I stumbled upon this great find on Pinterest…of course! :) It is absolutely perfect for my toddlers!
To play, simply roll the die. Your child can then stamp the correct number using a Do-A-Dot marker. LOVE this activity…especially since we’re working on number recognition at our house!
Click on the gingerbread man outline above to print a copy for your little one. Then, just add the numbers and you’re ready to go! **This would also be a great activity for letters of the alphabet!**
Whenever possible, I try to have my kiddos complete activities that work on their fine motor skills. So, this activity is perfect! The idea came from one of the wonderful kindergarten teachers at the school I teach at. It is such an easy activity to complete and really challenged my little ones. It is definitely an activity we’ll be repeating in the future!
Materials Needed:
white cardstock
construction paper
glue
pencil
Start by writing your child’s name on a sheet of white cardstock. (A large sheet of construction paper would work also!)
Now, the colored construction paper needs to be torn into tiny pieces. (It works really well to have them tear a strip first and then tear the strip into little pieces.) I let my kids pick their favorite colors to work with, which was perfect for my two year old who is working on color identification. My four year old is working on his letter identification skills, which this activity is also great for. Fine motor, letter identification, and color identification all in one activity…love it!
Also, this was very challenging for both of my kiddos. They really had to work to get the pieces torn. We’ll definitely be practicing this skill again!
Now, with one color torn, draw a line of glue over one of the letters in your little one’s name. Using the paper pieces, have them cover the letter.
(Oh, and YES, we do craft in our jammies! :) )
Continue tearing different colors and gluing onto each letter.
That’s it! Your little one now has a masterpiece to display for all to see! :)
My littlest one has been obsessed with the idea of fishing lately. She is constantly using our iPod charging cable as a fishing pole. After about a week of this, I started to feel a little guilty for not already making something a little more realistic for her. {With school starting – yes, I’m a teacher – and an upcoming craft fair, my craftiness has sort of been put on hold. Instead, I’ve been mass producing interchangeable watch bands, grading papers, and writing lesson plans. :) }
So, to calm my guilty Mom feeling, I headed to the computer. Since all of my inspiration has come from Pinterest recently, I began a search for my daughter’s fishing activity. I stumbled upon this blog which featured a super cute fish printable for busy moms like myself! Ready to make your own?
Materials Needed:
Paperclips
Paint stick
Fishing line
Magnet
Bead
I started by searched our garage for something resembling a fishing pole. A couple of used paint sticks immediately caught my eye for the following reasons that other fellow moms will love:
1. They are lacking the sharp point that a stick comes with. I don’t know about you, but I am partial to my children having TWO eyes! :)
2. Since they were already used to stir paint, they are already color coordinated, which means no fighting over which stick belongs to whom.
3. They are FREE! Everyone loves a project that involves objects that are just lying around!!
Using a paint stick, I wrapped some of the hubby’s fishing line around the end and tied a secure knot. Then, leaving myself abut 2 feet of line, I tied the loose end to a square bead. This bead will be what you hot glue your magnet onto. This made it really easy and ensured that the magnet and the line were secure. I didn’t want to lose any fish due to a faulty fishing pole! :)
Now, add paper clips to your fish.
With the project completed, my little one (and her big brother) can now fish to their heart’s content. And what’s even better is that it has kept them VERY busy and I’ve been able to get a lot of watches made. Yeah for busy kid activities! When my craft fair is over we’re going to try making a fishing game for the tub. Stay tuned!
For our {Kid’s Corner Friday}, I wanted to share with you a SUPER FUN idea that I found here!
It is so simple! Freeze some small trinkets in a bowl of water overnight. An example of some trinkets you could put in your ice are: cookie cutters, coins, small plastic toys, playdough accessories, etc. The next day, dump the frozen block out on the sidewalk. Give your child a hammer and let them go to town trying to smash all of the toys out of the ice!
What little kiddo wouldn’t love this FUN summer activity!
A couple of weekends ago, we had a family get together! My sister’s kiddos and my kiddos are very close in age, so of course, I couldn’t resist the urge to come up with a fun play date full of treats & activities! I found the cutest book, Tickle Monster by Josie Bissett that I centered my activities and treats around!
We started out our play date by reading this oh so cute book! The kids LOVED it….especially all the tickling!!!
Watch out for the Tickle Monster…..
(I wore a glove on my tickling hand to make it seem more like the fuzzy monster from the book)
After we read the book, we headed to the kitchen table for some fun….
The Tickle Monster’s body in the book is rainbow colored, so I found the cutest printables here, Skittles Sorting Mats. The kids had so much fun eating and sorting their skittles {{notice I said eating first}} (:
All Done!
To get the wiggles out, we headed to the living room for some Rainbow Musical Dots. They had so much fun running from dot to dot. As soon as the music stopped, they each raced to stand on the closest dot. Each time the music stopped, I took a dot away {{I started out with lots of dots…since our kiddos are little}}. The winner was the kiddo who made it onto the last dot, first. They had so much fun…although not being able to stand on the last dot is a hard concept for a 2 year old! (;
They could have played this game all day…but of course there was another craft project!
We gathered back around the kitchen table to make Fruit Loop necklaces! The kids had so much fun stringing & eating their fruit loops. I might have eaten a few as well! (;
For snack, we had Rainbow Graham Crackers!
They were so easy. I spread vanilla frosting on graham crackers and then sprinkled sprinkles on the frosting to look like a rainbow.
It was so much fun to put together this play date for my kids & my sister’s kids! We only wish we lived close enough that we could do this more often!
