V is for Vase

We are a bit behind this week and our letter of the week didn't eventuate on Monday due to some bad behaviour (but I won't go into that here). So we are playing catch up and I am hoping to post more than one idea today but we will see how we go.

You will Need
2 pieces of paper in different colours (I would recommend one is white)
scrap paper
blue & green marker pens
scissors
glue

To Make
1. Cut out some flowers from scrap paper
2. Draw a large V on the white piece of paper
3 .Ask your child to fill the V with water for the flowers by colouring it in blue4 .Cut out the V
5 .Stick the V onto the remaining piece of paper6 .Stick on the flowers7 . Draw stems from the flowers down into the water using the green marker

We Play - Sleeping

Don't forget to stop by Childhood 101 We Play where you can find lots of other great play ideas....

My kids have been playing sleeping a lot lately this includes putting dolls to bed and pretending to put themselves to bed . They get piles of blankets and some pillows, Liam likes to pretend snore (so cute) and it normally ends in fits of giggles.

Pretending to sleep on the floor

Having a quick nap with her dolls in Liam's bed

'Come Play at Childhood 101 We Play Link Up'

Something I just thought of maybe they like to play sleeping because the blankets are keeping them warm during this cold snap we are having!

Swat that Fly

Why just pop bubbles when you can swat them like flies . Introducing a fly swat to bubble play is a lot of fun and goes great with a frog theme. This activity is great for getting the kids moving lots of running, jumping & stretching

Swat those Flies!

Quick don't let them get away!

Flying up so high .... but I can swat it!

With all this flies around we might have to invite some frogs to lunch ;)

Frog Hat

After the grand success of the spider hat I thought it might be nice to try a different animal. I am not overly sure how we decided on a frog but it was a hit and it turned out to be a great prop for singing one of Neevahs favourite songs. This craft was a team effort I did all the cutting and Neevah did all the gluing.

Galoomp went the little green frog last night,
Galoomp went the little green frog,
Galoomp went the little green frog last night,
And his eyes went gloomp, gloomp, gloomp

But: We all know frogs go Lah dee dah dee dah,
Lah dee dah dee dah,
Lah dee dah dee dah,
We all know frogs go Lah dee dah dee dah,
They don't go gloomp gloomp gloomp

You Will Need
Thin Green Card
White Card or Paper
Pink or Red paper
Scissors
Glue or Staples
Black Marker Pen

To Make1 .Cut out a saucer sized circle from the white car and then cut the circle in half
2 .Cut a stripe from the green card long enough to go around your childs head and then attach in a circle with glue or staples
3 .Cut a small strip of pink paper for the tongue

4 .Colour in a large black circle on each of the white half circles - these are the frog eyes5 .Glue the frog eyes and tongue6 .Go outside and have fun pretending to be a frog

Neevah singing Galoomp

It is fun to be a frog!

Bugs in the Grass - Fork & Thumb Printing

While visiting the playground and the ducks this morning we noticed lots of big ants and other bugs all over the ground nothing better than nature to inspire a quick art session.

You will Need
Paper
Green and Black Paint
Fork
Marker Pen
2 Shallow Containers

To Make
1 .Put the Paint into a shallow container
2 .Put fork prints all over the paper with the green paint3 .Put thumb prints all over the paper with the black paint4 .Let Dry
5 .Draw Legs and Antennae on the bugs
You could also try some other fork printing pictures such as Flowers, Fireworks or Trees

We Play - Crazy Hands

Don't forget to stop by Childhood 101 We Play where you can find lots of other great play ideas....

After doing the dishes Neevah was craving some Mummy attention. All she needs is about 10 minutes of one on one time and she is ready to go off and play again. Crazy Hands is a bit of a take on the whole girly nail polish theme but much more fun for a 3 year old and a great opportunity to talk ... don't tell Neevah but we did some sneaky learning about the different parts of the Hand such as Knuckles and Finger Nails

Work in Progress

My finished Crazy Hands

We used Washable Markers and it comes off super easy

'Come Play at Childhood 101 We Play link up'

J is for Jacket

The cold weather is here for sure and we have just started wearing our Jumpers & Jackets so this seemed like the perfect Letter of the Week.

You will need
2 Pieces of paper (different colours)
A scrap of material
Small Buttons
Paint
Marker pen
Scissors
Glue

To Make
1 .Cut out a Jacket/Jumper shape from your material - I used an old stained jumper that was going to be rags
2 .Draw a large J on one piece of paper
3 .Let your child paint the J4 .Let Dry
5 .Cut out the J and glue onto the remaining piece of paper6 .Glue on the Jacket
7 .Glue on the Buttons

A Little Bit of Cuteness

Just sharing a little bit of cuteness today .... Liam's first sleep in his big boy bed he pulled his quilt right up around his back like he was in a nest :)

Mouse Finger Puppet

A really quick post today as I really should be hanging out the washing while the sun is out but I wanted to show off this super cute Mouse Finger Puppet. If you would like to make you own instructions can be found here the template they used seems to be adult sized so I made it smaller to fit the kids fingers. This mouse would be great for acting out Hickory Dickory Dock or maybe even the 3 Blind Mice.... lots of fun :)

Mary Mary Quite Contrary

Plans change and ideas blossom this post was going to be about Hickory Dickory Dock but it wasn't really inspiring and I wanted to do something a bit more fun and process orientated. Fast forward to this morning while out shopping (getting more paint) bing light bulb moment bubble painted flowers! You may want to cover your work space with newspaper and wear play clothes for this activity

Mary Mary quite contrary
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
All lined up in a row

You will need
Water based paint
Dish washing liquid/soap
Straws
Small Container
Thin Card
Bamboo skewers
Green crepe paper
Sticky Tape
Scissors

To Make
1 .Mix the paint with water and a squirt of dish washing liquid in small container - for bright colours add less water but make sure there is enough water and soap to blow bubbles
2 .Put a straw into the paint mix and blow bubbles until they are above the level of the container - make sure they hold the straws right into the paint mix of else you will get splatter3 .Put the thin card on top of the bubbles/container - as the bubbles pop it will leave the paint behind
4 .Repeat steps 2 & 3 again for however many flowers you would like to make
5 .Cut out the bubble paintings - these will be your flower heads

6 .Stick a bamboo skewer to the back of the flower heads7 .Cut lengths of green crepe paper8 .Wrap the green crepe paper around the bamboo skewer and tape to secure - these will be the flowers leaves9 .Take your flowers outside and plant them all in the row while reciting Mary Mary quite contrary

Planting the flowers the first time she did this 3 times before finding the perfect spot

Flowers all planted in a row
The colour does not photograph very well but in real life it looks so cute

P.S they look a little like lollipops but if Mary can grow sliver bells and cockle shells we can grow lollipops right?

Inspiration for this craft was found on a blog I can't remember where if it was your blog please leave me a comment so I can link it up thanks :)

We Play - Jack and Jill

Don't forget to stop by Childhood 101 We Play where you can find lots of other great play ideas....

Messy Fun is generally good fun and this activity is no exception so play clothes are a must. Todays Nursery Rhyme was teamed up with some outside ball down the slide painting (hmmm can't think of a better name for it).

Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after

You will need
A long roll of paper
2 balls
A slide
Paint
Bucket or container to catch the balls at the end of the slide

1 .Setup by covering your slide in paper and placing a bucket at the end of the slide
2 .We then drew faces on the balls and labelled them Jack and Jill

3.Squeeze the paint into shallow containers4 .Time to Play

Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water
(we ran through the nursery rhyme with the balls paint free the first time)

Jack fell down and broke his crown

Jill came tumbling after

Wow this is fun

Our finished painting

'Come Play at Childhood 101 We Play link up'

Inspiration for ball slide painting came from the Ooey Goey Lady

Q is for Queen

Queens and Nursery Rhymes go and hand in hand right? Although Neevah wasn't making just any Queen today she made a very special glitter Fairy Queen to go with our Nursery Rhyme...

Pussycat pussycat, where have you been?
I've been to London to visit the Queen
Pussycat pussycat, what did you there?
I frightened a little mouse under her chair.

You will need
2 Pieces of paper in different colours
Scrap paper (for crown)
Marker Pen
Glue
Glitter
Star Stickers
Scissors

To Make
1 .Draw a large Q on one piece of paper
2 .Let your child cover the Q in glue3 .Sprinkle the Q in glitter
4 .Let dry
5 .Cut out a crown from scrap paper and the Q once dry
6 .Glue the Q onto the remaining piece of paper7 .Glue on the crown
8 .Draw a face in the middle of the Q - mono brow is optional9 .Add the star stickers to form a necklace for the Queen