Too Cute Penguin!

This was a craft idea with my son's school curriculum. Oh it is too cute! You get a black balloon. Out of poster board cut feet (together), flippers, beak and a white belly. I had my kids paint the feet and beak orange and flippers black, but you could just buy those colors. Use googly eyes or cut eyes out of poster board too. Make a slit in the feet halfway through. Slide the knotted end of the balloon through. Tape or glue on the rest of the penguin.

Disclaimer: Our balloons did pop when the kids pulled on the flippers that were taped on, little disappointing for the 2 year old.

Busytime for Preschoolers!

If you have a toddler that is about to run you out of the house screaming...check out Activity Bags . It is a book of several "kits" you can make and store in a ziploc bag to keep your preschooler busy. Better yet, you can arrange with other moms to do a swap...each make several of one activity and swap with others. I know moms that use this and rave about it. We are about to use it to occupy our son.

Sun Hand Craft

Ok...I don't have a picture, but I got the idea off of www.enchantedlearning.com. It is a sun using your child's handprint. I always love these things...you can look back later and see how much they have grown. Takes a little of mom prep, cutting out the hands, unless your child is old enough.

Supplies needed: Paper plate, yellow paint, 7 hand prints on yellow/orange paper.

Directions: Paint the paper plate yellow on the BACK side. Trace and cut about 7-10 handprints of your child on yellow or alternating yellow/orange paper. (The smaller the child, the more hands needed to go around sun.) Staple or glue the hand prints to the edges of your sun. Feel free to add a face or Bible verse (i.e. Jesus is light of the world.)

I Can Color!

This is a new series I just discovered that is geared for children ages 2 and up. It's really neat. Regular coloring books (and activities such as connect the dots, etc.) are a little too advanced for my 2 1/2 year old. She simply doesn't have the fine motor control to actually color in a shape. These books start with the most basic of the basics: holding a crayon of one color and making squiggles. Why would I need a book to help me teach my daughter that? Well, these have actual colored pictures for inspiration. For example, page number 1 shows three little monkeys swinging on a swing set (just like my own three little monkeys!). There is a big white patch in the grass. The task: make green squiggles in the white patch, making more grass! We had a great time filling in all kinds of things--brown squiggles for earthworms, ladybugs and butterflies drawn by yours truly, etc. Another early picture shows a hot dog--the child adds red squiggles for ketchup, yellow for mustard, and so forth. I don't mind drawing things for my daughter (she doesn't judge my artwork), but I run out of ideas. These mostly-filled-in pages help generate more ideas. On the plate with the hot dog, I drew other things we might eat with the hot dog (asking my daughter for suggestions): peas, watermelon, chocolate chip cookies,.... She had a hilarious time "picking them up" and "eating them." The pages get more advanced, moving to coloring in an entire shape with one color, drawing patterns, and, finally, tracing letters and numbers.

There are other books in this series--all designed to teach skills that children will need for kindergarten/first grade. I'm not really looking at it as school prep; instead, it's providing some great activities we can do together when the Mommy brain has simply run dry in the idea realm. The other titles include things like I Can Cut, I Can Trace, I Can Draw, I Can Paste, and I Can Fold. You can search for them online (use the title and the series title--Big Skills for Little Hands). I found them at Sam's for well below retail ($7.50 as opposed to $14).

Looking ahead to long summer days with your children? Want a free activity? Go outside!!! Young children love going outside. I've posted a picture here of some sidewalk chalk artwork on our front steps--hours of entertainment. We even "jumped" into the pictures like Mary Poppins does....

You can also start a garden (see my post on The Tarnished Teapot) for my story. Here's a great website for gardening with kids: Children in the Garden.

Kids in the Kitchen

As summer fast approaches, you may be wondering what to do with those little hands during the expanded time you have with them. Get them involved in cooking! Sure, it will take longer than if you did it by yourself, but even two year olds love to "help" Mom. Baking is one of the easiest places to start since it generally involves cool or room temperature ingredients (until you put it in the oven) and does not involve sharp knives. (Make sure to keep little fingers away from a mixer.) Perhaps this summer will be the one during which you learn to make bread! Bread is a very easy thing to let your children help with since the ingredient amounts aren't generally as precise as something like a cake. Your kitchen will be a wreck, and so, most likely, will be your child--but the two of you will have some great memories and an edible finished product to boot! Simply clean up the kitchen while your baked goods bake. Then, sit down with your proud child and enjoy the fruits of your labors!

Fun Foam

There are so many things you can do with craft foam. For example, the picture is of a box set I got at Easter. It had foam crosses, glitter, and stickers to decorate. My 5 yr. old did one for each member of the family and we hung them in our window. They made a great display. Sets change seasonally, but you can always buy other basic sheets or crafts to do. (Found at any arts & crafts store or Walmart/Target.)