Pearly White Smiles

Here is a quick & easy activity for young children of any age. Just vary the level of difficulty if you'd like. For instance, I did all the cutting for M1, but if you have an older child you could allow them to do the cutting on their own.

~Supplies: *Scissors, *Glue Stick, *Magazines, *Tooth Template found HERE

To Begin- 1. Cut out the tooth. (If you don't have access to a printer, you could cut out a tooth free hand.)

2. Begin looking through the magazines with your child hunting for "teeth" pictures & cut them out.

3. Once you've got a good pile going, you can go ahead & help your child glue them on. We used a glue stick for this craft to make it a little easier for M1 since the magazine clippings are so flimsy. (She rubbed the glue stick on the paper & then set the pictures on top.)

Brushing Away the "Plaque"

A fun activity that my dear friend shared with me. It's a great way to show how brushing really does clean your teeth. It's amazing how the stain really brushes away!

Find the directions for this activity HERE @ About.com
Happy Brushing!

p.s. Don't be afraid to become a "follower" on the right hand side of my page (I'd love to see who's visiting.. makes blogging more fun!) & feel free to pass s.b.creatively along to friends & family!

Marshmallow Mouth Puppet

I've decided to do some kid activities/crafts this week in honor of February & Dental Health Month. Yes, we are all crazy teeth brushing/flossing fanatics because of Aunt K who is a dental hygenist. She keeps us on our toes & really gets the girls excited about dental hygene. This house has more tootbrushes than most & lots of fun extras too. Did you know that there are special suckers that are actually good for your teeth? How fun is that? Activity #1 is this mouth puppet that I dreamed up over the weekend. It turned out much better than I expected & M1 just loves it.

~Supplies: *Manilla Folder or 1 piece of paper folded in half, *Marshmallows, *Glue, *Small piece of red construction paper, *2 craft sticks, *Scissors

To Begin- 1. Use the manilla folder to cut out a half circle. This will be the base of the "mouth." I used the folder which worked great, but you could also use a thicker piece of paper & just fold in in half.
2. Glue the 2 craft sticks onto the side with the fold. One craft stick on each side as seen in pic #2. I put something heavier on top of it for a few minutes to help it dry flat.
3. While it's drying, cut out a small tongue. (If you don't have red paper, you could have your child draw a red tongue on the inside once it's dry.)
4. When dry, open up the mouth & lay flat. Glue in the tongue on one side of the circle & then begin w/ the "teeth." To make it easier for M1, I placed dots of glue around the outside of the mouth where she then placed each of marshmallows on her own. (Pic #3 & 4)
5. Give ample drying time before using it as a puppet. We let ours sit for about an hour. Use the sticks (one in each hand, moving up & down) to make your puppet talk!

Watch M1 demonstrate how her newly created puppet works

Paper Ice Skate

I think this will be the last of the Olympic crafts, but one never knows... maybe I'll dream something up this week. With ice skating all over the t.v. we've been talking about it daily, so this seemed like a perfect project for the weekend. We also went skating downtown as a family last weekend. M1 was very happy to decorate her skate & string the skate laces "all by herself."

~Supplies: *Blue, white & black construction paper, *Scissors, *Glue, *Crayons or Markers, *String/ribbon, *Hole punch.

To Begin- 1. Cut a boot shape out of the white piece of paper & punch 6-7 holes for the laces. Also cut out a skate using the black paper. (Pic #1)
2. Give your child some time to decorate his/her skate.
3. Once it's decorated, go ahead & let him/her thread the ribbon through the holes. I started by placing the end of the ribbon through the 1st hole near the toe & tied a knot there so it wouldn't slip out. Then I handed it over to M1 to do the rest. (Pic #2) When she was finished I fascened the end of the ribbon to the back side of the boot using a piece of tape. (You could glue it also.)
4. With your child's assistance, glue the boot/skate onto the base paper & allow to dry.

Paper Plate Snowman

 

M1 & I brought our crafting to a friend's house this week. We arrived with all of our supplies & were ready to go! M1 was not interested in making her snowman craft at all... she was WAY more concerned with all of the new toys @ P's house. But P on the other hand, was very excited & eager to have his picture taken while he made his snowman. (I did bribe M1 into finishing her snowman as the morning progressed.) Again, not many supplies for this project, but oodles of fun.

~Supplies: *Paper plate, *Cotton balls, *Glue, *Black, orange & red construction paper

To Begin- 1. Cut out 6-7 circles for the snowman eyes/mouth, a black hat, orange triangle "carrot" nose & a red strip for the hat. Set aside.

2. Turn the plate with the serving side down & cover with glue. Allow your child to place the cotton balls all over, covering the entire plate.

3. Once the plate is completely covered place glue on each of the eyes & have him/her place them on the snowman. Continue with the mouth, carrot nose, hat & red belt for the hat.

4. Allow some time to dry laying down before displaying.

Here is another Olympic craft that M1 & her friend H (pictured above) made a few days ago during a playdate. They really enjoyed doing the project together & of course displaying the end products. They did much better with this than I had thought & they turned out pretty cute. A great kids craft that includes some shape recognition. Having a craft to complete during a playdate is a great way to keep the kids busy with a variety of different activities. It works great when they've had enough of free play & are ready for a change of scenery. I think H had a great time with this craft & he was so happy to go home with his creation... excited to show daddy.

~Supplies: *Blue, yellow, black, green & red construction paper, cut into 5 different shapes, *1 large piece of white paper, *Crayons, *Glue, *A cup/bowl for tracing, *Scissors
To Begin- 1. Cut out different shapes with each of the 5 pieces of construction paper (Picture #1) & place them in piles according to their shape/color. My shapes were about 1 1/2 inches tall/long.
2.Next, use a cup/bowl to trace the 5 rings with a crayon creating a "stencil" of the 5 Olympic rings (Pic. #2).
3.Once you're ready for your child to start placing the shapes on the rings, you should outline the 1st ring with glue. (I started on the left with the blue ring.) Give your child the blue pile of shapes & allow them to place the shapes around the ring.
4.Repeat with the remaining rings/shape piles, working from left to right & only outlining one ring @ a time with glue. (This helps & keeps them from gluing multiple colors on one ring.)
5.Allow some time to dry & display!

Just in time to get one more cute kids craft in before the big holiday tomorrow. This one is pretty easy & takes little time to complete. (minus drying time) I added a magnet to the back & it made a great fridge magnet. M1 is so proud of her work & was happy to display it on the fridge. You could also glue a ribbon to it & hang to display. Perfect little last minute valentine for someone!

~Supplies: *4 craft sticks, *Glue, *A picture of your child, *Conversation hearts, *Magnet or ribbon
To Begin- 1. Glue the four sticks together as shown in picture #1. I would give this a few minutes to dry so the sticks don't move while you're working with the frame.
2.Once it's dry, go ahead & place dots of glue around the frame & allow your child to place the hearts around the frame. If they are anything like M1 it went like this... place one on the frame, eat one, place one on the frame, etc. She'd do projects all day if they always included candy!
3.Once finished, I would let this set for at least an hour, if not more so it dries completely. Then go ahead & cut/glue your picture to the back, add a magnet & you've got yourself one very festive frame.!

Sweet Heart Treats

Ok, so this might be more of a mom project but M1 had a ton of fun helping & decorating herself. I have a new love for baking & decorating cookies. (I will post the baby shower cookies again soon.) I found a great recipe HERE that I just love. They are easy & freeze well. These hearts were made a few weeks ago & taken out of the freezer yesterday to be frosted. I started by frosting a "base" layer. Then I mixed more frosting & put it into bottles that I purchased @ Michael's. If you don't have them, you can put the frosting in a ziploc bag & cut the corner off... which also works well if you're doing it yourself, not if you're allowing your toddler to decorate! M1 did take her turn decorating a few of her cookies. (If you look closely @ the top of picture #3, you'll see a few of her masterpieces!) Then I placed them in clear plastic bags (also found @ Michael's) & tied with a white ribbon. We're looking forward to delivering our valentine treats to friends later today. Enjoy! s.b.

Let the Games Begin!!!

 

We are all very excited for the Olympics to start. M&M obviously don't really understand, but I thought if I got some crafts going it might make things a little more fun. Today we created silver medals (too bad aluminum foil doesn't come in gold!!) & an Olympic torch. Both very simple & easy projects made from everyday supplies that you probably have laying around the house.

~Olympic Medal Supplies: *Cardboard - cut into circles (3-4 in.) *Aluminum foil *Red, blue, or white ribbon *Scotch tape
To Begin-1.Once you've got the circles cut out, simply wrap the cardboard with foil & tape the back to secure.
2.Measure the ribbon to fit over your child's head & fasten onto the back with tape. (Hot glue would probably work best if you have it available)

~Olympic Torch Supplies: *Paper towel roll *Aluminum foil *Scotch tape *Red, orange, yellow tissue paper (Cut in half)
To Begin-1.Wrap the towel roll with aluminum foil. I folded the edges over the top & taped the seam so it wouldn't tear.
2. Lay the pieces of tissue paper on top of one another & bunch up one end. (about 5-6 inches )
3.Push the bunched up end into the towel roll. It should fit pretty tight if you use 4-5 sheets of tissue paper. (You could also put some glue on the bunched up end before putting it into the roll. Let dry.)

Be sure to turn on the opening ceremonies tonight & let your child parade around the house with his/her torch!! s.b.

Valentine's Day Pretzels

 

 

Ok, here we go! My first official blog post as s.b.creatively! We'll see how this progresses as the time passes. For those of you who frequent my personal blog, this post will be a repeat. (Sorry for that.) In honor of Valentines Day, yesterday we decided to make heart shaped pretzels. I found the recipe here @ Food Network. They turned out so well & it was definitely a fun project for M&M. It was especially fun for M1, she loved being able to assist with all the different steps, such as painting the olive oil onto the parchment paper & rolling out the dough. Watching the pretzels in the boiling H2O also created a whole lot of excitement. We'll definitely make these again very soon. Maybe shamrocks next month for St. Patty's day??!! Let me know if you decide to give it a try... comments ENCOURAGED!!! s.b.