Capture your kiddos favorite things, special memories, and more with a New Year's interview! This is our third year of interviews and the girls just love hearing what their answers were in the past - lots of giggles! Here's our list of questions: Favorites: cereal vegetable drink toy TV Show game book restaurant holiday animal If you could change your name, what would you choose? What do you love about each person in our family? Where would you like to go on vacation this year? What are some of your wishes for this year? I have these in a little notebook, but this year I want to do something a little more special. I'm typing their answers and printing them out, leaving space for a self-portrait and a photo. I'll put these in a binder or simple … [Read more...]
Paper Bag Gingerbread Garland
With just a brown grocery bag and some crayons, you and your kids can create this sweet garland of paper-doll-style gingerbread boys & girls. Supplies: brown grocery bag (or a roll of brown craft paper) crayons, markers, etc. for decorating - we found that construction paper crayons worked great Open your paper bag flat and cut into strips. Accordion-fold each strip, making the folds the width you want your gingerbread people to be. Draw or trace a gingerbread shape onto the top of the folded strip (we used a cookie cutter for tracing.) With some good scissors, cut around the shape (this is a grown-up job!). Remember not to cut any parts that are on the folded sides, in this case the ends of the arms and legs. Unfold and see the long string of gingerbread people holding … [Read more...]
Flashlight Fun – Activities for Kids
Flashlights are fun! Spend a few minutes before bedtime playing a flashlight game or two. Flashlight Scavenger Hunt: Go on a night walk in a familiar area and see what you can find by the glow of a flashlight. Name one or two things at a time for your child to find, or pick one thing, such as acorns, and count how many you see on your walk. This is fun inside, too! Flashlight Stomp: Shine the flashlight on the floor and let your child try to stomp on the light before it moves. Also try shining it on walls or furniture while your child tries to "tag" the light. Make-Your-Own Constellations: Cut pieces of black paper to fit the end of your flashlight. Poke or punch holes in the paper in a design of your choice. Tape the paper to the end of the flashlight, shine it on the … [Read more...]
Weather Charts for Preschoolers
My girls love to talk about the weather, and this time of year seems to have all kinds of weather to observe. Here are some of the weather charts we have made: This paper plate weather chart is perfect for even the littlest weather watcher. We used die-cut shapes and a cotton ball for the cloud. An arrow attached to a clothespin marks the weather each day. You could also attach an arrow with a brad in the middle of the chart. Another fun and easy way to show the daily weather is with a magnet chart. The girls drew pictures for 4 types of weather - sunny, rainy, cloudy, and windy. I scanned them into the computer and added text. I then printed the drawings on magnet paper and gave this a little spot on our fridge. If you don't want to use magnet paper, you could just glue your … [Read more...]
Purr-fect Kitty Valentine’s Day Crafts
My four-year-old's preschool class loves to play kitties, so we thought a friendly kitty Valentine would be purr-fect! Supplies: construction paper or cardstock for the card (we used a cut-up painting my daughter made at preschool) one large heart for the head (we cut ours from construction paper) two medium hearts for ears (we used foam stickers) one small heart for the nose (we used a sticker) googly eyes marker for drawing whiskers glue You can make your kitties out of whatever you have on hand -- paper, felt, fabric, stickers, doilies, etc. We made one kitty together, then my daughter was able to refer to that one to make the rest. We added a printed label that says, "You are a purr-fect friend!" On the back, she'll sign her name and tape on a tasty organic … [Read more...]
Watercolor Initials Posters
Create simple and beautiful artwork for your child's room that features watercolor painting and your child's initial, too! Supplies: Contact Paper watercolor paper watercolors Draw and cut-out your child's initial from the Contact Paper. I drew mine free-hand, but you could also print out a large letter to trace. Stick the initial onto the watercolor paper - I cut our paper to 8"x10" to fit in some frames we had. Make sure you give the contact paper a good rub so the watercolors won't seep underneath it during painting. Let your little artist go to work painting the entire paper. The more colors, the better! If your colors aren't looking bright enough, encourage your child to "stir" the brush in the paint for a count of 5. That will load the brush really well and … [Read more...]
