FunThingsToDoWithUrKidz

This one is our halloween placemat, but you can add anything to you'r palcemat. (leaves, pictures,flowers, etc.) To make any contact placemat first start off by cutting two pieces of contact paper. (both the same size) Then peel off one pi ece and lay flat so the sticky side is up. note- may need to add things to hold down the side so they do not flap over. Then have fun decoration you'r placemat. Again you can add anything. We used old window clings to make this one. You can also add a border to ur mat by cutting out pieces of paper. Once you are set peel off the other piece of contact paper and lay it even with the other one. (so that the sticky sides are toghter)and cut around to make even sides if you need too. Then Done!

In a zip lock bag add some hair gel and different toys. Close and tape the opening if you would like. Then Done!!! Let you'r kid/kids have fun exploring with this bag and enjoy the easy clean up! note- This is a great Dollar store craft.  We got everything you see here at the dollar srote for only $4. Also great for sensory play, as the different toys all had different textures.

This is one craft I seen on another page and did not think my kids would enjoy it, but I decided to try it anyway and cross it off my list. Well to my suprise this was a huge hit with my almost 4 year old and 2 year old, and so simple to ma ke. First in a bowl place some ripped up orange paper. (we just used regular construction paper.) Then add some really hot water, and let it sit for a few hours. Once done place all in a blender and mix. the npalce in a bowl and add some cups, spoons, and other things for you'r kid/kids to have fun with. Great for sensory play! note- it is more orange then the color in this photo.

First crack open some eggs and empty them. (we cracked the very top and made lunch    note- do not crack in half crack only a hole big enough to get the insides out. Once empty rinse out with water, be carfull not to crack the egg s more. Then let dry. (we ate lunch while ours dryed) Once dry using a small funnel, funnel in some baby powder or flour. To close it glue some tissue paper over the hole. Once dry let ur kid/kids have fun outside throwing them! We also added faces and words with a marker. notes- 1. Wear shoes! I thought they were going to send egg shell everywhere but they did not they broke into two pieces, but it's still no fun stepping on broken egg shell. 2. Ask kid/kids to throw away from anyone. (not good to have baby powder in faces, also it can hurt. Again it is a empty egg)

In one bowl I placed one pack of jello mix and some Halloween toys. In another bowl I placed more things my kids can add in, and in a cup I palced purple water. (for color mixing fun) Once ready I palced everything outside and let my kids have fun making witch's brew! note- I used jello pack just for fun. Had it sitting in my cabinet for awhile   You can use food coloring if you would like.

how to make- Mix bakign soda with water. Adding the water slowly till it becomes moldable.  note- if you want to make it colored add some food coloring to the water before you mix it toghter. Then model some into a shape. We did pumpkins (trick- if you have cookie cutters it works very easy) Once done add a small toy to the middle and cover with the rest of the mixture. Let dry (can take anywere from a couple of hours to over night) Once dry let you'r kid/kids have fun breakign them open or using a spray bottle spray with vinegar find the treasure! also to make the faces we used a marker once it was almost dry This work is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License .

mix- shaving cream, organge food coloring (or use red and yellow), and some pumpkin spice we also add foam face pieces, to make funny faces  note- I did not use a lot of food coloring so it did not stain, we also did this as a craft before a bath. It can get messy  This work is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License .

Is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-sa/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License</a>.

mix- 1/4 cup of salt 1 cup of flour 1/2 cup of water (we added some yellow and red food coloring to make it orange) and some pumpkin spice  A amazing scented play dough! note- even though this is edible, it does not taste good!!

need- small halloween toys water and food coloring We filled a ice cube tray with water and added a small amount of food coloring to each section and a toy. Then once it was frozen, I let my daughter add them to her bath. note- This did not stain. I used about one drop in each section and it was not even enough to change the color of the bath water.

Using a plate color it with different color crayons. (press a little hard) Then once done color over everything with a black crayon. Then use something with a point (we used a tooth pick) and have fun making pictures or writting messages.

Need- cotton balls flour water pumpkin spice food coloring  First make the mix, to do this mix one cup of flour and 1 cup of water. We made 3 bowls of this mix(one for each color) Then add the colors you will use to each bowl and mix. (we used green, orange(red and yellow mix) and a dark green (was every color mixed) In the orange mix in a little bit of pumpkin spice. note- the mix should not be too sticky, if it is add some more water. Then dip the cotton balls in each color and lay them on a tray. Making a pumpkin (I just covered a baking sheet with tin foil and it worked) Once done palce in a 400 degree oven for 45mins. Let cool and then let your little one have fun breaking apart the pumpkin or place a hole in the top and hang up!

need- a empty toilet paper roll or a paper towel roll cut in half paint and anything else you want to use for decoration First squash in the top of the roll, then paint and decorated the way you want. Easy and simple craft!

Letter sensory bin We did the letter c, but you can do any or all!

need- Couple cotton balls plate black paint glue toy spider First paint the plate black. (if using a gloss plate might have to paint it a couple times)let dry Then with glue make a spider web and pull apart the cotton balls to put on the glue. Last add the toy spider anyway you want. I used a ring spider, so it was easy to add on.

My little ones love drums and also love glow sticks. So why not add the two?! Every morning we start off with music so this morning we tried this idea, and it was great. Not only was it fun, but it was great for sensory play.

need- Sturdy paper plate OR cardboard  Yarn  Scissors  Beads  Tape or glue feathers 1. Cut your paper plate or cardboard into a ring. It's important that the material you are using for your ring is sturdy, otherwise it will just buckle when you begin to wrap the yarn around it. 2. Cut slits all around your paper plate, make at least 8 slits around. 3. Glue or tape the end of the yarn to the back of your ring. Begin to string your yarn through the slits all around the ring, making an uneven criss-cross pattern. 4. When you are happy with your pattern cut the yarn, leaving a little extra. Glue or tape the extra yarn to the back of the ring, making it into a loop shape to hang your dream catcher. 5. Cut 3 lengths of yarn, tie a knot at the end of each. String beads onto the yarn and glue or tape them to the back of your dream catcher. I left one a little longer and tied a couple feathers to the end.

Today was a lesson on the cotton plant. First we did sensory time with cotton balls and cotton yarn, then after reading about the cotton plant we did a cotton plant picture.  The picture was done by cutting a stem out of brown paper and glueing it to another piece of paper, then gluing cotton balls to the stems.

INGREDIENTS 1 package Betty Crocker® pie crust mix 1/3 cup cold water 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 5 cups thinly sliced peeled apples (3 large) 1 tablespoon butter or margarine Milk Additional sugar 1 Heat oven to 425°F. Make pie crust mix as directed for 9-Inch Two-Crust Pie, using 1/3 cup cold water--except trim overhanging edge of bottom pastry 1 inch from rim of plate. 2 Stir together 1/2 cup sugar, the flour, cinnamon and nutmeg in large bowl. Add apples; toss. Spoon into pastry-lined pie plate. Dot with butter. 3 Roll remaining pastry; cut into 10 strips, each about 1/2 inch wide. Place 5 strips across filling in pie plate. Weave a cross-strip through by first folding back every other strip of the first 5 strips. Continue weaving, folding back alternate strips before adding each cross-strip, until lattice is complete. Trim ends. Fold trimmed edge of bottom crust over ends of strips, building up a high

includes- Foam leamons toy spoon, tea pot and cup water and ice tea made into ice cubes. Great for sensory play.

Traffic light- Great for teaching kids about what to do when they come to one. We made this one by first painting a paper plate black and cutting it in half. Then cutting out a yellow, red, and green circle from paper and gluing then on black paper. Once done glue the top of the black paper to one half of a plate and the other to the other half of plate. Poke two holes at the top and add some string to hang. and Done!

Newspaper "snow ball" fight My daughter can not wait for it to snow, but it is to soon for snow here. So today we came up with a newspaper snowball fight. We just crumbled up newspaper into balls and then I placed them in a bin.  My little ones loved putting them in the bin then dumping it on each other.

In a container place paper at the bottom, some paint, and a bouncy ball or two. Then let our kid/kids have fun bouncing the ball and rolling it to make some unique pictures.  tip- it was not messy, but I would keep it as a outdoor craft.

Remember with all this playing to get some time in to talk about being safe. Today I got a scare thinking( not knowing for sure) that a van luring childern was very close to home. (and from news reports it was very possible) so here is a great website to get started! Let's keep our kids safe! http://www.ncpc.org/topics/violent-crime-and-personal-safety/strangers

Music is a big part of my families life. We love it! So today I thought to let my kids rock out and make there own music, after some thought we made a music corner. In our music corner we put all different instruments. One we made was using old easter eggs and filling them with little bit of rice and taping them shut, so they were Maracas.  We also used things like toy hammers and sticks to make music with.

glow halloween sensory bin- made with- pasta cooekd in glow water (to make the glow water soak a highlighter in water for couple hours, then cooked the pasta in the glow water) and halloween toys note- You do need a black light for this

Done by first making a picture with glue then using dried leaves (crumbled) to place on the glue then let dry, and done!

mix- 1/4 cup of salt 1 cup of flour 1/2 cup of water (I used a little less then 1/2) then add in apple pie spice and what ever color you want.  I made two different batches and made one green and one red.

Fall sensory fun- On a baking sheet we put- Colored shaving cream (red,orange, and brown) and to make it colored we used washable paint. (worked way better then food coloring) pine cones acorns sticks and crumbled leaves

First write all the abc's on a piece of paper then let you'r kid/kids go over them wit ha q-tip and paint.

need- 2 pieces of paper shavign cream tape and blue and pink food coloring First start by cutting a cotton candy shape out of one of the pieces of paper. Once done make some shaving cream with blue food coloring and some more with pink. Then decorate the cotton candy shape with the shavign cream. Let dry for about 10mins, then wipe off most or all shaving cream. (you can leave the shaving cream on if you would like) Then using the other piece of paper roll it into a cone shape and then lay it down and flatten it. Lay the cotton candy on top of the cone and tape the back and front and Done!

Fall sensory jar- in this one is- Orange dish soap leaves sticks  and acorns But you can make it anyway you want really. Instead of using dish soap you can use oil and color it with food coloring, or just use water with food coloring. You can also add anything you want. What we added is what we found this morning but once the leaves start changing color, we will do this again.

Playing with the bead suncatchers we made the other day on our light table.

Our bear pancakes' easy enough that my 3 year old loved helping.  pancakes with chocolate syrup

fun for fall First collect some leaves. Once done place them on a table and then palce a piece of paper on top. Lightly then rub a crayon on top and watch as the leaf print appears. And done! easy and simple idea.

This was a neat experiment to see if we could make flowers and leaves glow.  So first we made glow water. (cut open a highlighter and soak it in water for a couple hours.) Then we went about picking some flowers and leaves from a nature wal k. Once we got home we put them in the glow water. Covering everything so nothing was above water and let it sit for about 4 more hours. Once the time was up we took them out and dried them. Went to our bathroom, the only room we can make completely dark and turned on our black light. To our suprise both glowed, but the flowers had a way better glow! This made for a great time to have a lesson on how plants and trees make food for themselves. (Photosynthesis)

Cut up piece of paper in different size squares and rectangles. Then have fun making different robots. Great for teaching colors and shapes too!

Great fun for sensory play  (this is the one my almost 2 year old did)

Recently I learned about one truely amazing girls battle with cancer sense she was 18months. I also learned she loves being outside in nature, so I wanted to do some crafts to show my support for her. This is her page if you would like to read about her-  http://briannasbuddies.org/index.html this is also her fb page- https://www.facebook.com/pages/Briannas-Buddies/512032008838171 Brianna's story- http://briannasbuddies.org/briannas_buddies_website_004.htm need- sticks and string First line the sticks up in a row, then using the string wrap the first stick then move on to the second stick and once that one is wrapped wrap the first one to the second one. Keep going wrapping the next stick to the one before to make the raft strong.  note- You can also use another stick and a piece of paper to make a sail. Ours was just not staying in place. Magic sticks or decoration sticks.  Can be used for fun or to show off. note- not for kids who will poke/hit another kid with t