Tag Archives: crafts

Horsey Camp for Little Ones

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horsey books

 

With my little ones done with their Mother’s Day Out program for the summer, I’m trying to plan some fun things for them. Last year we did Dinosaur “Camp” with great success. This summer, I’d like to plan a “camp” most weeks (this is totally stolen from my friend JessieLeigh, who says she stole it from Jessica … which is weird, since our names are all basically the same).

I asked David what his favorite animal is, and he said horseys. So we decided to start the summer with horsey week!

Now I had hoped to do more this week, but between Libbie getting a cavity filled on Tuesday and me coming down with the virus she had last week … things have been rougher than I had hoped.

But there’s no such thing as a perfect mom or a perfect week. So I am going to share what we DID get done. And you can check out my Horsey Camp Pinterest Board for more ideas.

horsey craft

 

We started off with this fun painted horse craft on Monday (via Learn Create Love). Libbie enjoyed painting the parts and gluing them together. I let her pick out a piece of scrapbook paper on which to glue them … obviously.

paper plate horse craft

 

This paper plate craft was very easy {how do I love free printable crafts? let me count the ways).

3 dinosaurs farm curriculum

I was feeling especially rotten yesterday, so I found the Farm Curriculum Pack at 3 Dinosaurs and printed off a bunch of sheets for Libbie to do. She put together some puzzles, traced lines, found patterns, and more.

For our snack on Monday, we had “horsey oats,” AKA granola. Other snacks could include apples and carrots (my Chock Full of Healthy Muffins have both and would be a fun thing to cook together).

Some of our favorite horsey books and books that have horseys that we read this week are:

We had a good time dancing to horse songs, too! These were the best ones on our playlist:

Again, I have a lot more on my Pinterest board. I really wanted to take the kids to ride the carousel at Coolidge Park, but this was not my week. Maybe next week …

Do you plan activities for the summer?

icanteach

Easy Pink Lemonade Play-Dough

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Libbie is slightly obsessed with pink lemonade. Since I generally try to steer her (and all of us) away from food colorings, it makes me kind of desolate. But we eat dinner in a dining hall, and nearly every night she asks for pink lemonade. And often, we give in. Peer pressure.

I bought a little packet of Wyler’s Pink Lemonade mix yesterday at the grocery when I saw it for about a nickel on clearance, thinking I might make some at home for a special treat. But then I saw a post this morning about Kool-Aid play dough and got inspired. (On a blog called Serving Pink Lemonade, no less!)

I thought Libbie would enjoy playing with pink lemonade-scented play-dough, and I told her maybe she could make aliens. But other than supplies, I didn’t give her any real direction.

 

Aren’t they cute? She was so proud and had a lot of fun.

Easy Pink Lemonade Play-dough

1 1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. salt
1 packet unsweetened Pink Lemonade drink mix (like Kool-Aid or Wyler’s)
1 1/2 T oil
1 c. boiling water

In a bowl, mix together flour, salt, and drink mix. Make a well in the middle and add oil. Quickly pour in water and stir together.

When it’s cool to the touch, knead a few times for dough to come together.

For aliens, provide cookie cutters, googly eyes, and pipe cleaner pieces to play with!

Look, Ma, We DID Something.

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I’m really not a very good mom when I’m pregnant, which is half the reason I’m more-than-hesitant about saying I’ll ever do this again. I’m pretty sure I’m done with pregnancy after March … although you never know.

And parenting when I’m 7 months pregnant AND my back has totally spazzed out? Basically does not happen.

Which is why I was pretty proud that yesterday morning I managed to DO something with the kids.

We started out painting polar bears, an idea I got from Keeping Life Creative. I actually let David paint, which I don’t usually do. I asked the kids whether they wanted brown bears or white bears, and they both chose white, so voila, we had two polar bears.

polar bear art

polar bear art 2

(I did all the cutting and gluing, although Libbie drew her own face.)

Then, after we talked a little bit about how polar bears live in Antarctica and how humans can’t really live there, we watched two YouTube videos about the arctic. (NOT the ones titled “Polar Bear Eats Baby Seal.”

Had it not been Martin Luther King, Jr. day, I would have taken them to the library to explore books on polar bears and Antarctica. But since it was, I went by myself today (Tuesday) while they are in school and asked the children’s librarian for some suggestions. Here are the books we checked out to explore:

I love having my little ones at home and having the freedom to have these sort-of-mini-homeschool units to let them explore what they find interesting. I think next we’ll make Toilet Paper Roll Penguins!

 

 

[please Pin this craft from the original source]

What other fun arctic-y things could we do?

Introvert’s Ode to Quiet

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I’m not sure I ever understood those moms who still had time for the slow arts once they had children: knitting, crochet, cross-stitch, painting.

Too much bustle and hustle. Too many small hands to take apart the work you’ve done. Too many other things to take care of during any downtime.

At almost 4 and 20 months, Libbie and David are starting to go off and play on their own. As long as there aren’t screams I’m generally not too worried. But it doesn’t make for quiet or peace. As long as one of them is awake, it’s almost always loud here. Little voices, singing and shouting and make believing. TV blaring. Lots of asking and demanding and crying.

So when there is any down time, I crave quiet.

I think it’s why I’ve shied away from blogging recently. When I have 10 minutes, I don’t desire to make social connections, Tweet or Facebook as much as I have in the past. Most of the time, I just want to close my eyes and give into the fatigue generated by the grape-sized being in my uterus. And if not, I just want to sit. Recenter my introverted self.

So lately I’ve been drawn to some of those same crafts I’ve eschewed in my mothering years. I used to crochet quite a bit. Yesterday I picked up some new yarn and a pattern for the first time in ages. It’s a baby sweater … likely a gift. Time intensive. But seeing the beauty come together from simple yarn and loving finding a sunsoaked corner to sit in and craft quietly makes it completely worth the effort.

I’m training myself that even when they’re awake, I can steal a few moments to single crochet, a pretty mindless endeavor. Again, the recentering. The few minutes of still instead of laundry and dishes and who knows what else. Everything needs to be done. But I need to think.

It’s much easier to see the glory in every day when your mind has some places of quiet, isn’t it?

The Lazy Mom’s Dinosaur Week for Little Ones

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bathtubdinos

Inspired by JessieLeigh’s awesome summer “camps” with her kids last year, I decided this year I’d better make some plans for Libbie. That child is go-go-go; she does not like staying still and she loves every type of craft and activity. Right now she’s craving an extra helping of one-on-one time with Mommy or Daddy, too.

So for the last few months I’ve been Pinning ideas for activities we could do together. Some are well within my abilities, while others (dinosaur terrarium?) look cool but are just too difficult for me to get together.

Here’s what we actually did last week and some of our favorite dinosaur books. You can see more ideas (some more ambitious) on my Dinosaur Camp Pinterest board.

We started off by breaking the dinosaurs out of their dollar-store packaging and giving them a bath outside. Armed with a pitcher of water, a bottle of baby shampoo, and some washcloths, Libbie happily splashed for half an hour.

IMG_1323

We made these No Time for Flashcards-inspired cardboard stegosauri out of cereal boxes. The kids colored theirs and Libbie glued on the eyes. (We both helped David color a little, as shown above.) Then Lib (3.5) painted all the clothespins for the spikes and I cut out the dinosaurs.

Starting one morning, I froze dinosaurs in layers in a bowl of water (froze some dinos in water, then added more water and dinos so they wouldn’t all float to the top). Libbie then splashed in the bath in her swimming suit and “excavated” the dinosaurs from their apparent ice age habitat. She had a blast and then gave them all a bath again in “a million dillion bubbles.” (Yeah, there’s an elephant in there, too. Maybe a wooly mammoth?)

One day post-nap, I set Libbie up with several sheets from this dinosaur tot pack, crayons, markers, a pen, and a snack of pretzels and dinosaur gummies (a RARE treat in our house). She thought the one-on-one Mommy time was divine, and loved tracing the paths for the dinos to get to the volcanos.

We checked out a BUNCH of dinosaur books from the library; here are our favorites.

There are a few more activities I want to do (dinosaur sock puppets, painting, and maybe a trip to the children’s museum to dig for bones) and then we’re on to Ocean Camp!

Do you plan your summer or just go with the flow?

ICanTeachMyChild.com

Occasionally, I Can Be a Fun Mom

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Looking at the pictures I took today, I feel like the most awesome mom in the world.

Based on my feelings, I am the worst mom in the world.

I’d settle for a happy medium.

So this week we’re doing a little “dinosaur camp.” Basically that means I’ve planned some dinosaur crafts, activities, and checked out dino books from the library. Here’s what we did today!

For activity #1, we made these stegasaurus … things. 

Original:

 

Mine:

IMG_1323

Uncrafty mom issues: Googly eyes will not stay stuck to cardboard. David only wanted to color the cardboard that was outside the dinosaur outline. Libbie whined about painting.

Activity #2: Contact-paper-letter canvas (while we waited for clothespins to dry)

Original:

 

Mine:

IMG_1322

Uncrafty mom issues: Contact paper WOULD NOT STICK to canvas. Libbie whined about painting. Most of my paints are packed. The idea of getting Libbie to fingerpaint is kind of laughable, so she used brushes.

Activity #3: Excavating Dinosaurs from Ice

Original:

Mine:

Uncrafty mom issues: No baby pool for outdoor fun. Libbie would hit ice once with a tool and then whine that she couldn’t do it. BONUS: Libbie played in tub for a good hour with the dinosaurs. Awesome.

And for Mommy’s fun! Activity #4: ModPodge wall hanging.

Original (sort of – those shown are actual frames):

 

Mine:

IMG_1321

Uncrafty mom issues: I have no idea how to use ModPodge. Rough edges didn’t paint well. Found out that Pinterest post didn’t actually link to tutorial! Am going to try again and perhaps do my own tutorial.

So, that’s what we were up to today. How about you?

Celebrating Holy Week with Toddlers & Preschoolers: Day 3, The Last Supper

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We started talking about Passover and its history on day 2. Libbie and I read about Pharaoh, the ten plagues, and the exit of the Israelites from Egypt in the Jesus Storybook Bible (which I found! yes!). Then we made matzah bread.

Now we’ll move on to talking about the Last Supper, where Jesus celebrated Passover with His disciples. Then we will talk about Peter’s denial being predicted and how Peter denied Jesus three times.

Read “The Servant King” from the Jesus Storybook Bible

For David (toddler): read The Story of Easter

Talk about Peter’s denial – read Luke 22:54-62 from the Bible

Make two “Remember” canvases – one with the cup and the bread and one with the rooster

Start making preparations for “Hooray, Jesus is Risen!” party tomorrow.

Last Supper Playlist:

Remember Me from Mark Schultz (Mark Schultz)
Communion from Wherever You Are (Third Day)
Taste and See from Hide Em in Your Heart Worship (Betsy Hernandez and Steve Green)
This Is My Commandment from 25 Favorite Sunday School Songs (Veggie Tales)
Praise and Thanksgiving from Wee Sing More Bible Songs
Bread of Life from Your Grace Is Enough

Celebrating Holy Week with Toddlers & Preschoolers: Day 2, Anointing and Passover

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See day 1 here: Palm Sunday / Hosanna!

Day 2: Jesus anointed / prepares for the Last Supper

Note: The anointing of Jesus’ feet by Mary of Bethany actually happened before Palm Sunday.

Read Jesus’ anointing from The Jesus Storybook Bible

Color pictures in The Gigantic Coloring Book of Bible Stories

Make reed diffusers to place around the apartment

IMG_0876

Make matzah

IMG_0874

Talk about Passover, why it was celebrated, read Exodus story from children’s Bible

Do Easter egg hunt where one of the eggs has a piece of matzah in it. Parallel breaking bread to breaking of Christ’s body. Whoever finds the matzah egg gets a quarter for their piggy bank!

If more time: make salt dough and let kids play with it, “making bread”

Anointing/Passover Playlist

(yes, this is a lot more random than yesterday’s, but the topic was a little more difficult!)

Celebrating Holy Week: Update on Day 1

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I tried.

Unfortunately, much of the day was summed up in this Tweet:

Yeah, Libbie was throwing a tantrum because I wanted her to dance to music that wasn’t Gourds Just Wanna Have Fun.

We did all the things on our list other than read from the Jesus Storybook Bible because I CAN’T FIND IT TO SAVE MY LIFE. Eeeek! How is that possible? I’m going to keep searching because I really want it this week. I read to Libbie from my Bible instead.

It was another really hard day with Libbie. She didn’t even nap to give me a little break. She broke every rule, ignored everything I said, and refused to get excited or have fun. But I just kept trying … and didn’t yell TOO much.

Tomorrow we’re talking about the anointing of Jesus at Bethany and His preparations for the Last Supper. Our outline will be up in the morning. And tomorrow’s another day … right?

Celebrating Holy Week with Toddlers and Preschoolers: Day 1, Palm Sunday

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My kids are on “Spring Break” this week from their Mother’s Day Out program. The public schools are out, too, but my husband’s private school was on break two weeks ago.

What does that mean for us? Playgrounds and museums are going to be uber-crowded, and I will be home alone with my kids all week.

I have a difficult time functioning without a plan; I am not the kind of mom who can put crafts together on the fly, usually. So here I am outlining my plans to celebrate Holy Week with my kiddos (a 3.5-year-old and a 15-month-old). Libbie (3) and I may do a lot of this while David is asleep, honestly, because he is just not old enough to do crafts yet. I will do my best to have him listen to storytime!

Palm Sunday: Hosanna
source: entheos

Monday: Hosanna! / Palm Sunday

“Jesus Enters Jerusalem” pictures from The Gigantic Coloring Book of Bible Stories

Read from the Jesus Storybook Bible (Libbie)

“Jesus Rides a Donkey” from The LullaBible Storybook (David)

Make Palm Palms and Dance!

 

Hosanna Playlist:



Are you doing anything to celebrate Jesus with your kids this week?