Earth Day is coming up and everyone is looking for cute planet-friendly crafts to do. One of our favorites is this upcycled soda bottle planter my 6 year old made for school! It's Earth Week at her school and each grade had a different upcycled project to make. The kindergartners had to make planters and she decided to make a "girl planter" -- of course. She liked the idea of a see-though planter so I cut the top off of a soda bottle for her to … [Read more...]
Egg Carton Computer and Jelly Bean Toss Game
It's time for another Tinkerlab Creative Challenge! The item this month is an egg carton and we definitely have lots of those in our craft cupboard right now! Last Friday the big kids each got an egg carton to create something with. The almost 4 year old got right to work cutting even though he wasn't quite sure what he wanted to make yet. After he had cut the cup section into 3 parts he announced he was going to make a game and would know … [Read more...]
Eggbert the Easter Egg Puppet and Song!
"Eggbert the Easter Egg" is one of our favorite Easter songs. A couple years ago my oldest and I made these cute sock puppets to use while we sing. All you need to make one yourself is a yellow sock, a square of white felt, a scrap of orange felt or any other fabric, fabric glue and two googly eyes. Chick and Egg Sock Puppet: yellow sock white felt orange felt (or color white felt orange) googly eyes fabric glue To … [Read more...]
Easter Egg Garland and Collages — Great Scissor Practice!
Last week my 2 and 3 year old were having lots of fun experimenting with different painting techniques, aka painting with everything they could find, and we ended up with lots and lots of paintings. Instead of recycling them we turned them into Easter egg decorations...and got some great scissor practice in at the same time! My preschooler practiced his cutting skills and turned the paintings into Easter egg garland and then into an Easter egg … [Read more...]
Making a Leprechaun Trap
We made a leprechaun trap today! I first heard of the idea from friends and thought it sounded great -- creative, fun, St. Patrick's Day themed -- but my husband was skeptical, "You are going to ask the kids if they want to build something to trap a leprechaun in? Doesn't that seem mean? And a little creepy for little kids?" "No!" I assured him, "It will be fun. They love to use their imaginations and build things!" And I was right they do. … [Read more...]
Make Shamrocks Prints with Peppers
Last week we used green pepper slices and green paint to make shamrock prints! See how a sliced pepper looks just like a shamrock? To make the prints all you need to do is slice some peppers, pour paint into a dish, and let them create! I gave my two year old the top of the pepper with the stem so she would have something to hold onto, but thick slices of pepper work too. As you can see she had a blast! She loved experimenting with the pepper and … [Read more...]
Rainbow Car Paintings
What do you do with two kids who love cars and rainbows? Car painting, of course! Our supplies: Paint in individual containers (in our case old container lids) Small cars that can be cleaned with soap and water Paper in trays (cookie sheets) A dish of water for the car wash Paper towels Then they drove their cars through the paint and then on their papers. In between colors the cars went through the "car wash" to … [Read more...]
Shaving Cream Rainbows
To continue our fun with color we played with shaving cream paint! Not only is it fun on so many levels, it's a perfect medium to use when exploring color mixing. The texture of the shaving cream allows kids to truly see how two primary colors become one. To make shaving cream paint you add a couple drops of food coloring to a mound of shaving cream and stir them together. We mixed ours in a muffin tin so each secondary color was in between its … [Read more...]
