Fireworks

This weekend we have a 3 day weekend because Monday is the 4th of July. This weeks theme will be just that - 4th of July/Fireworks.

We did a fun, slightly messy project this morning using toilet paper tubes and paint to create fireworks. I found this project on Happiness is Homemade.

I cut slits 1.5 to 2" long all along one end of a toilet paper tube and bent them back  (it kind of looked like an extra tentacled octopus). 

We had one each for red, white and blue. Actually we had two sets for the four kids to use. Then they dipped each tune in its designated color and created stamps. I showed them to overlap the colors, resulting in a fireworks pattern.

Robot worksheets

Things have been a little extra busy around here so I haven't been updating the blog daily. Yesterday we did Robot Do-A-Dot worksheets from the free downloadable worksheet pack from Homeschool Creations.

Today, we did a 9 piece Robot puzzle from the same set of downloads.

Robots!

We never quite got around to a project yesterday, partly because what I had planned was a bit too ambitious for a 2, 3 and 4 year old. Today's project was mostly just using a glue stick for them.

I printed out two pages of 6 different sets of robot parts. The kids picked which body parts they wanted and I cut them out. Then they glued and assembled them into robots. 

Frozen super heroes

I saved this extra fun project for today - Sutton's 3rd birthday. Last night I froze two super heroes each per bowl of water. 

Then, this morning we went outside with some cheap, small water guns and squirted the blocks of ice to free the people. Technically some were villians, but I reasoned that they were all enemies of Mr. Freeze. 

The kids had fun, but they were starting to lose patience by the time the people started breaking free. Luckily, once we started getting some free of the ice they wanted to finish the job.

Superhero Worksheets

Today, after reading some Batman books and playing outside for a long time, we did a quick Superhero worksheet before lunch.

You can download a whole Superhero worksheet pack from here for free. 

Spiderman handprints

It's finally superhero week! I purposely scheduled this for summer when my summertime daycare kid would be here. It's also Sutton's birthday week and all of the kids are into super heroes. In fact, Sutton will have a PJ Masks birthday cake for her party this weekend.

Today's project was a Spiderman handprint. After stamping each hand red (Lucian's the only child who painted his own hand red), I thought how quickly that had gone. It took much longer to finish the second part though.

After the red handprints were dry, I added white eyes. While the kids ate lunch (and the paint was dry), I added in the webs, and spider with a black sharpie. The kids were quite surprised I turned that red handprint into a spider!


Our Super hero book today was 10 Rules of Being a Superhero by Deb Pilutti. The book is fun, with great illustrations.

Name rockets

We made "rocket ships" today for our last day of space week. 

I cut everything out and wrote the letters. For 3/4 of the kids I mixed them up so they could find them and put them in the correct order. Then they needed to glue them on.

This helped with letter recognition and their glueing skills. I thought the oldest would cut his own squares, but he wanted nothing to do with cutting.  Lucian was able to put the letters in the correct order, however he turned a few sideways. 

Space sticker sheets

Have you ever purchased the Design A Scene stickers from Oriental Trading Company? I've been buying them for many years now. They are great for kids of all ages to do. I happened to have a space one, so our project today was  a sticker sheet.

I usually save what stickers they don't use on their sheets for various other sticker uses/projects. Then I watch for free shipping from Oriental Trading and buy some more! 

Paper plate aliens

We took last week off and enjoyed a more relaxed schedule last week. I had 5 days off over Memorial Day weekend. We did lots of gardening (flower and vegetable), some swimming at my parents, visited my brother who was camping, went to the park and ice cream stand, played lots of games, and just spent time together. Saturday we also went to the monthly Home Depot Kids Workshop where the kids made cell phone holder trophies. We did more gardening, errands and swimming.

When our daycare friend returned Thursday we spent two days just paying inside and outside and didn't do any projects. It was actually nice to have a week "off." We are ready to start a new theme though, so it's time for Outer Space Week! Another daycare kid (age 6) will be back part-time this summer as well, so some days we will be a group of 4.

Today's easy project came from Glued To My Crafts.  I really loved this project because even though she had a template of how it was done, we were able to really individualize each alien based on each kids thoughts on how their alien should look.


First, the kids covered their small paper plates with glue. Then, they laid small squares of tissue paper all over the plates. You can cut your own tissue paper, but I have some from Oriental Trading Company that are pre-cut.

When they had their plates covered, they glued eyes on the plates, and then used pom-poms, paper and pipe cleaners to finish designing their aliens. They really enjoyed making these.

Sutton and Lucian's had pipe cleaner legs.

Toilet paper tube bird feeders

I'm sure you've seen this "craft" many times. Today we made little bird feeders out of toilet paper rolls.

We talked about what birds eat this morning. It's been raining on and off for a few days so we have seen the worms on the sidewalk, and the kids already knew birds ate bird food. We started making our little bird feeders by having the kids spread peanut butter on toilet paper tubes.

When they were finished they looked like this.

After wiping hands, the kids rolled their tubes in a plate full of bird seed.

This afternoon we will hang them from a tree branch and watch to see if any birds eat from them. We also dumped the extra bird seed that was on the plate into the yard. The kids keep looking out the window to see if the birds are eating the seeds yet.

Update: The rain has stopped so we were able to hang out bird feeders.

Peacocks

This morning we talked about peacocks. We looked at some pictures online too. Then, we made coffee-filter peacocks that I found on Like Mama ~ Like Daughter.

The kids used 3 colors of purple and blue to make fingerprint dots on coffee filters.

When they were (mostly) dry I glued them to paper with a glue stick. While they were drying I had cut out the body of the peacock. The kids helped glue the bodies on, and the eyes and beaks too. 

Handprint ducks

This morning we made handprint ducks. I did change things from what Crafty Morning had done.

First, we painted handprints (minus thumbs). 

Then, I painted in the head, beak and feet. The kids put an eye on each duck.

I don't have cool, puffy feathers like they used on the link I posted to. I cut pieces off bigger craft feathers and we glued those on to each duck.

Robin footprint art

The theme this week is "birds." We started our projects with a simple footprint art piece that looks like a Robin.

First, I helped the kids paint a foot brown.  Then, I added in the red with paint.

Last, when that was dry I used markers to create legs, a beak and an eye.

Fairy garden rocks

In preparation for getting our fairy garden ready, I had the kids paint rocks today. I asked them to paint designs or spots, but they just crazy painted. 

Each kid got to paint 3 rocks, that we will place in the garden once it has been weeded and replanted. 

Fairy coloring pages

Yesterday we were supposed to make fairy gardens for the garden, but the glue gun is missing. We were also busy doing a final sort through toys deciding what to keep and what to put in an upcoming rummage sale. I still intend to help the kids make fairy houses in the next week or two.

Today the kids were supposed to color Fairy Coloring Pages from Itsy Bitsy Fun, but Lucian refused, and the girls did a quick coloring and went back to playing.

They did have much more interest in today's fairy book, Alice the Fairy. This is one of my favorite books for kids. I even took baby pictures of Sutton laying on open pages of the book with wings on her back. If you haven't read this one, I highly recommend it!

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Tooth fairy puzzle

Our project today was a tooth fairy puzzle that I downloaded for free from 3 Dinosaurs. I cut all the strips out and the kids glued them in place. Our daycare friend needed lots of help (she just turned two), but Lucian and Sutton did theirs on their own.

Fairy Gardens

Our theme this week is fairies. The weather hasn't been very cooperative in working on my fairy garden outside (we had snow Saturday). We made a fairy garden inside today instead with sticker sheets I purchased years ago from Oriental Trading.

Animal masks

Our easy animal project today was to create animal masks. I finally got some card stock just in time for this project.

The kids each picked an animal from First Palette for me to print out. When they finished coloring them I used packing tape to secure each one to a craft stick. You could use the holes provided and make a wearable mask. I knew Lucian's sensory issues wouldn't allow him to wear it, and didn't think our daycare friend would either, so we used the craft sticks. 

Paper plate bear

I didn't realize my blog didn't update yesterday. On Wednesday we made paper plate bears, and read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" By Bill Martin Jr./Eric Carle for the 1,638th time.

To make our bears, the kids each painted a small paper plate with brown while I cut out the other parts. 

We glued the ears and noses together, then put everything but the ears on the plate with a bit of glue. I had to help the youngest, but my two were able to do this part.

When the plates were dry, I stapled on the ears. 

Turtles

Our animal project for the day was a turtle. I used a combination of different Pinterest links to make it, so I don't have a referral link to post. Here's what we did:

First, the kids painted upside down paper bowls green. 

As soon as they were done they stuck a few green tissue paper squares on to the wet paint to represent the patterns on a turtles shell. 

While they dried I cut out heads, tails and limbs. As soon as the shells were dry I taped them on and added black dots for eyes. 

Where do animals live worksheet?

This week is animal week. Today we did a worksheet about where different animals live. Yesterday we played with a magnetic animal habitat learning game I have. This worksheet not only helped with learning where the animals live, but their fine motor skills as well.

You can download this free worksheet from Kids' Pages for small ages.

Dragons from toilet paper rolls

To finish up our dragon week, we made fire-breathing dragons out of toilet paper rolls. 

The kids each painted a toilet paper roll green. Then we had to wait a few hours for everything to dry. 

When they were dry I added drops of glue for eyes and a nose and the kids put the green pom poms on. They tried to add wiggly eyes, but it was a bit tricky so I ended up doing it. Once again, we had to wait for it to dry before putting a ring of glue on the "mouth end" and glueing streamers inside. I had them precut ahead of time. 

When these are fully dry the kids can blow inside it and the streamers will blow around making it look like the dragon is breathing fire. 

Mother's Day Fingerprint Flowers w/Poem

I never got a chance to update yesterday. We took a day off from dragons to make a Mother's Day gift. I downloaded a free template from Teachers Pay Teachers that includes an outline for flowers, a cute poem and a space to put a picture. I had each kid make theirs (with some help), and then added a picture. When they were dry I laminated them so they would last.