Happy Easter!!!

HAPPY EASTER!!!

I am so excited to share our Easter cards for this year.

Aren't the flowers just precious?

I originally saw the idea for Easter thumbprint art over at one of my absolute favorite sites for adorable kid crafts, Sweet and Lovely Crafts.  Sweet Girl is hit or miss when it comes to handprint/fingerprint art, but I actually got her to sit and make these with me one afternoon!

For the chicks on the left I used Sweet Girl AND Little Man's thumb!!!  Too cute!

And here's a peek at the inside!!

Love my bunnies!!!

This is our Easter card from last year.  It was A LOT of work, but I think it turned out pretty cute.  The inside said "You crack me up!" and had a little picture of Sweet Girl attached!

Happy Easter!!

Momma Made....Block puzzles

Sweet Girl is really into puzzles right now and when I stumbled across these block puzzles over at Not So Idle Hands I couldn't wait to make them for my kiddos for Easter!  I used six different pictures to cover all sides of the blocks.  It was a little time consuming since I had to be so precise about cutting, but I think they turned out great!!

I printed my pictures on cardstock, cut them out and then Modge Podged them onto each individual block. 

And some of the blocks can even be stacked vertically to make sweet little pictures!!

Be sure to check out the great tutorial over at Not So Idle Hands!

Momma Made....Rainbow Peg People

I originally saw these at an Etsy site but couldn't bring myself to pay $30 for them!!  Instead...I decided to make my own!  They were super easy to make and painting them was very relaxing!  And...they cost me about $7!!  Can't beat that!

As you can see, I added pink to our rainbow.  I knew Sweet Girl would ask where the pink was if I didn't add that one too!!

Momma Made...Bunnies

I am awful with a sewing machine, but I actually had a lot of fun making these!!  They were kind of addictive and I literally had to stop myself from making more!  I found the pattern at Smooch Designs and it was very well written and easy to follow.  She even included pictures to help out novices like myself!!

I think they turned out adorable!!  I know Sweet Girl will love carrying her little bunny around and I can already see those bunny ears going right into Little Man's mouth!!

For Little Man's bunny I used a crib sheet that didn't fit correctly and some fabric scraps.  For Sweet Girl's, I used an old blanket I was getting ready to donate to Goodwill.  Gotta love scraps!!

Sweet little bunny faces!!

Momma Made...Easter Egg Matching/Memory Game

We are having a different kind of week this week since we are traveling and visiting family.  I know we will have a BLAST, but I doubt I will be able to keep up with the daily posts.  Instead.....I thought I would share with you all the little gifts I've made for Sweet Girl and Little Man for Easter this year.  I have had SOOOO much fun making all these sweet gifts and I just know Sweet Girl will love them (and Little Man too once he's a tad bit older!!)

First up....

Egg matching and memory game

This is pretty much identical to the cupcake matching and memory game I made for Sweet Girl earlier this year.  I had some extra felt egg stickers left over after I made all our Easter trays and stuff, so I decided to whip up an Easter egg game!  I think they turned out soooo cute!!  And they are soooo easy to make!  Click here for the simple tutorial.

We love playing with our cupcake squares so I know these will definitely be a hit!!

Linking to:

ABC and 123, Handmade Tuesdays

Tot Trays - Traveling Style

Sweet Girl, Little Man and myself are traveling to see my family this week so I decided to make our tot trays "travel-able" (not a word, I know, but it works!!)  I laid every thing out on the trays for the purpose of the pictures, but then I placed everything in a bag to take with us (and I'm not taking all the bowls, baskets....just the goodies).  It all fits nicely in one gallon size bag.

Big and small pom pom sorting

Bunny peg board

Flower counting

I cut and laminated our number sheet to make it easier to transport.  Then I used a ring book binder to keep them together.  I love the way each number is on a card by itself.  I think it makes it a little easier to see the number and the corresponding squares rather than having them all on one page. 

Egg color matching

I saw this cute idea over at The Princess and the Tot.

Easter and spring stamping

Egg coin drop

Have a happy week!!  I'm changing it up a little this week since we are traveling and am planning on posting all the handmade gifts I've made for my kiddos for Easter instead.  Be sure to check back!!

Toddler crafts - Week in Review

It's that time!!  Here's a wrap-up of our crafts this week!! 

Handprint chickie

Sweet Girl kept requesting to make another chick, so we made a handprint baby chick to go with the other chick we made a few weeks ago.  We traced her hands for this one rather than using paint.

Tin foil eggs

I found this idea over at Teaching Two.  These eggs were really fun and easy to make.  I cut out some eggs shapes from cardstock, wrapped them in tin foil and then let Sweet Girl use my pastel paints to paint them.  She LOVED using "mommy's paints".

Handprint sunflower

Ah....I'm ready for summer!

Hello Kitty

Sweet Girl got something from somewhere that has Hello Kitty on it, so she kept asking to make a kitty.  I cut out all the parts from sticky-back foam and let her stick them on!  I think she did a pretty good job!!  It looks almost identical to the one on the cup she has!!

These are our letter I crafts for this week:

I is for....iguana

From Totally Tots Now I Know My ABC.  We read I Wanna Iguana to go along with this craft and that book is hilarious!!  Sweet Girl didn't really get all the humor, but I laughed the whole way through it!!

I is for....itsy bitsy spider

Gosh...we managed to do a lot of handprint crafts this week!  This one was also super simple and easy.  I traced Sweet Girl's hands on sticky-back foam and then cut them out.  She placed them on the paper and gave her itsy bitsy spider some googly eyes.  Pretty cute, huh?

Happy Friday!!!

Easter Sensory Bin

I wasn't going to make a sensory bin this month, but I had some extra Easter stuff left over after I made our trays so I decided to throw one together.  Sweet Girl really liked this bin and has had fun playing with it for the last several days.

I kept it pretty simple this month since sometimes the larger, more packed sensory bins are a little overwhelming for her.  Her favorite thing to do, really, is to just scoop the pasta into a bowl.

Here's what I threw in our bin:

Pink, yellow and blue dyed orzo pasta

Several plastic eggs with baby chicks hidden inside

Plastic porcupine eggs

Felt egg stickers

Small bowl and spoon (not pictured)



ABC Fun - Letter I

I thought letter I would be difficult to organize, but I actually had a lot of fun finding and creating activities for this letter!!  I decided to stick with the Montessori letter I sound, as in "igloo".

Alphabet Sensory Bin

Here's our sensory bin for letter I.  In our bin there are lots of letter I's, an igloo and pictures of an indian, an igoo, instruments and an iguana.  I ended up printing off a few images since I'm still on the hunt for some good letter I objects!  As with all our alphabet bins, I like to introduce the letter and talk about the sound the letter makes.

Letter I intersection

Not that Sweet Girl knows what an intersection is, but it starts with the letter I sound so we're going with it!!!  Regardless, I think she will enjoy driving our cars on our letter I's.

Letter I matching and memory game

These are the same images from our sensory bin above.  I just enlarged them to make a little memory and matching game.  Click here if you'd like a copy.

Itsy Bitsy Spider Felt Story

We love our felt story board from Storytelling Fun. 

Itsy Bitsy Spider sequencing cards

These are cute little sequencing cards from here.  We are working on simple story sequencing and these are perfect for our Itsy Bitsy Spider story board.

Instrument box

And to wrap up the letter I, we plan on having a little musical party with our instrument box!!

And the winners are...

Thank you to everyone who entered my 100 Followers Giveaway Weekend!  I loved reading all of your comments and especially loved hearing about your quiet time activities and seeing all your fantastic projects and ideas!!

CONGRATULATIONS

to

Natalie from NatSprat for winning The Busy Box

and

Chrystal from Chrystal's Corner for winning Momma Made Makeup

I'll contact you girls via email so you can send me your addresses!!

Momma Made...Button Rings

Oh my gosh!!  Check out the most adorable girly-rings ever over at Meet the Dubiens.

(Oh...and while you are over at Meet the Dubiens, be sure to check out all the amazing kiddie art she and her kids do!!). The minute I saw them I just knew I had to make them for me, I mean, Sweet Girl!! 

Be sure to check out Jill's site to see how they made them.  They used adjustable child-sized rings, but we didn't have any of those. 

Here's how I improvised and made them.

I used our stash of heart buttons and child sized hair ties from Walmart.  I think the pack of ties had about 100 in there for $2.50....can't beat that!

I just glued two heart buttons together as Jill did and then glued on a hair tie.

"Tada"....as Sweet Girl would say!  Now you have rings!!

Love, love, love them!!

Do you think I could get away with wearing one too?  They totally fit me!!  You know I just had to try one on!! 

ABC and 123, For the Kids Friday

Tot Trays - Easter

I had so much fun putting together our Easter themed trays!!  I know Sweet Girl will enjoy using them too!  She's asked me all weekend for our new "plates" as she calls them!!  Everything pictured below is either from the dollar store or Michaels craft store.

Spooning eggs into an egg tray

Egg matching

Counting chicks

(These little chicks are absolutely adorable!!)

Bunny and chick patterning

This is actually supposed to be a tic-tac-toe game, but I am planning on using it as a patterning activity.  I will put the chicks and bunnies in the first row and then will have Sweet Girl try to copy it for the last two rows.  My gut tells me we will do this one once and then she will carry around the chicks and bunnies for the rest of the day!

Placing egg sticks in a container

Three part sequencing cards

We haven't tried actual picture sequencing yet so I wanted to introduce something new.  These are from Carisa's Tot School Printables, which are FAB-U-LOUS, by the way!!  I know it's not actually "Easter-themed"...stretching it a little, huh!!

And in case you didn't see the post from yesterday, I'm having a Momma Made makeup giveaway until tomorrow!!  Click here to see the post and enter the giveaway!!