Valentines day cards

Back after a long break, we are gearing up for Valentines Day at school and made these cute cards for Aarav's teachers.

Supplies:
Cardstock red and blue
blackmarker pen
google eyes
heart stickers
ribbons
Glue 

We took choose Aarav's favorite colors  red and blue but you can get any cardstock.
Cut them into 2 rectangles one small (blue) and one big (red).
Make a small hole on the blue small paper (enough to put a google eye thorough it).
Stick the small card on top of the larger card and add the google eye in the middle  ( see picture) and make eyelashes.Time to add the heart sticker and write the letter you  (I heart you).
Decorate the sides with ribbons or stickers.
Inside we made a little alien with one eye and little note and candy for the teachers.

We are ready for the  V-day party at school :)

Vegetable painting and patterns

Today we used vegetables to make patterns and and have fun with paint (Aarav's favorite part of any activity)

Supplies:
Carrots
Potato
Cauliflower
Washable paint




It was so much fun to see him go about so seriously with his paint brush,  this is the book we read with this week.

Melted crayon frames

Supplies:
Wax paper
Crayons
Card stock
Scissors
Glue
Hairdryer

On the wax paper scribble all over and fold it, use a hair dryer to melt the crayon. Make simple frames on the card stock I make shapes and put the wax paper at the back, use glue or tape to stick them together. Voila, some new frames or sun catchers.

Tips: Fill free to make any kinds of frames even the more traditional ones, kids will be surprised to just see the crayons melt under the hairdryer. If you are comfortable let the kids handle the hairdryer too.

Its best to let the crayons to melt before the next step for best results and less mess. Enjoy

Animal Racing

we are trying very hard to move Aarav away from just cars ( that's all he wants to play with these days).
So we set up the Animal racing track (loosely based on cheetah racer on pbskids.com. So the idea was to race all the farm animals and wild animals and see what happens, play and some teaching packed into one. Of course that did not work out too well, as you see the farm animal only came to see the racing and so did the construction trucks.

We did however manage to do some Animal footprints and talk about that for some time. I tried to explain a bit about the Dinosaurs, which turned out to be little more tricky then expected.

Paper roll snowflake

 Aarav has a snowflake theme at preschool and he is very excited to learn about them.  We made these cute snowflakes from toilet paper roll.

Supplies:
Toilet paper roll
scissors
washable paint

Cut the Toilet paper few inches apart and leave the ends attached.
Spread out the paper rolls and let your kids paint.

 Two of his favorite book this winter are  All you need for a  Snowman by Alice Schertle and Perfect soup by Lisa Moser.

 We finished our craft with hot cocoa and his favorite books, hope you enjoy these finds too.

Happy Reading .

Foot Print Turkey

 Thanksgiving is long gone, we finally got around doing something similar to all the beautiful Turkey and thanksgiving crafts online. My son loves his glue stick so paper crafts always gets him interested. I used green craft paper to trace his foot print and cut some feather like patterns in orange and yellow, our favorite fall colors.





Supplies:

Craft paper foot print cutout
Scissors
Google eyes
Small cutout for nose and mouth
Glue

I explained first how the different peaces will come together to make the Turkey( which amused him and led to questions like why is the Turkey green ) Like I said he loves his Glue stick and soon got busy with the activity. We spoke some more about what Turkey eat and habitat for small farm animals.


Tips:
More then anything else, all crafts or activities have to be simple and age appropriate.  I like to get everything ready pre-cut before we start including books you want to read. We also talked about thanksgiving and other festivals around the world.

Hallooween Fun

 This is our first attempt at pumpkin carving, as my son got so excited with all the fun fall activities he was going int he school. He wanted a scary pumpkin with spiders. So while he got busy with the Halloween form stickers to make a small decoration frame for the door. Mom got ready to crave small slits to put the scary eyes we picked up from the dollar store. used more foam sticker the nose and pipe cleaners for the mouth. We used a fruit basket and added fake grass from Easter to place the pumpkin. Then we added some more stickers to the pumpkin, check out the spider sticker for eyebrows, now that's imagination for 3 year old.

More Spider and fake rings to add more spooky Halloween fun.

Happy Halloween.

Toilet paper roll Bunny

Just another play-date with Aarav's friends turned into a cute Easter Bunny. The kids wanted to do some crafts (Aarav just wanted to use some Glue).

Supplies:
Toilet paper roll
googly eyes
blackpen
white/pink craft paper
Glue

Cover toilet paper roll with white paper.
Cut a small sheet of white paper shaped as Bunny Ears
Use a smaller sheet of pink paper, shaped as inner Bunny Ears, Nose and Tummy( see picture above )
Attach the Ears, Nose and Tummy to the paper roll.
Stick Googly eyes.
Use black pen to add whiskers and mouth.

Tips:
Ask the kids to paint the toilet paper roll (pink/yellow r good options)
Great idea to have a simple bunny story or talk about other animals on the Farm






 

Paper Plate Fish Bowl

This one is a fun Craft project we did over the weekend and I can't wait to share it my play date moms. Most of the things are readily available at home. This craft can be done in a group, yet each child can use his/her imagination to create their very own Fish bowl.

Supplies you need:
 Paper Plate
Craft form or color paper
Paint/paint brush or color pen or Crayon (blue and green)
Scissor
Wiggle eyes (optional)
Craft glue

Make the kids to sit with all the supplies nearby, explain and talk to them about Fish Bowl.

Using the Scissor cut a small section on the top of the paper plate to resemble the shape of a Fish Bowl.

Color the Inner side of the paper plate with blue crayon or  pen (else use blue paint and let it dry). Draw different fish patterns on craft form or craft paper which ever is handy and cut out the fish patterns.Glue the fish onto the blue side of the plate.

Add wiggle eyes or you can draw eyes with black pen.

Cut some color paper and stick them to the paper plate or decorate it to make it look like ocean creature or plants.

Color the small part of paper plate and color it green. Paste this section to the bottom of the Fish Bowl.

Tips:
If you are working with small kids try and cut the paper fish in advance.
You can also use glitter on the fish to add more color.
Place some glue on the bottom of the plate and before it sets,place sand or gravel
You can finger paint some bubbles if you like!

Cereal Tower

Ceral Tower is a fun way to keep little bodies busy specially on a snowy day like today.Its a fun activity for one kid or a small group (preschool or kindergarten), its quick and easy as most things are almost always available at hand.

Things you need:
Play dough or you can make your own dough
Uncooked spaghetti 4-8 sticks
Cereal with holes like Cheerios or Fruit Loops

Keep all the things you need nearby and make the kid(s) sit down at the table. Explain to them the fun activity and ask them to listen carefully(make it interesting).


Take some dough and make a nice round ball. Then press it on to a flat surface or a small flat bowl.


Next attach the same size spaghetti sticks in the middle so it can take the weight of the cereal,  else you can attach 3-4 sticks spread on the dough for more fun.


Fill a bowl with O shaped cereals like Cheerios or Fruit Loops. Tell the kids to thread the Cereal into the spaghetti to make a tall tower. You may show the children how it is done.


Then give them the signal to start. For more fun you can make different color towers and play a game of separation. Who ever finishes the tower first wins, make it more fun with stickers and stamps


Tips:

If the sticks break ask them to make smaller towers
Let the kids experiment and be creative, its a great tool for teaching listening skills, hand-eye coordination and co-operation.