Category Archives: Learning with Crafts

10 Earth Day Activities For Kids

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10 Earth Day Activities For Kids

This year, Earth Day is celebrated on Monday, April 22, 2013.

Here are 10 ways you can teach your children about the beauty that is all around them, teach them about recycling, and make their lives a little greener.

1.  Recycle

Have your kids decorate boxes or bins to separate recycling from trash. Teach them which items can be placed in recycling bins.  They will love earning a little extra cash by separating cans and bottles and exchanging them for money at a local recycling center.  Start composting, here are some great tips to get you started.

2.  Volunteer

Look for an organization in your area who hosts regular beach or park clean-ups.  Sign up to volunteer and spend a few hours collecting trash and recycling.  Don’t forget your gloves and a couple of buckets. Afterward, reward the kids with a play at the park or beach they’ve been cleaning up.  Here are even more ways you can encourage children to give back to their community and the planet.

3.  Get into the Garden

Plant a tree, herbs, fruit and vegetables, and weather-tolerant plants that don’t need to be watered often.  Kids will love growing, caring for and eating fruit and vegetables they grow themselves.  Planting a tree will provide natural shade in the summer and they help clean the air we breathe.

4.  Go on a Nature Hunt

Can your kids identify the birds, wildlife, plants and trees in your area?  Put together a nature hunt and let them learn outdoors.  Have them mark off each item as they find it, or take photographs so they can create a nature book when they get home about what they observed.  Take paper and a crayon and do bark and leaf rubbings along the way.

5.  Host a Book Swap

Kids love books, they also love to read new books, whether it be borrowing from their school, or local library, or begging you to purchase new books for them.  Have them gather together books they don’t read anymore, invite friends over who have done the same and swap books.  Provide water, healthy snacks, and story time for the kids.

6.  Earth Friendly Crafts

Raid the recycling bin for bottles, boxes, cartons, paper rolls, and whatever else your kids can find to make fun recycled crafts such as robots made from boxes with bottle cap eyes, paper roll penguins and egg carton critters.  They will love homemade playdough and these fun recycled crayons too.

7.  Learn about Wildlife and Plants

Visit a nature center, Wildlife Park, State or National Park.  Pop into the visitor center to learn more about what you will find in the area, ask if they offer guided hikes which is the perfect way to learn more about the wildlife and plants you can may otherwise overlook.

8.  Eat Clean

Spend an entire day eating clean.  No junk food, no pre-packaged food.  Shop at a local farm, or farmer’s market for organic produce.  Once you’ve started, you may not be able to stop.

9.  Read Books about the Earth

  • The Earth Book, by Todd Parr
  • Michael Recycle, by Ellie Bethel
  • The Adventures of an Aluminum Can, by Alison Inches
  • I Can Save the Earth, by Alison Inches
  • The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss
  • Earth Day Every Day, by Lisa Bullard
  • The Magic Schoolbus, by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen
  • The Three R’s: Reduse, Reuse, Recycle, by Nuria Roca

10.  Make Bird Feeders

Bird feeders for your yard can be as simple as rolling pine cones or paper rolls in peanut butter and seeds.  Hang them outside and watch the birds come.

Resources:

 

A Spring Snack, Craft and Book

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A Spring Snack, Book, and Craft for Kids

Welcome the change of season by spending a couple of special hours with your little one crafting, preparing and eating snacks, and reading together.

You can choose any book you like; the one we chose was The Chick and the Duckling.

Let’s start with the craft.

What you need:

  • Yellow treat cup (or paper cup)
  • Orange card stock
  • Googly eyes
  • Scissors
  • Pencil
  • Glue

Have your child draw the feet and beak on the orange card stock and cut them out.  Glue them onto the treat cup along with the googly eyes.

Next, prepare the snacks.

We chose two snacks, a little chick sandwich, and a trail mix to put into the treat cup.

Chick Sandwich. What you need:

  • Bread
  • Round cookie cutter (or a glass or small dish)
  • Cheese slice
  • Carrot stick
  • Candy eyes
  • Knife

Cut the bread and cheese into a circular shape using the cookie cutter. Place the cheese on top of the bread.

Peel and cut a slice off the wide end of the carrot stick.  The carrot slice will be a circle, make two cuts on either side in a ‘V’ shape to make the beak.  You will have two pieces left, trim the ends of them to make the feet.

Have your child place the carrot beak, carrot feet, and candy eyes onto the cheese and bread.

Chick Trail Mix. What you need:

  • Popcorn
  • Cheerios
  • Annie’s Bunny Grahams
  • Trader Joe’s Jelly Beans – coconut, lemon & lime, banana split, apple, tangerine, mango and lemon (we prefer these because they have natural flavors)

Have your child add all of the ingredients to the chick treat cup.

Here are a few chick books you might like to read:

  • The Chick and the Duckling by Mirra Ginsburg
  • Chick by Ed Vere
  • Nora’s Chicks by Patricia MacLachlan
  • This Little Chick by John Lawrence
  • Chicken Little by Ed and Rebecca Emberley

Now you can read your chosen book to your little one while you both enjoy the delicious snacks you made together.

Ladybug Kids Craft

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SAMSUNG

Springtime is almost here and that means a whole new  array of crafting ideas. No more snowflakes, hearts or pinecones. It’s time for fresh fun ideas that get you and the kids looking forward to blooming flowers and gorgeous sunshine.

Bugs are one of our top crafting topics. Not the creepy crawly gross ones but the colorful cute ones that get the kids smiling.  Today we’re making ladybugs. This is a preschool aged craft but can be tailored for younger and older kids by simply prepping supplies and steps or stepping back and letting your child take complete ownership and creative license.

Supplies

Red and black cardstock or construction paper

School glue

Googly eyes

Black pipecleaners

Standard hole punch

Directions
Ladybug Craft for Kids
Cut a large round from red paper, about 5 inches across. Fold in half to add crease.

Cut a small round from black paper, about 2 inches across. Fold in half to add crease.

Hole punch black paper to use for ladybug spots. Add dots on the body.

Glue the black head under the red body, let set.

Glue eyes onto head and antennae onto body. Set aside to dry.

Bend black pipecleaners into a 90 angle and attach 6 halves to bottom of body for legs.  Let rest upside to completely dry.

Your ladybug is done.  Create a family of ladybugs to rest on windowsills, book cases or on a flower arrangement. This ladybugs can be made any size and even any color.   Changing the shape to ovals will create an entirely new bug so let your children use their imaginations.

Arts and crafts are beneficial because they are a creative outlet.  They help with developing fine and gross motor skills as well as color and shape recognition.  Crafts and activities can be done anywhere; home, school, traveling, vacation and outdoors. This allows for learning and fun virtually anywhere.

10 Education Inspired Valentine’s Day Gifts for Kids

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10 Education Inspired Valentine's Day Gifts

Looking for last-minute Valentine’s Day gift ideas for kids? I’ve got you covered with 10 handmade education inspired gifts that they are sure to love.

1. Felt Pencil Grips

Make these fun heart-shaped pencil grips for your littlest loves this Valentine’s Day, or for older children to hand out to their school friends.

These are very quick and easy to make.

All you need is:

  • Felt in 2 colors
  • Scissors
  • Strong glue
  • Heart-shaped cookie cutter
  • Stamp pad
  • Sewing machine

Begin by rolling the pencil in the felt to gauge how wide you need to cut your piece.  Using your sewing machine stitch up the side.

Using a small heart-shaped cookie cutter and stamp pad, stamp a heart onto the felt and then cut it out.  Glue it onto your felt pencil grip and set aside to dry.

Once dry, pull your pencil grip sleeve onto your pencil.

2. You’ll ‘rule’ with these fun gifts by THOMPSON and SPRING.

3. I’ve had my eye on these Magnifying Glass Valentines for some time now by Dandee.

4. This calendar bookmark by Spoonful will make their day.

5. These I Spy Valentine’s Day Cards from A Mom With a Lesson Plan are so much more than just a card.

6. Whipperberry shows you how to make heart-shaped crayons from regular ones.

7. Homemade play dough and a cookie cutter from Buggy and Buddy are sure to keep those little hands happy.

8. These alphabet printables with a hidden message and a special treat by Oopsey Daisy are perfect for little ones.

9. Give the gift of books with this fabulous idea from Design Sponge. (note: find children’s books)

10. Send secret messages or pictures to the ones you love with this great idea from BHG.

3-Dimensional Paper Hearts Craft

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3d hanging hearts

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. It’s time to break out the colored paper, glitter glue, doilies and other crafty items to create cards and decorations to celebrate the ones you love. This craft encourages creativity and develop fine and gross motor skills by utilizing kid scissors.

This is a simple project that can be done to make garland, hanging decorations on doorknobs or even hanging from a gift bag. Ours are hanging from a lamp and a curtain rod in front of a window.

Gather your basic supplies and some embellishments to create these simple but cute 3-dimensional hanging hearts.

  • Colored or patterned paper of your choice
  • Glue or glue stick
  • Ribbon or string
  • Glitter, stickers, stamps, markers and more

Instructions

paper hearts kids craft

Fold your paper in half, trace a half heart shape on the fold four times.  Allow your child to cut them out or assist them in cutting the four hearts.
Write messages of love and sweetness and decorate as your child wishes.
Attach a string or ribbon to the back of a heart shape and glue each half of heart to each other so that it forms a 3D heart like shown in the picture above.  I used paper clips to hold the hearts in place while the glue dries.

Allow children to express their own creativity by using different shapes, colors and decorations.

Groundhog Day Crafts and Activities

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groundhog day

Groundhog Day is celebrated on February 2nd.  According to folklore, if it is a cloudy day and a groundhog emerges from his burrow then spring is near, however if it’s sunny and he sees his shadow, he heads back inside for another 6 weeks of winter. If you happen to live around the Pennsylvania area, you might catch a glimpse of Punxsutawney Phil as he emerges from his burrow at 7:20am at Gobblers Knob in Punxsutawney to predict whether winter will last another 6 weeks, or if spring will soon be here.

Here are five fun activities to celebrate Groundhog Day.

Groundhog Day Craft

My kids made this adorable Groundhog Day craft at school last year.  You can make something similar using a paper plate (folded in half) or paper cup.

Groundhog Day Cupcakes

These little groundhogs are adorable and kids will love making them.

What you need:

  • Chocolate cupcakes
  • Chocolate frosting
  • Oreo cookies
  • Chocolate M&M’s
  • Candy eyes
  • Black icing
  • Sprinkles and/or edible glitter in brown, green, and white.

These are easy to assemble.

Step 1: Cover the top of the cupcake with chocolate frosting and sprinkle on a little edible glitter or sprinkles.  Using a sharp knife cut a slit in the top of the cupcake to place the Oreo once it is decorated.

Step 2: Attach the candy eyeballs and M&M’s to the Oreo using a little of the chocolate frosting.

Step 3: Use the black icing to add a nose and mouth to your groundhog.  Press two white sprinkles onto the black mouth for teeth.

Step 4: Place the Oreo into the slit at the top of the cupcake.

Groundhog Day Activities

1.  Make your own predictions.  Is it sunny or cloudy where you live?  Do you see your shadow?

2.  Read one of these Groundhog Day books

  • Groundhog Day! by Gail Gibbons
  • Groundhog Weather School by Joan Holub
  • The Groundhog Day Book of Facts and Fun by Wendie C Old
  • Groundhog Gets a Say by Pamela Curtis Swallow
  • Go To Sleep, Groundhog! by Judy Cox

3.  Trace your shadows.  Go outside and using outdoor chalk trace around your shadows.  Alternatively, lay a large sheet of paper on the ground and have a friend trace your shadow, then color it in and hang it up.

How will you celebrate Groundhog Day?

Hanging Kids Artwork

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Hanging Kids Artwork

If you have crafty kids or younger kids in school you know what it means to have oodles of pictures, drawings, cut and paste projects and more cluttering up your kitchen table. I used to allow our kids to attach their art to our walls whenever they wanted. This was a way of showing off their talents for everyone to see and letting me be supportive of every scrap of paper they stapled together.

Then something happened. My walls were suddenly being covered by every scribbled post it and index card in the house. The pride the kids were feeling for their gallery of art was being replaced with the need to wallpaper the house in crayon and finger paint. Something had to change. I now limit how many pieces go up. If something new goes up, something old comes down. It’s limited to one room now too. Our kitchen is the only place they can display their art. They have wall space, and of course the fridge.

I want to take it a step further and give them a more formal space, one that showcases the foam pieces and pipe cleaners better than a piece of tape.
Here are some ideas that I love from the ever popular Pinterest. No matter what idea you have you know you can find tons of inspiration on Pinterest.

Frame It. Dedicate a variety of sized frames so artwork can be switched out but still maintain a clean sophisticated look in a busy hallway or nook.

 

 

Hang it. Using clamp style pants hangers will give any room an eclectic feel. I’ve seen these for just $1-2 at Ikea.

Magnetize it. Add paint and magnets to simple clothespins will help get art off the table and on the fridge or metal bar strategically placed on the wall. This would like nice in a hallway.

 

Whether you choose a fancy hanging method or magnets on the fridge or plain old tape make sure your children feel proud of the work they are creating. Encourage creativity and give them inspiration for new creations.

Celebrate National Puzzle Day

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National Puzzle Day Activities

Break out those puzzles. It is time for some fun because this coming Tuesday, January 29th is National Puzzle Day!

There are many different types of puzzles: basic board puzzles, crossword puzzles, sudoku, and logic puzzles (my personal favorite in elementary school) just to name a few. Puzzles are a great way to help improve problem solving skills, eye hand coordination, and if doing them with another person, a great way to improve communication skills as your child has to describe what they are looking for to the other person they are working with. From my own observations, I love how board puzzles help teach my children how to focus, how to follow through and the joy of accomplishment when they stick with it and finish the puzzle.

Here is one fun puzzle activity that I have done with my children:

Create Your Own Puzzle

Help your children create their own puzzle using a picture you already have or a picture they have drawn/colored and cut it into a puzzle.

Step 1: Do a quick google search for “puzzle printable”. You will find a variety of blank puzzles. Pick the one with the desired amount of pieces and print it out. The more pieces there are the more difficult the puzzle.

Step 2: Either print out another picture for your children to color on the back of the puzzle you just printed or allow your children to create their own picture. Again, there are a ton of fun free coloring sheets that you can find with a quick search.

Step 3: Once the coloring is completed. Take a picture (optional) of the completed picture just in case you need a reference later. Then cut the picture into a puzzle using your template.

Step 4: Have your child recreate their picture. You can always save the puzzle to do again another day.

My children love this because it is something they have made themselves, but you can of course use any photo, not something they colored, to also make this puzzle.

Other fun activities:

Checkout Your Local Library

Make sure to checkout your local library, because they normally have a fun activity planned for National Puzzle Day. I know from my library’s website that they are trying to see how many pieces they can put together of a really large puzzle in one day.

Popsicle Stick Puzzle

Print your favorite picture or color your own design and make this fun Popsicle Stick Puzzle from Impress Your Kids. A fun alternative to your basic puzzle.

Block Puzzle

Make a personal Block Puzzle, like the one above from The Idea Room, using some blocks and family photos. I know my kiddos would love this, although it may be a little too hard if you use photos with the same coloring.

Happy Puzzle Day!

 

Top photo image courtesy of Janaka Dharmasena / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Celebrate Penguin Awareness Day

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celebrate Penguin Awareness Day

Did you know that January 20 is Penguin Awareness Day?

I’ve rounded up some fun activities to help children learn more about the different species of penguins and celebrate their special day.

Penguin Crafts

1.  Macaroni Penguin Paper Roll Craft

What you need:

  • Paper rolls
  • Black and white paint
  • Card stock – yellow and orange
  • Googly eyes
  • Glue
  • Paintbrush and scissors

Begin by painting the paper roll with black paint.  While it is drying, sketch the feet, beak and crest onto yellow and orange card stock and cut them out.

Paint the white section of the belly with two coats of paint, allowing each to dry.

Glue the beak, eyes, crest and feet onto your paper roll penguin.

2.  Paper Plate Penguins

My kids made these at school last year.

What you need:

  • Paper plate
  • Card stock – black, white, orange, and another color of choice
  • Glue and scissors

Sketch the flippers, head, beak, feet, eyes and bow tie onto card stock and cut out.  Attach pieces to the paper plate with glue.

3.  Stamped Penguin Shirt

You can find a tutorial for this fun potato-stamped penguin shirt here.

4. Penguin Costumes

These fun penguin costumes were made by my twins in preschool.  You can find a tutorial on how to make these here.

5. Winter Felt Board and Felt Penguin

You can find the the tutorial on how to make winter felt boards and this adorable little felt penguin on my last post Winter Felt Boards for Kids.

Penguin Books

Here are 10 books all about penguins that kids will love.

  • National Geographic Readers: Penguins by Anne Schreiber
  • The Emperor’s Egg by Martin Jenkins
  • A Penguin Story by Antoinette Portis
  • If You Were a Penguin by Florence Minor
  • Antarctic Antics: A Book of Penguin Poems by Judy Sierra
  • Penguins, Penguins, Everywhere! by Bob Barner
  • Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater
  • 365 Penguins by Jean-Luc Fromental
  • And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson
  • I Wonder Why Penguins Don’t Fly: And Other Questions About Polar Lands by Pat Jenkins

Penguin movies

Watch one of these fun movies with the kids that are all about penguins.

  • The March of the Penguins
  • Happy Feet
  • The Penguins of Madagascar
  • Mr. Popper’s Penguins
  • Surf’s Up

Even More Penguin Activities

  • Dress like a penguin: Wear black and white, orange shoes and a bow tie.
  • Send a penguin card to a friend.  Make a thumbprint penguin, or draw a penguin on card stock.
  • Visit penguins.  Two years ago we had the wonderful opportunity to view penguins in their natural habitat at Philip Island in Australia.  At sunset, we observed fairy penguins swim unto shore and waddle up the sand to their burrows.  It was an amazing experience.  If you do not live close enough to watch penguins in their natural environment, visit a local aquarium or zoo.
  • Make a donation.  Donate money, or adopt a penguin through rescue and research organizations such as The Penguin Foundation or Defender’s of Wildlife Adopt a Penguin program.
  • Have a penguin race.  Place a large plastic egg (the kind you fill for Easter) on your kids feet and see who can waddle to the finish line first without cracking the egg open.

These activities would also be perfect for celebrating National Penguin Day too which is on April 25th and coincides with migration of penguins.

How will you celebration Penguin Awareness Day?

Building a Robot Out Of Recycled Household Items With Young Kids

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Building a robot out of recycled household items with my kindergartner and her friends turned out to be a great lesson on different topics.

A fun, green and low-cost educational activity to do with your kindergartner is to build a robot out of every day recycled items. The process of planning, recycling and repurposing and building is a perfect activity to entertain (and educate) a group of school-aged children.
Boy with Bubble 'Bot
PLANNING

First discuss what a what a robot is, show them pictures and explain that you are making a robot made out of recycled household items that they no longer need.  Then discuss what items that can be used (the sky is the limit but some items may need thorough cleaning.) To get the children’s imaginations flowing,  we brain stormed by using a dry erase board (not wasteful!) to jot down possible items (letter and word recognition) that the children might want to collect.  Next, we discussed how the items could be used to create a robot (i.e. a rinsed out gallon jug of milk can be used to make the robot’s head).  The children were encouraged to salvage many items, and whatever wasn’t used for the project could still be recycled.

RECYCLING AND REPURPOSING

The recycled items were collected, cleaned and brought to my house for a discussion as to what would be used and how. We sorted all the recycled items in like groups. There were lots of cereal boxes, egg cartons…and some unique items like a mop head, coffee beans, a small bathroom sink pipe and old toothbrushes. The sky was the limit!

BEING CREATIVE!

For me the best part of the project was watching the children’s imaginations go to town to create our special robot.  As much as possible, I let the children decide and do the work of building our robot who’s gender and name were also voted on (a lesson on democracy.) Our robot was a female named Rosita. They used scissors, glue, tape and paint to create Rosita. Plastic bread bags were filled with newspaper to create arms, empty Capri Sun pouches were used to make a purse for our well-accessorized robot, old dish gloves were the hands and dry, painted (red) pasta from a falling apart pre-school project served as Rosita’s lips. An old mop was perfect for her hair, coffee beans glued on to bottle caps served as expressive eyes and black bag twisties were added as eyelashes. Styrofoam cups flipped over were great feet, and the small bathroom sink pipe was used as Rosita’s neck. The old toothbrushes were hair clips.

After admiring our work for a few weeks, we broke down our robot and it was time to recycle her (again!)

What household items would you use for your recycled robot? Share the comments below.

Image source:  Flickr/Fairfaxcounty