Moon Sand!

Moon Sand is super easy to make & is a lot of fun! I had never heard of this before seeing it on Pinterest so I was pretty excited about it once we made it! It is really soft and it molds really well. My daughter Brielle LOVES it but I only bring it out every once in a while because she makes huge mess with it. She likes to throw it on the floor...haha, but it is a fun, easy and cheap thing that will keep your child entertained for quite a while. I also have a hard time keeping myself from playing with it, this stuff is awesome!

What you will need

-Flour (4 cups)
-Baby Oil (1/2 cup)
-Large Container
-Sand Box Toys, small cups

Directions

1.) Mix flour & baby oil in large container (preferably one that has a lid that you can continue to store the sand in).
2.) Have FUN!

My Daughter enjoying her Moon Sand

Minnie Mouse Birthday Banner, Hats & Game!

Minnie Mouse Birthday!

My daughter turned TWO in January. At the time she was TOTALLY obsessed with Minnie Mouse so it was obvious that would be her birthday party theme. We had a tiny party for her on her birthday with the two kids that I watch and her dad. I didn't want to buy the Minnie Mouse party set so I decided to make my own. It gave me something crafty to do, which I pretty much always need.

What you will need/Directions

For the hats:

-Black, pink and white construction paper
-String
-Stapler
-Glue
-Sharpie
-Plate/Bowl-a large and a small one.
-Tape

 

1.) Take a plate (or a large mixing bowl) and trace it. This will make a large circle for you.
2.) Cut the circle out.
2.) Draw a dot in the center of the circle and a straight line to one side of the hat. Cut the line.
3.) Make a dome out of the cut circle. Staple it together. Place tape over the staples so they don't scratch the kids.
4.) Google Minnie Mouse Bows, save an image to your computer. Print the bow out for as many hats you need.
5.) Cut the bow out and staple to the top of the hat.
6.) Take the small bowl or plate and repeat steps 1&2.
7.) Place these circles at the back of the hat and staple (so they look like mouse ears).
8.) At the bottom of the hat below where your childs ears would be punch a hole in each side of the hat. String the string through and tie.

*I also put a "2" on my daughter's hat since she was turning 2.

 

For the banner
-3 black poster boards
-white string
-printer/ink/printer paper
-Bowl
-Cup
-Tape or glue

1.)Trace 13 circles using the bow (Happy Birthday =13 letters so 13 circles are needed, unless you choose to also write your child's name you will need more).
2.) Trace 26 small circles using the cup.
3.) Tape small circles at the top of the medium circles (making a Minnie mouse face).
4.) Print out H A P P Y  B I R T H D A Y in whatever font you choose and black lettering. Cut them out in squares (or circles if you want). Just make sure to space them out well enough to where you will have room to cut each of them into a shape.
5.) Tape or glue on letter to each of the minnie faces.
6.) Print out 13 Minnie mouse bows, cut them out, tape on Minnie mouse face.
7) String a white, pink or black string all the way through each one.
8.) Hang up!

 

For the Game
-2 black poster boards
-pink  construction paper
-Sharpie

1.)  Draw a HUGE circle (as big as you can make on the poster board. Cut it out.
2.) Draw two medium sized circles. Tape them to the back of the large circle to make them look like Minnie Mouse ears.
3.) Draw as many bow outlines as you need on the pink construction paper. Cut those out. Keep aside until game is ready to be played.
4.) Draw black lines as needed on bows.
5.) Play "Pin the bow on Minnie." The kids got Minnie Mouse Stickers as a prize.

The kids decorated with their stickers :)

 

As for the rest of the party decorations I got streamers and a white table cloth from the Dollar Store, Minnie Mouse cups at Walmart for $2 along with a package of black, a package of white, and a package of light pink balloons to blow up, Minnie Mouse stickers and pair of pink leggings and one of those dollar bows they sell in the kids section that was black and bright pink (we had a black shirt.

Letter Collage

Letter Collage

What you will need

-Cardboard
-Scisscors
-Printer
-Paint
-Modge Podge

Directions

1.)Trace the first letter of each child's first name on a piece of card board.

2.) Cut out the letter.

3.) Ask each child what their favorite cartoon character is. (Ours were Tinkerbell, SpiderMan and Strawberry Shortcake) Go online google that character and find photos you can use, save the photo to your computer. Make a full sheet of small photos of the character and print it out.

4.) Cut the photos out into squares. I ended up with about 12-15 little photos for each child.

3.) Let the kids paint their letter with their color of choice.

4.) Let the kids put the photos on their letters (on top of the wet paint or you can let the paint dry and glue them on). Let dry

5.) Modge podge over all the photos. Let Dry

6.) Punch a hole in the top of each letter.

7.) Tie some string into the hole.

 

 

Below: The three finished letters (without the string). My daughter has hers hanging in her bedroom!

Tin can wind chime

Tin can wind chime

This craft takes a little while to get the supplies collected and ready (waiting for paint to dry) but it is well worth it!

What you will need

-Tin cans. Save all shapes and sizes of tin cans (tomato paste, tuna fish, soup cans, etc). Wash them thoroughly and put them aside until you are ready to do this craft.
- Paint. I used acrylic but I'm sure others would work as well.
-Paint brushes.
-Wire
-Rocks, or pennies, anything you can wrap and put inside the cans to make noise.
-Key chain ring

Directions

1.) Paint each can a different, solid color. Let Dry.

2.) Once the cans are dry I let the kids paint them with different colors to make them pretty :)

3.) Once they are dry I hammered a hole into the top of each can (in the center) using a nail and a hammer...not sure why I decided to do it that way since we own a electric hand held drill...anyways...get a hole in the top center of each can.

4.) String wire through each can. You want to have different lengths of wire for each can so they hang at different levels but still will be able to "clang" against each other. This part is kind of a pain in the you know what! Also make sure to leave enough wire hanging out of the bottom of each can in order to do the next step.

5.) Wrap a rock, or a penny, or anything noise maker inside the can with the wire that is hanging down.

5.) Tie all of the wire you left hanging out of the top of the cans together.

6.) Tie the wire to the keychain ring.

7.) Hang up your chime & enjoy!

Easy Prince/Princess for a day crowns!

Easy Prince/Princess for a day crowns

Construction paper crowns are a really fun, easy and cheap craft that the kids love! The kids always play for hours after making the crowns pretending they are royalty :) it is funny to watch. We have made crowns quite a few times in the last year because it is so easy, fun and you can make each crown a different shape and put different decorations on them each time.

What you will need
- Scissors
-Construction paper
-Tape
-Any of these items for the kids to decorate their crowns with:
     *Paint   *Stickers   *Glitter/Glitter Pens   *Letters   *Gems   *Shape cut outs *Ink/Stamps

Directions

1.) Measure each child's head.
2.) Cut out your crown (matching each childs head measurement). I typically just do the triangle shaped crowns, as shown in the picture, but you could make them a bit fancier if you like.
3.) Let the kids decorate their crowns! They can paint them, put stickers on them, glitter, their names or initials, shape cut outs, gems, confetti, whatever you have around the house.
4.) Once the kids are done decorating tape the ends of the crown together.
5.) Let the kids play with their new crowns!

Above: My daughter decorating her princess crown! This day we used ink and letter stamps, stickers, paint, and letter stickers.

Below: My daughter happily wearing her princess crown!

 

 

Shape "dice"- a shape learning game

Shape "Dice"

I came up with this idea when I was beginning to teach my daughter shapes. I was thinking of different games that I could have the kids play. I wanted it to be a fun way for them to learn shapes. What we do is take turns throwing the box and then telling what color and shape it landed on.

What you will need:

-Cardboard box
-Printer Paper
-Construction Paper
-Scissors
-Packaging Tape

Directions:

1.) Tape the box closed

2.) Tape the Printer paper all around the box (cutting where needed).

3.) Cut out the following shapes: circle, triangle, heart, diamond, square and star. I did each shape in a different color as I wanted to help her with colors also.

4.) Tape the shapes onto the sides.

5.) Tape the entire box. I taped it twice since I knew it was going to be getting thrown around and I wanted it to last for a long time.

ABC's Canvas

ABC's Canvas
This is a really simple, quick and fun craft!

What you will need:
-Pencil
-Sharpie
-Crayons
-Any size canvas you choose

Directions:
1.) Start out by penciling the ABC's on the canvas.  You could stencil them on also, I just chose to do it this way.

2.) Then, go over the pencil with a sharpie marker.

3.) Here comes the fun part! I let the my daughter and the two kids I watch color the canvas with crayons all over (I helped too). I think it turned out awesome and it looks great in my daughter's room!