place mats

I shared a link to a place mat craft a few weeks ago and we finally got around to making them!

I first saw the idea on Enjoying the Small Things.

 

Here's what you need:

*3/4 yard of white vinyl - I got mine at Joann Fabrics for $12.99/yard

*colored duck tape

*permanent markers

*artistic kiddos :)

 

Cut the vinyl to the size you want your place mats. 

Trim the vinyl with the duck tape.

Have your lil artists go to town! 

I wanted a bit of a theme for our place mats so I had the kiddos draw their favorite meals on their place mats and then they did the same for my husband and me!

 

Lil Man made mac-n-cheese, applesauce and bread on his and he made steak, rice and broccoli for his dad!

Lil Miss made pizza, salad and bread sticks for me and steak, salad and fries for her!

The kiddos had a little trouble drawing the silverware, so in hindsight, I would have had a stencil or something, but over all, we love our new place mats!



sewing with kids

I saw this on Facebook this morning and I can't wait to try some of these out with Lil Miss and maybe even Lil Man (since he says I never make him anything)!

10 Simple Sewing Projects for Kids from UCreate

**I didn't forget about the give-away....I just haven't gotten what I need in the mail yet!**

Happy Friday!



the lorax

Next week, my 6th graders are taking the ISAT {Illinois Standard Achievement Test}. The kids will be taking tests most of each day, but we will still have about 2 non-testing hours at the end of each day. As a grade level, we came up with a Lorax literature unit and I'm super excited!!!! {We got most of our materials from teacherspayteachers.com.}

I dyed cotton balls with kool aid this past week to use for the tops of the truffula trees when the kids draw their setting pictures! I have to say it was pretty easy! I had four different flavors/colors, so I put 2 cups of water in each of the containers. I stirred the whole packet of kool aid in the container and put 10-15 cotton balls in each. I let them soak for 15 minutes. Then I used a wooden spoon to scoop out each cotton ball. I squeezed a little of the kool aid out of the cotton ball, but I didn't want to totally flatten it! I laid them all out on a cooling rack for about two full days before they were totally dry. They puffed back up a bit after they dried completely. I'm really surprised that neither one of my children tried eating one since they sat on the counter for so long....they smelled really good!

I had to get my classroom ready also....so I used {this tutorial} to make tissue paper pompoms - aka - truffula tree tops!!
We won't kick off the unit in the classroom until Tuesday - but my lil kiddos and I had some fun with it today!
After reading the book, we took a "Lorax" picture and I added a quote from the book using picnik.com.

Then we made foam frames...testing out the cotton balls!

We also ended up going to the movie this afternoon....not much else to do on a cold, dreary day!! I love that the message in the book/movie is versatile enough for kids of all ages!!

craft stick snowflakes

We took down our Christmas tree & decor this week - and the house seems so bare!!! The kiddos wanted to make a craft and I wanted something to fill the Christmas-is-over void!

We came up with Craft Stick Snowflakes!

Here's what you'll need:

-4 craft sticks per snowflake

-hot glue/hot glue gun

-paint

-glitter

-baker's twine/string for hanging

Arrange your sticks into snowflakes and hot glue. Paint - this was the kiddos' job! I gave them white paint and a few drops of dark & light blue.
We laid them out to dry and added some glitter. What I had on hand was more shimmery than glittery, but it worked!
Once they were completely dry, I cut some baker's twine to hang them from.
Simple & easy! I think that we are all having snow withdrawls right now! Usually, by the end of December, we've had many 2"+ snowfalls and even a snow day or two. So far this winter, we had our first snowfall on the 27th. It really was only a mini snowfall and was completely melted away by lunch time!

Nature Art

My sister & her boyfriend were camping this weekend and invited out for the afternoon. The kiddos were busy collecting stuff...

And they decided first thing this morning that they should make something with their collections!

Lil Miss decided on a picture frame {we had an extra & just hot glued her items on the top}. We are going to give this to my sister as a "thank you"!

Lil Man wanted something different, so he decided to glue some of his things on cardboard to display in his room....

And yes, he's wearing US Navy camo's - his uncle is in the Navy so he gets him the coolest things!!

Salt Dough Hearts

When I got the call that school was closed for the third day in a row, I started to panic a little! We were still at my parents' house and they were going to work, so it would be me and the kiddos all day! We'd already made valentines and pillows....then, I remembered seeing salt dough ornaments at Christmas time and thinking they were really easy and that we should try them next year. I decided to make salt dough hearts for the kiddos to paint and give to their grandparents/teachers/aunts/etc.

Here's what we did...

- Ingredients - I search the Internet for a recipe and the only difference among the recipes I found was the amount of flour to use. So in the end, we used 1 1/2 cups of hot water, 1 cup salt and 2 cups of flour. (We actually used wheat flour b/c that is what my mom had the most of, on hand.)

-We mixed the water and salt together first, and then added the flour, one cup at a time.

- I sprinkled some flour on the wax paper on the counter top and spread the dough out. I rolled it to about 1/4" thick.

-The kiddos cut out hearts with a heart shaped cookie cutter.

- We used a straw to make holes at the top of each heart (for a string to go through later) and then baked them for 2 hours at 200 degrees.

- We let them cool for awhile.
(We actually headed home at this point because out power was back up and the road was clear!!)


- Once we were settled in at home, I let the kiddos paint them using Valentine's Day-ish colors...red, pink, white and purple.

- We let them dry again!

- Once they were dry, I put ribbon through the hole, tied it and heat sealed the ends.

This was a super easy and super fun impromptu craft!! It definitely took all morning with the baking, cooling and drying that had to be done...but hey, we had all day!!

You Color My World, Valentine!

For Valentine's Day 2009, my son and I made little heart shaped crayons for his Valentines! I used a heart shaped ice cube tray from Target's $1 bin...and surprisingly it handled the oven very well!! I googled this project for oven temperatures and baking times and got a variety of information, so I sort of experimented and it worked!

Here's what to do:

Step #1 - Take the wrappers off of the crayons. Soaking them in warm water helps a ton! We used Crayola brand after reading that other brands didn't work as well. However, we didn't try any other brands ourselves.

Step #2 - Break the crayons into 1/2"-1" pieces (small enough to fit in the heart molds).

Step #3 - Fill the heart molds with the crayon pieces...over fill since as the crayons melt they'll settle in the molds.


Step #5 - Bake at 300-350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Let them cool and you're done!!

How cute are these?!


*If your child gives these out at school, it might be a good idea to make sure everyone knows these are not candy!*




I'm super excited about my next Valentine's Day post!! I'll show you N's Valentines for daycare this year - super cute!!!

Countdown to Valentine's Day!

I LOVE Valentine's Day! So for the next few weeks, I'll be posting about a V-Day project that my kiddos and I have done over the last few years.

Project #1 - Fabric Rose Arrangement

(as seen at U-Create)

I had B & N paint the terra cotta pots for a personalized feel and, at their ages when we made these last year, that was the best way for them to participate!

You'll need Styrofoam balls that fit nicely in the terra cotta pots. We used 2" pots and 2" balls. You'll also need fabric in a shade of red, to resemble roses, and glue (on a plate or in a bowl).

Once the pots are painted, put the Styrofoam balls into them. Cut the red fabric into 2"x2" squares.

Wrap a 2"x2" piece of fabric around the eraser end of a pencil. Stick it in the glue and then into the Styrofoam ball, and repeat until none of the Styrofoam is showing.

I have one of the ones we made last year in my classroom still displayed on my desk!

Reindeer

My favorite thing to do with my kiddos' handprints for Christmas...I usually put them on the tree as ornaments, but the bigger the kids get, the bigger their handprint get!! It is fun to see how much they've grown from Christmas to Christmas!!

Craft Stick Christmas Tree Ornament

Craft Stick Christmas Tree Ornaments

My kiddos made these tonight and they are super cute and super easy!!

For one ornament, you'll need three craft sticks. I used the jumbo ones that are already colored. One doesn't get cut at all, one gets cut by 2" and then you'll have a remaining 4" piece. The last stick gets cut to 6".

I glued the tree together before I let the kiddos have at it..2" piece on top, 4" piece next and 6" piece last. I put glue (elmer's glue all) in a container and gave them q-tips to use to put glue on the buttons to then glue to the tree.

N is only 2.5 years old and did so great! B took his time a little more but they both came out super!!

I added some ribbon to the back to make a hanger with hot glue and off to the tree we went to hang them up!!

*Older kiddos could use plain colored sticks and paint them themselves.

boredom buster...hopefully

We are traveling for Thanksgiving...about 2 hours away. It's not a horrible drive, but the thought of the kiddos in the car for two hours (even with the DVD player) is making me anxious already!! I had purchased {these} paper turkey crafts from Oriental Trading earlier in the fall. Each of the kiddos made one, and now we have 10 more sets for another time! It occurred to me that I could use them for a boredom buster in the car.

So, I laminated them (you wouldn't necessarily have to do that) and cut them out. If you don't laminate then you don't have to cut...sort of a nice compromise!

Then I put magnetic tape on the back of each piece as well as each kiddos' initial for 'keeping track' purposes! If I were going to do it again, I would have gotten stronger magnets, but my little town hardware store had one kind available!

I also purchased two cookie sheets that are 15.5" x 10.5". Again, not my first choice, but it was what I could find!

My plan is that both of the kids and arrange and rearrange their turkeys for awhile, not only on the way to Thanksgiving, but once we are there if they get bored. I put each kids' set in a baggie with their name on it also, to keep the pieces in one place when they were done!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!! I personally have a lot to be thankful for!!

turkeys

We have done the traditional hand print turkeys for 2010! I'm thinking that next year the kiddos will be able to add the face & feet themselves. I should have let them this year, but I didn't think about it until after I had done it! Last year, we used puffy paint {there was a shortage of washable paint apparently, b/c I don't know why else I would have used non washable paint with a 1.5 and 3.5 year old}. The puffy paint outcome was super cute, but the clean up was not!! Coming soon - Thanksgiving Day craft/idea to keep the little ones busy in the car!!