Timid Turtle

(I have been on holidays, so crafts are starting up this week!!!)

With all the kids going back to school, some get really shy and upset. Others walk right in and don't look back. But, you know, with each and every one of them, they miss their families at least once through the day.

As I was going through one of the craft books I have, I saw a poem for Timid Turtle. So, I thought this would be a great idea. I changed how we did the craft around the poem, and of course, since I was on holidays, my camera was dead- I forgot to charge the battery when I got home. So, I have after pictures- not during.

First I drew out turtles on half a sheet of green paper. A BIG shell, then 4 legs, tail and head. I then cut out one big brown heart shape (so it fits on the back of the turtles shell), and a smaller pink heart. Then I cut up a bunch of brown pieces in all different shapes. I also cut out a family picture- to fit the shell.

I then wrote the poem on the big brown heart.

I first had the kids put glue all over the turtles shell. Then we added the brown pieces of small paper.

Once that was done, we glued on the family picture- on top of the "shell" pieces.

Then we flipped it over and glued the big brown heart onto the area of the shell. Followed by the little pink one.

The kids loved seeing their turtles! I put some packing tape over Danika's and tied it onto her school bag. I don't have a laminator so, using packing tape works well to keep it safe! Now, she will have her family where ever she goes...

The poem reads
"The timid Turtle said,"I don't want to go"
Mama Turtle said, "School is important you know"
Then she gave the timid turtle a special little heart
To show him how much she loves him whenever they're apart"

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!

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!