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Acts of Kindness for Kids: Make and Donate a Toy

2013
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My first grader wants to learn how to sew.  She loves to create and wants to add sewing to her list of craft skills.

Unfortunately, I don’t sew.  At all.  Once, a couple decades ago, I signed up for a sewing class and at the end of the 6 weeks hadn’t even finished cutting out the pieces and had to pass the project off to my grandmother to finish for me.

Acts of Kindness for Kids: Make a toy to donate to a child in need! Have fun and do good at the same time!

So she was thrilled when Alex Toys sent us their My Sewing Kit to try!  When she saw that the kit contained everything she needed to make 4 projects she decided that she would make one of the stuffed animals to donate to another child.

Acts of Kindness Make and Donate a Toy

The kit came with picture instructions which had me a little nervous, but worked out perfectly for her.  She was able to look at the pictures to see exactly what she had to do at each step.  

Kids Easy Sewing Project

She was able to follow the instructions on her own with minimal assistance from me and finish the stuffed hedgehog in one afternoon.  

Acts of Kindness Donate a Stuffed Animal

And ended up with a very cute stuffed animal to donate to another child!

I’m so excited to see that focusing on acts of kindness this year is making an impression on my kids!  

For more kindness acts that kids can do check out:

Acts of Kindness: Give a Cup of Coffee

Kids for Kindness: Happy Notes

Kids Craft: Acts of Kindness for the Earth

Disclosure: Alex Toys sent me the My Sewing Kit to review, but all opinions are my own.

Filed Under: Acts of Kindness, Crafts Tagged With: , , , , , ,

How to Make Peanut Butter Play Dough

2013
4 Comments

We love homemade play dough recipes!  Homemade play dough is a lot less work to make than you would think, lasts a really long time, and can be customized to fit your kids’ needs and preferences. 

For example, if you have a toddler you may have asked yourself, “How can I make play dough that is safe for kids to eat?“  As long as your child has no allergy to peanut butter recipes then peanut butter play dough would be a great choice!

How to Make Edible Peanut Butter Play Dough

Edible Peanut Butter Play Dough Recipe

1 cup of creamy peanut butter

3/4 cup of nonfat powered milk or 1 cup of powdered sugar

3 tablespoons of honey

Kids can help with this edible play dough recipe since no cooking or heating is required.  They can measure and add the ingredients and help mix it up.  If the play dough is too sticky or oily just add a little bit more of the powdered milk or sugar.

Edible Play Dough Invitation to Play with Food

We had some semi-stale candy in the pantry so I set up an invitation to play with food for the kids! 

Homemade Peanut Butter Play Dough

 They had lots of fun creating bakery items and marshmallow creatures.  When they were done we put the peanut butter play dough in the fridge for another day.  They plan on making peanut butter cupcakes and monsters next time!

More Play Dough Fun:

Red Hot Play Dough

Gingerbread House Play Dough People

Linking to:

After-School-Link-Up

Filed Under: Crafts Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Frog Jump: Measurement and Gross Motor Activity

2013
6 Comments

We have have been having fun learning about frogs and the frog life cycle.  On a recent day I decided to extend the frog learning with a measurement and gross motor activity…Frog Jump!

Frog Jump! A math measurement and gross motor and activity for preschool.

To play I marked a starting line with painter’s tape on the floor and gathered a frog cut out and a measuring tape.

The kids took turns standing at the line and jumping forward as far as they could.  I had my oldest demonstrate how to bend her legs and jump and then we marked the spot where she landed with another piece of tape.

Frog Jump Non Standard Measurement Activity

Then they measured how far she jumped with the frog. 

Using something other than a ruler to measure an object or distance is called non standard measurement.  It’s a great way for young kids to begin to understand the concepts of length, width, and height. 

Frog Jump Math Measurement Activity

After we determined how many “frogs” she jumped we then measured the distance in inches with the tape measure. 

They took many turns jumping and measuring and got in lots of gross motor and math practice!

Frog Jump Preschool Math Activity

When the floor was covered in tape pieces the kids pretended the pieces were lily pads.  They were quite engaged in their pretend play adventure and had lots of fun!

Looking for simple ways to add movement and learning into your day makes it much easier to accomplish!  Kids can practice non standard measurement almost anywhere with whatever you have on hand, like sugar packets at a restaurant or crayons in a doctor’s office.

More Frog Themed Activities for Preschoolers:

Frog Life Cycle Sensory Bin

Frog Life Cycle Books for Kids

Art Activity for Children: Frog Foot Prints

Filed Under: Math Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Frog Life Cycle Books for Kids

2013
3 Comments

We are having fun learning all about frogs at our house!  The kids have loved learning about the life cycle of a frog and have been pouring over the nonfiction books we checked out of the library.  It has been so cool to see them grab a frog life cycle book to look up a tadpole or frog fact while they are pretend playing!

The Frog Life Cycle Books for Kids

There are tons of frog children’s books out there, but not all of them teach about tadpoles and the life cycle of a frog.  If your kids or class in interested in understanding how the frogspawn turn into frogs and seeing awesome photos and illustrations then here are 5 books for you to check out!

Frog Life Cycle Books for Kids

(all photos below are affiliate links)

 

A Frog’s Life by Nancy Dickmann was a favorite for the clear, large photos and the simple text.  This was one they reread many times.

 

 

Starting Life: Frog by Claire Llewellyn has fun, different-sized tabbed pages so you can quickly turn to whichever stage of the frog life cycle you desire.  This one contains a lot of interesting frog facts and information and has beautifully detailed illustrations.

 

 

The Life Cycle of a Frog by Bobby Kalman is another one with great photography.  The text is written in paragraph form and reads like an elementary school textbook.  This would be a great choice for young students who are doing a science report or project.

 

 

 

Scholastic Reader Level 1: From Tadpole to Frog by Kathleen Weidner Zoefeld is a great non-fiction early reader.  It has simple texts and close up photographs and is another one conducive to repeated readings.  My oldest reports this is also a favorite in her first grade classroom.

 

 

 

The Life of a Frog by Claire Hibbert is well organized and easy to peruse.  It packs a lot of info into each page and makes easy to read with graphics and text boxes.  My kids must have looked at the wheel-like illustration of the life cycle of a frog at the beginning of this book dozens of times.

 

 

 

I’d recommend all of these books about frogs for anyone interested in studying the life cycle of a frog.  Are there any other frog life cycle books you would add to the list?  Leave them in the comments for us to look for!

If you are studying the life cycle of the frog then you may also be interested in our Frog Life Cycle Sensory Bin  Frog Jump: Measurement and Gross Motor Activity and Art Activity for Children: Frog Foot Prints.  They are great, hands on activities for kids!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Filed Under: Science Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Kids Craft Acts of Kindness for the Earth

2013
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In honor of Earth Day, on this week’s Acts of Kindness for Kids series we shared kids craft and project ideas that double as act of  kindness for the Earth!

Acts of Kindness for the Earth: Fun Kids Crafts

This week’s guests were +Carolyn Elbert from The Pleasantest Thing, +Erica Momandkiddo from What Do We Do All Day? and +Jackie Higgins from Ready-Set-Read.  I loved their kids crafts so much we already have plans to make them all this weekend.

Check it out!

For more information on the Earth Day crafts for kids in the video make sure to visit the links below!

Make Your Own Regatta from The Pleasantest Thing

How to Help Birds Build Nest from What Do We Do All Day?

DIY Garden Markers from Ready-Set-Read

Upcycled Soda Bottle Planter from Coffee Cups and Crayons

So grab your supplies (or dryer lint!) and get crafting! 

Kids crafts are a great way to do acts of kindness for the Earth!

Linking to:

Filed Under: Acts of Kindness, Crafts Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Easy Kids Craft: Upcycled Pencil Holder

2013
4 Comments

Looking for an easy craft for kids this Earth Day?  Then try this upcycled pencil holder made from supplies you can find in  your recycling bin!

Easy Upcycled Pencil Holder Kids Craft

How to Make an Upcycled Pencil Holder:

1.  Look through your recycling bin or craft stash for a plastic or glass jar and a newspaper, magazine, or catalog.

2.  Cut the catalog into small pieces.

3.  Apply the paper pieces to the jar with watered down glue and a paint brush.  Brush a layer on the jar, stick the paper pieces on, and then paint over the pieces with more of the glue mixture.

4.  Let dry and fill with pencils, markers, toothbrushes, or whatever you would like!

Some of our very favorite kids crafts are made with materials you can find in your recycling bin.  Here are three more easy upcycled crafts that are easy enough for kids to make!

Upcycled Soda Bottle Planter

Egg Carton Jelly Bean Game

Upcycled Gingerbread House

Linking to:

After-School-Link-Up


Filed Under: Crafts Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

No Bake Dog Treats Book and Cook Activity

2013
12 Comments

This month’s Virtual Book Club for Kids author, David Shannon, was completely new to us so we went to the library to check out of bunch of his books.  Good Boy, Fergus! was the house favorite and we had a lot of fun doing a dog themed kids activity to go along with it.

Homemade Dog Treats: Good Boy Fergus! Book and Cook Activity

The kids really enjoyed Fergus, the canine main character, because he reminded them of our dogs and how they sometimes act…especially out in public!

We love book and cook activities and decided to make our dogs some homemade dog treats for when they are “good girls”!

Homemade No Bake Dog Treats Book and Cook Activity

No Bake Dog Treats Recipe:

1/2 cup of dry dog food

1 c of oats

1/2 c of creamy peanut butter

1 tablespoon of cinnamon

1 tablespoon of honey

Mix the first three ingredients together and then stir in the cinnamon and honey.  Once everything is blended roll into small balls and place in the refrigerator for an hour to chill.  Makes about 14.

The treats smelled so good that my three year old kept wanting to try one and the dogs loved them!  We’ll have to make some again soon!

What is your favorite David Shannon book?  Do you have a post about it?  Make sure to link up to the blog hop!

There are a few rules for this blog hop so make sure to read them:

  1. Link up only posts inspired by David Shannon that share children’s book inspired crafts, activities, recipes, etc. Any other posts will be deleted.
  2. Visit other blog posts on the linky and comment on or share the ones you love!
  3. Add our Virtual Book Club button to your post if you’d like.
Here’s the button you can grab if you are participating!

Linking to:
After-School-Link-Up

Filed Under: Food, Reading Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Chalkboard Easter Eggs

2013
11 Comments

I have been loving all of the fun egg decorating ideas for kids I’ve seen this year!  One of my favorites was this idea from Super Mommy where she dipped her eggs in chalkboard paint.  I wanted to try it with my kiddos, but I was worried that we wouldn’t remember to get them back into the refrigerator.

Chalkboard Easter Eggs for Kids from Coffee Cups and CrayonsSo instead of chalkboard painting eggs we used egg-shaped rocks!  Genius, right?  Now they can stay out year round and be used in any way the kids can imagine!

Chalkboard Easter Egg Supplies:

    1. Egg shaped rocks–we found ours in the backyard.
    2. Rust-Oleum 206540 Chalkboard Paint (affiliate link)
    3. Colored Chalkboard Chalk (affiliate link)

Chalkboard Painted Easter Eggs for Kids

 How to Make Chalkboard Easter Eggs:

  1. Paint the rocks with chalkboard paint
  2. Let dry
  3. Decorate with colored chalk

What fun new ways have you decorated Easter eggs this year?

Linking to:

Tuesday Tots Link Party

Filed Under: Crafts, Easter Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Gruffalo Puppet Kids Book Activity

2013
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We are quite excited to learn more about Julia Donaldson, March’s Virtual Book Club for Kids author.  We own and love her book The Gruffalo and came up with a fun kids activity to go with it…homemade Gruffalo puppets!

Make Your Own Gruffalo Puppets from Coffee Cups and Crayons

In The Gruffalo, a little mouse uses his wit to outsmart the many animals in the forest who are trying to eat him.  My kids love rooting for the underdog while listening to the lyrical writing.  Even my oldest, who can easily read it herself, enjoys hearing it read by her father or me.  Donaldson has also written wonderfully descriptive text that the mouse uses to describe the Gruffalo.  These vivid descriptions became the instructions for our book project.

The Gruffalo Book Activity

The kids raided the craft closet for puppet making supplies and came up with brown paper bags, scrap paper, glue, scissors, markers and googly eyes.  They reread parts of the description they couldn’t remember and used the illustrations to guide them.

The Gruffalo Book Puppets

Here are their Gruffalos!  They were perfect to use to retell the story.

Gruffalo Book Activity for Kids

After they used the story descriptions to make Gruffalo puppets they decided to make friends for their Gruffalos.  They used their puppets to create sequels to the story and acted out what they thought would happen if the Gruffalo had friends, or in my daughter’s case what would happen if the Gruffalo had a girlfriend.

While making their puppets the big kids were busy learning about:

  1. Story structure
  2. Reading comprehension strategies
  3. Characterization
  4. Descriptive writing
  5. Adjectives
  6. Authors and illustrators

…and more!

All while creating with some of their favorite art supplies and using their imaginations.  Book extension activities are a great way to develop reading and pre-reading skills.  I can’t wait to check out the rest of the Julia Donaldson book posts that are linked up to the Virtual Book Club for Kids this month, there are going to be so many fun new books to discover!

What fun activities have you done with Julia Donaldson books? Please add your posts to the blog hop linky below.  There are a few rules for this blog hop that we ask you to follow, so make sure to read them:

  1. Link up only posts inspired by Julia Donaldson that share children’s book inspired crafts, activities, recipes, etc. Any other posts will be deleted.
  2. Visit other blog posts on the linky and comment on or share the ones you love!
  3. Add our Virtual Book Club button to your post if you’d like.
Here’s the button you can grab if you are participating!
VirtualBookClub
Here are several of the bloggers that will be participating in this year’s Virtual Book Club for Kids:
Toddler Approved - Rainy Day Mum - Adventures in Reading with Kids - 3 Dinosaurs - Royal Baloo - The Educators’ Spin On It - Inspiration Laboratories - Pleasantest Thing - Edventures with Kids - Two Big Two Little - Playing With Words 365 - Kitchen Counter Chronicles - Outlaw Mom - Crafty Moms Share - No Twiddle Twaddle - The Good Long Road - Ready. Set. Read 2 Me - Reading Confetti - Mama Smiles - Juggling with Kids- Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas - Creekside Learning - Creative Family Fun - The Usual Mayhem - Teach Preschool - PlayDrMom - CraftoArt - Here Come the Girls - Being a Conscious Parent - Smiling like Sunshine - Crayon Freckles - Train Up a Child - Growing Book By Book - This Reading Mama - Smile Play Learn – Enchanted Homeschooling Mom – Coffee Cups and Crayons – Having Fun at Chelle’s House- Love, Play, Learn – Juggling With Kids – Motherhood on a Dime

 

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Hop on Pop Dr. Seuss Games

2013
11 Comments

Dr. Seuss’ birthday is coming up at the end of the month and we have gone Seuss-crazy!  He is this month’s Virtual Book Club for Kids featured author and I cannot wait to see all of the Dr. Seuss games and activities that everyone comes up with.  We have a bunch of our favorite Dr. Seuss ideas to share over the next couple of weeks and have chosen Hop on Pop (Bright & Early Board Books(TM))as our book for today!

Hop on Pop Hopscotch: A Dr Seuss Game from Coffee Cups and Crayons

Hop on Pop is one of my kids’ favorites, they love the rhyming text.  So we used some of the rhyming words to play Hop on Pop Hopscotch!

How to Play Hop on Pop Hopscotch:

  • Instead of numbers I wrote some of the rhyming words in the squares for the kids to read as they played.
  • Then I used a permanent marker to draw Pop from the story on a rock.
  • The kids tossed the rock on one of the squares and then read the words as they hopped, making sure not to hop on Pop!

My 4 year old loves that he can sound out CVC words so we played a couple times with different sets of short vowel words.  My 3 year old is learning her letters so she pointed out the letters she knew as she jumped instead.

Dr. Seuss Math Game: Hop on Pop Counting Game from Coffee Cups and CrayonsThen we practiced identifying numbers and counting with a homemade Hop on Pop Dr. Seuss game.  We have been playing with an alphabet sticky wall after seeing it on Toddler Approved and the foam board with contact paper on it is perfect for creating your own board games.

How to Make a Hop on Pop Math Game:

  • Tape contact paper onto a large piece of foam board.  Make sure the sticky side it facing out.
  • Cut out 25 paper circles and number them with a marker.  I used a 2 inch hole punch.
  • Draw Pop from the story on three white circles.
  • Place the circles in order on the sticky board. Insert the 3 Pop circles into the line up wherever you choose.
  • Have each player grab a small toy or different colored Lego to use as a marker.
  • The kids roll the dice and take turns moving around the board.
  • If they land on Pop they have to go back and start at the beginning.  We had lots of fun yelling out, “Stop! You must not hop on Pop!” whenever this happened.

This Dr. Seuss math game was fun and full of learning.  The preschoolers got to practice taking turns, identifying numbers, counting, and adding.  And because we made it on the sticky board we can take everything off and switch it around as often as we would like.

What fun activities have you done with Dr. Seuss books?

If you’re a blogger, make sure to link them up to the Dr. Seuss blog hop!

There are a few rules for this blog hop that we ask you to follow:

  1. Link up only posts inspired by Dr. Seuss that share children’s book inspired crafts, activities, recipes, etc. Any other posts will be deleted.
  2. Visit other blog posts on the linky and comment on or share the ones you love!
  3. Add our Virtual Book Club button to your post if you’d like.

 

 

Check out the great Dr. Seuss ideas from the other hostesses!

Toddler Approved – Rainy Day Mum – Adventures in Reading with Kids – 3 Dinosaurs – Royal Baloo – The Educators’ Spin On It – Inspiration Laboratories – Pleasantest Thing – Edventures with Kids – Two Big Two Little – Playing With Words 365 – Kitchen Counter Chronicles – Outlaw Mom – Mommy and Me Book Club – Crafty Moms Share – No Twiddle Twaddle – The Good Long Road – Ready. Set. Read 2 Me – Reading Confetti – Mama Smiles – Juggling with Kids- Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas – Creekside Learning – Creative Family Fun – The Usual Mayhem – Teach Preschool – PlayDrMom – CraftoArt – Here Come the Girls – Being a Conscious Parent – Smiling like Sunshine – Crayon Freckles – Train Up a Child – Smile Play Learn – Enchanted Homeschooling Mom – Coffee Cups and Crayons – Having Fun at Chelle’s House- Love, Play, Learn – Juggling With Kids – Motherhood on a Dime
Linking to:

In Lieu of Preschool

AfterschoolButtonDraft4

 

 

 

 

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Filed Under: Reading Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
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