Alien Blot Paintings

Blot painting butterflies must be a childhood staple art form. I am sure most people have tried them at some point and I myself have fond memories of making many wonderful blotty butterflies. So here is a little spin on our childhood favourite .... Blot Painting Aliens! This craft was inspired by Liam's current interest in the book Aliens Love Underpants by Claire Freedman. I think the best part of blot painting with kids is that each piece of artwork is unique just like the children that made them.

You will need
Paper
Paint
Googly Eyes
Scrap Paper - optional

To Make
1. Fold you piece of paper in half so it has a nice fold line then unfold it
2. Ask your child to paint on one half making sure they get paint right up to the fold line

3. Refold the paper
4.Rub the paper gently
5. Carefully unfold the paper

6. Add googly eyes to make your paintings into aliens. With scraps of paper you could also add a mouth, nose or any other features you Alien might need
7. Leave to dry

 Neevah's Scary Alien

Liams 'Lots of Eyes' Alien

Even I got in on the fun creating this Alien and the one at the top of the page

You may need to try it a few times to get something Alien shaped. Neevahs first go was distinctly butterfly like but she soon got the hang of making Aliens.

Bubble Snake Maker

I found this idea about a year ago over at betz white and have since seen it on Pinterest. This Bubble Snake Maker is a lot of fun and can be made with items found around the house. Only one word of warning do not breath in with your mouth on the bottle as the bubbles don't taste nice!

You will need
A Small Bottle
An old face washer or something similar
Rubber Band
Knife
Dish Washing Liquid
A Shallow Container

To Make
1. Carefully cut off the bottom of the bottle using a knife
2. Cut the face washer so it fits over the end of the bottle and secure with a rubber band
3. In a shallow bowl add dish washing liquid and a little bit of water
4. Dip the cloth end of the bottle into the bubble mix

5. Blow into the bottle - remember don't breath in with you mouth still on the bottle! poor Liam ended up with a mouth full of bubbles

 

Blow Liam Blow

 

 Look how long it is

Once the 'snakes' of foamy bubbles had fallen to the ground they looked very cool waving in the breeze

Playdough Sight Words

I really like this idea but I have to admit it wasn't the huge hit I thought it would be. I used small reference cards for her sight words next time I would use larger cards where she could form the playdough into letters overtop of the writing.

You will need:
Coloured Paper or Card
Playdough
Marker Pen

Playdough Recipe
2 cups of plain flour
2 tbs Cream of Tartar
2 tbs Cooking Oil
1 cup Salt
2 cups of Water
Food Colouring

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan (except food colouring) stir over medium heat for 3 - 5 mins or until the mixture congeals. Once cool add food colouring.

To Make
1. Write the chosen sight words onto coloured pieces of paper.
2. Place everything out at the table then invite your child to play.

 

rolling the playdough 

 

forming the playdough into the letter c

 

all finished

The Name Train

 

Our blog seems to have a common theme lately ideas I found on  Pinterest! The Name Train is no exception and was pinned via Storytime Katie. This craft is perfect for Liam as he loves Trains and is starting to show a little interest in crafting again. This idea had quite a bit of prep work but if your child is interested let them do some of the cutting out and writing.

What you will need
A long piece of cardboard or paper
Coloured Paper
Black Paper (we actually used Navy Blue)
Glue
Scissors
Marker Pen
Compass or Small Round Object
Crayons- optional

To Make
1. Draw a train engine on one piece of paper (if your drawing skills are not great try google for Train Template or something similar) and then cut it out. On the main body of the train I wrote 'My Name is'

2. Cut out Squares of brightly coloured paper to be the trains carriages - you will need as many carriages as there are letters in your childs name

3. Draw circles on the black paper using a compass or you could trace around a round object. Then cut them out
4. Invite your child to the table to build their name train
5. This step is optional - with crayons draw a train track and or a background for your train

6. Glue on the engine and wheels

7. Glue on the carriages and wheels

8. With a crayon or marker pen join the train engine and carriages together

Sight Word Car Park

This is another fantastic Pinterest find from Juggling with Kids. This idea is so simple we have used it before as a Maths Game but it never crossed my mind to adapt it for sight words!

You will need
A large piece of cardboard - cutting open a cereal box may work well
A marker pen
A ruler
Small Cars

To Make
1. Rule up parking spaces on your cardboard
2. Write one sight word per packing space. Since our car park is quite large we used a mix of words she knows and new words.
3. Line up the cars and you are ready to play

We played in two different ways
 - First I called out the sight word and Neevah parked the car in the appropriate space
- The 2nd time she picked the space and told me the word before parking the car