Kids Crafts | Crafts For Kidlets

Learning through Play for Preschoolers

With a three year old and a one year old at home I am always on the lookout for great resources to inspire learning through play for my preschoolers. If you’re looking for some steadfast blogs that have rich content and tons of resources to help you not only educate but also have fun with your preschooler you’ve come to the right place. Here I’ll share with you my top five resources.

These bloggers have so many printable downloads and ideas for games and activities you’ll never run out of things to do with your little ones.

1. Carissa at 1+1+1=1 has created a virtual “Tot School”.

This online-school isn’t really a school at all, it’s a place to find ideas for spending focused time each day with the tot in your family. The purpose of Tot School is to help you expose your child to early learning skills through fun play.

As you can see from these images, Carissa’s daughter “Ladybug” loves to demonstrate all the wonderful ways that moms and tots can enjoy “Tot School”.

2. Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations has a Preschool Corner just for young learners.

At Homeschool Creations Jolanthe not inly provides “resources, free printables, & encouragement for homeschool families” her site is overflowing with curriculum and information to help you plan your activities and more.

Here are just a few of the fantastic printables you can find at Homeschool Creations: alphabet wall posters, uppercase letter tracing cards, and my ABC bible verses.

3. Jenae’s blog “I can Teach My Child” helps you become your child’s first teacher.

At I Can Teach My Child you will find teaching tools separated by age from birth on up through six plus years of age. Jenae is a former teacher and her site is chock full of ideas that will help you help your preschooler to learn through play.

Two featured posts from Jenea’s site include “10 Steps to teaching your child to read,” and “33 ways to prepare your child for kindergarten.”

4. Genny at “In Lieu of Preschool” is a former teacher doing preschool at home.

In Lieu of Preschool is easy to navigate depending upon what you are looking for with special sections on arts and crafts, early learning and play.

5. No Time for Flash Cards features learning and play for babies, toddlers and kids.

At No Time for Flash Cards you can find posts on books, crafts, and activities. I love the sense of humor that comes through on this blog. One of their recent posts included “25 Books that will make your kids laugh”. I can’t think of a better way to spend time with a child.

Learning through play is not only educational but fun. Make the most of every teachable moment and be inspired by these great resources.

Filed Under: Kids Crafts Tagged With: preschool

Adorable Handpuppet Tutorial For Preschoolers

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Want the perfect going-to-bed book and have a preschooler that would enjoy an animated story time? You can make these easy to assemble puppets that will have your preschooler excited for bedtime.

To make “Big Dog” and “Little Dog” puppets like the ones you see above, just follow this easy tutorial. This blog post will walk you through all the supplies and steps to create adorable puppets that look just like “Fred” and “Ted” from the classic Dr. Seuss storybook “Big Dog… Little Dog.”

This post includes a FREE printable pattern to help you create these fun-loving dog puppets. You can print the printables onto colored card stock, construction paper, or just ordinary paper that you can color with markers, paint, or crayons to create your own “Fred” and “Ted” at home.

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Supplies List:

Construction Paper or Colored Card Stock
2 Brown Paper Bags
Wiggly Eyes
Scissors
Elmer’s Glue

I purchased all of these supplies at Walmart.

Step 1: Cut your Colored Printable Pattern

In the photo below, I’ve cut the pattern pieces and laid them as a “dry fit” onto the brown paper bags. I’ve also added the “wiggly” eyes to each puppet. Depending upon the age of your child you may ask them to cut the pattern pieces from the card stock or construction paper.

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Step 2: Glue the Pattern Pieces to the Brown Paper Bags

Using Elmer’s glue, glue each pattern piece in place. On both puppets I started with the shirt and made sure to tuck the shirt under the flap of the brown paper bag. The order in which to glue the pieces is as follows:

Glue on the shirt – tuck it under the flap {see photo below}
The paws go on top of the shirt
The feet go below the shirt
The oval face goes on the “bottom” of the brown paper bag – which is at the top of these photos
Glue the ears on top of the face on either side
The cheeks are glued on top of the face
The nose is glued on top of the cheeks in the center
Glue the eyes onto the face centered about 1/2 an inch above the cheeks

If your child is skilled enough you may want him or her to glue all of the pieces of the puppet into place. Be careful not to glue the flap shut. Do not put so much glue on the face that it sticks to the shirt.

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Step 3: Allow the Glue to Dry and Trim “Ted”

In the story, Ted is the shorter or “little” dog. You’ll need to trim one to two inches off of Ted (underneath his feet) once the glue dries.

Step 4: Enjoy an Animated Story Time

There are many ways to enjoy the story of “Big Dog… Little Dog.” You can have the dog puppets tell the story, or if your child is old enough, he or she can use the puppets to tell the story. It’s a great introduction to the concept of diversity. Each of the two dogs has different tastes and interests as well as physical stature.

If you don’t own the book, you can still create the puppets and make up a story about how even though the dogs are different they are still friends. Everyone can benefit from friends who are different from themselves. In the end the two dogs cooperate and manage to solve a problem by working together. Using these puppets can help reinforce this message and make for a memorable learning time with your little one.

Preschool Egg Carton Craft Fun With The Very Hungry Caterpillar

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Want a fun and easy craft that is educational too? To make a caterpillar like the one you see above, just follow this easy tutorial which will walk you through all the supplies and steps to create a look-alike of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.”

One of our favorite books to read with our three-year-old is “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle. The book is perfect for introducing foods, colors, and counting to your preschooler. Our super easy craft starts with an egg carton and some washable paint.

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Supplies List:

Construction Paper
Ultimate Fuzzy Kit
Wiggly Eyes
Double Sided Sticky Tape
Scissors
Elmer’s Glue
Washable Tempura Paints
Paint brushes and/or painting sponge

I purchased all of these supplies at Walmart.

You can use either the styrofoam egg cartons or the cardboard cartons. In this case we used both. The styrofoam carton makes perfect disposable paint wells for our colors and the cardboard egg carton is perfect for creating the caterpillar body.

Step 1: Cut your Cardboard Egg Carton

Make sure to trim so both sides are even.

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Step 2: Assemble your Painting Supplies

I like to line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil to keep clean up easy.

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Step 3: Teach your child how to paint with the tools provided.

You can take a trash bag and use it as a smock or if you own a smock be sure to put your child in their painting apparel before they start painting. Painting from his booster chair means better coordination for my preschooler.

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Step 4: Allow the paint to dry and add the face and eyes.

I cut the eyes and nose from construction paper and then glued on “wiggly” eyes. To add the antenna, I poked a hole in the top of the head and threaded a purple pipe cleaner through it.

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Step 5: Add the legs.

I used a pipe cleaner and cut it in-half to create the legs. I curled up the ends and attached the pipe cleaner to the underside of the egg carton using double-sided sticky tape.

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If you are not familiar with the story, the Caterpillar eats a ton of food before building a cocoon and turning into a butterfly. In the book he starts out by eating one apple, and then two of the next fruit and so on.

To help make this crafting exercise educational, you can download the free “Fruit” printables below. Your preschooler can color these with paint, crayons, markers, or whatever you’d like to use.

Read the story to your little one and teach them about the fruits, their colors, and introduce them to counting. Depending upon your child’s age and development, he or she may be able to use the fruit to practice counting on their own.

You can use these free printables as coloring sheets; or you can print them onto colored card stock or construction paper and cut them out.

If you don’t own the book “the Very Hungry Caterpillar,” just pretend the caterpillar is eating the fruit and explain that a caterpillar eats to grow and will eventually build a small house called a cocoon around himself. After a few days the caterpillar will nibble his way out of the cocoon and turn into a beautiful butterfly.

Here is a picture of our caterpillar eating some of the apples, pears and oranges my son painted. Feel free to use your imagination and you can make learning fun for your preschooler with this easy craft from an egg carton.

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Filed Under: Kids Crafts Tagged With: egg carton craft, the very hungry caterpillar

Autumn Family Craft Idea Links

We are barely into the fall season and the trees are turning beautiful, vibrant colors. The brisk mornings and the smell of the leaves reminds me of some great family craft idea’s to bring this season in full force.

Here are some great families crafting links that I wanted to share:

Halloween Crafts:

For Halloween, you can light up your porch to show the little goblins the way with these adorable Splat O’ Lanterns from Cassi at The Crafty Crow. Cassi has done a great job making sure that the supply list is complete with easy to follow instructions. The best part of this project is how Cassi turns everyday vases into a family heirloom.

While on the subject of lantern’s, it is easy teaching children about the change of season’s and how to be creative with leaves while making these Leaf Lantern’s from Imagine Childhood. Visit Imagine Childhood’s blog to find even more creative family ideas to craft with.

Helping younger children not to be so freighted by those ghost and goblins can be an enormous task. Nichole Etolen shares this fantastic list with Our Family World readers to help encourage making Halloween a fun holiday.

Autumn Crafts:

Card making is a fun craft to help teach children the importance of keeping in touch with friends and family. Pinterest has beautiful pictures of cards that will help you with ideas. This would be a fun, family browsing project. Pick which cards your family enjoys and have a family night making them.

Wreaths are always a great family decorating project. Here is a great pumpkin wreath from Erin at Fleur De Lis and Football. This project looks easy and is simply beautiful. You can even use this idea to make game day wreaths just by changing the colors to match your favorite team.

Kids love helping make a dinner centerpiece for your table. Evette Rios, from www.Evetterios.com shows you how to take fresh fall foliage and turn it into a beautiful show piece for your home. Your family will take pride in sharing the memories they created while gathering fresh foliage for your dinner centerpiece.

What are some of your favorite web sites for fall family crafting ideas?

Filed Under: Kids Crafts

Why You Want To Make Crafting With Your Kids a Priority

Somewhere within all of us is a creative streak and when we have kids, it is important to help encourage them to bring their creativity out. Creating family crafting times have many benefits for the entire family. Here are some benefits:

Build resourcefulness: Children’s minds require a creative channel. Crafting helps to provide the chance for kids to use their imaginations. It allows them the opportunity to gain knowledge with problem solving; it also opens the door for a creative interest in art which could last a lifetime. As parents, getting creative gives us a tool to step outside of our everyday busy life and help reduce stress.

The importance of directions: Following directions is a necessary, basic skill that even adults have to follow. Crafting helps to reinforce just why following directions is so important. It is also a perfect time to show by example why doing things properly the first time saves them time and frustration.

Reinforce skills: Crafts help promote motor skills such as eye and hand coordination. Kids learn the importance of using tools properly such as scissors. It also helps them to understand why and how math and reading is important and how it is used throughout their life.

Building a communication outlet: It seems that with our everyday busy lives, we know less about our kids than our previous generations did. Activities such as watching TV, video games, and computers do nothing to encourage meaningful conversations. When you are crafting together as a family, communication is automatic. This gives you the chance to discuss with your child, their interests and concerns, how they are doing in school as well as information about their friends that you may not know.

Positive self esteem: Those of us parents that do crafts understand the feeling of success when a craft project is complete. This feeling is tenfold for a child. Accomplishments for children help to build their self esteem.

Teamwork: Crafting helps children develop skills needed to be a team player. It also helps them understand the importance of resolving disputes peacefully, effectively, and together.

Building Memories: Displaying the completed project will help your child remember the fun you had while creating the project together.

Family crafting times helps to build outstanding ways to build a relationship with your children and communicate. This is also a precious time for building a stronger family bond.