Friday, November 28, 2014

Thanksgiving Crafts and Activities!

To see our Thanksgiving activities from previous years click on the links below, or keep scrolling to see what we did this year:

Thanksgiving 2012
Thanksgiving 2013

Books

We love to raid the holiday section of our local libraries. This year we borrowed these books. I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie was a favorite for them. And Clifford too, of course!



Glue and Feather Craft

Little M&M created this awesome turkey with a little bit of glue one morning while big sister was at preschool.


Dot Marker Worksheet

This comes from 3 Dinosaurs. Honey Pot followed the color suggestions, and Little M&M stamped as he pleased.




Patterns and Stampers

We also created patterns with our mini stampers and this template from Gift of Curiosity.



Thanksgiving Worksheets

To avoid the redundancy of turkey crafts, we wound up doing a quite a few worksheets it seems. These come from 3 Dinosaurs.



There was even a simpler one of Little M&M to try!


And one of our favorite printable games, a Roll & Cover!



Then Honey Pot tried a color-by-number.



Playdoh

We made up a batch of our favorite playdoh in brown and orange for the season. First Little M&M played around with it, cutting out pumpkins and making turkeys.



We made feathers of all types of materials!


Then another day, Honey Pot joined us. First we used our laminated playdoh mat from PreKinders.


As well as this plate one that I made.



We made some feather impressions.


And turkeys!


And cut-outs.



This is how Honey Pot decorated her pumpkins. Amazing.


And then, in case you thought Halloween was over...


Thankful Tree

We do a thankful tree every year in some form. This year I bought one from Party City for just about $2.50, and hope to reuse the tree for a few years. It's adorable, and I LOVE what my kids are thankful for this year.

Little M&M: turkeys, [Honey Pot], Dad and Mom, my fire truck, blueberries, milk, TV
Honey Pot: my pony toys, the moon and the stars, eggnog, Grams and Pops, [my cousins], stickers


Happy Thanksgiving!

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Halloween Crafts and Activities!

To see some of the Halloween activities we've done in the past click on the links below, or keep scrolling to see what we did this year:

Halloween 2013
Footprint Ghost Craft
Pumpkin/Jack-o-Lantern Theme

Books

These are the books we borrowed from the library this year, and we combined them with our home collection. Our very favorite is Big Pumpkin!



Pom Pom Pumpkin Painting

I provided the kids with a template of a pumpkin, orange paint and a pom pom in a clothespin. It is such a unique way to paint, and they were eager to give it a try! Little M&M used the method I imagined they both would...stamping:


while Honey Pot chose to paint with it as if it were a brush:


Both very different, and both very cute! After the orange was complete, they each painted the stems brown. But I have no final product pictures beyond this:



Candy Corn Craft

This idea and template comes from Thriving Home. First we worked on our scissor skills.



Then squeezed glue onto our template...


and added our paper to look like a candy corn.




Playdoh

We pull out our playdough so much, that I often forget to take pictures. Here is one I snapped of princess Honey Pot using our Halloween cookie cutters to make a ghost.


And then I snapped this picture too, before another session:


Sticky Paper Ghost

This craft was inspired by Sunny Day Family. I often try to vary our craft materials where I can, and so I loved the idea of a fuzzy-belly ghost! I printed a ghost onto cardstock, cut out a large section from its belly and placed it onto contact paper with the sticky side up. The kids enjoyed placing the cottonballs on it, and having such a great sensory experience in their final product!




Jack-o-Lantern Felt Board

I pulled out our trusty felt board, which I created back in 2012, and the kids enjoyed making various faces.




Tinker Tray + Pumpkins

I saw this idea on Meri Cheri, and their pumpkins are incredible! We had never done a "tinker tray" before but we will surely be doing one again! I filled a muffin pan with various materials, and provided each child with a foam pumpkin from the Dollar Tree. This invitation was waiting for them at the craft table during "Patch Time" today.


They were SO excited, and so free to do as they please. It was so much fun to watch!



And they came up with some awesome ideas.



Little M&M decided to do some threading and made a snake.





And elephant pumpkin!


A work of art!



Their imaginations never cease to amaze me. And I am not exaggerating when I say that this activity lasted hours. We must do it again.


Monster Math

I did this activity last year with Honey Pot during our Monster Theme, and it's something that Little M&M loves to pull out on his own now and then. The idea originates from No Time for Flashcards. You really can't go wrong with googly eyes, in any craft or activity. So why not add some math!




Monster Wreath

Little M&M also made a monster wreath by painting the outer edge of a plate, and gluing on googly eyes. This was an impromptu craft, though it came out all right!





Name Recognition Activity

I created a pumpkin patch for Little M&M, where each pumpkin had a letter from his name. There was one set printed on paper, and one set cut out. He had to pick up a pumpkin and match it to the page to spell his name. Fun activity, and it really helps with letter recognition.


Halloween Worksheets

Honey Pot completed a connect-the-dot and color-by-number, though I do not really have photos of them! The printables come from Ziggity Zoom.


Pumpkin Seeds - Witch's Hat Craft

We dyed pumpkin seeds to use to decorate a witch's hat! Little M&M helped with the mixing in the morning while Honey Pot was at preschool.




They took a long time to dry, so we wound up completing the craft the following day. The kids spread some glue onto a coloring page of a witch's hat, and stuck on the pumpkin seeds.




So cute!


Mummy Craft

We created mummies by wrapping white yarn around cardstock cutouts.


Add googly eyes...ta da!



 Happy Halloween!