Back to school

The kids are all getting so excited about going to school, so I was looking for a good back to school craft, then I came up with this...


The "look what I made Today" magnet clippy! It is easy, and they can enjoy it through out the year!

First I cut a small paper plate in half, then I wrote "look what I did today" around it. And we glued pieces of magnet to the backs of clothes pins. Got the markers and the glue ready, and began!


The kids picked their markers and paper plate, and started colouring what ever they wanted...



After they finished colouring, we put glue on the back of the clothes pin and glued it to the back of the plate...



And now, you have a good place to put their art work for the whole year! Enjoy!

On the farm

Last week, my computer was broken! So, here are the crafts that we did...

We were talking about the farm. So, we started with making some puppets. I drew out a cow and a horse and had the kids colour them. Then we cut them out, and taped them to popsicle sticks. The kids had a blast making a puppet show with their animals, and singing "old MacDonald"!





We also made a lift up tab farm. It takes some time to prepare- well for more than one child, but it is worth it. First I cut the farm shape out of a red piece of paper- you could also use white and have the kids colour it, but I knew they wouldn't last that long! Then I cut the doors and windows out- well three sides of each- so they are flaps. Then on a different piece of paper- just white, I drew out the animals- one for each window/door- you have to put the farm over top so you know where they go and can line them up.


Then I let the kids colour the animals. After colouring, we glued the farm onto the paper with the animals.




With the older kids, we wrote the names of the animals and what they say (animal noise) on the window/door tab! The kids had a great time playing with their farms, as well as knowing the letters in each animal!

Fun with food

This week we did some crafts that involved food. We made and played with gelatin play-dough, gelatin paint, juice powder paint (if you are going to do this use a very flavourful juice- we did it with the crystal light packages and it didn't work that well. They smelt good, but it wasn't colourful!).

Yesterday we made salt dough. We mixed 2 cups of flour with 1 cup of table salt and 1 cup of cold water. I forgot to take pictures, but we rolled it out and used the letter cookie cutters to do each of the kids first initial. Then the older kids also got to play with it. In the end, they did their hand prints on their pieces. The younger ones had smaller pieces to play with, and theirs ended up half in their mouths- GROSS- and in tiny bits on the floor!


After they did their hand prints, I put those with the letters in the oven. It was on 200 for a LONG time! Like hours! Finally about 5 hours later (I am thinking maybe I could have turned the oven up, but the recipe I had said 200- I think that is for the thinner ornaments (you can use this to make Christmas ornaments too). Anyways--- we eventually took them out (after flipping them too), and decided we would paint them today. You can also just leave them out in the room for a couple of days- flipping regularly too. Or, if you don't use it all, store it in a sealed container for a couple days.

Today, we painted them. I used acrylic paints with the kids for this. And you can also glaze over it if you wanted too.


The kids had so much fun painting something that they made from start to finish.






Now they can give their parents the hand prints, and we are going to add some ribbon to the letters so they can hang them in their rooms (or where ever!).
REMEMBER- if you want to hang what ever you make with the salt dough- you have to put the holes in them when they are still doughy- before drying or baking!

This is their finished product before putting the ribbon in them (they are still drying!

stamping

This week we are talking about different ways to do crafts. Today we did some finger painting, and the other day we did stamping. I used regular cookie cutters, and plates with paint on them. We used letters that are in all the kids names, and had them pick the letters in their names. They dipped their cookie cutter in the paint and then stamped their papers!

ice cream sundae's

To go along with our ice cream theme last week, we ended the week by making REAL ice cream Sundaes!

This was treated like a craft for the kids. And they had a great time doing it. I scooped the ice cream into waffle bowls, and then let them go for it. We had chocolate and caramel syrups, plus a variety of sprinkles to go on top!

They had so much fun making them, testing out the different sprinkles, and looking at each others masterpieces. BUT- they had even more fun eating it!

Ice cream week

Again, two crafts in one, because I didn't get time yesterday to post!

Yesterday we did ice cream cones, but, about me ice cream cones. I got everything ready, cut out the circles for the ice cream- each child got three. Cut out the cone, and got the markers and glue. Then on each circle I wrote something. "My name is", I am" and "I like".


I filled in the blanks for the younger kids, and let them start colouring. The older ones I had them write their names, how old they are and then helped them write things that they liked. Then I had them colour and draw on their ice cream's!



After they were done colouring we used the glue to put them together!




Today we are making ice cream sundaes for snack. That was going to be our craft for the day, but I came up with an ice cream man puppet. So, we did that as well!

First I made all the pieces to make the ice cream mad- 3 scoops, a cone, eyes, nose, mouth and arms- oh and a cherry- for his hat! Then I found some toilet paper rolls, glue and markers. (You could also use glitter for sprinkles).

The kids started the craft by colouring everything- I gave them pink, brown and yellow- strawberry, chocolate and vanilla!




When they were done colouring, we cut all the pieces out, and started gluing our ice cream man together!



Then we put glue on the toilet paper roll, and put our ice cream man on that!


Then, once they are dry, you have an ice cream man puppet!!!

Two crafts

This week we were talking about ice cream. First we made Banana splits.

I let the kids cut circles out of white/cream paper, while I cut smaller pieces from red- for strawberries, and yellow- for pineapple, and cut the banana. Then I also made dishes for them. And got some brown paint ready- for the chocolate sauce!


First the kids glued the ice cream circles onto the paper. Then the strawberries and pineapple, and the banana!


Then we painted on the brown paint for chocolate sauce...


And then you have your banana split!!!
(sorry for some reason no final picture!)


Today we made rootbeer floats. I did these two ways, for older and younger kids.

First I gathered what we needed- paper cut into a float glass shape, paint (which I mixed with bubble mixture to get it really bubbly! Cotton balls and straws- plus glue, tape and a paint brush.


With the older kids, I let them use their straws to blow the paint around to cover the paper, and the smaller kids used the paint brush and stamped around the paper.



Then we pulled on the cotton balls and glued them to the top of the "glass" for the ice cream. After that we taped their straw to the top! Yummy!