Crown of Weeds

Next time you pull those morning glories from your garden don't throw them out! Use them as a flowery crown for your little fairy princess. You can also make necklaces and other jewelry = ). Have fun get creative there's no limit to what your imagination can come up with!

Sight Words and Beginning Writing

Yesterday I was confused as to which steps I should take next with my daughter at home to get her ready for Kindergarten. She knows her letters, sounds, and for the most part how to write them. So I asked my mom who is the know it all of children's literacy what next.

She told me to have her make some little books. The purpose of these was to practice sight words and creative spelling.

So this is what we came up with. Now I don't know if I'm doing it exactly right but it was a good effort and I'm proud of it!

The picture above is of my daughter running in the sprinklers. It reads I can run in the sprinklers. This is because we are working on the sight words I can and the right now and she creatively spelled sprinklers but ran out of room and had to write some letters under other ones. If you look closely you can figure it out!

Anyhow I hope this helps with anyone who is trying to take their first steps to reading and writing as well.

My Mom also gave me a list of sight words to start with. I, can, we, the, like, a, see, go, to, have, is, play, are, for, you, this, do, and, what, little, said, here, was, she, he, has, look, with, my, me, where. I hope this helps = ).

Sticker Letter Directional Tracing

Learning to write numbers and letter can be frustrating for your little one as well as for you. Then add in the extra frustration of doing the right direction and you and your kiddo could be in tears but not to fear this is a fun activity that will keep them writing their numbers and letters the right way over and over and over again.

This is how you do it. Draw an outline of the letter you are working on a piece of paper. Start by letting them place a sticker at the first place they would place their pencil if they were to start writing the letter. Then place another sticker or marker close to the first in the direction that they should write. Now it's time for a little game of connect the dots. Have them trace with their finger from the first sticker or place marker to the next and continue this until the letter is complete.

By the time you are done with this activity they will have traced the number the correct way multiple time and they are well on their way to making a habit of it! This is a fun way to learn letter writing direction that feels less like lecture and more like play. That's the best way for a kid to learn anyway right!

So may I add that this idea is not my own but my mom's! She's the greatest!

Hand Print Wreath

I've been looking through the archives again and I found this hand print wreath that my daughter and I made for Christmas. It was so much fun and it was a memento of just how little she really was at age 3. All you have to do is trace your kiddos hand once and then use it as a pattern to cut out the rest. Then position the hand prints in a circle and glue or tape them together. My daughter added her own bow but you can mix it up however you'd like!

Fire Cracker Fans

My Daughter and I were watching Martha Stewart together today for some project ideas and we came across this fire cracker fan. It is actually quite simple and my four year old really enjoyed making it with very little help from her mommy.

Fathers Day Shirt Origami

I made these oragami hawaiian shirts one christmas to decorate the tree with! I have also used this pattern many times at church or else where to use as a gift or a card for Father's Day. Here is an excellent step by step how to on folding one of your own.

Hawaiian Snowflakes

One year while I was searching for some patterns to decorate some Hawaiian stockings I stumbled across this fun site that has lots and lots of Hawaiian snowflake patterns. Granted that some are a little bit intricate for a four year old you can look through and find some that are easy or you could cut them out and let the kids decorate with them.


There is also a link for some history on the Hawaiian snowflake you may be interested in. Have fun making your very own Hawaiian snowflakes!

These snowflakes are also a good way to teach kid about patterns and geometric shapes.

Put Together Skeleton

I've been going through the craft archives and found this put together skeleton that my daughter and I made at halloween although you could make it anytime to learn about the human body. I couldn't find this exact skeleton but I did find a few link of some other make your own skeletons for you to enjoy. A collection of links are provided below.

http://www.1halloween.net/html/cutskel.html http://www.benjerry.com/assets/images/fun_stuff/holidays/halloween/crafts/skeleton.gif
http://sewingstars.com/skeleton.htm

Please email me if you know of any better ones at busybodiesblog@gmail.com I'd love to see it!

Apple Prints

I found this apple my mom made with my kids in my picture archives. All you have to do is cut some apples in half, dip them in paint and let the kids make apple prints! It's so much fun and makes a appealing piece of art!

Coffee Filter Butterflies

I've been going through the archives of my kids art projects and I found these fun butterflies that they did at Grandma's preschool. All you need is a coffee filter, water colors or markers, a spray botter filled with water and a pipe cleaner.




The way you make it is cut the coffee filter paper in half and tie the two halves together with a pipe cleaner to make a butterfly. Then either paint with water color or draw with markers and then spray the coffee filters with a spray bottle to make the marker spread throughout the filter.

Elmo Alphabet

The Sesame Street website has free online games for preschool aged children. Just this morning my Son and I were learning the alphabet and about toilet training with our favorite monster Elmo!

Lolly Pop Butterflies

Putting butterfly wings on a stick of candy or a Lolly pop like the one we did makes for a fun project as well a perfect gift for somebody special! My kids had so much fun making their butterflies soar! They made these sweet little butterflies on a visit to Grandma's house one day! Thanks Grandma = )

Fleece Tied Pillows

Sorry for not documenting this well but I hope I can explain! All I did to make this easy no sew pillow is to draw two circles (you decide how big) and then draw another circle that is about two to three inches bigger all the way around as shown in the diagram below. A good way to draw perfect circle is to get a piece of string and tie a marker to the other. Then pick a point to be your center and swivel the marker strings length all the way around. To make the second circle cut a string two to three inches longer than the first and do the same thing from the center point.

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Now cut little slits all the way around. Next tie little knots all the way around and just as you get to the end add the stuffing and then tie the rest!

Well gotta go!!! Good Luck!

Enemy Pie

My mom introduced me to this book by Derek Munson and I absolutely love it. It is a clever twist on how to take care of your enemies. It's guaranteed to entertain and even teach a lesson on how to loose your best enemies! I think you'll love this book too!

Trinket Frame

My daughter saw an Activity TV on how to make a picture frame out of sea shells. We however did not have sea shells so we went through the junk drawer and her grandma's junk drawer and found some treasures. It was really fun and right on her level. After gathering all of the goods she finished the project all on her own.... that was so nice!

Here is a link to this project featured on Activity TV !

String of Popcorn

My daughter wanted to decorate for a party. We discussed what kind of party it would be and decided on popcorn and a movie with Daddy. We blew up balloons and then since it was a popcorn party we took a needle and thread and strung the popped corn until long enough to adorn the TV. This project was easy enough for my four year old and she enjoyed decorating!

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A string of popcorn can also be used to decorate a Christmas tree. To do this though you would have to have a lot of time and quite a bit of patients, something I don't have.

Recycled Plastic Tote

When got our our new issue of Family Fun in the mail my daughter immediately looked for what project she was going to do first! She chose this recycled plastic tote! I had to do most of it but she picked the shape and the colors! Thanks to some local clothing stores we had plenty to choose from. Here is the link for the how to. I used some kitchen trash bags for the base to make construction easier and eliminate the words.

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After it was done my daughter loaded it up with some spare change and took it shopping. She loved it and decorated it with some stickers to add her own personal touch.

God's Eye

When my husband got home from work the first thing my little girl wanted to do was crafts with daddy. He remembered making these when he was a little boy and helped my daughter create one.

I found a how to for you to use at Family Fun. Click here for the link!

Serape

My daughter made this adorable serape after watching Activity TV. Here's the link for a how to. I made one for her little brother too and they have been wearing them everywhere!

Potato Prints

My daughter and I watched an Activity TV on how to make your own wrapping paper out of white paper and a sponge. However we didn't have a sponge on hand so we used potatoes instead to make our stamps. Thanks to Martha Stewart it was easy with this cookie cutter technique! All you have to do is press the cookie cutter into the potato and then take a knife and cut around the outsides and peel off the excess. I tried to cut out other shapes with a pairing knife but using a cookie cutter was easier by far.

Wrapping Paper Sombreros

My daughter's favorite thing to watch is activity TV. We watched this clip on how to make a fun sombrero out of wrapping paper. My little girl and even my two year old loved wearing it around the house and showing off their new Cinco de Mayo attire! Here is the link for a video on just how it's done.

If your kids are under eight you will definitely need to help them on this one! Once again I used tape instead of glue so my kids didn't have to wait and it turned out just fine!

Nature's Toys - Storksbill - aka Ballerina Flowers

My cousins showed me how to play with these little weeds when I was a little girl. I thought I would share them with you! The weed is called storksbill, click here for some more photos for identifying them.



This is a picture of the seeds. This is the part of the plant that you can watch dance. I used to call them ballerina flowers. All you need to do is break off very tippy top and then pull back the hairs a little to get the dance started. Make sure that you get the ones that are brown. The browner the better - they work the best, but don't be fooled by the ones that have already lost their seeds. They are brown too but not as thick.

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Below is a video I've included on what happens when you do this. It is real time so wait for it to load and drag the slider over if you want to see it dance faster.