Kid Made Ornaments: Reindeers

you need 3 clothes pins, one wooden spool, googly eyes and a red ball or bell.

We used hot glue on the cool setting, but you could use tacky glue or wood glue and be totally fine.

First, paint the wooden objects...

 Then glue them together

 Then hang on the tree!

Edible Butterflies

Since I have 3 girls, over the years I have done different butterfly snacks. Here are 2 of them.

Butterfly treat bags in 2010:

They are snack sized ziplocs, filled with robins eggs and jellybeans and M&Ms then twisted and clipped with a clothes pin that my kids decorated with glitter paint.

Then, we had Butterfly cupcakes in 2010:

 These are jumbo marshmallows cut in 1/2 then dipped (sticky side down) in sprinkles. Gummy worm bodies. and voila! done!

All these treats were for a Butterfly Bash for my middle daughter's 1st birthday:

 Who is now 3! Sniff!

Pattern Power (2)

So you need to print these puppies out...

PRINTABLE

Then get to work!

 Leave some blank and then color some clothes pins.

 Then color different patterns on the sheets.

 Then laminate them. If you don't have a laminator these are just as awesome...

Then play!

 Here is my daughter following the pattern.

 Store in a plastic bag. Then in a gallon size.

 Perfect for travel, or in this case church. Sssh!

My son made his own pattern!

We are going on a 20+ hour road trip for the first time next week and I have been working hard on different things to do on the road. I don't want my kids stuck watching movies or playing on their leapsters or any other electronic device the whole time. That isn't the point of a road trip. They are going to enjoy what they see and have fun and talk and learn things...crossing fingers.

We will be gone for 2.5 weeks, so when we get back I will post what worked and what didn't!

Have a safe 4th of July!

Crowns

My kids love to dress up. Who doesn't? Today we made crowns, not our best effort because they saw where were going with it and wanted to play instead - but still an idea.

What you need: papers, markers, scissors, glue, clothes pins.

I let them color them and then I drew a pattern for them to cut along.

Then we glued them together and let them set with the clothes pins pinching them tight.
Now time to try them on and play castle. They ended up playing chase, but still had fun.

Next time I am going to get a burger king hat and turn it inside out and let them paint them with glitter paint and perhaps add jewels!

Paint Chip Matching

This is two activites in one!
It helps small motor skills with the clothes pins, and helps with color development!
What you need: A handful of paint chips (these are free normally), I did 10 sets...you need 2 of each chip. Scissors, Clothes Pins, Glue and a Container (not pictured)

Cut the paint chips to desired size. and glue on the end of the clothes pin. I did 2 clothes pins per paint chip. I picked different ones each time.
For example...#1 Dark and #3 Medium on the yellow chip.
#2 Dark and #3 Medium on the pink chip.
This made it a little harder for when they are older.
My 20 month old daughter is not as good at pinching the clothes pin so I had her just match them up and I put them on the chip for her, after she insisted on doing it herself like 6 times.
After watching my son do this so quickly, it gave me an idea for harder way to do this you know more advanced. :) Store it in a pencil box and you now have a nice quiet game for any day.

Tye-Dye Butterflies

Or Flutter-byes as my 20 month old daughter calls them. Here is what you need.

Pipe Cleaners, Coffee Filters, Water Spray Bottles, Clothes Pins, and Markers.
Thank You to D for letting me come over and bring Art Day to her house again!

Color the Filters with Washable Markers.

Spray the heck out of them and leave them out to dry.

Bring them in and lay them flat.
Now Fold.
and again...
...then wrap around and twist with pipe cleaner.
Curl around your finger to make antennae, and open the wings.
Done.

L and E decided to throw them into the air and see if they could fly.

These were easy and you could easily turn them into fridge magnets. We took L's home and put it in his treasure drawer...more on that later.