Tag: quarantine crafts

4 Mother’s Day Crafts for Kids

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Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 10, so we are a little more than a week away from celebrating our favorite ladies. With that in mind, first grade teacher Mrs. Lamb was back on Facebook Live today to share four fun and sweet crafts your kids can make for any and all ladies who are impacting their lives. Let’s take a closer look at Mrs. Lamb’s ideas below! 

4 Mother’s Day Crafts for Kids:

Interview: 

Mrs. Lamb’s first suggestion is one of the easiest! Ask each of your kids a series of questions about each of their favorite ladies. You can either type their responses or ask them to write down their answers. Once the interview is complete, ask them to draw a portrait of the subject of their interview! Make sure to frame the final piece before mailing it or dropping it off on their favorite lady’s front porch.

I Wished for You Fingerprint Art:

This art project looks like a dandelion blowing in the wind, and kids will love adding their fingerprints. Mrs. Lamb said she and her kids dipped their thumbs in watercolor paint to create the piece they made, but any water based paint will do the trick. This is another craft you can easily frame and ship to a happy recipient. 

Simile Poem:

A simile poem is a great idea for older kids! Talk about similes. Then ask them to make comparisons. Your kids can also create patterns when coloring in the border, and they can also draw a portrait of their recipient. This is another piece you can frame and keep or drop into the mail.  

Heart Photo:

Mrs. Lamb’s final Mother’s Day craft suggestion is her favorite, and we love it too! Start by cutting hearts out of construction paper. Mrs. Lamb’s kids used red, but any color or a collection of colors will look wonderful. Once you have a group of hearts in various sizes, tape them onto your wall. You will want to place them slightly higher than your kids, and you will want them to start at a point and float either out or up. Finally, capture a photo of your kids “blowing” the hearts out of their hands. The result is a photo that looks like they’re making a loving wish for their favorite ladies. This is a great project to text or email to friends and family, or you can print the photo and send hard copies in the mail.

What will your kids make for their most-loved ladies in honor of Mother’s Day? Let us know! Make sure to watch the full Facebook Live, and tune in next week for more fun learning tips from Mrs. Lamb.

Four Kids Crafts for Earth Day

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It’s Tuesday, which means we welcomed first grade teacher, Mrs. Lamb, back to Facebook Live! Mrs. Lamb shared one of her favorite holidays is tomorrow – Earth Day. And, she’s still planning to celebrate at home with her kids and over Zoom with her students. Below, we’re detailing the four simple crafts and experiments you can do from home with materials you likely already have on hand.

Bug Hotel:

The bug hotel is exactly like it sounds – a fun spot where bugs will want to inhabit (outside, of course!). Here’s how to make one:

  1. Cut off the top and bottom of a plastic bottle. A soda or water bottle is perfect!
  2. Go on a nature walk and pick up items like sticks, flowers, leaves, and moss.
  3. Thread your items into your bottle until it’s full.
  4. Poke two holes in your bottle, thread twine through the holes, and hang your habitat outside on a tree.

For extra learning, ask your student to journal about the experience, make a hypothesis about the varieties of bugs that will like the hotel you’re creating, and take photos of your hotel in progress. 

Earth Day Headband: 

Mrs. Lamb and her students love creating Earth Day headbands to wear throughout the day! It’s a fun way to kick off the day with a craft and plenty of meaningful conversation about reducing, reusing, and recycling. Here’s how to make one: 

  1. Download the PDF from Smitten with First.
  2. Color your earth, glue all necessary pieces, and complete the prompt about how you reduce, reuse, and recycle.
  3. Glue all pieces to a headband and wear it throughout the day!

For extra learning, talk with your student about the areas of the earth they’re coloring and why they’re choosing specific colors. See if you can think of new ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Chat with friends about Earth Day!

Crayon Planter:  

If you have old crayons hiding in drawers, this project is a great way for you to reuse and recycle your materials. Plus, you will have a unique and fun planter once it’s complete. Here’s how to make one:

  1. Gather old crayons and remove all of the paper on the outside.
  2. Rinse out a can.
  3. With a hairdryer on high heat, hold a crayon on the outside of the can and watch as the wax melts onto the can. Repeat until the can is covered.
  4. Add soil and seeds – your planter is complete!

For extra learning, explore why crayons melt when a hairdryer is used and talk about what you might grow in your planter. Mrs. Lamb shared she’s growing strawberries!

Ecosystem:

Mrs. Lamb’s final Earth Day project is one of her favorites – an ecosystem! This project is simple, but the results can be seen for days and weeks on end as your seeds continue to grow. Here’s how to make your own ecosystem: 

  1. Collect two soda bottles (you may want to have three ready just in case)
  2. Cut off the top of one bottle and the bottom of another
  3. Flip one bottle upside down and nest it inside the other (the top of the bottle where the cap would normally be should now be inside of the other bottle)
  4. Fill the top bottle with a layer of rocks followed by layers of soil. Mrs. Lamb’s kids added moss in between their rocks and soil.
  5. Plant seeds in the soil.
  6. Water your seeds and watch as any additional water trickles through the top bottle and lands in the bottom bottle. Your ecosystem is ready to thrive!

For extra learning, continue to water your ecosystem and track its progress. You will notice the seeds beginning to sprout, and overtime the roots will poke through the bottle’s opening and flow into the bottom bottle where the water is collecting. You will find you will need to water your ecosystem less and less because the roots will be able to collect their own water.

Make sure to catch Mrs. Lamb’s Earth Day Facebook Live, and have fun celebrating the 50th anniversary of this great holiday. We’ll see you back on Facebook for Mrs. Lamb’s next session on Thursday!

How to Homeschool: Two Easy Crafts for Preschoolers

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Mrs. Lamb was back on Facebook Live yesterday, and this time she answered your question about how to encourage preschool age students to be creative. Throughout her broadcast, Mrs. Lamb explained how to do two different crafts with young kids between the ages of three and seven. We loved seeing the results of her mosaic art and dot art projects, and we’re excited to share more about each below! 

Mosaic Art:

Supplies:

  1. A picture either hand drawn or printed onto a piece of paper (a coloring book picture could work too!)
  2. Construction Paper
  3. Glue Stick

Why It’s Important:

This project encourages preschoolers to work on their fine motor skills because they will need to rip small pieces of paper. The skills they are exercising through this craft are the same skills they will use when they begin to work on their handwriting. That’s why projects like this one are important! Students can also learn about colors, math (you can ask them to count how many pieces of paper are needed to fill in each section), and staying within the lines.

Directions:

  1. Draw or print the outline of an object onto a piece of 8”x11” paper. The outline is important because your student will be filling the interior with paper.
  2. Tear small pieces of construction paper
  3. Beginning with the large sections, glue each piece of construction paper onto the larger paper within the section where your student would like it to be placed. The small pieces of paper should overlap. 
  4. Repeat steps 2 + 3 until the outline is filled in.
  5. Hang your preschooler’s project up! Placing it face out on a window is a great idea, so your neighbors can enjoy your student’s colorful art during their walks.

Dot Art:

Supplies:

  1. A picture either hand drawn or printed onto a piece of paper (a coloring book picture could work too!)
  2. Water Based Paint (Crayola works well!)
  3. Q-tips

Why It’s Important:

Like the mosaic art project, dot art encourages your student to work on their fine motor skills because they are pinching a Q-tip while they’re painting. They can also work on coloring within the lines, learning the difference between cool colors and warm colors, and how to describe their work.

Directions: 

  1. Draw or print the outline of an object onto a piece of 8”x11” paper. The outline is important because your student will be filling the interior with paint.
  2. Dip your Q-tip into the paint and paint dots* onto the paper.
  3. Repeat until the page is complete.
  4. Ask your student to describe what each color they’re using means to them and make a color guide.
  5. Hang your preschooler’s art in a place where you and your neighbors can enjoy it!
  6. *If your preschooler would prefer to paint longer strokes using the Q-tip, that’s fine too! As Mrs. Lamb points out, they are still working on their fine motor skills.

The important thing to keep in mind with either project is there isn’t a right or wrong way to complete them. Encourage your child’s creativity along the way! 

For more ideas and to see Mrs. Lamb explain (and make!) the projects, make sure to watch her Facebook Live. We’ll see you back on Facebook tomorrow for Mrs. Lamb’s next session!