Chinese New Year Paper Lanterns

Celebrate the Chinese New Year with an easy craft with your kids!

Use regular construction paper. Let your child decorate the lantern with stickers, glitter glue, crayons, and pens. When using loose glitter, I put a cookie sheet under the sheet then let them spread washable glue over the paper with popsicle sticks. I let them pour their own glitter then we shake it out while still on the cookie sheet after its dried. I still have a never ending supply of rainbow glitter in my carpet, but I'm sure this helps!

Since my girls LOVE glitter and glitter glue we had to let our paper dry for 24 hours. Fold the paper length wise in half. If your kids are ready to use safety scissors then let them cut slits in the paper. I sit with them, never leave a child unattended with scissors, to make sure they're keeping on track. I like their projects to look like a kid made them so there are several diagonal cuts here and there.

The girls had a blast and we have them on our fireplace mantel. Enjoy!

Letter H Playdate and Valentines Day Craft - Part 2

We enjoyed making the hand print hearts so much that we did a couple more to hang on our craft wall! For the glitter heart my youngest daughters hand were too small to show real definition so I just did the twins hands.

HOW TO: Trace your childs hands into the heart shape shown in the picture. Use glue, I used regular Elmers School Glue for this, and thinly spread over the fingers. Put the paper on a cookie sheet and let them dump the glitter onto the paper. My girls LOVED this part! No need to be careful here, let it go all over! Once dried, tap the paper onto the cookie sheet to get any access glitter off. Pour the unused glitter back into the container.

I've whited out my kids names on the photos but wanted you to see where I placed their names so you can choose where to place yours. This craft was easy too. Basically the same as the Letter H page but I used decorative cutting sheers to make the pink heart stand out a bit.

Either of these would be great for grandparents or moms!

Letter H Playdate and Valentines Day Craft

We actually made this craft during a Letter of the Week playdate but I hung them up during February as well. We made different heart hand print crafts to give to the grandparents, I'll post those next.

Using red washable tempura paint, paint the palms of your childs hands. I do one at a time to cut down on the mess.

Place their hands as seen in the photo. Outline the prints with a red marker or a glitter pen.

Please visit my blog Playdates and Playgroups for more ideas to present this to your playgroup!

Handprint Flowers

I'm not including instructions since its mainly just look at the pict and copy or improve on it!














Handprint Flowers

These are super easy and fun to do! All 3 of my daughters were able to fit their hands on the paper - doubt that will happen next year!

Crepe Paper Windsock

Supplies Needed:

• Construction paper - size depends on what size you want your wind sock
  
• *You can use foam sheets or printer paper depending on how durable you'd like your wind sock to be.


• Crepe paper cut into 12" or longer lengths - as many colors as you'd like


• Scissors


• Stapler or tape


• Hole Punch


• Yarn


• Materials for decorating (foam stickers, glitter glue, gems, markers, etc...)

Instructions:

Have your child(ren) decorate the paper with the materials you collected for decorating. When your little one is finished decorating have them choose their crepe paper colors or sequence as you roll the sheet lengthwise into a cylinder. Using the tape or stapler, secure it to hold the cylendar shape.

Punch 4 holes of equal distance apart from the top, near the edge. Tie a piece of yarn to each hole. Join the pieces of yarn in the middle and tie a knot. This will be a great handle as your little one runs about to see the crepe flowing behind them. Once thier finished they can help you find a great place to hang it.

On the opposit end, staple or tape the crepe paper to the bottom. When using tape, I let my 3 year olds put the crepe paper on then I tape it down.

This can also be done with toilet paper rolls!

Once your windsock is blowing in the wind, this is a great time discuss weather and wind with your little explorer.

Handprint Holiday Ornament Playdate

This is going to be a great

holiday tradition!

When picking out your ornament to decorate, remember your kiddos handprint will be on it so make sure the texture is smooth and a solid color.

Ornaments can be found at Dollar Stores and major retailers.

We'll spray it with a sealant so it'll be a bit more hardy to water and such.

Supplies you'll need:
Solid color ornament (plastic is safer if you can find it)
White tempura paint
Red, Green, Blue, Orange, Yellow, Purple, Blue tempura paints.
Sharpe pen or permanent black marker
Ornament hanger to let hang while drying

Step 1
Dip your child's hand in white paint. Let them grip the ball then release. Let completely dry.

Step 2
You can be as creative as you'd like with decorating the snow people. I like alot of colors so I make each scarf a different color and alternate the colors of buttons.

Step 3
Using your permanent marker, draw on a top hat, coal eyes, button mouth or a big smile, and stick arms.

Step 4
Using the permanent marker or a glitter glue pen, personalize with the year, name of kiddo, or and season greeting.

I found some big plastic ornaments at the local Dollar Store that all 3 kids could fit a handprint on! We make one for each set of grandparents for Christmas gifts.

Tips
Tempura is washable so if you need to wipe off a print when your kiddo couldn't resist playing with the fun texture of paint and the gloss ball - you can as many times as you need to! With my toddlers and baby I let them get the squishies out of their system before I do the real print, I have a wet towel on hand for when they're done and clean up the ball. Then its just a quick grab of the ball and their done!

Polar Express Movie Playdate!

Since the twins were 2 years old they've been addicted to the movie The Polar Express. Get the kids together to wear their favorite PJ's, watch this fun movie, drink Hot Chocolate, and PLAY!

What this event includes:

• Potluck breakfast items - toddler friendly. *Make sure to ask the moms to inform the group of any food allergies.
• Request the kiddos wear their favorite PJ's
• Have The Polar Express book on hand to read to the group.
• Enough mugs for the kids to have hot chocolate.

*Optional

• Print out Golden Tickets for the kids as they walk in the door.
• Have a couple train whistles on hand for the kids to play with.
• Host your cookie exchange at this playdate.
• Hand out bell necklaces - we found our at the Dollar Store.