Homemade Play-doh

 Homemade Play-doh

 I love making homemade play-doh in fact I actually like it better then store bought play-doh. Back when Bri was about to turn one years old I wanted to include her in the activities at did at home with Ari, but I was afraid that she would put everything in her mouth because of course that is what one year olds do. So I started looking online for recipes for finger paints and play-doh that had ingredients in them that if Bri did put them in her mouth it wouldn't be Toxic for her. So I found this recipe for homemade play-doh on www.atozkidsstuff.com called The Best Cooked Play Dough and made it for my girls. This recipe is so easy to make and the kids can help you make it because you have to mix the ingredients together before put it goes on the stove to cook it.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup Salt
• 2 teaspoons cream of tarter (found this in the spice isle)
• 1 cup water
• 1 Tablespoon oil
• Food Coloring (Pick any color you want)

The children can help with the first steps. Mix together the first three ingredients (dry ingredients) in the pan. Mix the last three ingredients (wet ingredients) in a separate bowl together. When adding the food coloring add two drops at first and if you want the color darker then add one more drop at a time until you reach the color you want. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix it well until smooth. Now put the pan on the stove and cook over medium heat. (An Adult should do this part).  While cooking keep stirring the play-doh until it forms into a ball.( I used a wooden spoon to stir because the mixture gets thick and the wooden spoons holds up to the mixing). Once it has formed into a ball take the play-doh off the heat and knead the doh until smooth( it will be hot so be careful and let it cool down for a while). To keep the play-doh just store it in a zip-lock baggy or food storage container. This play-doh last a long time and is easy for the children to play with then store bought play-doh.

Enjoy this Recipe and have fun with the kiddos!! :-)

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Cereal Morning Snack and Craft

I love it when I can give Bri a morning snack that also double as a fun activity. So the other morning Bri wanted dry cereal as a morning snack so as I was pouring her Apple Jacks I notice that they had the same colors as a Pumpkin and since we are learning about Pumpkins this week I thought I could use the cereal for a Pumpkin Activity. Then I remembered that when I used to work in the daycare we use to do a lot of cereal gluing crafts and then it hit me she could glue the cereal in the shape of a pumpkin. So we did.



Materials you will need:

• Apple Jack cereal
• glue
• Pumpkin Template (This is the one I found)

Set up the materials and let your child eats some cereal first if they want to. Bri wanted to eat some first. LOL



Then give your child the glue and have them put glue all over the pumpkin.



Then add the cereal.

When they are finished they enjoyed a morning snack and craft all in one.

TIP: Bri's old Book club teacher told me that after a child does a cereal, bean, or pasta paste activity that to make the material stay glued on that you should go over it with some glue.

It will dry clear and the cereal with stay in place!

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Alphabet Pumpkin Hunt

This pumpkin learning activity is so easy but so much fun for the little ones. Bri loves to hunt for anything that is why she loves Easter because of the Easter egg hunts. So with some Pumpkin Foam cut outs I created this activity for her.

Materials you will need:

• 26 Pumpkin Foam cutouts or paper Pumpkin cutouts (Target, Dollar tree, Walmart)
• Basket
• Sharpie or marker

First you want to write each letter of the alphabet on the pumpkins. Write the uppercase letter on one side and the lower case letter on the other side.

Then hide your pumpkins all over the house or outside. I made some easy to find and some hard to find because if I made them all to hard to find Bri would have got frustrated and not wanted to find them. Give your child their basket and tell them to go hunting!

She always gets excited to go hunting!

Once your child has found all the pumpkins ask him/her to put them in Alphabetical order. Bri doesn't know how to do this yet so I helped her. I would sing the alphabet song with her to remind her of what letter come next. If she didn't know what a letter look like I would help her find it. As we were going through the letter pumpkins she collected if one was missing we would go hunting for it. She actually found all the pumpkins the first time except two.

Once we put the letters in order, I then went over the letter with her and flipping them over so she would learn the uppercase and lowercase way the letter look.

I loved this activity because Bri enjoyed it and it was so easy to create for me!



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Alphabet Apple Picking

I wanted to share this idea for teaching your child the alphabet with an Apple Theme. I found the idea on No Time For Flash Cards under the post title Alphabet Apple Tree and couldn't wait to create it for Bri to teach her the alphabet. (To see the original post just click on it's title) I love finding fun ways to teach Bri and if it can be adapted to the Theme of the week then I love it even better! Last month we were doing an "Apple Theme" for the month of September so when I saw this idea I couldn't wait to recreate for Bri. (If you like teaching your child in fun ways check out No Time For Flashcards she has so many fun and easy ways to teach your child)

The Materials you will need

• Green Poster (in the post she just used green construction paper)
• Large paper bag or brown packing paper
• Paper Apple cut outs (Dollar Tree)
• Contact paper

Cut the corners of the poster into a round shape for the top of the tree. Then cut your brown paper bag into a long strip for the trunk of the tree. Attach the pieces to the wall in the shape of a tree with tape. Cut off a piece of contact paper the length of the poster and attach it to the wall with tape over the poster with the sticky side of the contact paper facing out. I used two piece of contact paper one for the upper part of the poster board and another for the bottom part of the poster board. 

Next take the apple cutouts and write the uppercase alphabet on one side and the lowercase alphabet on the other side of the apple. Laminate the apple. ( I don't have a laminator so I just use the contact paper to laminate them) You want to laminate them in some way so apples will last for more than one time use. Then put your Apples on the tree.

Now it is time to play! You can play it several ways

• You can have the child pick an apple and then tell you what the letter is before they put it in their basket.
• You can do what I did with Bri since she doesn't know her letters yet I made a stack of paper cards and wrote letters on them and when I drew a card from the stack I would show her the card and say the letter and sound to her and then she had to go look for that letter apple and put it in her basket.
• If your child knows their letters well you could have them pick the uppercase letters and make lowercase letter paper Apples or baskets for them to match once they pick the uppercase letter.

Bri really enjoy this learning activity in fact she ask me everyday after that if she can go Apple picking for her letters.

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Dollar Tree Pumpkin Bouquet

I love it when I can take an idea I saw on pinterest and make it with Dollar Items. I am all about saving money and finding the cheapest way to do things. When I saw all this pictures of Pumpkin Bouquets on Pinterest and at Michael's I knew I wanted to make them but not how it was shown. Some people use real pumpkin and gut out the inside and put real or fake flowers but that will only last you so long. Other have got the fake pumpkins at Michael's or Hobby Lobby and used a saw or other tool to open the pumpkin but those pumpkin are not cheap and to stick the flower in there to stay was not as easy. So when I saw these Styrofoam pumpkin at the Dollar Tree I knew they would be perfect because all you have to do is stick the flower in the pumpkin and they stay. SO EASY!!!

Materials

• One Styrofoam pumpkin (Dollar Tree)
• Three fall colors (red, orange, yellow) flower bouquet (Dollar Tree)
• Wire cutter (also at dollar tree)

This craft is so easy all you do is use the wire cutter to cut the flowers and then start poking the stem through the pumpkin. Arrange the flowers any way you want.

Then you have a Beautiful Pumpkin Bouquet!



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