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

playing with colors

Some days I just let my little one play with colors be it a empty box , a paper bowl , it sure keeps him occupied and you never know what will be the end product.

papercups/bowl jellyfish

I was thinking what to do with the leftover paper bowls ..when my son decided to pain them. This simple project is so easy and we were done in a jiffy of course thats after he was done painting and repainting the bowls.

supplies:
Paper bowls or cups
paint and brush
glue
party streamer or ribbons

Paint the paper bowls or cups as u like them, preferably pastel colors

Once its dry, add glue to the insides of the bowls/cups

Add streamer or colorful ribbons, both would work great


Tips:
An adult can cut the streamers in thin strips for the kids or let them try it themselves  with a kid safe scissors.
Its a raining day craft, but can work for playdates or birthday parties too
Talk to the kids about Jelly fish or other  sea creatures.

Let the kids explore with colors , my son loves to mix them ..its amazing how much toddlers love to paint.

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






 

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.