Paper Mosaics

Continuing on with the theme, I grabbed my square punches and let the girls "punch" from scrap paper.

I like this Fiskars one because it uses a grip instead of a thumb pointer motion.

Here is the other one.

Peek a Boo!

I showed them an example:

Then let them do it completely by themselves.

I loved what they came up with.

 This kept them so busy, I was able to balance the books without interruption!

It was a perfect thing to do with each age group.

Try it! It is so simple, uses scraps, and uses fine motor skills they need for handwriting.

Crayon Resist Easter Bunting - KIDMADE!

I love crayon resist-anything. I decided to go the extra mile on this one so it would last longer.

My daughter had a friend over so it was time to do a fun art project.

I grabbed some Crayola Oil Crayons and Prang Watercolors.

I am a watercolor fanatic and Prang makes the best ones. 

This isn't a commercial, I truly love Prang better than Crayola when it comes to the Watercolors.

They are thicker and have more options. We used glitter and metallic.

I also grabbed some cardstock, yarn, and some cookie cutters.

First have the kids color with the Pastels/Oil Crayons.

They have such a smooth feel.

Then let them watercolor right over it. The more color, the better. I prefer the randomness.

After it is semi-dry trace some easter cookie cutters!

They can trace and cut if you want, but I wanted it to look more uniform, so I did it.

If I had older kids with me I would have had them do it all themselves.  The plus of me doing it ensured that I got the most out of each paper. :)

After that I added string and cut out with my cricut the easter letters.

There is something about kid-made easter decor. So perfectly cute.

Our little Art friend didn't have enough painted square footage to get a full banner, so we just did her first initial.

from what I am told...she loved it so much, she hardly put it down. :)

Teaching Shapes to Toddlers - 6

Musical Shape Freeze Dance

Any excuse to play music really loud and shake your body is a plus in my book.

I had shapes all over the ground and then played this CD that I got from the Library.

Loud then Stop and they had to land on a shape. Then I drew from a bag the winning shape and that kid got a Gummy Bear. We rotated through a few times and then we took the shapes away and just let them dance and be crazy.

Everyone loved this game. Especially the two girls above! :)

Teaching Shapes to Toddlers - 5

Fun Snack Idea for Toddlers. Great Idea for Restaurants too!

I made this shape match up, laminated it and then we had snack.

 See the shapes?

 Then you match and eat.  The kids LOOOOOVED this!

 

 Even my almost 2 year old was into this activity!

We have taken it to restaurants too.  I just make sure I have a snack or 2 that matches the shapes.

If you would like a copy please email me at valeriewitte AT yahoo DOT com

I would be more than happy to email you the snack matching sheet!

Teaching Shapes to Toddlers - 4

Shape Scapes!

I started by cutting several sizes of the different shapes I was doing and then let them glue a city or an ocean.

Then they went at it, giggling at the shapes they had picked.

Here they are all finished - minus 2 that were too wet to hang.

I added faces and a tag with name, date, title of project.

Cute and colorful! :)

If you wanted to make this more advanced you could trace shapes and have them cut them out themselves.

Teaching Shapes to Toddlers - 3

Number Bingo!

I found this AWESOME WEBSITE and plan on using it more and more!  I love Math, I love when stuff is ready to go like this and I LOVE that they offer customizing!

So what I did was clicked on Bingo Sheets 3x3 and printed them. What is great is if you hit the back button on your browser and click MAKE WORKSHEET it will automatically make a new one. So I did this 10 times so I had 10 different Bingo Boards.

Then I printed 2 more and cut them out as markers.  I opted to do black and white so I could color them myself. I love to color. :)

Then I laminated them and the markers and it was time to play...

I picked the marker, placed it on the table and they marked their spots with a cheerio.

We kept going to get 3 in a row!

The kids loved it. The almost 2 year old sorta understood the concept but cheerio's were just too enticing. 

We played a few rounds so everyone got a turn and then read a few more books on the Shapes of the Week.

Fun Lunch for Toddlers

Tired of PB & J?  How about Ramen Noodles?

Well try this one!

Basically pick some items that are bite sized or that you can cut into bite sized items.
I chose:
Flat Bread
Oranges
Apples
Cheese Sticks
Turkey
Pepperoni
Grape Tomatoes

Then you pick up some wooden skewers and make lunch kabobs!

 We brought this lunch over to the cousins house.

 Everyone seemed to like it.

 Fun to make and fun to eat!

It extended lunch time and was fun watching the different combinations.

I would take this a step further and have them make pattens to eat like Cheese, Tomato, Cheese, Tomato, etc.

Wreaths and People

Today is the last day of SHAPES because we have such a huge giveaway tomorrow!

So we did something simple but cute with HEARTS.

Cut a bunch of hearts out on different color construction paper, then cut a hole in a paper plate.

Then glue hearts to paper plate.

Then add glitter, because everything needs glitter.

Tada!

Then we had heart snacks.

Then we made heart people.

Diamond Lizards

So today is TRIANGLE day!

We talked about lizards and what they do and why they are here then we made Triangle Backed Lizards.

Use painters tape, and watercolors.

Then paint, and paint, and paint.

Let them dry.

Then peel the tape and freehand a lizard shape. use the painted scraps for the leggs, add eyes and a tongue and here it is...

You could do any type of painting with painters tape except wall painting, trust me I am a pro at painting interior on houses and masking tape is the best!

Have a great day!  Don't forget the HUGE giveaway on Thursday...prizes are over $500!