D is for Dog

We have a fairly constant chorus of Old McDonalds Farm here most days both the kids seem to love singing it Liam is getting really good at the E I E I O but if it was up to him Old McDonald would have a pig only farm. Neevah likes to be more creative with the animals on Old McDonalds Farm and on the odd occasion you may even find a Neevah on the farm that goes Nee Nee here and a Nee Nee there but today we took a more traditional route picking a Dog.

You will need:
White Paper
Black Paper
Coloured Paper for the background
Black Paint
Wiggly Eye
Red Marker Pen
Scissors
Glue

To Make
1 . Draw a large D on the white piece of paper
2 . Paint black thumbprint spots on the D3 . Let the paint dry
4 . Cut out an Ear and Nose from the black paper
5 . Cut out the D once dry
6 . Glue the D onto the background piece of paper7 . Glue on the ear, eye and nose8 .Draw a mouth on the dog using a red marker pen

Funky Flowers

Flowers are definitely not one of Neevah's favourite things she much prefers animals but today she humored me and I tried to introduce her to simple patterning. Now to be honest I am not sure if she really got it but we did have fun chanting the colours as we stuck on the flower petals. In hindsight I think we should have kept everything in rows so it was easier to follow especially since she is just starting so i will put this out there as a way to create funky flowers rather than a patterning activity.

You will Need
Paper
Green Paint
Paint Brush
Green Paper
Pom Poms
Post it note index flags

To Make
1. Cut thin strips of green paper to be flower stems
2 .Paint fingers green and press them along the bottom of the paper for grass3 .Stick on the flower stems and pom poms for the center of the flowers4 .Pick 2 colours of index flags and stick them around the pom pom as flower petals Overall I think Neevah enjoyed this activity and the index flags made pretty funky flowers but we will have to re visit patterning again and keep it more traditional until she is more confident with it.

Ladybird Finger Puppet

Just a very quick post today the kids had a lot of fun yesterday with the butterfly finger puppet so once they where in bed I made another finger puppet this time a ladybird. I think it turned out super cute ....

Butterfly Finger Puppet

If I ask Neevah 'would you like to make a butterfly?' 9 times out of 10 it will result in an enthusiastic yes and this time was no different. Neevah really enjoyed making this puppet butterfly and she spent quite awhile outside with it flitting and fluttering between the plants and the tree.

You will need
Thin Coloured Card
Coloured paper
A rubber glove
Scissors
Glue
Small Wiggly Eyes

To Make
1 .Cut out a butterfly shape from the thin card and some circles in various sizes from the coloured paper
2 .Cut 1 finger off the rubber glove
3 .Glue the coloured circles onto the butterfly wings4 .Glue the small wiggly eyes onto the the tip of the rubber glove finger
5 .Glue the rubber glove finger onto the wings6 .Slip your finger into the rubber glove and take your butterfly outside for some fluttery fun

Inspiration for this craft came from here

Just had to Share

I was totally blown away yesterday by Neevah's drawing of 2 spiders and just had to share with all our wonderful readers :) (sorry the photo is not the clearest)

We Play - Feed the Caterpillar

Children play it is what they do and it is a very important part of how they learn. Sometimes they need encouragement to help get the ball rolling and sometimes this Mum needs inspiration for new and exciting play ideas or just a different take on an old favourite. So I will be linking this up with Childhood 101 We Play where you can find lots great play ideas....

This is a simple counting game which is also great practice of the pincer grip as they get the little pom poms into the caterpillars mouth. You could also practice colours while playing this game.

For Liam I kept it very easy and just counted each pom pom as he feed it to the caterpillar.
For Neevah I teamed it up with one of our favourite books The Very Hungry Caterpillar - by Eric Carle as we read the story she feed her caterpillar the corresponding amount of pom poms to what the caterpillar was eating in the story. Neevah also enjoyed playing this without the book pretending the pom poms were all different kinds of foods like a chocolate chip cupcake and a meatball..... 'Meatball for the Caterpillar yum yum'
For more advanced or older children i would turn this into a dice game (using 1 or 2 dice) with them feeding the caterpillar the right number of pom poms for the number shown on the dice.

Come over and play at Childhood 101 we play link up

G is for Green Grass

With the rain of late the grass has recovered from the summer heat and honestly it is lovely to see the lots of green again. This really didn't turn out quite how I had envisaged it and the paint took forever to dry today but it still does the trick. If you would like to give this a go maybe try green coloured paper for the grass so you can put the grass closer to the G without the colours blending in together.

You will need
2 A4 pieces of paper (we are using Blue and White)
Green Paint
Paint Brush
Scissors
Glue
Marker Pen

To Make
1 .Draw a large G on one piece of paper and some tufts of grass
2 .Paint the G and grass green3 .Let dry
4 .Cut out the G and grass
5 .Stick the G onto the remaining piece of paper6 .Stick the grass tufts around the bottom of the G

Toilet Paper Roll Tree

I have been trying to come up with a few more ideas for Neevah that she can play with as she seems to enjoy playing with her creations more than just displaying them. Today we created an apple tree (but you could easily make it into other types of trees) for her to use when playing with her little people and animals.

You will need
Thin Card (cereal box or similar is perfect)
Toilet Paper Roll or similar
Green Paint
Paint brush
Red Tissue paper
Glue
Scissors

To Make
1 .Cut out a tree shape (just the top part) from the thin card
2 .Paint the tree shape green3 .Let dry
4 .Cut or Rip the red tissue into strips and then scrunch into small apples
5 .Glue the apples onto the tree6 .Let Dry
7 .Cut 2 slits into the top of the toilet paper roll and slip the tree into the slots


For younger children I would recommend using red paint to make thumbprints for apples as Liam keeps trying to pull the apples off our tree.

Another great toilet paper roll tree can be found here

A Little Bit of Cuteness

Just sharing a little bit of cuteness today ..... Naptime!

Spider Hat

This activity was a Neevah and Mummy team effort but older kids could probably do most of this on their own. Neevah had lots of fun with her Spider Hat she giggled and giggled as she hid amongst the plants in our garden. I can also imagine this as part of a Halloween costume I would dress the child as a spider web by attaching string onto their clothes in a web like fashion and then top it off with the spider hat ..... so cute in a scary way.

You will Need
Thin Black Card
Stapler
Wiggly Eyes
Glue
Scissors

To Make
1. Cut a strip of black cardboard long enough to go around your childs head and then staple the ends together to form a band
2. Cut 8 strips of black paper for spider legs
3. Glue the Wiggly Eyes onto the band - Neevah did this step4. Staple the spider legs to the top of the band
5. Bend the spider legs at the band so the point out from the the head and then bend the very ends to form spider feet - Neevah helped me with this step
6. Take you spider hat outside and have fun!

Do I have a spider on my head?

Looking for a good spider hiding spot

Peeking out from behind the plants

Spider Pops

While outside playing yesterday we found 3 or 4 tiny spiders Neevah was quite intrigued and found them less scary than the normal big hairy spiders we get around here. As a treat for the kids and to continue this new found interest in spiders I created some spider pops.

To make spider pops you will need lollipops, black pipe cleaners and small wiggly eyes ...
center the pipe cleaner around the lollipop stick making sure both sides are even and then twist them tight .... repeat 4 times to make 8 legs .... glue on the wiggly eyes .... bend the ends of the pipe cleaners so they look like spider legs .... ta dah done!

Neevah and her spider pop

Double trouble one for Neevah and one for Liam

Share this idea around but please if you use my photos link it back to the orginal post thank you

We Play - Move like an Animal

Children play it is what they do and it is a very important part of how they learn. Sometimes they need encouragement to help get the ball rolling and sometimes this Mum needs inspiration for new and exciting play ideas or just a different take on an old favourite. So I will be linking this up with Childhood 101 We Play were you can find lots great play ideas....

Last night I created a Dice featuring six different Australian Animals for the kids to move like.
Run like an Emu
Hop like a Kangaroo
Snap like a Crocodile
Climb like a Koala
Slither like a Snake
Flap like a Kookaburra
The dice was not overly popular (they were not interested in rolling the dice to randomly pick an animal) but moving like animals was lots of fun and very hard to photograph!

Picking which animal she wanted to be

Flapping like a Kookaburra

Pretending to be a Snake

Running like an Emu

This game could work for lots of different animal movements or sounds. I imagine a farmyard dice would be fun with lots of mooing, quacking and oinking.

Come over and play at Childhood 101 we play link up

L is for Lizard

Crocodiles yesterday and Lizards today I think we have the start of an Australian Animal theme for this week.

You will need
Green Paper
A piece of paper for the background
Paint
Scissors
Glue
Cotton Bud / Q-tip
Marker Pen

To Make
1 .Cut out a large L from the green paper
2 .Glue the L onto the background paper3 .Paint the L using a cotton bud4 .Cut out a head and legs from remaining green paper. I used this lizard as a guide for head shape and feet.
5 .Glue on head and legs6 .Draw eyes and nostrils using a marker pen

Crocodile Hatchling

This craft evolved as we went along so i will apologise now for the lack of photos for some steps. Neevah seems to love animals, pretending to be them, making animal nosies, playing with them and making them Crocodiles have been a favourite for awhile now as she loves to snap snap snap just like a crocodile.

You will need
Green Paper
White Paper
Wiggly Eye
Green Marker Pen or Crayon
Glue
Scissors
An old painting or you could create a new piece of art for the background

To Make
1 .Create a background for your crocodile hatchling we used an old painting that Neevah created a week or so ago during a free art session from memory she was painting mud
2. Cut out an open egg shape and some teeth from the white paper
3 .Trace around your child's hand on the green paper then cut it out. You will need to get them to hold there hand like the photo below to create a crocodile head shape4 .Glue the crocodile head onto the background5 .Glue on the eye and teeth6 .Let your child draw scales on the crocodile with a green marker pen7 .Glue on the egg shape so it looks like the crocodile is emerging from the egg