Tag: crafts

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Spring Activities

Spring in the Pacific Northwest doesn’t always mean great outdoor time. If you are looking for some good indoor activities to do with your little ones, here are a few suggestions.

Coloring Pages

Coloring is always more fun when you have new and interesting pictures to color. Check out these printable coloring pages for some fun.

Coffee Filter Flowers

Feeling crafty? Give these coffee filter flowers a try.

Hand Print Daffodils

Hand print daffodils are a great way to preserve your little one’s hand print with a festive twist.

Fingerprint Sheep

While you’ve got the paint out, why not make a cute sheep with your child’s fingerprints?

Coffee Ground Fossils

For your budding archeologist, give these coffee ground fossils a try.

Bean Bag Buddy

You just need some old socks, beans or peas, yarn and maybe some googly eyes to make these fun bean bag buddies.

Baby Food Jar Gardens

These miniature gardens are so cute and easy to make with little ones.

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Fun with Dyed Pasta

Dyed Pasta

Dyed PastaHas your child come home recently with a necklace made from lovely, bright pasta? That’s because we dyed some for the kids to use to help them practice their stringing, which is great for honing those fine motor skills. But, lest you think the only thing they can do with beautifully died pasta is put it on a string, here are some other ideas for fun pasta crafts.

For all of these crafts, you’ll want some nicely died pasta. For an excellent tutorial, check out this one by Julie Finn at Crafting a Green World.

Jewelry

Jewelry is the old pasta stand by, but you can do some pretty great things with the number of types of pasta you can find. Wagon wheels glued together can make really pretty tiaras when glued to a plain plastic headband, and bow ties make great center pendants on bracelets and necklaces. All you need is pasta and string! You can even decorate hair clips by gluing the pasta to plain barrettes. And, you can find some fun pastas like peace signs (made by Annie’s Organics – check the natural food section at Fred Meyer).

Transportation

Lasagna noodles make great bases for train cars, and rigatoni makes some pretty cool lumber to tote in those train cars. You can of, course, use wagon wheels for tires on all sorts of vehicles. If you want some inspiration, this pasta train from Parents is pretty cool.

Art

Gluing pasta on poster board or card stock is a great way for kids to create their own designs. And, you can always let them paint the pasta after it’s on the paper, instead of dying it ahead of time. Also, if your little one is learning their ABCs, alphabet pasta can be a fun way to reinforce those letters.

Garland

Just like stringing cranberries for tree garland, you can string pasta for pretty garlands to hang on your Christmas tree or around the house anywhere.

Picture Frames

Pasta can add fun texture to a picture frame. Glue pieces of pasta on a basic frame and paint over them, or used the dyed pasta for a different look.

If you’re the type that prefers to learn by watching, Parents has a video about pasta crafts with some other fun ideas too.

No matter which activity you do with pasta, your child is sure to love it!

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Building Skills – Scarecrows

Scarecrows

ScarecrowsCreating scarecrows is a great activity for kids for a number of reasons.

Large Motor Skills

  • Stuffing straw into leg and arm holes
  • Lifting body parts
  • Reaching and stretching

Fine Motor Skills

  • Picking up small pieces of straw
  • Buttoning shirts and pants

Language Skills
Labeling child’s actions, such as:

  • Describing the scarecrow
  • Creating stories about the scarecrow

Emotional Skills
Creating something that will be part of their garden or outdoor space for an entire season builds an attachment to this project.

Social Skills
In a group, children will be sharing materials and common space. You can lead in conversation what each child is doing.

Cooperative Skills

  • Lifting together
  • Sharing materials
  • Building near each other

Cognitive Skills
Children decide what final outcome of scarecrow will be. This develops abstract thinking.

Imaginative Skills
Children build the scarecrow based on visual perceptions they remember or have seen in stories.

If you’re looking for a great activity to do with your child, try building a scarecrow.