We still have a few weeks left of school but I know many of you are already out checking off your summer bucket lists. If you need a few more ( or a lot more) fun activities to add check out Link & Learn!  Every week we have a huge list of activities for kids, including kids crafts, messy art projects ,cool  science and pretend play ideas.  Also don’t forget to add your link -  this post gets more than 12, 000 views each week, so add your link and share your great idea with everyone!

Have a great week!

by Kim

We have been talking a lot at our house about vegetables, fruits, and grains. My five year old son is very into healthy eating (he says it will make him a better ninja). To help explain a balanced diet to my three year old I made some felt food. I then decided to remake some felt food to help my toddler learn her colors and color matching. This easy kids craft activity evolved from that and has been a huge hit with all three kids.

You will need a piece of felt in any colors you would like (but be sure to grab a white one), marker, scissors, and glue.

Draw out strips of bacon, a small circle, and a piece of fruit that coordinates with the color you are using. We used blueberries for blue, strawberries for red, green grapes for green, purple grapes for purple, lemon for yellow, grapefruit for pink, and orange slice for orange. Draw all of these things as close together as you can on one side of the felt.

Draw some blobs on the white felt. These are going to be your eggs.

Cut everything out. Older children can easily do this, but my three year old had trouble getting the felt to cut.

Trim the empty side of your felt piece into a rectangle. This will be your plate (or placemat if you want to put a plate on top of it).

Glue on the small colored circles to the white egg pieces as the egg yolks.

We spread out our plates on the table. The girls had a blast yelling the colors out as they placed the plates. We also had to count and make sure there was enough for everyone.

Now match the colored pieces of food to the coordinating plates.

My toddler loved doing this part and would pretend to eat as she placed the food. It was so cute.

There was lots of cheering when we matched up everything.

My three year old and I talked about how eating just an egg probably wouldn’t give her all of the vitamins and energy she needs for her morning. We also talked about the importance of eating a fruit or a vegetable with each meal.

This activity is such a fun way to talk about food, color match, learn colors, work on motor skills, build teamwork, and the felt does make for fun sensory play.

.

{Hello! If you are checking us out for the first time and like what you see you can subscribe here and get new ideas to play and learn with your kids daily. }

Last week we went to the zoo and since our visit my son has been pouring over the free map asking about each animal and telling me what he learned about it. It gave me the idea to round up our best animal crafts for kids and share them in one post.

Bat
Bird
Bunny
Chicken
Crab
Ducks
Elephant
Fish
Frog
Giraffe
Hedgehog
Jellyfish
Leopard
Monkey
Moose
Mouse
Octopus
Owl
Panda
Peacock
Penguin
Pig
Rabbit
Reindeer
Seahorse
Sea Urchin
Snake
Sheep
Starfish
Tadpole
Tiger
Turkey
Turtle
Tortoise
Zebra

We usually rush off to t-ball after school but the practice was rained out and I was determined not to fill the time with TV although I really wanted to just chill and read too. So we went up to our messy playroom and while my son set up his playdough battleground again and my daughter played with her doll house I set up this ocean mural. We’ve been reading a lot of ocean books lately and this ties in to them perfectly while sneaking in some shape learning and writing practice too! Vertical surfaces like walls are fantastic for developing proper wrist muscles and form for writing so find ways to get your kids writing on the walls…or easels…or white boards… you get my point.

1. Gather your materials. You will need some bright printer paper. You can use construction paper too but this peels on and off the contact paper easier. Contact paper, some good quality painter’s tape or cheap stuff and some thumb tacks, scissors and markers.
2. Start by putting the contact paper sticky side out on your wall. I used painter’s tape which as long as you have good quality tape will work great. If you have the cheap stuff you may like me  need to use some thumb tacks too.
3. Cut out all sorts of shapes from the multicolored paper.  This is great scissor practice for kids so have them cut some out too. My wee man was busy and playing well and I wasn’t going to interrupt so I cut them all out but there is no reason an adult has to do this step solo.
4. When they are up to it invite the kids to play and create an under sea world.Immediately he started adding happy faces.
5. He discovered that the blue marker made cool water when he colored the contact paper.
6. My daughter wasn’t as interested as her brother but she did add a purple starfish and color it.
7. I love seeing them work together even if it’s only for a few minutes.
8. Now our playroom is brighter !

Books About The Ocean

Barry the Fish with Fingers by Sue Hendra is a goofy fun book that had me wrapped around it’s fingers with the title, I mean a fish named Barry? And he has fingers?! I love it. Thankfully my judgment was smack dab on because the inside of the book was as funny as the cover. Barry isn’t just a fish with fingers he is a hero when his fingers save the day. The illustrations are so fun, the text is zippy and both my kids ( 4 and 10 months) loved it from start to finish.

The Seaside Switch by Kathleen V. Kudlinski is a book packed with information about tides and creatures in the sea. As a child I found nothing more fascinating than a tide pool and all the scurrying crabs and this book captures that. It’s main story is how the tide changes throughout the day and brings with it different animals. The book is too long for most toddlers but my son enjoyed pointing out the animals in the book.

Swimmy by Leo Lionni has been a favorite of mine for many years. I love Lionni and how he can weave multiple layers of meaning into a simple story for children. Swimmy is a story about a little fish who lost his family to a giant tuna fish and after grieving he was reminded of all the wonderful things there were to see and experience in the ocean. When he came across a school of fish just like his former one hiding afraid of the big fish he knew he couldn’t let them miss out on all the wonders of the ocean and he rallied them to work as a team. This is a great book for teaching children about the power of working as a group to combat challenges as well as conquering fears.

]]> http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2012/05/ocean-shapes-craft-for-kids.html/feed 7 http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2012/05/ocean-shapes-craft-for-kids.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NoTimeForFlashCards/~3/ikMorbschL0/playdough-battleground-fine-motor-pretend-play.html http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2012/05/playdough-battleground-fine-motor-pretend-play.html#comments Mon, 21 May 2012 07:01:56 +0000 admin http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/?p=13988

You know those moments of parenthood when you say “never” and then a few years later you eat your words. Yeah. I said I’d never let my son play with toy guns and while I still don’t buy the actual toy guns we do allow figurines with guns, pretend play with finger guns etc…  I know not every family allows it and others find there to be nothing wrong with weapon play at all. Like everything on our site use what will interest your child. I preach to follow their interests and find ways to teach using them and right now my son’s biggest interest is history , specifically WWII. This playdough activity isn’t just shooting each other it’s an invitation to play and learn.

1. Gather your materials. We used plastic soldiers ( ours were specific WWII that came with an American and German flag), playdough we used every package we could find in the house, craft sticks, pompoms ( these were bombs) and your imagination.
2. I just gave him the supplies and let him go.
3. He built bunkers, trenches and special huts. This play is amazing fine motor work both molding the playdough and placing the small figurines.
4. Later he created prisons for the POWs and I didn’t get a shot of it but we made a hill and water to make a D-Day beach.
5. While playing we talked about all sorts of things. I do not want to glorify war but instead talk about the sacrifices everyone involved made, talk about why there was a war and how no matter what side the soldiers were on they have families who missed them.  My husband and I have sat down together to decide what we think our son can handle as far as facts about history so when he asks us ” Tell me a story about World War Two.” we know what the other is telling him and not telling him for now.
6. Don’t forget just to have fun too. I know sometimes I need to remember this . He played for at least 2 hours, stopping briefly only for lunch. More than a few times he told me ” Mommy I love history!” let’s hope he carries that through school!