Handprint Stepping Stone

My daughter made this one year during summer camp. It is a fun and easy project that will be a great memento of your child's youth!


All you have to do is:

1. Mix cement with water in a large pail and follow instructions on cement packaging. Once cement is mixed very well pour into a pie tin.

2. Smooth the top of the cement and let it set. On average let it sit for about an hour. When you are able to make a handprint without it disappearing it is ready to decorate.

3. Have child spread out fingers and firmly press into the cement. Once hand print is done decorate it with objects of personal choice; stones, shell, jems, etc… Child could also write something in the cement.

4. Allow Stepping Stone to dry for many days. One week should be enough time. Optional – Paint handprint and writing if there is writing.

Making Boats Out Of Old Party Supplies

It was a rainy day so my children decided they wanted to make boats out of old birthday party supplies and this was the final project.....



Supplies

Small party plate
Paper cup
Plastic fork
Party napkin
Paper
Tape and/or Glue
Scissors

Steps
(My kids love to use tape but alot of these steps could use glue instead of tape depending on preference)

1. An adult should pierce a hole in the bottom of the cup with a knife or scissors. Make sure the hole is smaller than the end of the fork. Having cup turned upside down put just the end of the fork in the hole and tape to cup for security.

2. With cup still upside down tape it to the center of the face part of the plate.

3. Take some paper and cut out a sail for your boat and tape it to the Tines(Prongs) of the fork.

4. Now take your napkin and cute out the pictures on it. If there are no pictures on the napkin, cut out shapes. Tape them onto the sail and/or cup part of your boat.

And there you have it a boat made out of old party supplies...... Enjoy!

Easter Crafts For Toddlers To Teens

Click the links for each craft project to go right to the instructions and have fun!

Easter Crafts For Toddlers
Little Easter Chick
Peek–A-Boo–Eggs
Egg Bunny

Easter Crafts For Kids
Easter Egg Wreath
Easy Egg Mosaic
Milk Carton Bunny Basket

Easter Crafts For Teens
Chick Suncatcher
Eggshell Plant Pots
Yarn Wrapped Eggs

You've Tried Lollipops But Have You Tried Easter Cake Pops?

Enjoy this crafty baking experience with your kids This Easter. Had to share this video for all the crafty bakers out there....

3rd And 4th Birthday Craft Ideas

Since the kids will be doing pretty much the same activities at a 3rd Birthday party as they will be doing at a 4th Birthday party I figured it would make more sense to combine the two to just one post....

3 year olds and 4 year olds are now at the age where they enjoy simple crafts, activities and games so keep it simple. Don't over do it and exhaust yourself when planning the party when your kids will have fun with craft and activities such as:

Foam Art
Foam art is very popular with the little ones. It is something they can do with little or no help at all. Many stores sell many varieties of foam art. They can make pictures on foam cards, foam bookmarks, foam hats, etc.... Also there are so many options of foam stickers out there that if you are having a themed party I wouldn't be surprise if you found something to go with that theme!


Making Leaf Prints
Depending on the time of year this would be a great project for the little artists. All that is need is a good variety of leaves, paper and crayons. Give each child a piece of paper and a few leaves. Have them put the leaves under their piece of paper and use the crayons to create their own leaf prints. They will love this!

Coloring Pages
Print out some coloring pages for the kids to color with crayons. This is a great activity to do at the beginning of the party while waiting for all the kids to arrive and at the end if there is still time. There are a few great coloring pages I have linked to a couple posts I have in this blog. Lots of toddlers favorite characters.

Trace And Draw
Have the Birthday child lie down on a big piece of paper and trace out his body. Once you have the outline of the Birthday child finished have all the children draw and color in the outline. This will be a wonderful keepsake for the Birthday Child!

What is a party without games? Here are a few ideas of easy and fun games everyone will enjoy:

Pin The Tail On The ? - If you are having a themed party, you could draw a picture to go with the theme. For instance, my daughter had a pony themed party and I drew a My Little Pony without a tail on a piece of bristle board. The birthday child can help to get it ready by helping you color the picture. To make the tails you can use string or ribbon. I used two pieces of curled ribbon and taped them together.

Musical Bumps - Have the kids move around and dance. When the music stops they are to sit on the floor. Last one to sit is out.

Simon Says Have an adult be the caller. The caller will tell the kids to do something. For example, Simon says touch your nose... Have the caller do this a few time by telling the children to do different things. Then tell the children to do something with out say "Simon Says". Whoever did it is out and the children who didn't do anything keep playing.

Dart Board Game - You can buy a little velcro dart board at some dollars stores for a cheap price. Have the kids throw the darts at the board to see who can get the closest to the bulls-eye.

Scavenger Hunt - This is a great game for a themed party. For instance if it is a pirate themed party the kids can hunt for chocolate coins. Because of their age you don't want what the kids are hunting for to be totally hidden. Atleast make them half hidden. Give each child a bucket and get them to go on the hunt. Whoever finds the most wins.

Making An Inuksuk (Inukshuk)

I have a five year old who is fascinated with Inuksuit. -For those who do not know Inuksuit is the plural of Inuksuk.- His uncle and aunt gave him a book called "Make Your Own Inuksuk" for Christmas and he has made a couple.












This was his first project He was so proud of himself!



These are really simply to make for a child if they love puzzles and such.... The only supplies you need are rocks and glue (I used a glue gun and of course I was the one who glued it together for him once he had constructed it)

As I mentioned my son is 5 so he is in Kindergarten and at their school they count the days of school up to 100 and to make it more fun the students were to collect whatever they wanted to and count their collection at home until it was day 100. On day 100 they were to bring in their collection so they can show the class.

My son decided at the beginning of the school year that he wanted to collect rocks and as it was getting close to day 100 he decide that he wanted to make Inuksuit out of them. So he constructed all his little Inuksuit - all different kinds - and I of course helped by gluing them for him. The rocks that were left over I glued them to a piece of cardboard so he would have a strong base for his little Inuksuit to be glue to.

Here are a couple of pictures of his little project:






Here he is painting the base of his project.










And here is it finished with all eight Inuksuit glued to the base.

Making an Inuksuk is an easy project and I hope your child has as much fun with it as mine does!

Rainbow And Pot of Gold Crafts

Hand Print Rainbow
Rainbow Mobiles
Pot Of Gold Shirt Pin
My Little Pot For Gold
Pot Of Gold
Lifesavers Rainbow Treat
Paper Pot of Gold and Rainbow

St. Patrick's Day Coloring Pages

Below are a few websites with great activities for all ages to help celebrate St. Patrick's Day:


St. Patrick's Day "Draw the Details" Coloring Pages - Some cute draw in the details coloring pages from DLTK.

Coloring Pages - Here are some coloring pages for the kids to enjoy while celebrating St. Patrick's Day. A few activity pages as well.

St. Patrick's Day Work Sheets - Some great activity worksheets for St. Patrick's Day from abcteach.

St. Patrick's Day Hat For Kids

As St. Patrick's Day draws near I thought this would be a cute craft for kids to make and wear. Have fun with it and be creative!

Toddler Coloring Pages - Part 2

Color, color, color kids sure love to color. Well, I know mine do!

Below are more links that will take you right to some great coloring pages of characters loved by many children.

• Coloring is an excellent and fun way for children to exercise their fine motor skills.
• Small children have better control with thick crayons.
• Never expect your child to color better than they can - everyone is different!
• Remember to always compliment your child on their artwork, even if it is just scribbles!
• Ask your child to describe the pictures they draw - this helps to build their imagination.
• When coloring with your child don't forget to color a bit out of the lines - By your coloring perfectly could discourage your child from wanting to color.

Print and color these great coloring pages found at www.nickjr.com and treehousetv.com:

Ni Hao Kai Lan Coloring Pages
Toopy & Binoo Coloring Pages
Max & Ruby Coloring Pages
Caillou Coloring Pages
Miss Spider's Coloring Pages
In the Night Garden Coloring Pages

Valentine/Spring Hand Flower

This is what my children had made for their Grandmother for Valentine's Day but it would also make for a nice Spring time craft.



Needed
Paper
Crayons, pencil crayons and/or markers
Scissors
Glue
Anything else you would like to add

Directions
I will discribe the way my kids and I made this but it can be made many different ways......

1. Take paper and trace out your child's hands. Depending on age the child can do this themselves. There are three kids in our family so we traced out both hand of each child once - making 6 hand traces.

2. Have children color their own hands that were traced. I had each child use one color for both the hands but different colors for each child.

3. After they are done coloring cut out each hand. Again, depending on age the child can do this themselves.

4. Glue hands together to make a flower. (see above picture)

5. draw out a stem with its leaves, color and cut

6. Glue flower to stem

7. Your flower is done unless you would like to add anything else to it. Seeing that my kids made this as a Valentine's gift they decided to use glitter glue to make a heart in the middle of it. (Red and Gold)

This is a fun family activity so enjoy and be creative!

In Spirit Of The Olympics

I don't know about you but I love the Winter Olympics!

Here is an activity for schools to have their students participate in. My daughter's school is doing this in spirit of the beloved winter games and I just had to share this idea....

The school she goes to is grades K-5 so what the school has asked is that each grade level freeze a block of colored water and bring in on a certain day. Block of ice can be made from an ice cream container or anything that size.

Now each of those grade levels has a certain color they are to freeze - Blue, Black, Red, Yellow and Green. My daughters grade color is Blue for the first ring in the Olympic rings.

You have probably already guessed what they are going to do with these blocks of ice by now.... Yes, they are going to make the olympic rings down in the lower field of the school yard.

Here are some pictures of the great job the kids did!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here are some great activities for the kids to keep them busy on Valentine's Day. Just click the link to take you to it:
Hearts Dominoes Game
Fix The Hearts
Valentine Crosswords
Valentine Word Search

Valentine Heart Message Tree

Here is a great Valentine craft from the Monday Moms:

Valentine Crafts Ideas

Here are some great Valentine crafts I found at Kaboose. Click the links to take you to the directions:

Paper Love Bug - What a cute little craft for ages 4 and up made with a toilet paper roll, paper and pipecleaners.

Stained Glass Heart - ages 3 and up with help from an adult.

Foam Heart Bear - States ages 5 and up but I think a 3 and 4 year old can do this with assistance......

Tissue Paper Carnations - Such a cute little flower project for ages 4 and up.

Pom Pom Valentine Critter - for ages 6 and up made with pom poms, foam hearts and wiggle eyes. Younger ages can do this with help from an adult.

1st Birthday Craft Ideas

Lets face it, most first year birthday parties consist of babies and adults. So chances are the kids at the party are not going to be doing much besides playing and drooling. We might as well make the party more exciting for the adult guests; so why not plan activities that involve them?

Here are a few great ideas that are wonderful keepsakes....

Collage
Make a collage of pictures of babies first year and leave it out for all the guests to sign and leave a personal message for the birthday boy/girl.

Mixture Picture
This one is a fun one - everyone will have a great laugh and so will the baby when you show the pictures to them at an older age!

• What you want to do is have all older guests sit at the table while you hold the birthday boy/girl so that everyone can see him/her.


• Make sure everyone has a pen and paper in front of them.


• Everyone is to draw a picture of the birthday girl/boy while you are timing them.


• After 30 seconds everyone is to stop and pass their picture to the person to their left.


• Now time them for another 30 seconds while they draw adding on to the picture they have now.


• After the 30 seconds is up get them to pass that picture to the person to their left.


• Repeat this until the birthday girl/boy doesn't want to be held anymore.

Picture The Future
Here is another great keepsake for the birthday boy/girl...

Have guests draw a picture of what they think the birthday girl/boy will look like when they are 18 years old.

Another variation to this would be to have all the guests write down answers to a few questions you ask about what they think the birthday boy/girl will be like in the future.

A few good questions would be:

• What will be their career?


• Will they get married?


• Will they have any children if so how many?


• What color will their hair be when they read this?


• Etc.....

make sure the guests put their names on the picture or sheet with questions and put all of them away as a time capsule that can not be opened until the birthday girl/boy turns 18.

Toddler Coloring Pages - Part 1

Below are links to many coloring pages of many children's favorite characters; Dora, Diego, Blues Clues, Bob the Builder, Thomas and Friends and the Backyardigans.

• Coloring is an excellent and fun way for children to exercise their fine motor skills.
• Small children have better control with thick crayons.
• Never expect your child to color better than they can - everyone is different!
• Remember to always compliment your child on their artwork, even if it is just scribbles!
• Ask your child to describe the pictures they draw - this helps to build their imagination.
• When coloring with your child don't forget to color a bit out of the lines - By your coloring perfectly could discourage your child from wanting to color.

Print and color these great coloring pages:

Dora Coloring Pages
Go Diego Go Coloring Pages
Blues Clues Coloring Pages
Bob The Builder Coloring Pages
Thomas And Friends Coloring Pages
The Backyardigans Coloring Pages

Butterfly Crafts Projects

Follow these links to many butterfly craft ideas:

Various Butterfly Crafts

Butterfly Wind Chime (+ House Wind Chime)

More Great Various Butterfly Crafts Enchanted Learning is filled with many, many, many great crafts and learning related activities!

Stained Glass Butterfly Magnets

There are so many more great butterfly craft ideas out there - the above crafts should give you something to work at :)

Happy Crafting!

2nd Birthday Craft Ideas

Foot And Hand Print Memorial

Get all the kids who are attending the party to make one big memorial on paper of their hands and feet.

• Make a title at the top of the paper that reads anything like this "________ 2nd Birthday Guests"
  
• Use ice cream lids to hold the paint.
  
• If at all possible, assign a certain color to each child and write that child's name on one of their hand or foot prints.
  
• Hang up in child's room.
  

Play Dough

Keep it simple by having a table set up for the children to play with play dough.
Need a simple play dough recipe?

2 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 cup of salt
2 teaspoons of alum
2 cups of boiling water
2-3 tablespoons of oil
2 pachages of unsweetened kool-aid

• Combine ingredients
  
• Stir well
  
• Knead dough and it is ready
  
• Store in container
  
  ** I like to divide ingredients and use different colors of kool-aid
  

Make A Personalized Birthday Card

Is your child going to a 2 year old's birthday party? Why not help them make a birthday card for the birthday boy or girl? It will be a great keepsake :)

Toddler - Easy Crafts

Not to sure what craft ideas are great for toddlers? Then take a look at this video. Excellent ideas!