#toolsfortots

[asamustardseed]

April Crafts (where has time gone?!)

Bird Feeder

Can’t beat the ol’ bird feeder craft. We put a twist on the pinecone feeder and recycled a cardboard egg carton by cutting it up and swiping the peanut butter inside then dousing with birdseed.

Rainy Day Girls

I had the girls do a little self portrait. We then painted blue paint onto bubble wrap (smaller bubble wrap would have been better for this!) and placed a piece of paper a bit larger than their portraits to protect that area of the paper. Once the portrait area was covered, we blotted the bubble wrap over the entire piece. When removed, we then also removed the paper protecting the portrait and cut out a little umbrella over head.

Orange Hand Tree

With an abundance of clementines, Evie and I decided on making an orange tree. She mixed a brown paint herself and then used it to make handprints on green construction paper as well as to paint 2 toilet paper rolls. Once the handprints dried, we glued circle cut outs from the orange peels and glued them onto the handprints before gluing the handprints to our tree trunk. Orange you glad you checked this post out. Hehe.

This was the coolest steam project ever!!! Completely looked it up online so I wish share the link because it is a must to try this out with kiddos. Fun to customize and to play with after!

[asamustardseed]

My Funny Valentine’s

My favorite part of Valentine’s Day is sharing sentiments in the form of cards that we’ve labored over and decorated very intentionally for each recipient. Addison and I love using metallic sharpie’s, beads, wooden clips, different cardstock, lace and so on for our Valentine creations. How do you show your love and affection and go a little extra on Valentine’s Day?

[asamustardseed]

Origami with Miss Kasey

We love our Avon Free Library and the opportunities it has given us to connect since the pandemic began. We’re engaged in virtual storytime with Miss Kasey once or twice a week and when she holds occasional after school activities for the older kids, we do our best to plug in any of the kids who are here and available. One week she did origami with them which proved a very complicated task and reminded us of the advantage of being with kids to walk them through various crafts and activities BUT it was undeniable that we were able to problem solve and successfully make some origami Jack-O-Lanterns!

[asamustardseed]

M is for Monster

We kept our letter ‘M’ craft rather simple today! I provided a large letter ‘M’ and eyeballs and teeth and they glued away. Once all was dry, I added some final touches to their work. A fun collaboration for all!!

[asamustardseed]

‘L’ for Lamp

It’s easy to get caught up in trying to find elaborate crafts but it is important to take a step back and know that the simplest crafts can also make an impression. The girls really enjoyed designing their lampshades for our lamps. We sat and chatted and they talked to one another about their placement choices for the stripes and polka dots. They word on hand/eye coordination in the process and were quite impressed once i places their shade on their letter ‘L’ turning it into a - voila! - LAMP!

Needed: pre cut strips and circles out of various colored construction paper, white paper cut into a trapezoid shape, glue and an ‘L’ shape out of construction paper. Have a main piece of paper that all will be glued onto, preferably construction paper or cardstock to hold all better.

To Do: Have the kids decorate their trapezoid first. Once! completed, they may glue the letter ‘L’ onto their main piece of paper. They’re finished at this point and depending on age, the lampshade can be glued by you or kids once it has dried. Dexterity needs and making patterns are highlights of this craft!

[asamustardseed]

Garrett Morgan: Black History Month

His name should be a regular in every household as we see his invention or a variation of it on a daily basis. Garrett Morgan invented the first automatic three-way traffic signal system. This, my friends, is why we do these crafts with little ones. We made a traffic light to help them remember Morgan’s name and tie him to his invention. Spread these significant names to our history with friends and family!

[asamustardseed]

Black History Month - Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong was a hit with this age group for black history month. We spent several days listening to his instrumentals and vocals, both of which can bring a soulful one to tears - I am one to speak as I did my best to hold them in during “What a Wonderful World!” Our first craft was in honor of his trumpet playing and Jazz music in general. The kids and I danced and discussed how exciting and vibrant the music is - like bright colors! Of course, we used paint and our fingers to tie it altogether and a very glittery trumpet to finish off this craft. Nothing quite like painting and swaying your fingers this way and that to the sound of Louis Armstrong’s music!

Our next craft was a little book to help us remember the beautiful and sentimental lyrics of “What a Wonderful World.” We colored “trees of green,” “red roses too,” “skies of blue,” “clouds of white,” “the colors of the rainbow,” and “friends shaking hands.” This was a simple tool for teaching them the words, the meaning behind the song as well as introducing another great talent of Armstrong’s. 

[asamustardseed]

Alma Thomas - Black History Month

Alma Thomas was an African American Abstract Expressionist painter in the 1960s and 1970s predominantly. Her work was known to be vibrant and with patterns. She studied fine arts through her college years at Howard University and committed so much time to her passion that she earned her Masters in Art History from Columbia University, continuing her studies long after these achievements. The kids and I enjoyed looking at her abstract paintings and used her mosaic-like work as inspiration for two of our own projects.

Torn Paper Radial Composition

The girls and I created a radial design using a green center, followed by blue, red and pink. The girls LOVED ripping paper up in the various colors. I made this easier by tearing large pages of specific colors and separating them by color so that the girls could rip up the color we needed, one at a time. I also drew on a piece of paper with the green, blue, red, pink colors to show where the paper would be glued. We did one color at a time and the girls ripped and glued at their leisure. This was a great project for when you have time to spare. Because of all the elements to this craft, I highly suggest letting kids take their time to enjoy the process. I found my kids to be quite literally glued to each step and working hard to achieve the look we were going for!

Alma Thomas Landscape Valentine

Using blue, purple and yellow paint, plus scrap paper and our fingers, we made a lovely landscape. I gave the girls three pieces of scrap paper each. We made yellow prints on one, blue on another and purple on another. Once dry, I cut the girl’s purple sheet into purple mountain shapes and we glued that onto the blue “sky” sheet. I cut the yellow sheet into hearts to be used as a sunshine for our landscape. We used black paper folded in half as our card to glue the landscape onto (so you will want to ensure your blue sky will fit the front of the card). We used white crayon on the inside of the card. I asked the girls to tell me three things they love about mom and dad and I wrote the note out for them. Each of the girls signed their card themselves and delivered them to their parents at the end of the day!

We are thankful for the rich African American History around us and the opportunity to create and learn from these amazing people!