Everyday Living
Glitter Apple Prints
These glitter apple prints are a great fall or winter project to do with your preschoolers. Materials: apples, liquid glue, food coloring, glitter, paper. Mix some glue with an equal part water (an almost-empty bottle works well) and add a few drops of food coloring. Cut your apples in half. To make the prints, dip […]
Pressing Leaves for Fall Projects
Next time you’re on a walk, look for pretty colorful autumn leaves for this project. Once the leaves are pressed, you can glue them on paper for art projects or use them to decorate your house for fall. For pressing leaves you will want leaves that are colorful but not dried, as dry leaves will […]
Back-and-forth Drawing
I recently read this book about artist Mica Angela Hendricks, who has been making collaborative work with her four year old. While I don’t have her awesome illustration skills, I still thought it would be fun to create a game out of making artwork together. So, inspired by Hendricks (and partially by the game “Exquisite […]
What Makes a Great Kids App?
Seemingly, everything has gone digital along with our kids’ games. It seems as though that, as well as Nursery songs on Youtube, are the most popular forms of entertainment for small children. While TV still dominates screen time, we’ve seen a tremendous rise in online and app-based games. On average, over one quarter of three […]
Make Your Own Plates Part III: Yarn Art
Oh boy, this one was fun! To design these plates we used yarn, glue, and the MakIt plate templates. Simply paint a circle of glue in the center of the plate area and start winding the yard around the center point. Continue painting the glue around the outside of the yarn and pressing the yarn […]
Color Matching and Paintbrush Craft
Practice color recognition with these fun ‘paintbrushes’. You’ll need paper, scissors, Popsicle sticks, glue, and crayons. Cut the paper into approximately 3×4 rectangles. On each piece of paper, write a color name in the correct color. Have your child add ‘paint’ to each brush by coloring one end. Glue each brush to a Popsicle stick […]
Make Your Own Plates Part II: Scrapbook Style!
We’ve been having so much fun making these plates. Here’s another style we tried…Scrapbook! We used scrapbook papers, scissors, glue, and buttons for this design. Scanned our creation and sent it over to Makit to finish them. So much fun and they would make fantastic Mother’s Day gifts too!! Get your plate template here and […]
Multi-colored Hand Stamps
Make your own handprint stamp, and use all the colors of the rainbow to make this project! As you stamp, you can use the process as an opportunity to talk about differences, working together, and equality. You’ll need A “block” to make your stamp on. We used a piece of linoleum, but […]
Musical Instrument Coloring Pages
We explored the new interactive appbook about a Little Lost Note that was on a mission to find herself. Through this self discovery she has a chance to try on lots of different musical sounds and your kids get to play the instruments she encounters along her way. Such a whimsical story that leaves children […]
DIY Plate Designs
We were wanting to make some plates for Mother’s Day gifts this year so we asked Makit if they would help us out with this. They were totally on board! So they sent us the the plate forms and told to go crazy. Ask and you shall receive! :) Here are the first set of […]
Easy Peasy St. Patricks Day Dessert
The kiddos and I were on the lookout for a fun dessert to make for St. Patricks Day. What makes a good St. Patty’s Day treat? Well it has to be green. Check! And it has to have something magical inside. Check! We were inspired by an activity we saw over at Chalk Preschool (they have so […]
Zebra Coloring Page
Just in time for Valentines Day! Download this free zebra coloring page and color it for your special little someone. Click here to download this beautiful hand drawn zebra coloring sheet!
Simple Animal Masks
Dress up is always a favorite around here, no matter the occasion. Today we made this simple, but cool masks using only some basic supplies. Maybe you’ll be able to tell (or maybe not!) we were inspired after a talk about how Eric Carle might make his artwork in some of our favorite books, like […]
Paper Mache Hearts by Crafty Allie
Last month, Crafty Allie took our Kids Craft Blogger Challenge and we’re SOOO glad she did! Look at this adorable and totally creative paper mache hearts project she came up with to use some of our challenge supplies…tissue paper squares! One of the things I love the most about the final project is that you […]
What Would You Do with Feathers, Pipe Cleaners, and Tissue Paper?
We recently ran another Kids Craft Blogger Challenge where we sent a few lucky bloggers a package full of craft supplies. These crafters were challenged to come up with a craft or kids project using feathers, pipe cleaners, and small tissue paper squares. There were so many great submissions! Here are a few of our […]
Monet Inspired Waterlilies Project for Kids
I think it’s fun to introduce kids to art history in a variety of ways! Luckily, here in Philly, we have one of Claude Monet’s paintings featuring his famous waterlilies. After seeing the painting in person, and looking at some of his other paintings online (like my favorite one at MoMA), we decided to make […]
Recycled Storybook Stationary
Mail is such a treat, to send or receive! Make these super adorable envelopes to send some mail to special kids in your life. For this project, I used an oversized book scissors pencil gluestick an envelope as a template Start by choosing a book. It could be one your kids have outgrown, or […]
Ready for 2014!
I was this image here and thought WOW, this really captures a lot of emotion and excitement. It reminds me of how I feel coming into 2014. It’s exciting, a little crazy, the boy is clearly having fun, he’s wearing handmade google that adds an element of purity. The image makes you smile and think at […]
White Chocolate Colorful Party Popcorn
Some times it’s fun to change up a old standby. Dress up a favorite snack to fit any color scheme you can think up! For this special treat, we started with popcorn. You could air pop it (probably your healthiest bet) or make it on the stove, but I’d stay away from microwave popcorn, which […]
Pinch Pot Monster Texture Project
We recently made these “pinch pot monster texture projects” in my classroom, and it was such a fun project! I think the lessons involved can easily be implemented at home too. The project came about because we were learning about texture in art class. There’s no better way to cement an idea than to actually […]
Paper Plate Craft: Thanksgiving Pies
Half the fun of Thanksgiving is in the preparation, right? Make these funny little pies with your kids in anticipation of the holiday weekend! We used small paper plates, paint, construction paper, pencils, glue and scissors to make these mini play pies. You probably have all these things around the house already! First decide what […]
Fall Placecards
We’re having a fancy Fall tea party, and we used leaves (which are so abundant in my yard!) and Sharpie paint pens to make some personalized placecards for our guests! I must say, I was so impressed by how these markers worked on an organic surface! We doodled on some leaves, wrote names of our […]
New $100 Bill Printable Coloring Page
A new 100 dollar bill went into circulation last month (October 8, 2013 to be exact). It was estimated that the currency costs 12.6 cents to make with a special blue ribbon woven into the middle of the bill. We wanted to learn a little about the spiffy new $100 bill so we did a […]
Play Binoculars from Cardboard Tubes
Birdwatching is a great winter activity for your preschoolers. With these “binoculars” they will feel like a pro! Obviously, proper birdwatchers will be equipped with professional equipment for their hobby, but we weren’t going to buy a quality spotting scope for the money reasons, as well as the fact that our preschooler is so young, […]
Measurements Lesson and Play (with free printable!)
After reading some particularly encouraging testimonials and blogs, we’re trying to work a LOT more water drinking into our daily routine. Staying well hydrated is good for both your mind and body! In figuring out the optimum amount to drink I ran into a lot of logistic problems. Should I count ounces all day? Cups? […]
5 Great Reasons to Visit Your Local Playground
Do you enjoy taking your little ones to your nearest playground? Spending time with children in the great outdoors is a fantastic form of exercise. However, it is no secret that chasing after your children can take its toll on your muscles. Consequently, if you often feel tired and exhausted after a long day looking […]
Pantone Leaf Necklace
I seriously might have a problem, I think I’m addicted to paint samples. In any case, we did this fun project immortalizing the colors of Fall, and turned it into a beautiful fun necklace. Check it out! We started on a crisp morning with a walk around our neighborhood, collecting some “samples”. It was fun […]
Milk Jug Skull Lanterns
Use a few materials that you might already have on hand to make these spooky milk jug skulls! I saw some of these on someone’s stoop the other night and thought we have got to try that! This simple craft calls for just a few supplies, doesn’t take long, and makes a big impact in […]