toddler crafts

Easy 10 minute Snowball Wreath Craft

easy snowball wreath craft

 

Looking for an easy winter craft you can do in under 10 minutes? Try momstown’s Easy Snowball Wreath!


I’m always amazed about how many craft ideas can be spun out of a paper plate! It’s a cheap craft supply with endless ideas to work it into. Our snowball wreath is yet another paper plate craft that looks so cute, so easy and inexpensive. Perfect combination for crafting!


Craft Supplies you will need:

  • Paper plate
  • Scissors
  • Pompoms or cotton balls 
  • Glue – white glue preferred for preschoolers 
  • Snowflake décor (optional, we had the plastic snowflakes leftover from Christmas)
  • Ribbon for hanging

 

This is a very simple and easy craft - you need to do is cut the centre out of the plate. Then start gluing cotton balls directly onto the remaining plate, you will probably need to glue in two rows.


Once glue is dry, tie a ribbon around to hang the wreath. You may chose to add some little snowflakes (paper ones would be sweet too) to hang into the middle like my son did with thread we tied to the top of the wreath).


Note: My son has taken a recent major interest in the glue gun, so we used it for this activity. Although it dries quickly, I would not recommend it for this project. Hot glue and paper plate (which transfers heat) – not suggested.  We didn’t have any issues but were very careful and if I were to do over, I would totally use white glue which would work better given the materials.

Posted by momstown mama on 01/10/2013 - 15:52
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"Leaf Man" Inspired Craft for Kids

This paper bag leaf man puppet is an easy craft that preschoolers and even toddlers can make almost entirely on their own. It was inspired by a perfect fall day: a leaf hunt where we gathered a bag full of all sorts of different types of red, orange, yellow, brown, and burgundy leaves, followed by a cozy story time where we read "Leaf Man" by Lois Ehlert. After snacks, we were ready to create leaf men of our own.

 

 

Leaf Man is on many lists of the best fall books for preschoolers, and with good reason. It is one of those unique children's books that works on every level. The text tells a captivating story of journey that "Leaf Man" (a leaf) takes as he blows in the wind. As Leaf Man travels, kids learn to identify the sights and signs of fall, from fields of pumpkins to forests of red, yellow, and orange, to geese migrating south for winter. The words are simple but lyrical, with a regular refrain that "a Leaf Man's got to go where the wind blows" which kids quickly pick up on and are able to join in on as you read.

 

As engaging as the text of the book is, it is even more visually stunning. Each picture in the book is a collage made of various leaves. Maple, catalpa, ginko leaves and more are arranged to take the shape of different animals and objects. The pages are also die cut. adding additional textures and shapes to the story. This is the sort of book that both kids and adults pour over, discovering something new everytime they look at it. What is more, the book is educational. The book also includes a field guide to leaves. Pictures of a variety of different leaves are labelled with the names of the trees from which they originate, allowing kids to identify the types of leaves that they are able to find in their own neighbourhoods.

 

Head out on your own fall leaf hunt, use the book to identify the leaves you have found, and then make an easy "Leaf Man" puppet to take on an autumn adventure.

 

 

Here's what you need to do to make a Leaf Man puppet of your own:

 

  • a paper bag
  • leaves in various shapes and colours
  • glue
  • googlie eyes
  • tissue paper scraps or other embellishments

 

1. Glue a leaf on the bottom flap of the bag to form your puppet’s face. 

 

2. Glue on additional leaves to make your puppet’s arms, legs and any other features.

 

3. Add googlie eyes, and scraps of tissue paper to create any additional details such as buttons or a nose.  We used cut up foam alphabet stickers for our mouths, but rolled tissue paper or all sorts of other things could work too.

 

The neat part about this craft is that your leaf man is a bit of a science experiment too.  He will change in appearance as the leaves you have used dry out.  Here is our leaf man after a day:

 

 

Posted by momstown Teach on 10/08/2012 - 14:06
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Apple Crafts and Activities for Preschoolers

It is apple picking season in many parts of the country, and that makes it the perfect time to do an apple themed unit with your preschool or toddlers.  From books about apples, to apple crafts, to apple songs and fingerplays, and recipes with apples, there are so many great ways to learn about apples with kids. After a recent trip to the farmer's market, we made these paper plate apples:

 

 

This is a great craft to do with very young children, or a group with mixed ages.  Even our youngest crafters had fun fingerpainting their apples:

 

 

Here's what you need to make your own paper plate apple:

  • a white paper plate
  • red paint (a marker or crayon would work too)
  • brown construction paper
  • green construction paper
  • glue
  • scissors

1. Paint your back of your paper plate red.

2. While paint is drying, cut out a rectangle out of brown construction paper for the apple's stem, and a leaf shape out of green construction paper.

3. Once paint is dry, glue the brown stem to the top center of your apple, and glue the leaf to one side of the stem.

 

OPTIONAL: You can also turn this craft into a great bulletin board display or gift for a parent or grandparent by having kids glue pictures of themselves to the centre of the apples, and writing the words "You're the apple of my eye" onto the front of the apple with a black marker, or "Our Students are the Pick of the Crop" to a header above the bulletin board.

 

 

Need ideas for apple songs and fingerplays to go along with your craft? Here are two of our favourites:

 

Here We Go Round the Apple Tree

(Sung to the tune of "Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush")

Here we go round the apple tree,
The apple tree, the apple tree,
Here we go round the apple tree,
On an autumn morning.

Following verses:

2. This is the way we shake the tree...
3. This is the way we climb the ladder...
4. This is the way we pick the apples...
5. This is the way we eat the apples...

~anonymous

 

Five Red Apples


5 Red apples, hanging on the tree (hold up your hand showing 5 fingers)
Boy oh boy, they look good to me (place your hand on your forehead as if you were shading your eyes to look up)
So I picked one off and munch, munch, munch (pretend you're eating an apple)
I ate that apple for my lunch! (rub your stumach)

Continue counting down. After you've eaten the last apple, chant the following verse:

No red apples hanging on the tree
I ate them all for lunch you see
But the little green apples will soon be red
And I’ll eat them for my lunch instead!

~ C. Reid

Posted by momstown Teach on 09/13/2012 - 21:43
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Make An Easy Fire Dog Puppet

 

As part of our focus on fire trucks and fire halls, we made these easy paper tube fire dog puppets today:

 

 

Dalmatian dogs are the mascots of fire trucks and fire halls, but I have never really thought about why. We learned that is that Dalmatians were originally trained run alongside horse drawn carriages, and act as companions to the horses.  When horses began to be used to pull fire engines, Dalmations were a natural choice to be the companion of those horses'  as well.  They were trained to run in front of the fire cart, clear a path, and guide the horses toward the fire. They also acted as guard dogs at the firehouse, protecting the valuable horses and equipment from thieves, and served as companions to the firefighters.

Although horse drawn fire equipment was phased out, Dalmations continued to serve as the mascots of fire departments. They provide happiness and friendship to firefighters, and encourage firefighters to exercise.  They are also excellent at teaching kids to "stop, drop, and roll," and are often used for fire safety demonstrations.

 

Here is what you need to make your own paper tube Fire Dog puppet:

  • a paper tube
  • white and black paint
  • googlie eyes
  • scraps of black and red construction paper
  • a paintbrush, a Q-tip (optional), scissors, and glue
  • a black marker

 

1.  Paint a paper tube white (alternately, you could just cover it with white paper), and allow to dry:

 

 

2. Dip a Q-tip in black paint, and use it to add spots on your dalmation (fingerprints would work great too). Glue on googlie eyes, and a triangle nose.  Draw a mouth on with a black marker, and draw or glue on a red tongue:

 

 

3. Cut two ears out of black paper. If desired, fold a flap onto the top to give the ears dimension:

 

 

4. Glue ears onto either side of the paper tube:

 

 

5.  Cut a hat shape out of red construction paper. Use a black marker to add a badge in the centre:

 

 

6. Glue to the front of your dog.  To use as a puppet, simply slip a couple of your fingers into the opening of the paper tube.  Alternately, you can glue a popsicle stick to the inside of the tube:

 

 

Now your ready to act out your own fire dog rescue!

 

momstown Hamilton had loads of fun at Art & Play with this craft and created a slightly different version with their momstown children with paper cups instead of toilet rolls.


fire dog puppet

Posted by momstown Teach on 08/13/2012 - 16:01
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How to Make a Clown Hat and a Clown Nose

After playing with our paper plate clown puppets yesterday, we got a little bit envious of the clowns' bright hats and noses. I am not one to pass up an opportunity to create crafts or to discourage kids' imaginative play, so today we set to work creating clown hats and clown noses that we could wear:

 

 

Not only were these crafts fun, but the majority of the supplies came from either the scrap paper bin or the recyling bin. Search around your house for miscellaneous stickers, ribbons and more.  The sillier your clown hat is, the more fun it will be.

 

How to Make a Clown Hat:

 

In order to make a clown hat, you will need:

  • brightly coloured construction paper or cardstock
  • stickers, markers, crayons, or other embellishments
  • clear tape
  • curling ribbon
  • satin ribbon or elastic string
  • scissors
  • stapler (optional)

1. Draw a larger semi-circle onto your cardstock.  A large dinner plate makes a good template to trace. Cut out semi-circle:

 

 

2. Fold semi-circle in half, so that you have a quarter circle:

 

 

3. Open up your semi-circle, and fold one corner of the circle up the centre crease. Open your semi-circle up again, and cut along the line you've just created.  You should end up with a shape that looks like this:

 

 

4. Decorate your clown hat with stickers, markers, crayons, glitter, other scraps of paper, or anything that strikes your fancy (note: you can decorate your hat after you roll it into a cone shape too, but we found it was easier for the kids to decorate the paper before we rolled it).

 

5. Roll your paper into a cone, and tape along the inside seam (a stapler would work too):

 

 

6. Poke a small hole into either side of the hat, towards the bottom.  Insert elastic thread or ribbon through the holes, notting on the inside of each hole.  The thread will go under your chin to secure the hat to your head.

 

7. Cut curling ribbon into pieces, and curl with scissors (an adult's job). Tape the ribbon curls along the bottom of the inside of the hat to make the clown's colourful hair:

 

 

Now it's time to make your clown nose.

 

How to Make an Egg Carton Clown Nose

 

To make your clown nose, you will need:

  • an egg carton
  • red paint
  • elastic string or ribbon
  • a paint brush
  • ribbon or elastic thread

1. Cut your egg carton into individual cups.  Paint each cup red, and allow to dry. You may need to add a second layer of paint to achieve the colour you want.

 

2. Once your egg carton cups are dry, turn them over and use a skewer or push pin to poke a small hole on either side of the base of each cup. Insert thread or elastic string through each of the holes, notting on the inside to secure.  You should have something that looks like this:

 

 

3. From the front, your clown nose should look like this: 

 

 

Put on your clown hat and clown nose, and start clowning around!

Posted by momstown Teach on 06/20/2012 - 01:42
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Paper Plate Clowns

The circus is coming to (moms)town, and we could not be more excited! 

Of course, an essential ingredient of any circus is clowns, and so this weekend we got started by making our own paper plate clowns. These can become puppets, decorations, and more.

 

 

This is a great craft to do with a variety of age ranges.  Toddlers will enjoy the sensory experience of exploring the pompom, the pipecleaner and creating the clown's hair, and there is lots of room for older children to express their creativity.  It is also a great way to use up old scraps of tissue paper and other odds and ends, and the handprint element makes it a nice keepsake for parents. 

 

Here is what you need to make your own paper plate clown:

  • a paper plate
  • a red balloon
  • a red pipe cleaner
  • markers
  • patterned paper and or construction paper in different colours
  • bits of tissue paper
  • a pompom
  • scissors
  • tape (optional)
  • popsicle stick (optional)
  • ribbon or string (optional)

 

1. Use markers to draw your clown's eyes onto the paper plate.  Trim a red pipecleaner, and bend it into the shape of a smile.  Glue pipecleaner onto paper plate face (alternately, you could use markers for the mouth too).

 

 

2. Use a skewer to poke a small hole in the centre of the paper plate where the clown's nose should be (an adult's job).  Insert an uninflated red ballon into the hole, so that the end of the balloon comes out on the back of the paper plate. Blow up the balloon just a little bit, and tie at the back of the paper plate:

 

note: if you would rather not use a balloon, you can make a nose by gluing a pom pom onto the front of the paper plate instead.

 

3. Trace your hands onto brightly coloured construction paper or patterned paper, and cut out.  Cut a large triangle out of patterned paper. Still working on the back side of the paper plate, glue or tape one handprint on either side of the paper plate. These will form a part of the clown's crazy hair. Glue or tape triangle near the top of the paper plate, with the point of the triangle facing up. Turn your paper plate over, and you should have something like this:

 

 

4. You could stop here if you would like, but we were in a crafty mood so we kept going.  Tear coloured tissue paper scraps into small squares.  Cover the top portion of your paper plate with glue.  Take a piece of tissue paper, scrunch it up into a ball, and start sticking the balls into the glue.  The tearing and scrunching of the tissue paper is a great fine motor exercise for little fingers.  Keep scrunching and sticking tissue paper balls onto the plate, adding more glue as needed, until your satisfied with your clown's wig.  

 

5. Glue a pom pom onto the top of the hat to finish your clown off.

 

6. If you would like, you can glue a loop of ribbon or string onto the back of your clown to display him or her on a wall, or you could glue a popsicle stick to the bottom and make a puppet.  The possibilities are endless!

Posted by momstown Teach on 06/18/2012 - 16:59
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