Irish Bat (Egg carton Bat)

This St.Patty week I saw a little too much of green. I had seen these egg carton bats at Halloween and decided to make a this green inspired bat. Its simple and a great craft project on a budget.

Supplies:
Egg carton (cardboard)
green paint (fingerpaint or any other kind)
google eyes
green pipecleaner
glue and scissor


Cut the egg carton into four parts each with 3 egg cartons as we made four bats.

For each bat cut the side shells to make it look like bat wings( keep them little pointy) repeat on the back side too.

Paint the egg carton green , by son loved to use finger paint and get messy, when its dry add google eyes or use black markers to make eyes.

Use scissors to make hole on the middle section joining the egg cartons, insert the green pipecleaners and join the pipes by twisting the ends, makes it easy to hang around the house.

Tips:
If green is not your color paint the bats black, you can also go creative with color.
Its a good time to talk to your kids about bats and share some interesting facts like they hang upside down or they come out in the night, what kids of food they eat.

Rainstick/ Paper Towel Rice Maracas

My son just loves music, we made these rice Maracas with paper towel tube. He loves going crazy with it, we call its making sweet music.

Supplies:
Paper towel tube (any other long paper tube)
Glue/Scissors/Duct tape
White paper sheet (color paper also works )
Brown paper to make caps or use juice bottle caps
Rice (other lentils or beans)
Crayons, markers and stickers to decorate

Trace the ends of the paper towel on a the brown paper or construction paper , make a bigger circle and cut to fit (cap) the paper towel ends. Cut and keep another cap for the other end. We used us juice bottle caps as they were perfect fit for the paper towels. Use glue to fix the cap, keep the other end open at this point.

Add rice and other dry lentils or beans into the tube. Fill it only 1/10 full for more effective sound.

Cover the paper towel tube with white paper sheet or color paper. Use the other paper cap or juice bottle cap to secure the rice inside.  Make sure you have the side nicely secured or you will have a big mess to clean.

Decorate the tube with Crayon, markers or stickers.

Tips:
Make more than one rainstick  one for each hand.
Teach kids simple rhythms or let the kids make their own music
Incorporate other music instruments(guitar, drums, flute) for your very own concert, truly special-enjoy

Egg Carton Caterpillar

Recycling at its best, and kids love this easy craft project. As always I made use of the things at home.

You can always get creative.

Supplies:
Egg cartoon -cardboard type not Styrofoam type
Scissors
Color green, yellow, red (kids can use washable paint too) 
Marker-Black or use wiggle eyes(googly eyes)
Glue
Ribbon or pipe cleaner

Start by cutting 6 cups from the egg cartoon , best if done by a adult be careful not to cut too close to the cups just trim them so they retain shape.

Color the outer-sides of the cartoon with washable paint or crayons, let the kids have fun and personalize their very own caterpillar. Anything from fullon green  to polka points, let the colors try.


Choose which ends should be the caterpillars head and make two holes close to the top section of the cartoon. I used pens, you can use knife or scissors. 

Cut the pipe cleaners or ribbons  to approx 5" long. Insert from the inner-sides of the caterpillar into the holes, pull the ribbons or pipe cleaners to same length antennae. If pipe cleaners are use to can curl the ends.

Glue eyes onto the caterpillar and make mouth with the marker, if wiggle eyes are not available make eyes with marker pens too. Your caterpillars are ready


Tips:
Straws are a great substitute too if ribbons or pipe cleaners are not available .
If a good idea to talk about different caterpillars to give kids some idea. Good idea also talk about thinge like what do they eat and where they live.

Helloo Mr. Sun

Oh Mr. Sun. Sun. Mr. golden sun. Please shine down on me.
Oh Mr. Sun. Sun. Mr. golden sun. Hiding behind a tree.
These little children are asking you. To please come out so we can play with you.
Oh Mr. Sun. Sun. Mr. golden sun. Please shine down on me.

Mr.Sun is my Son's Favorite Barney song. On this cold gloomy day we are missing the sunshine, so we decided to make our very own Mr. Sun. Its simple and has all things that makes kids happy.

Supplies:
Cardboard
Plain white paper
Crayons(yellow, red, orange)
Wiggle eyes
Color paper or foam paper (red/orange)
Glue
Scissors

Take a small cardboard  piece and stick the plain paper. Make a  sun shaped cut out, can be done by preschoolers themselves or by adults.

Color the sun  with bright colors, let the kids use their imagination. Attach wiggle eyes and cut color paper or form paper to make mouth.

Mr. Sun is ready, we place him on our window.

Tips:
Use black or color pens to make eyes and mouth if these supplies are not handy.
My son sings to the sun and we talk about the weather almost everyday. Its a simple way to teach kids about the  weather outside.

Tree of Hearts ( Valentine Tree)

This craft Idea is a twist really to the ever popular Valentine Tree. Keeping in mind the fast approaching Valentine's day we made this simple Valentine's Tree. Its a perfect craft project for little preschoolers who love hearts, crayons and Cheerios.

Supplies:
Cardboard
Crayons-green
Glue
Craft paper-preferably red/pink/white
Scissors
Some Cheerios

Cut the cardboard shaped as a tree and craft paper into different size hearts . Make all the cut outs before you sit with the kids specially if they are too young to use the scissors themselves.

Ask the kids to color the cardboard tree green, use crayons or paint.

Keep all the different hearts in a bowl and let the kids stick the hearts onto the tree.

Tips:
You can also use small form hearts and glitters.
Mostly let the kids have fun its Valentine's Day -spread the love and enjoy the moment with your kids