My Letter

The kids are going back to school next week. And the oldest are going into kindergarten. Although they know the letters in their name, it always makes a fun craft. The younger ones are going to go into a preschool type program at the rec centre, so we are working on their letters, numbers and name.

Today, we are having our end of summer holidays party. We made a cake- which didn't quite turn out- so we are doing "cake sundaes" where they will get some broken up cake, icing and sprinkles and can make their own in a bowl! We are also going out for lunch- McDonalds of course, so we can play too! And for our craft, what a nice addition to a party- FINGER PAINT!

This craft really didn't take any time at all to set up. And, if you don't have finger paint, then you can just paint! I would NOT recommend using construction paper though, because it might rip.

First, I taped out each child's letter (that begins their name). Don't squish it down to the paper, just lightly put it on- but make sure it is on- does that make sense!?

Then, get them their finger paint!

 

Once they have painted all over the whole paper, you can slowly peel off the tape. (I have done this before, a long time ago- and found the sooner you take the tape off, the better.)

Then let it dry!

This is me

Today we made name tags for our coat rack. These name tag type crafts can be used for many different things though.

I first drew out a person shape for each of the kids. For the younger ones, I drew the face, the older ones, I let them draw on the face and hair. The kids have been asking to use the glitter glue for awhile, so, I decided to use those for this craft too. We got out the glitter glue, markers, and then we went through the foam letter stickers to find the initial of each child!

Then I let the kids colour, and us the glitter glue on their pictures, as well as stick their letter sticker on.

Then we had to let them dry (for awhile!)

 Then I hung them up at their coat hooks, as name tags for their hooks.

Letter Trees

Today, I was flying by the seat of my pants with a craft. I hadn't really thought of one. So, I looked outside for inspiration. I actually saw leaves turning yellow, and falling to the ground. So, I thought, with school going back in, and leaves changing colours that it was time to change the art frames that I have up on the walls. So, I combined the changing colours with back to school, and came up with Letter trees. We also read chicka chicka boom boom after we did this! First I drew out a tree for each kid. I drew a big letter in the middle (the first letter of their name), with little ones around it. Then I made the "owl hole" with the letter as well! Then I got the paints ready- the kids really wanted to fingerpaint today, so that is what we did!

Then, I just let them go for it!

After they were done, I put them on a green paper background- I have a few frames in my house that I put the kids art work in for a few months and then change it, so my kids trees will go in those for awhile- that I why they are on the green background!

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!

2 crafts in one!

Today we ended up making 2 crafts in one! Since we have been talking about letters, and what letters are in each child's name, I decided to have them make a picture and then stick letter stickers- from their names, onto the picture. They turned out well, and actually turned into two crafts!

First I collected everything we needed. Paper, sponges (you could do anything for the picture), paint (I use finger paints when we do sponge painting, it is easier to come off and always ends up all over their hands! And the foam stickers- enough to spell out each child's name a couple times!



Then I put the paint onto a piece of cardboard for each child (so they all had their own paint, and wouldn't fight!)

After that, I gave them their supplies- paper, paint, and sponges, and let them go to it!


After they were done painting (with sponges and fingers!), I gave them each a pile of letters, all the letters of their names. I waited for them to notice these were letters from their names, and it didn't take long. Then we talked about the letters in each of their names!



When we were done, we had 2 crafts, little did they know. I kept their paint tray's (the cardboard pieces I put their paint on). It makes a great abstract piece, and holds up! And we had their letters in their name painting!





Both crafts may take awhile to dry- depending on the piles of paint! So, make sure you have somewhere to store it until it dries!