Tag: kids

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Valentine Craft Roundup

Valentine's Crafts

Valentine's CraftsWe’ve scoured the internet to find you some great, fun crafts you can do with your little ones for Valentine’s Day. Check these out!

There are also tons of printable Valentine’s Day Cards for your little one to make for friends.

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Valentine Craft – Crayon Heart Sun Catchers

Crayon Hearts

Crayon HeartsAre you looking for a fun and easy Valentine craft to do at home with your little one? Crayon melt sun catchers are a great choice! They make pretty decorations and are fun to give out as Valentine cards.

What You’ll Need

  • Waxed paper
  • Crayons
  • Crayon sharpener
  • Iron and ironing board
  • Paper bag or craft paper
  • Thread (optional)

Basic Directions

  1. Take a sheet of wax paper and fold it in half.
  2. Unfold the sheet.
  3. Place crayon shavings from the sharpener evenly on one side of the wax paper (try not to pile them on too thickly).
  4. Fold the clean half of the wax paper back over the shavings.
  5. Place your craft paper or paper bag on your ironing board to protect the board from wax and then place the wax paper shaving sandwich on top of it.
  6. Place another paper bag or craft paper on top to protect your iron.
  7. Iron on medium eat until crayon shavings have melted completely (check every few passes).
  8. Let it cool.
  9. Trace a heart shape on the melted shavings sandwich and cut it out.
  10. String a thread through the heart for hanging.

You can use any color shavings you’d like. And, use different shapes for different holidays. When you hang these in front of a window, they make pretty, colorful displays.

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Great Blogs for Kids

If you’re looking for fun activities to do with your kids, look no farther than the internet. There are so many GREAT ideas out there on family-friendly blogs that can get your creative juices flowing. Here are some favorites:

  • Inner Child Fun – Written by a mother of two, you will find great, inexpensive ideas for hours of entertainment with your little one. Most use supplies you already have around your house, like this chalk splatter painting.
  • Melissa and Doug – Many of us already use and love Melissa and Doug toys for their great construction and educational nature. Well, their blog has a ton of great information about activities to do with your little one. They also do giveaways where you can win free toys. Score!
  • wordplayhouse – You’ll find lots of ideas for simple play that encourage some of our favorite principles at In a Child’s Path, including ideas about sharing, caring, love, and imagination. Check out these fun ideas for bath play too.
  • Little House in the Suburbs – We all love the farm life that our kids experience at In a Child’s Path. If you’d like to continue those lessons (even in you live in the Suburbs), this blog is a great resource.

So, parents, do you have any favorite blogs you like to read for resources for your little ones? Share them in the comments!

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Building Skills – Art Lathe

Art Lathe

If you’re looking for an excellent way to build skills in your child, consider an art lathe.

Art Lathe
Social/Language Skills

  • Watching and interacting with each other
  • Children share their excitement and emotions verbally

Cognitive Skills

  • Seeing the patterns and designs gives children an opportunity for matching and counting
  • Children learn cause and effect placing the paint on the spinning lathe, then watch the design that it makes
  • Dropping paint causes a unique design to take shape

Fine Motor Skills
Children use the pincer grasp when holding the pen, pencil, or small paint

Cooperative Skills

  • Share the art lathe
  • Take turns
  • Watch and learn from each other
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Building Skills – Paper Mache

Paper Mache

Paper MachePaper mache is yet another excellent activity you can do with your child. Paper Mache can teach your child a number of skills.

Large Motor Skills

  • Tearing paper
  • Stirring glue
  • Applying paper to base

Social Skills
Children talk about the progress of the sculpture, taking pride in their work through conversations

Emotional Skills
The labors that such a project take will connect child with finished project

Cooperative Skills
Children share materials. This is a group effort where children construct together.

Language Skills
Books and illustrations about final outcome promote language.

Sensory Skills
The texture of the glue, cold, wet, sticky. The roughness of the dry paper.

Cognitive Skills
The process of paper mache: The glue changes from a liquid to a solid state.

Paper Mache is a great way to work with your child on completing an interesting project.

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Building Skills – Tempura Ice Cube Paints

Paint Ice

Paint IceThere are loads of great activities to do with kids. Today, we’re looking at tempura ice cube paints. They help your toddler develop a number of skills.

Fine Motor Skills
Using finger to pick up and control ice cube

Social Skills
Expressive language used while interacting with you and other children

Cognitive Skills
Matching colors to cubes builds sorting skills

Sensory Skills
Things that are frozen feel cold to the touch

Language SKills
Gives children a chance to verbalize cause and effect of what is happening to the tempura paint cubes

If you’re looking for a fun activity to do with your kids, give tempura paint ice cubes a try.

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Building Skills – Dauber Painting

Dauber Painting

Dauber PaintingContinuing in our series of great activities for kids, we have dauber painting. Dauber painting is a great activity to do with your toddler because it encourages a number of skills.

Large Motor Skills
Using upper arm muscles to lift paints up and control movements down

Fine Motor Skills
Uses palmer grasp

Emotional/Language Skills
Children can talk about the colors and share the excitement of the activity.

Cognitive Skills

  • Learning about shapes as each circle appears
  • Counting
  • Connecting
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Building Skills – Box House

Cardboard Box

Cardboard BoxIf you’re looking for a great activity to do with your child, consider building a box house. There are a number of skills your child can learn from creative play with a cardboard box.

Fine Motor Skills

  • Building small pieces of furniture
  • Ripping small pieces of paper

Cognitive Skills

  • Develops abstract thinking
  • Using an imaginative family to represent a real family

Social and Emotional Skills

  • Acting out who is living in the box and what they are doing in the house
  • Provides release of emotions for children
  • Connects real family and imaginative family

Language Skills

  • Building a structure with others
  • Using cooperative language

Sensory Skills
Creating a space for living too small for a real person opens imaginative play.

If you’re looking for a good use for those old cardboard boxes and a way to entertain and delight your child, consider building box houses with them.