Paper Pizza!

I can't believe Thanksgiving has come & gone already. It's even harder to believe that tomorrow is December 1st! I need to get going & plan some winter/holiday crafts. We've had a slow start to the week but we did manage to pop in at the library for story time.
This week's theme was Pizza & this is what M & M created....

They loved making their own pizzas. M2 had a hard time keeping the "cheese" out of her mouth but she did manage to finish with it looking great.
I loved that it was an easy craft with very few supplies.
*Small paper plate, red circle for the sauce (construction paper), yellow rectangles of tissue paper for the cheese & brown construction paper circles for the sausages.
Glue it all together & you've got a paper pizza!
It was a great way for M1 & I to practice circles & rectangles with M2 as well.
Enjoy....s.b.

Go U.S.A.!!!

We're two days away from the big match between U.S.A. & England... so why not continue crafting to show some spirit?! Today M1 & I made a U.S. flag to keep up with the festivities. It's a great independent project for kids of any age. M1 did not do the cutting for the project, but an older child could absolutely do that on his/her own. She did enjoy gluing on the shapes & creating a flag of her very own. I enjoy how excited she is each time we finish a project... definitely very proud of her work!

Supplies- *Red, White & Blue Construction Paper, *Glue Stick,  *White Paint, *Scissors, *Pencil (Used to trace the lines for an older child to cut along.)

1. Cut out five long, 1 inch strips of red paper.
2. Cut one large blue square, set aside.

*While I was doing the cutting for the project, M1 sat at the table with me & did a little cutting of her own. She could cut up pieces of paper all day long...

3. One by one, glue the red strips & place them onto the white paper leaving a little space in between each strip.

4. Glue the blue square into place. (Upper left corner)

5. Using the little one's finger, begin dipping it into the paint & stamping on the "stars."

(I drew small dots in a line along the blue paper as a guide for M1 when stamping her prints. It helped her keep them in a somewhat straight line.)

6. Allow some time to dry. (Sorry for the blurry picture below!)

Done! We'll definitely be bringing out our flag on Saturday while we cheer on the USA during their match against England. Between the flag & the soccer balls the girls created we'll be all set!

ALSO... One of my blog readers (Who lives in South Africa right amongst the World Cup action!...) did a similar project with her little one using sheets of colored foam. Below is a picture from HER BLOG of her little one with their S. African flag. Be sure to check it out.

It's so fun for little ones to use different materials when crafting. M1 would have been thrilled to use foam for this project but I don't have any at the moment.  So fun!

Bring on the weekend, we're looking forward to cheering for #15! Go U.S.A.   

Enjoy! s.b.

World Cup Time!!!

Our house is REALLY excited for the World Cup to start this week. One of my close friends (#15 Jay Demerit) is playing on the US Soccer team & we can't wait to watch him! It's a bit too far for us to travel right now to watch live but we've been reading articles, watching the pre-world cup games, etc. It is so fun to see him & all he's accomplished. So in honor of this rare & exciting event, the girls & I created soccer balls today.

This post is a bit lengthy. I started by creating a soccer ball with M1 & then went on & made the project a bit easier for M2.

Supplies- *Black Paint, *Black Marker, *White Construction Paper, *Cardboard (optional),*Sponge, *Craft Sticks, *Glue, *Not Pictured-Scissors & A Bowl for Paint

1. I began by creating the below pentagon template using a Word document. You should be able to right click on the image below & save it to print for your own use. 

2. Then I cut out one of the pentagons, traced it onto the sponge as seen below & cut it out.

3. Using a large piece of white construction paper, cut out a circle to be used as the ball. (I also cut out a cardboard circle the same size & glued the two circles together to make it a little less flimsy.)

4. Pour a small amount of black paint into a bowl.

5. Using the pentagon shaped sponge for dipping, have your child dip it into the bowl & coat with paint.

6. Stamp a half dozen or so pentagons onto the circle ball.

 7. Once the soccer ball is filled with pentagon stamps, allow some time for the paint to dry.

8. Once dry, use the black marker to connect the pentagons with straight lines. I definitely had to help M1 with this a bit, but once we got started she got the idea.

9. Glue the craft stick to the bottom for a handle & allow to dry. Done... with the first one, not on to M2.

Once M1 was done with her soccer ball, I gave her the print out of the pentagons & gave her a few minutes to stamp the remaining pentagons with black paint. (pictured below) It was a great activity for her to match up the sponge stamp with the shape. She really enjoyed it.

Once these pentagons dried, I cut them out & helped M2 create her own soccer ball also. Instead of stamping with the sponge, I helped her glue the cut out pentagons onto a circle of her own. She was so happy & loves to get messy with the glue.

We drew the connecting lines together, added a stick handle, let it dry & they were all set. Definitely ready to cheer on Jay during Saturday's match against England!!!

 

Enjoy! s.b.

Good morning! This morning I'm posting a simple craft that can be done however you please. Definitely let your child use his/her imagination on this one. M1 just happened to request a house when we made ours, so I assisted her with making a stick house.

Supplies- *Glue, *Paint, *Craft Sticks, *Large White Paper, *Small Colorful Paper/Magazine Scraps

1. We began by gluing the craft sticks to the paper where we wanted them & in the shape of a house and tree.

2. Once they were glued down, M1 went ahead & painted the sticks, a sun & the tree.

3. After painting, I helped her choose all the green pieces of scrap paper she could find. Once she had a nice pile, she glued the scraps onto the tree as leaves.

4. Using the scraps again, we found a door, window & a small chimney.

 

Very simple, yet fun art activity for kids of all ages. It could be as basic as just gluing sticks to the paper & painting them. Craft sticks have ooodles of uses!

Enjoy! s.b.

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!