Swirled Easter Egg Art with Tips

(37 Months)

I've been wanting to do this project for over a year now (there are step-by-step directions at PlayCreateExplore).  We tried working on this last year (see here), but it morphed into a shaving cream sensory bin (instead of an art project).  They liked playing with shaving cream so much, that we decided it would be fun to make shaving cream paint to use in the bathtub (see here).  So now with Easter a few days away, and no new Easter art projects on our walls and windows- it's time to get busy.

This project couldn't be simpler.  Instead of white card stock, we used pink, light blue and light green construction paper.  Other than that, we followed the directions and were incredibly impressed with the results.

Step 1- spray shaving foam into a jelly roll pan (a rolled cookie sheet).
Step 2- spread it out evenly (I used my hand)
Step 3- add your favorite drops of liquid food coloring
Step 4- swirl with a chopstick or the back of the paint brush (see Little Miss demonstrating below)

Step 5- place card stock or construction paper on top of the swirled shaving cream

Step 6- gently peel the paper off of the shaving cream and set aside

Step 7- add five or six more drops of food dye and swirl, repeat steps 5 and 6

Step 8- we waited five minutes before scraping the shaving cream off of the paper, we used a wooden craft stick

Step 9- set aside to dry (see tips below)

Step 10- Enjoy your gorgeous artwork. 

We did learn a few tricks during our exploration into swirl art:
1. Six drops of food coloring wasn't nearly enough- we used nine and that was perfect.
2. You can reuse the same tray of swirled art at least twice, just add three or four more drops of food coloring.
3.  Make sure you rinse off the craft stick and then dry it before each swipe of removing the shaving cream from the paper.

Here are our (mostly) finished products.  I just don't have the heart to cut into these to turn them into Easter eggs.

We'll definitely be doing this again and again.  Thank you again to Play Create Explore for introducing us to a wonderfully creative art project.

Ordering Numbers

(37 Months)

When I was at Dollar Tree a couple of weeks ago, I found two fun window clings in the teaching section of the store.  One was of shapes, the other was numbers 1-10.  My two kidabunks love window clings, especially rearranging the ones that we use as decoration in the front windows.  When I saw these two, I knew they would have fun.  

While I was reading to Wild One, I noticed Little Miss quietly ordering the numbers.  Quick, grab the camera.  The six and nine were interchanged, I asked her which number came after five and she answered six.  Then she looked at the nine, and without a word looked at the window to find her six.  She's practicing math!  On her own!  Learning through play is always the best way.

If you are unable to find these at Dollar Tree, they are very so similar to our Bath Math foam tiles.  

Building with Power Tools

(37 Months)

I'm constantly perusing various blogs and Amazon for toys, games and activities for the kidabunks to play with. When I found this set, I knew Little Miss would love it and Wild One would have a new favorite toy.  What's not to love?  They create a crane with power tools!

Proud Grandpa moment, showing Wild One how to use a drill.

With pencils, crayons, markers and paint brushes we tilt the tool.  However, with a drill it needs to be inserted at a 90 degree angle.  The drill is extremely forgiving, it allows the user to not have placed the drill bit directly on the bolt before tightening.  

Wild One and Little Miss both love constructing and taking apart this truck.  We must have built and tore-down this crane at least six times in two days.

Reading with Grandpa- We read a lot of books.  We go to the library at least once a week, and take out a minimum of 15 books at a time (with most of those books being reserved from recommendations).  They love "reading" (pretending to read and being read to).  It's one of the many things that I'm grateful for and love about my little ones.  Grandpa is frequently recruited to serve as Reader.  We received How to Babysit a Grandpa from our incredibly sweet cousin Catie.

Button Snake

(37 Months)

Have you ever made something for the kiddos and then found out they just weren't ready for it- or maybe not interested in it?  Well, this was one of those times.  I made this button snake (found at Jonah Lisa Land) about nine months ago and I was so excited to introduce buttoning to them.  Well...  Wild One didn't want to play with it, and Little Miss kept giving one button after another for me to lace it through the snake.  Oh well.  I put it aside, and quite honestly I forgot all about it.  A few days ago, we pulled it out again, and now they LOVE it!

While they are buttoning, they are saying "Peek-a-boo, and pull it through."  I love how they are practicing buttoning while strengthening their fine motor skills, but more importantly I'm so happy that they feel the success of accomplishment.  "I DID IT!"  I love hearing how proud of themselves they are when they learn a new skill.

 

As Little Miss was buttoning, Wild One was busy stringing wooden beads.  I noticed that at one point he started pulling out all the same color beads, and laced the like colors together.  Hmmm.  Idea- next week I'll bring out the buttons and beads again so that we can create a pattern.

I love how excited they get.  I love them so much!

Learning is More Fun with Dinosaurs

(37 Months)

A few weeks ago we went on a Dinosaur Walk.  We knew that Wild One would like a land filled with dinosaurs, they're big, they stomp and they ROAR. I was surprised when my daughter began excitedly exclaiming, "I love Dinosaurs!"  She kept going on and on about how much she loved dinosaurs and that they love her as well.  So cute. I knew that we would start learning about dinosaurs sometime soon (after Dr. Seuss and St. Patrick's weeks, and right before Easter).

I'm so glad that there are so many wonderful moms out there that share all of the incredible things that they are working on with their kids.  I found a wonderful dinosaur preschool pack at Over the Big Moon.  It has dinosaur puzzles, spot the difference, tracing, coloring, sorting, counting, shadow cards, matching and more!  Wow, that sounds like an infomercial.  Thank you so much Over the Big Moon, the kidabunks loved working on your pack.

Spot the difference- we used pom poms instead of dot markers so that we can reuse the sheets.

 Patterning

Puzzle- with number order

 Leave it to Grandma and Grandpa to bring over a dinosaur puzzle during dinosaur week!  Thank you Grandma and Grandpa.  We love you! xoxo

I Spy Past and Present

(37 Months)

Last year I created this I SPY board for Little Miss and Wild One.  We were reinforcing their letter recognition (here is last year's post).  This year, we are using the board to identify letter sounds and also the letters that begin familiar words.  Since we just came back from a family Disney vacation with Grandma, Grandpa, my sister, brother-in-law and their two cousins, I thought we could use their favorite Disney character names and emphasize the first letter sound: Tinkerbell, Perwinkle, Buzz, Woody, Jessie....

Next, we moved over to numbers (because Wild One asked to find numbers instead).  We took turns asking for numbers, he would say a number and then I would get a turn.  On my turn, I would ask for the number that comes next, after or follows his number (if still available, if not I chose a new number).

Then, we worked on finding the letters in our names.  Lastly, we can work on spelling CVC words (cat, hat, sat, mat).

Fun, fun.  I love it when we can repurpose something.  Talk about quick and easy.  Feel free to grab my I SPY board here.