Preschool At Home: Button Turkey

 

After seeing these on several  blogs, 

inspired by the original, ADORABLE button turkey

made by My Montessori Journey

for her classroom... I just had to make one.

In fact, 

I actually made three!

Stayed up till the wee hours 

sewing 3 of these little button turkeys

last week. 

One for my daughter.

One for her preschool teacher.

One for my niece. 

Felt, 

buttons, 

and embroidery thread.

I love cute crafts that are educational and fun

and practically free when you have all of the supplies on hand!

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble! 

Fondly,

pink and green mama,

Indian Corn Bubble Wrap Printmaking

The girls and I made these bubble wrap

corn cards last year

to send to family and friends

that wouldn't be with us to celebrate

Thanksgiving. 

I thought I'd re-post this craft

in case you want to recreate it 

with your own children

or in your classroom this year. 

Start with some scraps of plastic bubble wrap.

Paint with layers of orange,

yellow, and red washable tempera or acrylic craft paint.

Press your painted bubble wrap 

onto sheets of brown, orange, yellow

construction paper. 

(Brown paper grocery bags would be cool too!)  

Keep some baby wipes or a wet rag handy

to clean up painty fingers and hands as you work!

After the paint has dried, 

trace your child's feet to make the corn cobs

and let them cut them out. 

Happy Bubble Wrap Printing! 

Fondly,

pink and green mama,

Preschool At Home: Clothespin Turkey Fine Motor Practice

Remember our button practice turkey?

He needed a friend.

I saw a clever activity like this 

on a preschool blog (Montessori Beginnings) with a

 paper plate turkey and feather clothespins. 

I loved the feathered clothespin idea

so of course, I had to whip out my glue gun

the other night and make some of our own. 

(while I was cooking dinner -- 

we seem to do a lot of last minute crafts this way!) 

I also drew a turkey for "C" on a piece of

 stiff brown felt

with Sharpie markers. 

Great fine motor, pinching, practice

for my favorite 3-year-old!

You can see my favorite 7-year-old

in the background sitting at the piano

(she was playing "Over The River and Through The Woods" for us!)

 We made two turkeys;

one to keep at home

and one for my daughter's preschool class.

Gobble! Gobble!

Fondly,

pink and green mama,

Preschool At Home: Newspaper Delivery Toss Game

So I recently made some classroom goodies for my daughter's 

preschool teacher (table games, manipulatives)

and asked her to please let me know 

if there were any thematic units or 

specific games she would like me to make 

for the classroom. 

She took me up on the offer,

and shared this great idea with me.

It was so cute (and easy to make) that I had to share it with you too!

She had clipped the idea from a teacher newsletter

once upon a time and asked if I could make one.

So here you have it,

a Newspaper Toss, 

Newspaper Delivery Game.

Great practice for that hand-eye coordination. 

I painted a simple house (with acrylic craft paint) on a piece of 

foam core

that we just lean against the wall. 

(easy to clean up and store out of the way!)

Then, wrapped some gift wrap around a box

from our recycling stash 

(about the size of a shoe box)

Set it up on the floor in front of the front door. 

Then I bundled up some mini newspapers

with rubber bands

(each paper was about 9" long) 

Step back and toss them to the house, 

try to get them in the box!

 You probably have everything you need to make your own

at home (or in your classroom) right now. 

Happy Newspaper Delivery!

Fondly,

pink and green mama,

Homemade Christmas: Homemade Nativity

Get ready for my latest favorite craft project! 

How stinkin' cute is this little Nativity?! 

This mama has been down for three weeks

with the Worst. Cold. Ever.

Long story short -- my new hobby is "coughing."

It has meant a lot of time spent indoors

so we've been keeping busy with 

art projects and crafts

 made with 

stuff that's already in the house. 

"C" (age 3.5) and I decided to make our own 

homemade Nativity last friday.

My kitchen table still has glue gun glue

and glitter residue on it but it was totally worth it.

"C" did a great job and it sure is cute!

We made the manger with the 

Shutterfly box our Christmas cards arrived in.

I cut out the front with a knife and she and I 

worked together to glue popsicle sticks to the outside.

We left a hole in the top to stick our

pencil angel. 

"C" drew faces for Joseph, Mary, the Angel,

and Baby Jesus. 

I love Joseph's soul patch

and Mary's Eyelashes!

We made Joseph and Mary by wrapping

toilet paper tubes with felt and gluing

fabric scraps on them.

The Angel started with a cardboard

shape I cut out of the leftover box front

with a fabric scrap dress.

 "C" cut out and added doily wings

and another sweet face.

I glue-gunned a colored pencil

(that never worked well anyway)

to the back of the angel

so we could stick her in the top of the manger.

Yes, we used a wine cork

to make Baby Jesus.

(I thought it was kind of funny)

We wrapped and glued a swaddle

of scrap fabric and added another cute "C" drawn face.

For the cradle, we used another toilet paper tube

with two pieces glued to the bottom for feet.

Added another scrap of fabric inside to 

make it "fancy" 

We didn't have a sparkly star

so we added glue and gold Martha Stewart glitter dust

to a foam craft star

that mama glue-gunned to the top of the manger.

We glued some raffia in the bottom of the manger

to be the "hay." 

When it was all dry, 

"C" set up the manger with visiting ponies,

sheep, and unicorns. 

Gifts of gold rocks, gems, and presents 

from the three wise Polly Pockets.

If you look carefully at the last photo

you might be able to see that she also

glued some doily snow flakes

on the back wall of the manger.

She worked so hard to cut them out carefully

and said they had to be there because, 

"Baby Jesus was born on a cold winter night" 

"C" loves her new Nativity set and so does 

our whole family. 

I think I'll be setting this one up for 

many, many years! 

Happy Celebrating!

Fondly,

pink and green mama,