Toddler Activities for Mother's Day: Silhouette's

For Mother's Day this year, I wanted to spoil myself. I wanted to find a craft that would capture my little girls' ages and their sweet, ornery, colorful cuteness. I love silhouette's, so I decided to have my girls decorate their own silhouette to show off their little personalities.

Materials:
pics of your girls in the size of your choice
cardstock
scissors
markers or crayons
double-sided tape

Step One: Take profile pics of your kiddos, making sure to take each picture from the same distance (if you have more than one...) I printed them off in "draft gray scale" mode so I didn't use too much ink. I printed them in 8x10.

Step Two: Cut out their silhouette and tape it onto cardstock (I used white). Cut it out again in the cardstock and place it onto a scrap piece of paper for your toddler to decorate.


Step Three: This step totally depends on the age of your child. I did a small "interview" with my 3 1/2 year old, asking her (self-flattering) questions like, "What is your favorite thing about mommy? What is your favorite thing to do outside with mommy?" It was fun to hear her answers. Most of them involved a koala bear. She's obsessed with them today. (Which is fine because K is our letter of the week!)
After I wrote down some of the words she'd used to describe how she felt about me, I helped her write them on her silhouette. Then she drew some pictures until the entire thing was decorated. I had her use pencil just in case there was a major mishap that needed to be fixed.


Step Four: I wish I had kept her silhouette in pencil only, but I asked her to color it and she colored the entire thing pink, which I guess shows off a little more about her.
I'm happy with my little Hazel silhouette.


I didn't finish the others today, but with my two year old I was planning having her paint "dots" in her favorite colors since circles are her specialty (have you ever read The Dot?). And with the baby, I was going to dip her hands in paint and do hand prints all over. I'll post updates when they're done.

You can have them draw, write, paint, decorate with stickers or make a mosaic-like silhouette with colorful tissue paper. Let them use their imagination and you'll get to capture their personalities at this time in their lives.

Have fun and Happy Mother's Day!

Toddler and Preschooler Activities for the Letter J

This past week we studied the letter "J." In celebration of this fine letter of the alphabet, we made "Jumbo Me's." Do you remember doing these when you were younger? It's a fun way for your kids to see how big they really are...on paper!

Materials:
Butcher paper
markers or crayons
yarn
googly eyes
glue

Trace your kid's entire body with a crayon (marker bleeds onto their clothes).

Help your toddler or preschooler decorate their Jumbo Me. We used googly eyes and drew on the nose and mouth. Then we cut out pieces of yarn for hair (I only had blond, so they were both blonds), and drew clothes.

My two year old wiggled way too much so her Jumbo Me was a little off.


My three year old cut ended up cutting out a skirt for her Jumbo Me with some fabric. She drew rings on her fingers and painted her nails.



p.s. This is a great activity that can keep them busy on their own and give you some free time!

Toddler and Preschooler Activities for the Letter H

Last week we learned about the letter "H." We did a Hunt for colored shapes and placed them onto corresponding shapes on a sheet of paper. I got this idea from No Time for Flash Cards where she used dried black beans and had her kids "mine" for jewels.
Since I didn't have any black beans, we hunted for our shapes amongst corn kernels and of course we used some Headlamps.

Materials:
Corn kernels (or any type of dried beans)
tray or pan
foam paper
construction paper
pen
stick glue
scissors

Step One:
Cut a variety of shapes in different colors and bury them in your pan full of kernels. Draw corresponding shapes on a piece of construction paper for your kids to glue the shapes onto once they find them.

Step Two: For the headlamps, I measured their heads with two strips of construction paper and stapled them together. I cut two squares of foam paper, one smaller than the other, glued them together and wrote the letter H on the front.


Step Three: I told my girls to hunt for shapes and glue them to their sheet as they found them.


As they found each shape, we talked about what the shape looked like (a circle is smooth all the way around; it looks like the moon, etc.). We also talked about the color of the shape.

Step Four: Once we found all the shapes, we counted them together and congratulated one another on a successful hunt.

Spring Activities for Preschoolers: Little Love Birds

So today was a perfect example of why I started this blog. I wanted to come up with a service activity that we could do as a family this Easter, to keep it more Christ-centered. I found these little birds and thought we could make them for a local children's center called the Christmas Box House. I called the shelter and they told me that they currently had five children at their shelter, so our plan was to make five of these "love" birds (to show the kids how loved they are) with hand-written notes from my girls. Sounds simple enough right? And if I were to post the pictures of my girls making these birds, writing their notes, and taking this basket of love birds to the shelter, it just might have passed for a perfectly planned activity that was a great success.

Fledgling Friends from Family Fun

But the point of this blog is NOT to make activities like this look easy! Let me just pull the curtain and reveal the back stage realities of this activity. The birds were delivered with love, but not without a few little mishaps along the way. Everything started out so well. We had a lesson on the Easter story and the Resurrection. We talked about how we want to remember the Savior this Easter by doing service. We made the birds, wrote the notes, and all was on track. Then, right before we left, my three year old started crying because her love bird's wings were uneven. She refused to eat dinner and when she started telling my husband and I that she'd never be our daughter again, she was put in time-out.

(She chucked pieces of her magnetic calendar out from under her door one by one... and her underwear. She knows that really ticks me off.)

Once she calmed down enough to come downstairs and get in the car, we were on our way. Then my sweet little girl (same one) lost it again. Her little sister got to choose what movie was on in the car, and that was pure injustice. To give her credit, she had stayed up late with the babysitter the night before and needed to call it a day, but our goal was to DELIVER THE GOODS. We pressed forward. Once we arrived at the shelter, Hazel (over-tired 3 yr old) offered to carry the bag of candy. I should have known that that was a bad idea. Once she realized that after her behavior that evening she wasn't getting one bite of that candy, she started pouting again...

We did deliver the basket of love birds and candy and wished everyone a Happy Easter. We speedily drove home while our precious girl (yep, same one) cried about not getting the biggest carrot in the snack bag. She was sound asleep within 30 minutes of returning home and we are left with HOPE for a brighter, more sane tomorrow...and the age of 4. (I hear it's better than 3).

Easter Love Birds

Materials:

Styrofoam balls in 2 different sizes

soft fuzzy yarn

toothpicks

tacky glue

scissors

feathers

black ball-head straight pins

Step One:

Stick a toothpick into the smaller Styrofoam ball and drizzle the ball in glue. Wrap yarn around the ball, starting at the end and working towards the middle. Cut the yarn, move the toothpick to the opposite end, and wrap the remainder of the ball in yarn, again working toward the middle. Repeat with larger ball.

Step Two:

To put the bird together, press a glue-tipped toothpick into the end of the smaller ball, dap the other end of the toothpick with glue and connect it to the bigger ball (one is the head and one is the body...in case you weren't following). Use toothpicks to poke four holes into the larger ball (2 for wings, 2 for legs).

(My husband is the lovely hand model here)

Step Three:

For the legs, bend the end of a pipe cleaner into four zig zags and pinch them together in two's (for little toes). Trim the legs to about 1 1/2 inches and insert them into the holes with glue on the tips of the pipe cleaners.

Step Four:
Insert wings into the other holes you made in the body. Trim the feathers if needed to make them the same length.

Step Five:

For the beak, cut a triangle from a piece of folded orange felt and bead glue along the outside of the crease. Press into place on the face and add two straight pins for eyes.

Step Six:
My girls drew pictures and wrote "Happy Easter" on little notes with John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life."

Happy Easter!

Toddler and Preschooler Activities: Earth Day

Earth Day is tomorrow!

If you happen to have any leftover egg cartons, you can put them to use with this cute Grassapillar from Family Fun. We're planning on making this for Earth Day since the kids get to plant grass seed and watch it grow inside this little critter.

Materials:

3/4 cup potting soil

2 tablespoons grass seed

1 egg carton

Black marker

Step One:

Mix your potting soil and grass seed in a bowl. Add water to moisten and set aside.

Step Two:

Cut out a three cup section of your egg carton, trimming the longer edges so it looks the same on both sides. Draw a face on the front of your caterpillar.

Step Three:

Fill the three cups with your seed mixture and set in sunny spot. The grass should sprout in one week.

This would be a great day to introduce gardening and the concept of spring to your kids, helping them appreciate our beautiful earth!

(That sounded cheesy, but it IS beautiful isn't it?!)

Happy Earth Day to you.