Father's Day Picture Frame

Now I know that Father’s Day is over, but I couldn’t post this before Father’s Day or Rich would have seen what Hailey made for him.  (She also made this for her grandfathers and has not given it to them yet, but I don’t think either of them read this blog.)

Anyhoo, this is a cute picture frame that can be used for Father’s Day.  Or, it can be used for a cute gift for anything.

What you’ll need:

Craft Sticks
Paint
Hot Glue Gun
Regular Glue
Puzzle Pieces
“I love you to pieces” on construction paper
Adorable picture of your child

Hailey works on painting her craft sticks.

I used a hot glue gun to glue the pieces to create a frame.

Hailey glued puzzle pieces onto three sides of the frame.

The frame with “I love you to pieces!” glued onto the fourth side.
(get it? I love you to ‘pieces’- for puzzle ‘pieces’)

Add an adorable picture of your child.

Depending on how you want the recipient to be able to display the picture- you can add a piece of cardboard to the back of the picture so that it will stand up.  Or, add a magnet to the back so that it can be put on the refrigerator.

Tags: Father's Day picture frame, gift from toddler, Toddler and Preschool Activities

Ladybug Craft

One of the themes I am focusing on this month with Hailey is ladybugs.  We have read some ladybug books (She loves “The Grouchy Ladybug” by Eric Carle) and looked at pictures of ladybugs.  So, the other day we made a ladybug.

What you’ll Need:

• Paper plate
• Markers or paint  (I had planned to use paint, but we were all out of red paint I didn’t feel like dealing with the mess)
• Black circles (I pre-cut these because Hailey is too young for scissors) and a face for the lady bug.
• Glue
• A cooperative toddler

 Directions:

Paint or color the paper plate.  Then glue on face and spots.  Simple!

The completed ladybug. 

Remember- when doing art activities with toddlers the process is much more important than the end product.  Hailey had a blast making her ladybug.

Tags: Ladybug Craft, Toddler and Preschool Activities

The Letter D

Every other week I introduce a new letter to Hailey.  I use a variety of ideas to help her learn the letter such as:

• Make the letter out of toys (or clothes- as in the picture on the right).
• Color a large D paper.
• Draw D’s while playing in the dirt or sand.
• Add D to our alphabet book.
• Draw D’s with sidewalk chalk.
• Play find the “D” with felt letters.
• Here are several more ideas for the letter D from ChildFun.

Tags: D activities, Teaching the letter D, Toddler and Preschool Activities

April Plans

Each month I like to pick a few themes and then plan some activities around them for Hailey and I to do together.

For the month of April our themes are going to include weather, spring and farm animals.  Stay tuned for the different activities and crafts we do this month.

In addition to that I will also concentrate on the number 1, the color white and the shape oval.  Every two weeks I also introduce a new letter.  I have a little area set up in Hailey’s playroom with the different number, color, shape and letter I am focusing on.

I will try to keep up and post the activities we do each day.

Tags: April toddler activities, Colors, farm animal activities, free toddler activity, Numbers, Shapes, spring activities, Toddler and Preschool Activities, umbrella activities, weather activities