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 :)

Valentine card for dad

I love Papa card for dear dad for Valentines Day , yes its a surprise

Supplies:
Construction paper
Marker pens
Google eyes
Heart stickers
Glue

This really as simple as it gets, Aarav really likes to make aliens ( and angry birds) so we made this nice little alein with one eye for the letter I.
Added heart stickers , we used glitter stickers you can make your own hearts or just draw them on paper.
He decided to write You and add a special message.

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

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 .

  Happy New Year

We welcomes the new year with this colorful wreath. Very good use of all the color prints we got in the mail, Aarav had a great time using the stapler for the first time.

Supplies:
Paper strips
Staplers
Glue
Red paper plate
Pipe cleaner

Cut paper strips to small rectangles and staples the two ends like flower petals
Glue the petals in the pattern you like and stick them to the paper plate
Make a small hole and make a hanger with the pipe cleaner

Some random pictures of Aarav enjoying the snow from the comfort of home. he just loves to play with the gel stickers ,we are getting ready for Valentines Day already.

Merry Christmas ..Happy Snowman

Stopping by to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.
All you need a little patience and lot of love to make these cute snowmen, that's my mantra for the new year. Hope to get some more crafts ideas and fun ideas in my blog the coming year.


Supplies:
Toilet paper roll (for support)
Circle cut out in white 2 pcs (head -body)
Ribbon
Google eyes
Buttons(color pens work just as well)
Glue
Black paper cut out for hats
Decoration for the hat (we used star form stickers)
Color pen (red: we are going festive)

Once you have the supplies, your little one can basically stick everything together.
I helped him and his friends with the glue stick a bit specially with the ribbons but older kids can do just fine without much assistance.

Happy Holidays:)

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.

Alphabet Mat

I'm a little behind in posting my craft project, blame it on the lazy summer days of Chicago. This activity is a fun tool for keeping little bodies busy and brush up on ABC's.        

                                                                       

 Supplies: 

Bottle caps 26 counts

Labels

marker

Form or cardboard  sheet.

Add labels to bottle caps and write your ABC's .

On the Form or cardboard sheet make a table and jumble the Alphabet.

Your Alphabet Mat is ready

Tips: 

Older kids can helps younger kids in all the steps.

Feel free to decorate your mat.

You can also use colorful labels or stickers

I mixed up the Alphabet order as my little one is old enough to figure it out. The next step will be to use  animals or fruits and vegetable to go on the mat, we have been practicing that too, works like a charm.

Toilet paper roll trees

Its been ages since I last updated my blog, call me lazy...lol. Thought of posting a few simple ideas to keep kids busy which they can handle by themselves or with little help

This one is called paper roll tree  and as you will see in the pictures, its very simple and still guaranteed to charm the kids.

Supplies:

Toilet paper roll (preferably brown ones)
green craft paper (for tree cut outs)
color pens/crayons
sticker (optional)
scissors/glue

How to and tips:
Clean your Toiler paper roll of any left over tissues.
Cut green craft paper into a tree like or cloud like cutout.
Use scissors to make two small slits on paper roll sides for the cutout to fix in.
Decorate the green with color pens /crayons or stickers, I used a frog stickers, you can use other tree animals like monkeys or just ask your kids to make their own. Depends mostly on the age of the kids, I'm working with 3 year old, they just love the coloring part.

Our kids love making branches, leaves, nest and birds, we also sang our favorite  barney song 'There was a hole'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mINPh9-eTss&feature=related

Enjoy

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






 

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.

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

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.