Happy Father's Day, Dadda!

Little Z loves her "Dadda" so incredibly much. She even came up with her own way of saying "daddy." Dadda. Not Dah-dah. Not Dah-dee. Dad-uh. No clue where it came from, since I say "daddy" when talking about him. I love that she has her own special way of saying it. 

Baby E isn't talking yet, but when he enters the room, she yanks her head painfully towards him while nursing just lights up! He is such a great Dad to both our girls.

I wanted to do something that took very little effort on my part special for Father's Day. So when I saw this list of fun questions to ask your kid about their Daddy, I knew it would be perfect! Z's answers are all in bold. (I love hearing the answers little kids have to questions. It's so fascinating to hear how their minds work!)

My Dad is I don't know. 54? years old.
My Dad is really strong. He could lift a [Little Z]
My Dad's favorite color is orange
My Dad's favorite food is noodles
My Dad always says "No." No wait. "Yes"
My Dad is the best at playing Little Big Planet [a video game]
My Dad's job is work
My Dad laughs when I do funny things
If my Dad had time, he would love to play with me
My Dad and I like to play together
My Dad really loves me!
I love my Dad because he's fun

Z - age 4

You can do this yourself on a free printable from the Crafting Chicks and make a truly memorable one-of-a-kind card for Dad or Grandpa. (Use a photo editing program, such as Photoshop or Picassa to edit in your own text.)

She also worked on a special project for him [if I can remember where I put it... Doh!] Since he's the one who reads bedtime stories with her, she made him a special story book about our family at an art class/craft playdate we went to. It's made from several paper lunch sacks folded in half and hole-punched along the fold. Then she used a needle and yarn to sew several bags together to form a book, and added illustrations and some text (mostly random letters, since she still tends to skip a bunch when sounding out her words.) The bag openings make little pockets for treasures or special notes they can collect and add later. And the bottom flap from the bag can fold open and closed for extra interactive pages! 

For extra fun, there were some fancy hole punchers in fun shapes to make holes in the bag-pages, as well as cut-outs of colored paper to glue into their books. She wasn't interested in gluing anything on, but enjoyed making a few hole shapes in her front "cover."

"Dadda's going to NUV his new book!" 

The project went along with the story "Beautiful Oops!" where mistakes and messes kept "ruining" the book, but were turned into fun and creative artworks instead. This really appealed to Z, since she gets frustrated when what she's trying to do isn't "perfect," and then the paper is "ruined" after she throws a little tantrum and wrinkles it. She was pleased to see that she can turn her mistakes into something else, and maybe something better than she had initially planned!

What the Fizz?! Fizzy Science Fun

Last Summer I began doing the Kids Cooking Classes for fun, since Z loved the ones done with another mom group we're also in. But now that she's older, I've been also looking into more science-y activities. So I decided to do a "Kids Science" event this year to see whether I want to commit to yet another thing! At first I was thinking we'd make silly putty or ooblek or something [Google them, if interested in finding recipes, or just search for "science for preschoolers" and see what fun stuff you can find!] Until I read a post from Superheroes and Princesses about their week of fizzy fun. Perfect! Idea stolen Inspiration!

I did this with two of my mom clubs, since I knew how much fun it would be. And to justify buying all the supplies! With my first group, I started off with a simple volcano to demonstrate the science behind the activity. I kept it simple, since I wanted them to SEE what was happening, so I just used a baby food jar without building a volcano around it, and I didn't add food coloring at all. I had the jar on a tray, to minimize the mess, filled the jar halfway with vinegar, then added a teaspoon of baking soda. Fun times! I hear mixing liquid soap with the vinegar first makes it extra bubbly too, but again, I wanted this to just show the chemical reaction. I also gave a brief summary of some of the differences between acids and bases, and listed some common ones.
Acids: Typically sour, frequently feel "sticky," usually gas or liquid form
Common acids: stomach acid, citric acid (lemons, oranges, etc,) Vitamin C (ascorbic acid; in apples, grapes, etc,) vinegar
Bases: Usually slippery, bitter, reacts with oils and greases (which makes them great cleansers,) frequently solid form
Common bases: Human saliva, eggs, baking soda

Then, off to the real fun!

Fizzy Sidewalk Paint

Materials:

16-ounce box baking soda

1/2 cup corn starch

1+ cup hot water

food coloring

vinegar (in spray bottle)

brushes, sponges, sticks, etc to spread the paint.

Directions: 

Step 1: Combine baking soda and corn starch thoroughly.

Step 2: Add most of a cup of hot water, mixing as you go to prevent clumps. Add water until you have a paint-like consistency. 

Step 3: Divide into separate containers (one for each color you wish to make.) Muffin tins work great, as do bowls. The muffin tins were too small for the sponges to fit easily, but I used disposable bowls the second time around and they worked perfectly.

Step 4: Add food coloring and mix each color. For the muffin tins, 1-2 drops per space was adequate (red, blue and green needed 2 drops, and I had to use red plus yellow to make orange.) I used 3-4 drops in the disposable Dixie bowls.

If paint starts to thicken, you can add a few drops of hot water and mix again to revive.

I found a variety of cheap shaped sponges at the Dollar Tree, 6/package. I got vehicles, basic shapes, bugs, outdoors, and girly packs. I wish now that I'd also bought the sea life pack. It would be perfect in a water sensory tub! Ah well. Dollar Tree also had packs of 5 brushes. I already had a pack of Crayola brushes (at $3, but with real hair bristles) but the cheap plastic bristle ones were better. Small spatulas or popsicle sticks would have worked well too, but the kids loved using the sponges and making their shape designs, so I'm glad I found those!

Since we were doing this at a park, I didn't have access to hot water, so we made-do with cold. It worked okay, but the paint was fairly thick and gloopy. Worked fine for these guys though!

Step 5: Spray painted area(s) with vinegar! It doesn't matter if the paint is wet or dry first.

These guys really went to town with the vinegar! I had to buy another jug for the second group! And I had to use my best Mommy skills to get them to share the spray bottles, since I only had 4 among 8-12 kids.

I had also planned on 'magically' inflating a balloon or exploding a Ziplock bag, but couldn't find my balloons, and was too lazy. But we did make fizzy Pixie Stix!

Fizzy Sugar Sticks:

Materials:
1/2 cup sugar
1 packet unsweetened Kool-Aid
~1tsp baking soda
Bendy straws
paper to make a small funnel
tape

Princesses and Superheroes said to mix the Kool-Aid and sugar, then take 1tbsp of that and add 1/8th tsp of baking soda. I just did the math and figured that 1/2 cup sugar (4oz) is roughly 8 tbsp (2tbsp/oz,) so added a whole tsp of baking soda. But do it her way if you want to make these more sparingly. Since the reaction between the baking soda and ascorbic and/or citric acid in the Kool-Aid occurs when moisture is added (like saliva,) too much exposure to the moisture in the air can neutralize it, over time. Plus it can make the sugar clumpy. I used little tupperware containers, and they were still okay a week later. Clumpier though. Ziplocks with the air squeezed out would be better.

Fold the bendy part of the straws and tape them in place (so the powder doesn't just go shooting out the bottom.) Use a small funnel to fill the straws. Each one holds approximately 1tsp.
Since I was doing this with so many kids, I chose three flavors of Kool-Aid (cherry, orange, and grape) and made a batch of each. Because I had already mixed in the baking soda, I was able to make straws with a combination of two or three flavors as well.

The sugar straws were Z's favorite part, but my least favorite. Very labor intensive, making 2-3 straws per kid, with a tiny little funnel that kept clogging up. And the wind kept blowing straws away! And most everyone was so particular about what color stripes they wanted on their straws! I couldn't find the wider bendy straws, although I know they exist. These little skinny ones were hard to work with, but reduced the amount of sugar for each kid, so a wash, in my book.

And they taste okay. Like most sugary junk. And they do fizz in your mouth. Very weird!

Tot School: Life Skills

This week was full of classes and Summer camps, so we had very little time for "lessons" at home. Instead, I tried to incorporate some "life skills" into what we did.

After Princess-themed ballet camp, we played dress-up at home (since I was the only Mommy who hadn't even thought to bring a Princess dress for camp. Poor little Matchstick Girl was the only one in tights and a leotard.) We busted out her jewelry box, and she adorned us both with rings and bracelets. And snazzy reading glasses (dollar store) with the lenses popped out. She put the bracelets on in a specific order, totally mysterious to me. And she chose some for me to wear.
So she worked on sharing, cooperation, sorting, and imagination. [I worked on not falling unconscious, since I didn't get a nap, and it had been a long day.]

At camp they also made a cute, easy craft. Pre-made cone party hats decorated with curling ribbon (either glued to the tip or tied through the hole,) stick-on gems, and Target Dollar Spot or Dollar Tree foam stickers (they're better than the craft store ones because the foam is much thinner, which helps them to stay on the curved surface.)
I would also like to note that there were roughly 30 kids in her ballet camp, and the teachers had written each Princess' name on a paper grocery sack (to put their shoes and wands and finished crafts and snacks-from-home in.) Z was able to find her own bag, without any coaching from me! I was super excited, especially since the names were hand-written, instead of typed, and they used upper- and lowercase letters, whereas Z and I have mostly focused on all uppercase for her name. She was very proud of herself too, and guarded that bag like a favored toy. I was especially pleased that, despite them moving it between activities as new girls showed up late, Z was still able to find it when she came back out for a cry and a drink, snack time, and after camp. (It was a drop-off camp, but she wasn't ready to be dropped off, so we're practicing. I stayed in the lobby and she tried to stay in the class and listen to and be comforted by the teacher for as long as she could stand. After 60 minutes, her internal timer went off, and she was done. Other than preschool, where I've either been in the room or in an adjacent room the whole time, all her classes have been 45-60 minutes each. I thought it was funny that she knew when class should be over, even though there were still 2 hours to go, since this was a Summer camp. She took a breather with me, a sip of water to help cool her down, then agreed to go back in to the dance class for a few minutes until snack time. After snack, she was excited about crafts and story time.)

We've been working on perfecting her pouring skills lately. I'd bought a small pitcher from Tupperware at a fair booth last Summer, but got tired of cleaning up all the spills. She would pour until the pitcher was empty, rather than pour until the container was full, and I'm afraid I neglected to bother with it the rest of the year. So this time I've been coaching her through each pour, reminding her to do little dribs at a time to avoid spills. I fill it with milk for breakfasts, and let her pour it into her cereal and drinking cup. For dinner one night, she wanted juice, and I thought it might be fun to let her use one of the fancy china teacups and saucers I had bought at the thrift store for us to play tea party. (And for my MOMS Club Mother's Day Tea, which she loved.) I paid less than $1 at Value Village for each cup/saucer set, so I won't be upset if they break, and she gets to practice being extra-special careful with fragile grown-up things.
She was very careful pouring her grape juice, and didn't have any spills. She also was careful with her cup and saucer. She got to feel like a "big girl," and gained a lot of confidence for her success, and my trust in her.
This activity worked on pouring (life skill,) hand-eye coordination, being careful, pretend-play, success=confidence and self-sufficiency.

We also did some other things, but no photos were taken. She spent the weekend out on the driveway playing with her "outside toys" (Happy Meal toys and random things found while sorting through boxes) and coloring while Mommy and Daddy sorted through yet more boxes that have been sitting stagnant or accumulating in the garage for the past 11 years (Weekend 5, and almost done! Finally!) After we quit for the day and put everything back, she came to the backyard where Daddy had been doing some yardwork (most of the stuff in the garage is mine, so he lugs the boxes out for me to sort, then lugs them back into the "sell" or "keep" piles and kills time by mowing or hacking at blackberries, or the fallen trees in the backyard.)
She found my husband's saw (whatever the regular, non-electric kind is called,) and I offered to show her how it works and let her help me. I showed her the jagged bits on the blade and told her that they were sharp, and told her that it is not a toy and not for her to pick up. Then we picked a branch on the fallen plum tree and she held the handle with both hands and I helped her saw through the branch. She enjoyed it so much, we did it again, but then the larger branches were too far in and we were getting poked by the littler ones, so we put the saw away.
Skills: teamwork, being careful, effort=results, success=confidence

We also found 2 cherries on our cherry tree (in the 11 years we've lived here, I have never seen a cherry. My husband says they've been there and that the birds and squirrels eat them all, but this is the first time I've ever seen any!) We lifted Z up and she got to pick them herself. They were sooooo tiny. Practically just pit and skin. But she was thrilled with her bounty, and said they tasted really good.
We also have raspberry canes that we planted this year, and I was surprised to find berries growing! But it looked like something had been eating them before they were ripe. They'd get light orange, then next thing you know I'd find the core hanging there but no berry!

My husband said maybe they were ripe and falling off, so I went to check and see if they were ripe when orange. Apparently so! I'd been waiting for red ones, so we've been missing out! There were three orange ones, so after I found that they came off with the gentlest of tugs when light orange, I let Z pick the other two. She got to eat all three, so I can't tell you how they tasted, but she was thrilled.
Skills: patience, nature science (gardening and life cycles,) effort=results

She did get to play with a few "educational" toys (really, I view all unstructured play as educational. Maybe just to justify going online while she plays in her dollhouse. But I really do feel that creative play by herself is good for her too.) She played a Fisher Price Little People Bingo by herself, where she'd flip over a chit and then place it onto it's matching picture on a bingo card, until she'd done them all. She also had me get out this new mosaic picture toy I found at Winco (couldn't find it online, but Amazon has a few magnetic ones that look similar: a beginner one and a more advanced.) Ours isn't magnetic, and she had a hard time getting the triangular pieces into the slots. So she decided to just do the squares for now. And she only uses the picture design as a guide. Sometimes she was just in the mood for a big blue line across the middle. Since I feel that the process is more important than the results, I didn't push her to do it "the right way," and just let her be free to express herself.

Skills: fine motor, creative expression, self-confidence

 Linking this up with Tot School this week too!

Learning To Play; Playing To Learn

I was at a play activity with some people in one of my moms groups, and one of the parents complained that since his daughter didn't meet the cutoff date, she'd be almost four before she could go to preschool. I mentioned our co-op preschool, and ones like it in nearby cities, that offered classes from age 1 or younger!
Other Mom (OM): "But it's not a REAL school, is it?"
Me: Excuse me? "Well, they have circle time, sing songs, have different activity stations, art projects, sensory play, pretend play, and indoor- or outdoor-playground time."
OM: "Yeah. But they don't really teach anything. Not like a real preschool."
Me: "Well, first off, I don't know about the older classes, since we've only done the 1-2-year-olds class. But she learns to share, wait her turn, listen to the teacher, stay with the group... You know. Social stuff. Plus she improves her fine-motor skills and verbal skills." (Since no one else can automatically interpret her speech like I can, she has to learn to say it clearer, or use different words, so she can be understood.)

The girl's father, who had been the one looking for a preschool, just brushed the whole thing off, based on this one mom's snobbery (her child was older and already in preschool.) Look, buddy. You wanted a preschool for a child technically too young to go to other schools. What exactly were you expecting? Yale for toddlers? My child learned the alphabet from watching an Elmo DVD. I don't need them to ram it into her at school. Offer it? Sure. But at 1-2 and 2-3? Please. Next year we start the 3-4 class, and I'm eager to see what we get to do. I know they have a whole slew of fun stuff that we've only glimpsed at Open House night.

Even my sister scoffs at our preschool. It happens to be in a church, but not run by the church. But she just views it as a fancy daycare. I found a co-op out near her, through a community college, and still it's not good enough for her. She waited until her eldest was old enough to go to a Montessori preschool (which is my goal, but Z just wasn't ready for a 4-5 day drop-off this coming school year. *sigh*) But then complains that her daughter seems to slip through the cracks because she's quiet and low-maintenance. And the other kids are all at least half-a-year older or younger than her, so no one at her developmental stage. So, say what you will about preschool for under-3. But no one in our class ever got ignored or left in a corner by themselves the whole class! And for me, having Z learn to respect and listen to another adult is a huge accomplishment. Even if the only interaction she'd have was to go tell the teacher she wanted to go into the Mommy room to be with me! (*sigh*)

But all that disrespect for a "non-scholastic" preschool made me want to write a post about how even the simplest of play activities is really subtly teaching them. They're learning all the time. Even when we think we're too lazy to do anything enriching, we probably really are, and just don't know it!

Playing with blocks: Creative expression and construction. Teaches sizes and shapes, bigger and smaller, weights and balances, height and depth, and possibly colors and textures. Counting, numbers. And when playing alongside a friend, sharing and cooperation. Possibly even teamwork, as they get older. Hand-eye coordination. And exercise: fine motor skills to balance blocks or place them exactly where they want, as well as broader exercise when moving around for larger creations. Problem solving. Sequencing. Spatial relations. Likeness/differences. Matching and classifying. Introduction to math concepts.

Playing on the playground (or gym class... okay fine! McDonald's PlayLand. Whatever): Learns physical abilities and limitations. Learns safety and caution. Learns to take turns and share pieces of equipment. Experiences joy and pride in achieving new skills. Large muscle development, balance, coordination. Energy/tension release.

Playing with puzzles: Satisfaction in completion, building self-confidence. Improves hand-eye coordination. Spatial relations. Matching, likeness/differences. Can work alone or as a team. Skills learned while doing puzzles help with learning to read later: putting letters to sounds, making words with letters, and making stories with words.

Playing with sand and water (or other sensory media; rice, play-dough, beans, corn, etc): Learns size and measurement, experimenting with different sized containers, cups and spoons. Opportunity for solitary, parallel or cooperative play. Cause and effect. Experimentation: will this float? Sink? Basic science concepts. There is no final product, no "right way;" low frustration. Soothing to feel sand or water running through fingers, pouring. Relaxing, so attention can be centered on tasks. Tension outlet.

Playing pretend: Learns what the roles of mothers, fathers, children, firefighters, doctors, princesses, etc are. Uses imagination. Starts learning how to think or feel like someone else (empathy.) Learns how to cooperate with other children. opportunity to act out life experiences and feelings. Emotional outlet. Understanding family relationships.

Playing with paints and crafts: Uses imagination. Small-muscle development (controlling the brush, placing the sticker, painting details with fingers.) New sensory experiences. Self expression. Tension outlet. Choices and decisions. Emotional satisfaction in getting to make choices and express themselves. Learns about doing things for others (making a card for Nana?) Learns how to use different materials/tools like scissors, squeeze glue, glue sticks. Sense of pride in accomplishment. Learns about shape, color, size, textures. Whole/part relationship.

Playing with manipulatives (ie: toys, play-dough): Explores new concepts. Creative expression. Practices emerging skills, reinforces learned skills. Fine motor practice. Cooperative play. Learns about classifying, sorting, predicting, problem solving, and analyzing results. Symbolic thinking ("this rock is a cookie") which leads to reading skills ("this squiggle is an 's'.") Develop knowledge of the world around them by using real objects and concrete examples. Learns how to learn.

Playing with puppets, dolls, stuffed animals: Creative expression. Able to verbalize feelings. Can begin to understand the feelings of others (empathy.) Role-playing. Explore situations that may disturb or confuse them, and find solutions. Stretches imagination. Cooperative play.

Playing with computers and other technology (smart-phones, anyone?): Learns how machines work and how they can help them learn more. Using the mouse helps hand-eye coordination. Touch-screens use fine motor skills. Computer games and apps help with problem solving, making decisions, and uses imagination.

"Helping" cook: Learns to follow directions. Stimulates and uses all 5 senses (hear the instructions, names of items, etc; see the measuring and changes each step; touch, taste and smell the ingredients, each step, and final product. Learns to recognize colors, shapes and uses from different kinds of foods and kitchen utensils. Has an opportunity to improve small motor coordination by using different tools and equipment.

Listening to stories or looking at books: Learns to listen. Hearing new words increases vocabulary and hearing them in context improves syntax. Learns about different concepts, people and places. Learns to enjoy books and reading. Stimulates the mind; visualizing what is being heard.

Singing, dancing, listening to music: Learns to appreciate music from different countries, cultures and time periods. Learns to express self and ideas. Increases vocabulary and speech development. Gains satisfaction for participating in a fun, physical, enriching activity. Awareness of different sounds, rhythms. Learning to listen, follow directions, take turns. Respect for others' ideas. Visual, auditory and memory. Cooperative play. Listening to melody/rhythm leads to pattern recognition, which is used in early math skills.

Snack Time: Opportunity to practice social skills and manners. Practice pouring, passing. Nutrition awareness. New taste experiences. Listening, following directions.

Field Trips (ie: running errands, eating out): Gives a variety of experiences. Helps form accurate concepts of the world. Learning how to behave in a variety of situations. Awareness of environment and community. Cooperative participation.

Cleaning up: Teaches responsibility, respect for property. Sense of cooperation and orderliness. Satisfaction in helping and completing a job.
[Yeah... no pictures of this. I can show oodles of pictures of NOT-this, though!]

So you see? Set them down with some blocks and they're learning! Blocks 101! Talk to them while they're playing (about what they're doing; what color/shape/texture it is; which one is bigger/smaller, lighter/heavier; how many are stacked up in that tower; where are all the yellow ones, etc) and it's like a Master's Degree for them!
Even if they're just watching TV while you're (ahem) blogging, periodically ask them questions about their show. "How do you think that made Elmo feel?" "Wow. It sounds like he's angry. How would that make you feel?" "Dora needs you to say 'Backpack!' Say 'Backpack!'" "Oh, you want a Pillow Pet now, do you? Did you know that commercials try to make you buy stuff? Yeah. That 'show' is really an ad to get you to ask me to buy you that toy. Did it work? Did they convince you that you had to have one? Does that make you feel tricked?"
And while it may make you feel like a total fool, talk to your kids. All the time. Narrate your life. From infancy. We were out with a friend, and he scoffed at me for pointing out a mannequin in a store window as we walked past on our way to dinner. I explained to Z that it was a statue to show off clothing, for a clothing store. And then inside the restaurant, there was a Chinese soldier statue. And she points at it and says "Mah-kin. Sta-shoo." See? New vocabulary, categorizing/sorting (both items were humanoid and statue-like, thus in the same "category.") And she's interested in the world around her, since we help her learn new things about what she sees. (Our friend rescinded his scoffing as she continued to wow him with her growing vocabulary and observational skills.)

But I'm still bitter about our preschool being disparaged.

Father's Day Crafty Gift Idea - NO PEEKING, HONEY!

For our (roughly) monthly kids craft activity, this month Miss Jessica came up with a fantastic idea: a snack mix Father's Day gift! What makes it so fun and clever is the little prose, explaining why all the ingredients are in the mix.

Here’s a treat for you because I think you are neat

and need something yummy to eat!

Father’s Day Trail Mix

Marshmallows – because you are a “big softy”                      

Nuts- because I’m “nuts” about you

Raisins – because you’re “raisin” me

Butterscotch Chips- because I’m a “chip off the old block”

M&M’s- because you “Mean so Much”

She set up a table at a park with all the ingredients buffet-style, for the kids (or MOMS) to scoop into a baggie, shake to mix, then pour into a jar.

Photo credit: Miss Jessica

Because she is very crafty, she used her Cricut and some scrapbook paper to make gift tags and lid covers, and printed out round labels for the lids and square labels for the tags. Too cute!

She also made blank strips on fancy scrapbook paper backgrounds for the kids to decorate and wrap around the jars.
Since we couldn't make it to the craft event, Miss Jessica kindly brought us a filled jar, all the paper tags and such, and some sticker sheets.

After drawing some "flowers," Little Z stuck on some amusement park- and dragon-themed stickers. As she placed each sticker on, she'd tell me the story behind it.

Please note the kids on the right side, each holding a teddy bear. She put a "Princess crown" on the little girl sticker, and gave them a goldfish in a baggie. She called the shield sticker below them a sword. The large purple dragon is the Daddy, and the little one is the baby. 

Also note that each dragon sticker has a line colored across it. She did that to "trap the dragons and keep all of the kids safe."

"Daddy's going to LOOOOOVE this!"

Cheap and Easy St. Patrick's Day Crafts!

I was commandeered into volunteered to do a St. Patty's Day craft with the kids in my MOMS Club. Since our craft budget for the year is only, like, $20, I opted to just get the supplies out of my own pocket since if we have a craft each month, that means there's less than $2 to spend for supplies on each craft! So I chose some pretty cheap crafts! No cute little foam craft kits, no!

Rainbow Streamers

Materials:
Paper plates
Crepe paper streamers in red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. (Or green, white and orange, if you want to do the Irish flag!)
Tape and/or stapler
Scissors
Circle cutter (optional)
Crayons or pens (optional)

Step 1: Use circle cutter or scissors to cut a large circle out of the center of the paper plate. (Do in advance if prepping for a bunch of crafters.)

Step 2: Cut 1-2' lengths of each color of streamer (one of each per child.) Older kids who can use scissors can cut these themselves. (Also good to cut in advance if expecting a lot of crafters.)

Step 3: For the younger kids, affix a piece of tape to one end of each streamer and let them tape onto their plates. Older kids can get their own tape, or affix tape to streamer and plate. Or staple, but many kids can't punch a stapler hard enough to make it work well.

Step 4 (optional): Kids can color their plates before or after taping on streamers.

Step 5: Play! These kids danced around with them, wore them as hats, and one got hung up as a wind sock in a bedroom with a ceiling fan.

 

I found the plates, and most of the streamer colors (2 rolls/pack) at Dollar Tree. I had to get orange and purple from Party City, and they were normally $1/roll, but were on sale 2/$1.50. Total cost: $6.50, and I have puh-LENTY of leftovers!

Shamrock Necklaces

Materials:

Drinking straws (striped or colored assortment best)

Plastic pony beads (or any large-holed beads)

Yarn

Craft foam (or foam shamrocks)

Construction paper (optional)

3/4" or larger craft punch (optional)

Scissors

Hole punch

Tape

Step 1: Cut straws into 1/2"-3/4" lengths. Scissor-savvy kids can do this part as well. You'll want to cut 2-3 straws per child (based on lengths of yarn you cut.)

Step 2: Cut 2' lengths of yarn (1 per child) and tightly wrap a small piece of tape around one end to make it easier to thread through beads. Tie a pony bead onto the non-taped end.

Step 3 (optional): Use a medium-sized craft punch in any shape (circles, leaves, flowers or shamrocks best, probably) on extra craft foam or construction paper and use hole punch to make hole in center of shape. Depending on width of straw openings, and if you have a hole punch with a smaller hole, you may want to use a smaller hole so the foam shapes don't just slide over the straws.

I didn't have a craft punch with enough center space to make a hole, so I just hand-cut a bunch of circles.

Step 4: Use a cookie cutter or printed template to cut shamrock shapes out of craft foam (or construction paper) and use hole punch to make 2 holes in one of the leaves.

Step 5: Use a tray, little cups, bowls or egg carton to hold all the beads and show them how to get started!

At around halfway beaded, you can have them string on the shamrock, but it's not really important where it goes. Help them tie the ends together (I just threaded the yarn back through the original pony bead at the end and tied it off.)

I found all the supplies for these at the Dollar Tree. Straws, pony beads, yarn and foam shamrocks $1/pack. I already had construction paper, and Dollar Tree sells packs of colored craft foam as well. Total cost: $4

Submitting to Somewhat Simple's St. Patrick's linky, Dollar Store Crafts, Catholic Icing's St. Patrick's Link-up, MeloMomma's (Kid-Friendly) Share It Friday, No Time for Flashcards Link and Learn, My Shae Noel's All Things Wonderful linkup, and C.R.A.F.T.'s Making Monday Marvelous 

Dollar Store Craft - My Crafty Valentine

I love the foam stickers and shapes, pompoms, chenille stems, table scatter, and other craft items that regularly rotate through the Dollar Tree stores. Super cheap, so I don't mind sharing them with random other kids friends' kids, cousins, etc. Or letting Little Z 'waste' them (by using them, of course!)

Little Z's preschool lets us exchange Valentines, in the kids' cubbies above their coat hooks, if we want to. Last year, one of my friends made little heart-shaped crayons (click here for my crusty attempt,) and another friend made awesome, yummy goodies! So I wanted to do something clever and creative too! But with less effort!

Luckily, the Dollar Tree had everything I needed to make a fun DIY Valentine craft for her school chums!

Valentine Picture Frame Craft Kit

Materials:

• Foam shapes (they have circles, rectangles, 8.5"x11" sheets, various seasonal shapes throughout the year) - $1 per 12-24. Enough for 1 shape per child (or cut larger sheets into enough shapes.)
• Foam shape stickers - Valentines mix. 1-2 bags, $1 each
• Foam letter stickers - 2 baggies for a class size of 15-20, 4 baggies for a class of 30. Or enough of the 4-sheet packs of larger letters to pop out letters for each child's name. - $1 per pack/bag
• Glitter Valentines Table Scatter. 1-2 bags, $1 each (Optional)
• Pompoms. 1-2 bags, $1 each (Optional)
• Chenille stems, 1 bag, or spool of ribbon. $1 for either (Optional)
• Packs of 4 squeezy glue - enough for 1 per kid. $1 per 4. (Optional) 
• -Or- Glue Dots (available from craft stores, or if you have them on hand. Price varies. Optional) You can also just assume that everyone has some Elmer's at home, or else just stick with the stickers and not bother with the glueables. Especially for kids under 3.
• Zip-top sandwich bags or cellophane Valentines bags - $1 per 24. Enough baggies for 1 per child.

Tools: (Optional)

• Circle cutter 
• -Or - Scissors and small circle or heart-shape (computer printout, jar or cup, stencil, cookie cutter, etc.) to trace and cut
• Hole Punch

Valentines foam stickers, glittery heart table scatter,
foam circles

Halloween foam letters, large year-round letter stickers
large Spring letter stickers, Easter letter stickers

Chenille stems and pompoms from throughout the year

Large and small Glue Dots from Oriental Trading Company

Step 1 (Optional): Use circle cutter or trace and cut out circle or heart shape from center of foam shape. You can skip this if you don't want them to be picture frames.

Step 2 (Optional:) Using hole punch, punch a hole in the top center (or 2 holes at the top, evenly spaced from center.)

Another option, in lieu of punching a hole and giving each person some ribbon or a chenille stem, would be to cut up a thin flexible magnet sheet into little 1" squares for people to glue on, 1 to 2 per person. I use free magnets with ads on them that come in the mail, on the Yellow Pages book, freebies at fairs, etc, and save them with my craft supplies.

Step 3a (Optional): Sort stickers by color and shape (and letter.) I chose to do this so that one kid wouldn't get a clump of, say, all red doves, but no hearts. And also to avoid putting dark purple stickers in with the dark purple circle frames, and ditto with the dark pink, since they are the same shade and just blend in.

Step 3b: Divvy up the stickers (and glitter table scatter, pompoms, chenille stems or ribbon, etc amongst the kids' craft kits.)

Step 4 (Optional): If you are putting letter stickers in for each child's name, choose the stickers for each child. I put them immediately into the baggies the whole craft would be going in, so that I didn't lose any or get them mixed up later. You can use a permanent marker to write each child's name on the bag, or have a paper Valentine inside with the "To" and "From" filled in. Sorting the letter stickers helps here, to avoid getting a clump of all one color in a name, and to avoid letters that match the foam background shape! Also so you aren't sifting through the same ones over and over again for each subsequent name.

Each kit should have a baggie with 1 foam shape base, Valentines stickers, letters for that child's name (optional,) 5-6" of ribbon or a half or whole chenille stem (optional,) some glitter Table scatter (optional,) and pompoms (optional.) Also a glue dot per pompom and table scatter piece (optional,) or a glue tube (super optional.)

Finished product! 

I ended up giving each child 1 foam circle frame, 1 each of the Valentines foam sticker shapes (dove, heart, flower, plus 2 X's and O's,) the letters in their name (for names with common nicknames, especially when I hear them called both by their parents, like Daniel/Danny, I put in "daniel" and added an extra N and Y in case they opted to put "danny" on instead.) 3 large glittery table scatter shapes (2 large hearts and 1 smaller double heart shape per kid,) and 2 white and 1 red pompom from the Christmas mix (red/white/green/black,) plus a chenille stem to use as a hanger with the hole, and 6 Glue Dots (for the 3 pompoms and 3 Table Scatter shapes.)

My little craft kit Valentines.

Additional Ideas/Tips:
You can jazz it up by putting in some pony beads for them to string onto the chenille stem hanger, which you can also get at Dollar Tree, for $1 for a good-sized little baggie of them.

You can also type up a little blurb to go in each bag, telling them that they can cut the foam shape into a heart, or cut a picture frame hole out of the center, punch a hole or re-use free magnets for hanging, or suggest other items they might have at home to glue on, like noodles or pompoms or whatever and save yourself a bunch of the steps/materials.

This craft can be as cheap as $2 if you already have Sandwich-size zip-top baggies at home, and just get the foam shapes and a pack of Valentine stickers, for a class size of 24 or under.
If you get a little bit of everything and a glue for everyone, it can be as high as $24 for a class of 30 (2 packs each of foam shapes, pompoms, chenille stems, baggies, Table Scatter, Valentines stickers, 4 bags of foam letters, and 8 4-packs of squeeze glue.)

Also a great, cheap, craft activity to do with a preschool or Sunday School class, moms group, or a family gathering with a bunch of Oompa-Loompas.

I will be submitting this to Dollar Store Crafts and JDaniel4's Mom's Virtual Valentine's Day Party