Caterpillar Magnet

I don't have photo's of the step-by-step process, but here's the result. Stevie and I made a caterpillar after reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. I've seen this done with tissue on the leaf and it's cute too. We used a butterfly stamp for the leaf and glued the pom poms with hot glue (mommy only please) after regular glue didn't work. I also have magnetic tape for the backing of the clothes pin. Great fun

Sidewalk Paint

I found another gem of a website with all kinds of crafty/fun/creative ideas for tots. Yay! On the site, I saw a recipe for sidewalk paint. Stevie and I made the cornstarch sidewalk paint(with the help of Pink and Green Mama)and we had a blast. Check out Pink and Green Mama's post on sidewalk paint.

Glue gun texture rubs

Here's a great color/texture activity. I found it on a site called This Little Project . I've made texture rubs for a group of friends that are coming to play tomorrow. The texture plates are actually the fruits and veggies from the book, Lunch, by Denise Flemming. Our kiddos will use crayon melts to rub the fruits/veggies on a sheet of paper. The end result should look like the mashed up food mess left by the main character of the book. I had fun making mine, so hopefully our precious little tots will have fun too. That's the whole idea.

Update: Our theme day was great. Stevie and his friends seemed to enjoy using the crayon melts and glue gun rubbings. Yay!

Noodle art

Stevie made noodle art today with some pasta I had in the pantry. He seemed to enjoy the dumping of the noodles more than the actual painting.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Color sorting

While we were playing today, I asked Stevie to go and get something that could fit in his plastic egg and I would guess what it was. Well, he wasn't interested in that, but instead he did something we had done several different times (but . . . together). He found the red apple pillow and decided he would collect other toys that were also red. It was cute. We usually do stuff like that together. It's nice to see him have fun with that all on his own.

Summer Suncatcher

I made this sun catcher thingy in preparation for a theme activity day I'm hosting next week. I found a cute egg suncatcher here, but I'll stick to the paper plate variety. I like this craft because tots of all ages can tear up tissue and place it on some sticky contact paper. Yes, there's some prep work, but look how cute! Even after the sun catcher is made, your kid can continue the tearing tissue party. I guess I need to think of something to do with the left over tissue. I'll post after I do this activity with Stevie. It should be interesting to see his interpretation of the suncatcher.

Materials:
2 paper plates
2 circles contact paper
2 pieces gift wrap tape
1 long piece of yarn
scissors
tissue paper

On Colors

Good book for color awareness. . . . Lunch, by Denise Fleming. I'll figure out how to make a list of these someday. You can use pom poms that match the colors in the story and make a mouse. Kiddo can put the pom poms on the mouse, just like the mouse in the book. I'll try this and take a picture. I welcome any other ideas for colors. I'm hoping that this site will be an exchange of ideas, not just me giving info and sharing. I have a lot to learn.

Pom Poms

If you are a mom of a 2-5 year old, you may have already have discovered the wonders of pom poms. Those little fuzzy balls that come in all colors and sizes (choking hazard for little ones). If you don't have some in a project box, go and get them. They're cheap ($1.00 at Target) and you and the kiddos can sort them, count them, make pictures with them, etc. Hours of fun.