Paper Lantern Hot Air Balloon

We've been trying to do regular art projects with the kids.

They love getting to pick through fabrics, match colors, glue things, and make a mess.

I love seeing their creativity and personalities shine through their art.

Last night we made some cute little hot air balloons that will eventually hang among clouds and lights in the playroom.

Here is the how to:

    For each balloon you will need:

1 paper lantern 10, 14, or 16 inch

Fabric/pendants/decor

2 long pieces of yarn ~30"

cardboard square 3-5 inches

burlap square cut 4 inches wider than cardboard

hot glue and craft glue

scissors

 We used craft glue to attach our decorations.

Didn't want to burn little fingers!

To make the basket:

 Start by gluing your card board (hot glue) to the center of your burlap square.

Next, you will fold in each corner, tuck and glue.

After it is glue is cooled, snip off the corners inside.

It will look like this:

  

To attach the basket:

 

Find the center of each piece of yarn. 

Glue to center of the bottom of the basket.

Then glue at a diagonal from corner to corner.

    Repeat with second piece of yarn going from the other corners, forming an "X" on the bottom.

Now you will glue your yarn up the sides of each corner.

 This is what you should have:

Now you just need to glue it to your lantern!

I did this 5 different ways....this is one way.

You want to make sure you are keeping your yarn even.

Measure and mark each string or just eyeball it, like I did.

 Be sure you are attaching it to the BOTTOM of your lantern:

 

Glue strings in a + pattern around center hole.

Giving 5-6 inches between basket and lantern.

 (Pretend the gluing looks perfect. Photographing and gluing at the same time is tricky.)

Now just run your strings up the side of the lantern and glue at the top!

Ta-Da!
We hung ours up to "finish drying" along the living room.
Which really means until the light fixtures arrive and I actually hang them in the proper place in the playroom.

I order my penants and lanterns from the Knot.
Very worth it for the colors and buying a lot at once!
Otherwise, I'd go to the local craft store. 

This post was originally published on The Crafty Woman

Bird Feeder Kiddo Craft

We did a fun little spring craft today and I thought I'd share!

Toilet paper roll, bird seed and peanut butter.

Thats it.

 I  let my littles use a plastic leftover party knief to rub the peanut butter on the toilet paper roll.

And as for the bird seed, I filled up a tupperware bin and let them roll it in about 1/2 inch of bird seed.

Heres to (almost) spring!

This post was originally published on Ashlea with an A

Full Alphabet Letter Identification Printables

Full Alphabet Letter Identification Printables from Over the Big Moon

Everything I Wish I'd Known about Breastfeeding

Mums Makes List has a fantastic post about all the things she wish she had known before breastfeeding
This is a great post with loads of other links at the end of post to other breastfeeding post by other bloggers

Free Printable Spring Packs

Get the gorgeous Free Printable Spring Pack from 3Dinosaurs



Get this Lovely Free Printable Spring PreK Pack from This Reading Mama

Free Color the Shapes Printable

Go here to download My Color the Shapes Book from Mama's Learning Corner

Coloring Racing Printable Maths Game

The Measured Mom has made this great free printable colouring racing game
 Click here to see the post 

Papa'a Pillow Forts

When it comes to building things, Papa is our go to guy.

Whether it is train tracks, or pillow forts, Papa just has this out of the box way of thinking that makes for great outcomes.

When I build something, it turns out ok. It looks much like how I think it should.

But when he builds something, it comes out being this abstract, creative work of art.

With working a lot of hours lately, Papa tries to be sure and spend as much time with the girls as he can. Luckily, we co-sleep with both girls. So he gets all night snuggles which helps him stay connected with them. But some days he gets very little play time. So pillow forts are sometimes the greatest way for him interact with our little ladies.

The girls are all about it. Oh the giggles that follow one of his builds.

It is amazing to see how he has grown into such a great man. We have been together since we were only 15 and 16. And were the best of friends even before that! It will have been 8 years ago that he asked me to be his Valentine. Who says first loves don't last? It wasn't always easy, but we pulled it off.

Both girls love him so much. But Squirrely has a special bond with him. One that she has had with him ever since his hands were the first hands that held her tiny newborn self. Bunny has always been a bit of a Mama's girl, which I love. But Squirrely is Papa's girl. It is a good thing I breastfeed, or she wouldn't need me at all. With him, she is fearless. Because with him, she never has any reason to fear. Why fear falling when you know someone will always be there to catch you? He always has, from the very beginning.

This post was originally published on Like Mama ~ Like Daughter

Doh Much Fun!

In case you missed our previous post about my homeschooling resolve in 2013, one of the things I’m focusing on is being less “boring” around my kids. So, I’m trying to add in more art play since everyone loves art in our house. Enter a morning of Play-Doh…

I’ve actually had this Play-Doh set for a while but we haven’t played with it nearly enough over the years.

Roo was content to sit and make Play-Doh ice cream all morning.

Pooh used multi-colored Play Doh to make some pretty colorful dreadlocks on a plastic pig.

As someone who has dreadlocks, I was only moderately offended.

Tigger made a blue mohawk on her purple rooster.

Pretty sharp, huh? I think I’m raising a house of future hairdressers.

Christopher Robin is home from work today, so we’re enjoying the day with him. Hope you’re all having a good day as well!

This post was originally published on Look! We're Learning

Fun With Hats

Most young children love dressing up and playing pretend.  I have to admit, I love watching Engineer get into make-believe.  My teaching partner and I often get the giggles watching our students in the home center, too!

Having a stash of pretend play clothes doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive.  One of the easiest things to do is have hats on hand for the kiddos.  Hats can be put on, and taken off, easily which allows for more independence by the children.  They don’t usually take up much room, and they’re less expensive than dress-up clothes.  Plus, you can make a hat out of pretty much anything — paper, scraps of fabric, headbands, etc.

With a hat, a child can go from a police officer

to a buffalo

to a builder

to an elephant

to a baker

to a scarecrow.

The children have so much fun with pretend play, but there are many educational benefits to it as well.  To begin with, young kids learn through play.  That’s how they explore the world, so even when it looks like they’re “just playing” their brains are getting a workout.  The language and vocabulary experiences are tremendous during play.  They’re able to practice speaking with their friends, and they also act as examples for each other.  The etiquette of conversation is also practiced during this time.

Kids can extend their knowledge of books and authors by acting out stories and dressing up like favorite characters.

They can also pretend to be different people — from community helpers to children in other countries to family members.

Wearing and making silly hats around the holidays lets the children learn more about their culture.  Even if the hats are goofy, it’s another way for the kids to connect with what they’re learning.  Plus, something about putting on a hat seems to make more children braver to try new things and act out what they’ve been taught.

What I’ve written here likely isn’t news to anyone.  It doesn’t hurt to hear a reminder once in a while, though!  Plus, isn’t it great to see so many cute, smiling faces?

This post was originally published on Fun-A-Day!