Craftivity Corner

Allison McDonald
Creative crafts, book suggestions, and tips to make time for learning in your busy day.

archives

September 30, 2011
A Book For Babies!
You and Me, Baby by Lynn Reiser and Penny Gentieu is simple and perfect for babies and toddlers. This board book is a wonderful choice for babies like my daughter who adore pictures of other babies. The pages are colorful, have close up full color photos of babies with their parents in everyday situations and doing simple actions. What makes it  perfectly written for this age group is that so many of the words used in the rhyming text are familiar to most toddlers. As the pages turn the giggles will increase and if your toddler is like mone you'll be reading it over and over...
Children's Book Reviews
September 28, 2011
Colored Glue Suncatcher
I love creating with glue and colored glue ( white glue mixed with food color) makes stunning sun catchers when dry. The only catch ( sorry couldn't resist) is that they can take forever to dry, but in the end it's worth it! You'll need some colored glue, wax paper, a hole punch and some string. Start by making an outline. Let it dry if you want the viens to show. If you don't care or your child is eager to complete it in one go, add more glue. Let dry... ours took 3 days. Peel off the wax paper punch a hole and string it up in a window.
Autumn Crafts
September 27, 2011
Halloween Crafts From The Archives!
I was looking through blogs at Halloween Crafts and I was going to post a bunch that I found ( I still will later next month) but I kept finding great crafts that I'd already done here so instead of promoting other's I decided to pat myself and FamilyEducation.com on the back a little with my favorite Halloween crafts we've made here! Okay seriously I love these sponge painted ghosts we made in 2009,  they are simple to make but incredibly cute ! I made a ton of these thumbprint pumpkin cards , can you blame me? They were so easy and completely adorable. This...
Halloween
September 26, 2011
Recycled Halloween Decor
Ever have a craft that went so well until it didn't? Yeah that was this craft. I'd been saving these yogurt cups for EVER and then after I finished the craft I popped it to the side to make the Monster Bag from yesterday and in those 3 minutes the string got all tangled. It was hopeless. I ended up cutting it and in frustration not re stringing it. As you can see it looks cute either way. You'll need some orange yogurt cups, a black permanent marker ( or letter labels would be cute too), scissors, and bakers twine. Start by drawing some jack-o-lanterns and the word Halloween on...
Halloween Crafts
September 25, 2011
DIY Monster Treat or Gift Bag
Make your own scary or maybe just silly monsters gift bag. You can use it for trick or treating or as bag to hold a scary gift for a friend. Either way it will be one of a kind and there will be no wondering who's bag it is. You will need  aplain colored gift bag, some sticky back foan, scissors and an imagination. Cut the foam into eyes, teeth, horns... the sky is the limit! Peel the backing off and stick it on. Easy and fun!
Halloween Crafts, Kids Crafts, monster
September 21, 2011
5 Fun Songs - To A Familiar Tune
All 5 of these songs have a familiar tune that y'all probably know... " I'm A Little Tea Pot" Singing is a great way to teach young kids, and trust me they don't care if you are tone deaf or grammy quality. They want to have fun so use lots of actions be animated and have fun.   Daisy I'm a little daisy, tall and slim Here are my petals and here is my stem When the sun comes up and the rain comes down I grow and grow up from the ground!   Pumpkin I'm a little pumpkin orange and round The farmer planted me in the ground I grew and grew til I was just...
Finger Plays, Silly Songs
September 19, 2011
Backyard Zoology
    We love going outside and discivering nature. My almost 5 year old son and I have been having fun learning all about the animals in our new yard. Something we have started is the 5 nature questions, guesses and reseach . For each animal we find I ask my son these 5 questions, then we use the internet to find out the answers we aren't sure of. 1, What kind of animal is it? 2, Do you think it's male or female? Why? 3. What does it eat? 4. What eats it? 5. Where does it live? When discussing the question above about that frog ( that we found in our hydrenga) I told my son...
Early Learning
September 17, 2011
Dinner Time Crazies!
Please tell me my kids aren't the only ones that go nuts just as I need to turn my attention to the food cooking on the stove. TV is a great temporary fix but really who wants to rely on that? Instead try a "Fun Drawer" full of  5 minute sparklers to lower your blood pressure and keep them entertained so you can cook !   Things to pop into a "Fun Drawer"   Playdough and cookie cutters in "seasonal" shapes. Try stopping my the dollar spot at Target for cheap plastic ones perfect for playdough. Smelly markers . You need to have something a...
5 minute sparklers
September 16, 2011
Apple Links
Yesterday's post about apple picking got me all excited about apple crafts. We made this cereal box apple a few weeks ago on my other blog No Time For Flash Cards but check out these awesome ideas from around the internet! Love the simplicity of this paper plate apple from Ramblings of a Crazy Woman  These felt apple coasters from Craftzine make me wish I had more time to craft myself, these are so adorable! These apple cores are simply scrumptious from Fiskars ( yes the scissors your mom never let you use as a kid...maybe that was just my mom...)  I am planning on making...
Apple crafts
September 15, 2011
Apple Picking
We went apple picking this weekend and best of all I didn't even have to put shoes on. The trees are in our front yard ! We had a blast finding apples to pick ( there were tons to choose from) then after we got them inside we turned them into all sorts of things.  The easiest and most fun I think is to make applesauce in the crock pot. I used to do this all the time with my classes when I taught because it was easy for little hands to help.  In a class I would have each child bring one apple. For our family I peeled 8 of ours because they are dwarf apples. Slice and chop. This...
Apples, Fall Activities For Kids
September 13, 2011
Pony Bead and Pipe Cleaner Bracelet
Beading is a wonderful way to connect with your kids. Sitting down making something and chatting about whatever comes to mind. I know that as kids get older they hide in their rooms, in the basement and somewhere else where they watch tv, play computer games or something on the miriad of hand held devices they have. This is such an easy craft but it's one you may be able to entice your kids to come make and possibly talk while they do :) You will need some pipe cleaners,  and ponly beads. I need to disclose that these beads and pipe cleaners were sent to me by www.craftprojectideas....
Fine Motor Skills, jewelry making, Kids Crafts
September 12, 2011
Easy Bookmark
My son is diving head first into chapter books.  The rule in our house like many others is that if you want to see a movie and it's based on a book, you need to read the book first. Chapter books are tricky and take a while so a book mark is a must. A matching book mark is even better.  You will need some sticky back foam, an oversized paper clip and some stickers. We rae reading Harry Potter so we used Harry Potter stickers. Or you could spell a word using foam stickers too.  Start by cutting a pirce of foam and before taking the backing off folding it in half. Press hard...
Kids Crafts
September 10, 2011
Post It Color Hunt
I love simple games with elements of novelty in them. We do color hunts often in our house usually when I hear " Mom can I watch a show...?"  I start with " How many green things can you find in this room, go!" or something like that. This takes the good old color hunt to a new level using post it notes to match colors.  You will need some colored post it notes and a room full of colorful things.  Give your child some post it notes, set a time limit and see all the matches that can be made.  Ask your child to take you on a tour of their findings!...
Color Recognition, Early Learning, Games
September 8, 2011
Cut and Sort - Paint Chip Colors
I don't know if you know this but the big event in our house this summer was that we moved houses. Moving of course led to a lot of painting and with painting came a lot of paint chips. I was trying to match a color and so we had 300000 ( ok more like 40) paint chips laying around.  Preschoolers love to cut and practicing cutting on a line is a great fine motor exercise , paint chips are great because they are easy to hold and cut independently.  After cutting we sorted them in " Light and Dark" I was intrigued by what my son considered light vs dark. As it turns out...
Early Learning, Fine Motor Skills
September 6, 2011
Sound Match
A few days ago I had a reader ask me what she could make with some small containers and I immediately suggested she make a sound match game like this one. I didn't have small tupperware like containers but what I did have were old Easter Eggs and lots of things to pop in them.   You will need some containers you can not see into. Various things to put inside like googly eyes, beads, feathers, rocks, small toys, keys... just make sure you have 2 identical sets for each to make a match. Pop the items in.  I made sure the eggs didn't match up by color but I did that because...
Early Learning
September 5, 2011
Post It Sun Catchers
This activity wasn't planned at all. Later this week you will see another activity that uses these same page marker post it notes, and this activity just sorta happened after we finished that one.   You will need some page marker post it notes and a window.  You can create something literal like this flower. Or keep it abstract and play with all the colors. These didn't leave any residue on my windows but if you left them up for days and days you may have to give the window a wipe.
Cheap Kids Activities, Color Mixing, Kids Activities