Autumn Leaf Necklace

This idea came from Inner Child Fun, we used an Autumn leaf to make ours but otherwise the process is pretty much the same. Neevah enjoyed picking out the perfect leaf for her necklace and showing it off once it was made.
For all the information on how it make a leaf necklace please pop over to Inner Child Fun's blog post.

ANZAC Day Poppy (bubble wrap printing)

April 25th marks ANZAC Day, the day when Australian and New Zealand people remember the soldiers that fought so bravely for their countries and commonwealth. Wreaths of poppies are traditionally placed at memorials and honour boards on ANZAC Day.

You will need
Paper - white, black and green
Paint - red
Scissors
Glue
Rolling Pin
Bubble Wrap
Sticky Tape
Tray or Cardboard or something similar for putting paint on

To Make
1. Print out our draw the outline of a poppy. We used this one here
2. Wrap the bubble wrap around the rolling pin and tape it in place
3. Squirt paint onto the tray or cardboard - you will need something with no lip so the rolling pin can be covered in paint
 4. Roll the rolling pin through the paint

5. Roll the paint covered rolling pin over the poppy outline

6. Let Dry
7. From black paper cut an oval for the center of the poppy. From the green paper cut a stem and some grass

8. Once dry cut out your poppy
9. Glue everything onto a black piece of paper and the black oval onto the center of the poppy.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

Tip: If you are working with younger children you could make this poppy without the stem and the grass.

Easter Self Portrait

I love to see how children draw themselves and how it changes as they grow. With this fun idea you can turn a child's self portrait into a piece of holiday art and I am sure it could be used on more occasions than just Easter.
For Halloween you could try a witches hat or monster teeth, at Christmas adding antlers could be fun or even some heart shaped sunglasses for Valentines Day ...... I'm sure with a bit of imagination you could come up with all sorts of ideas.

You will need
Paper - we used blue, white, pink an black
Marker Pens
Glue
Scissors

To Make
1. From the white and pink paper cut bunny ears and from the black paper cut whiskers
2. Ask you child to draw themselves, they may need to be guided to draw in the bottom three quarters of the page so it leaves room for the bunny ears

3. Stick on the ears and whiskers

4. Display

Easter Egg Suncatcher

This Easter Craft will brighten up your windows and is simple enough for a wide range of age groups to enjoy.

You will need
Clear contact
Tissue paper in different colours
Sticky tape
Black Paper
Scissors

To Make
1. From the black paper cut an Easter egg shaped border
2. Cut or tear up the tissue paper into small pieces they don't need to be all the same size or shape
3. Cut as piece of contact paper a little larger than your Easter egg border, pee; the backing off and tape it sticky side up onto the table. Sticking it to the table stops the contact from rolling up and sticking to itself
4. Place the Easter egg border into the middle of the contact, you may need to press it down a little to make sure it is nicely stuck

5. Fill the middle of the Easter egg with the coloured pieces of tissue paper

6. Once finished cover with another piece of contact paper

7. To finish off the suncatcher trim off the excess contact by cutting around the outside edge of the egg border
8. Display in a window

Rainbow Necklace

 This idea came straight from Hands on : as we grow and Neevah loves it! Not only does she love the necklace she thoroughly enjoyed making it, the highlight had to be punching holes in each circle.

For all the information on how it was made and the learning outcomes pop over to their blog post.

Reach for the Stars - Goals

 This idea was inspired by a photo I found on Pinterest, the original artwork looked quite intricate and would probably be suited to slightly older children but I was able to easily adapt it to work for Neevah. We started this activity by discussing what she would like to learn and do as she gets older ..... Neevah decided she would like to be an Artist when she grows up so we put this as her goal.

You Will Need
Black paper or card (taller than A4)
Yellow paper
Scissors
Pencil
Marker pens or Paint
Glue

To Make
1. Trace around your child's arm

2. Let them colour or paint their arm

3. Cut out the arm and from the yellow paper cut out a star(s)
4. On the star write your child's goal - Neevah wrote her own
5. Glue the arm and stars onto the black paper

Our Finished Piece of Art

I really like how this turned out, it will be a great keepsake and something we can look back on in the future to see if her goal changes. I could also see this working in a classroom situation either with shared classroom goals or with what each child would like to do/be when they grow up.
 

Sorting Coins

Our coin sorting box was inspired by a colour sorting post I found over at  Living at the Whitehead's Zoo. The sorting box is super simple to make and could be used for lots of different learning outcomes.

You will need
A Box
A Craft Knife or similar
Marker Pens
Coins

To Make
1. Cut small openings into one side of the box - make sure they are big enough for your coins to fit through
2. Label each opening with a coin denomination - I also added colour as it makes it look a bit more fun
3. Time to play

Ready to go

Pick a coin

Drop it in the right hole