Putti Prapancha

12 Books for Valentines with Activities

2012-02-09T11:23:00.000-05:00

Here are some lovely books for Valentine's Day for your children with some beautiful activities to go with the books!! Click on the photos to see more about each of the activities.

======================================================================== ========================================================================

=======================================================================

========================================================================

=======================================================================

========================================================================

========================================================================

========================================================================

Day It Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond seems to be the most popular valentine book. One day it rains different sized hearts. A little girl catches them and then makes Valentines out of them for her animal friends.

Linking to all places mentioned here

Giveaway - 2 Melissa & Doug Trunkis

2012-02-08T01:06:00.000-05:00

Up for grabs today is 2 adorable Trunkis (shown above) courtesy of Melissa & Doug! Keep reading to find out how to win them. This Trunki is perfect for vacations!! Children can scoot along on their luggage through the airport. Features include...

A Pack, Carry or Ride Suitcase for kids
Durable, Sturdy, Strong, Holds 5 gallon capacity
Airline carry on approved
doubles as a great pull-along riding toy, too.
Holds up to 75 lbs.
includes a tow strap, carry handles, secure catches, integrated wheels and stabilizers to prevent toppling over.

There are designs on the cases such as stripes on the orange, to look like a tiger and polka dots to the red case to remind you of a lady bug. They also sell fun stickers to create faces as well and kids really enjoy making the Trunki their own. At home, Trunki may be used as a convenient kid-friendly storage bin or for some great pretend play!

Melissa & Doug have graciously donated these trunkis for The Heart Project. Have you contributed to The Heart Project yet? Donate $5 to the American Heart Association and get The Heart Book as a free gift!

US $5 Donation to AHA

[More information available at The Heart Project ]

Here's your chance to win a Trunki from Melissa & Doug!

Enter the Melissa & Doug Trunki Giveaway at any of the following blogs:
[entries are all combined from participating blogs]

hands on : as we grow
The SEEDS Network

Living Montessori Now

If you do not see the Rafflecopter entry form below, please enable or update your java script.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also, there are auctions for 4 Trunkis with a Teddy Bear that Melissa & Doug so graciously donated for The Heart Project. You can try your luck there too!

Disclaimer: We did not recieve any compensation for this post. Melissa & Doug generously gave trunkis to host giveaways and auction in support of our "Heart Project"

Sticker Resist Painting and Printing!!

2012-02-07T01:30:00.000-05:00

This Sticker Resist Painting is one wonderful activity which even the smallest of kids will enjoy!

I was lucky to have a sneak peak into some of the wonderful photos submitted to the Heart Book. One of those was this Heart Sticker Resist Painting by Play Dr Mom. I loved it a lot and knew Putti would love the process too, as it is so much similar to the Tape Resist painting we had done in the past. So, we got to work immediately and did ours even before I saw her post. We did ours on white cardstock and used the craft foam stickers left over from "Hearts tree", while she has done them on a canvas.

We have been having a lot of fun with the $1 heart foam stickers, sorting by shapes, color and counting etc. First Putti put the Heart Foam Stickers on the cardstock where ever she wanted.

She then got busy covering the whole cardstock with paint. She is now at the stage she loves covering the whole page, leaving no white gaps!!

Once she was done painting the whole thing, I was about to move it to dry, when she asked for a sheet of paper, which she pressed it down on her painted cardstock...

Pulled it off....

To make a beautiful Mono print!! Which reminds me I haven't shared our any mono print ideas..

She did not want to stop with one. For the next one, I suggested she use the heart stickers with arrows through them and the double hearts etc. And she obliged and repeated the process of sticking the stickers, painting all over and doing a mono print!!

Here are the two gorgeous prints she made !! So glad she took this extra step all by herself:)

After the paint dried, she loved pulling them off and sticking them onto another paper. I gave this to catch any paint stains from the sticker getting on the table. They did not stick too well, but atleast our table did not get any paint stains:)

In the next one, I gave her a sheet with one of her hand tracing and coloring that she had done sometime earlier. She stuck the pulled stickers onto this and we had another handprint tree:))

Well, here are our two lovely sticker resist paintings!!

This is part of The Valentine Ideas, another collaborative project from an amazing group of kids' bloggers :

Mama Pea Pod, Let Kids Create, My Creative Family, Hands on: as we grow, La Dolce Vita: The Sweet Life, AngeliqueFelix.com, The Golden Gleam, Teach Preschool, Critters and Crayons, Living at the Whitehead Zoo, The Iowa Farmer's Wife, Nurturestore, Kitchen Counter Chronicles, The Chocolate Muffin Tree, Jamie's Jumble, The Outlaw Mom Blog, Mama Smiles, The Mommies Made Me Do It, Dinosaurs and Octopuses, Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas, Toddler Approved, Messy Kids, Rainy Day Mum, JDaniel4sMom, Glittering Muffins, Red Ted Art, Mommy and Me Book Club, Putti Prapancha, Dilly-Dali Art, Creative Connections for Kids, Mommy Labs, De tout et de rien: Activités pour le Préscolaire, Imagination Soup.net, Rockabye Butterfly, Classified: Mom, Kids Creative Chaos, A Mom with A Lesson Plan, PlayDrMom, RainbowsWithinReach, Living Montessori Now, Curly Birds, Growing A Jeweled Rose, The Home Teacher, A Little Learning For Two, Sun Hats and Wellie Boots, The Imagination Tree, Mummy Mummy Mum, Critters and Crayons, La-La's Home Daycare, Come Together Kids, Tinkerlab, Dirt and Boogers,Multiple Mummy.

Linking to all places mentioned here

Valentine Animals on Bag

2012-02-06T03:30:00.001-05:00

Dont you think this little Piggy is cute:)

Pin It

Rachelle at Tinkerlab hosts a Creative Challenges bi-monthly. Have a look at the previous Cardboard Box and Magazine Challenges. The material chosen for this time was 'Paper Bag'. And the challenge is growing bigger and is now open to everyone. Keep reading to find out how you can join and maybe win some exciting prizes too!!

We do not use paper bags much in our home, except for the gift bags. So, I had these 3 bags gifted to us by a kind neighbor of ours:)
At first, I had no idea what we could make out of these. And once the bags were home, I asked Putti " Can we make something out of these?". She said "Sure, maybe make some pigs". Hmm pigs, "okay, how do you plan to make it?" I asked her. She said "maybe we can cut pictures of pigs from books and glue it". Well, so off we went digging through all our old magazines and papers. But not a single piggy photo in any of those. I tried to suggest maybe we can make something else, but she was adamant on making a Pig.
So, I to ask the google god for an answer and found this which was perfect given that Valentines day is right around the corner. So, first Putti cut 2 hearts from a pink construction paper and for the rest, we used the craft foam stickers left over form "Hearts Tree"

First glued the larger heart on the bottom of the bag, which becomes the body of the pig..

Then, glue in the little heart which is the head...

Then add heart stickers for the legs, mouth, ears and tail....

And this is how our cute little piggy looks!

And later that week, we happened to read the book "My Heart Is Like a Zoo" which is filled with collages of Zoo animals all of them in heart shapes.

Here's a great video of the book trailer

Inspired by this lovely book, we made more heart shaped animals... a bear, an owl and the pig!

And a cute caterpillar too...

Here is the list of all the wonderful bloggers taking part in this wonderful event:

Now, you can join this too. Link one and only one of your posts about the paper bag to the linky below.
If you dont have a post yet, you have time until this month end to make, share and link.
If you don’t have a blog, you can still enter! Simply upload your project onto an online photo storage site like Flickr or Picasa and share your photo’s URL in the link party.
Tinkerlab will add you to their Paper Bag Creative Challenge Pinterest Board. They’ll ‘Pin” the image that you’ve uploaded to the Link Party, and share the description that you added to your link.
The Pinterest Post with the most “repins” by 9 pm PST February 29, 2012 will win a $100 VISA gift card and three-month subscription to Kiwi Crate, courtesy of Kiwi Crate (subscription is only available to U.S. participants).
To be eligible to win, you need to link up one post to the linky and add a photo or link in the comments on Tinkerlab's this post.

Linking this to all places mentioned here

ಎಳೆಯುತ ಗಾಡೀ, ಎತ್ತಿನ ಜೋಡಿ

2012-02-05T06:00:00.000-05:00

via Dolls of India

ಎಳೆಯುತ ಗಾಡೀ ! ಎತ್ತಿನ ಜೋಡಿ

ದಡ ಬಡ ಸದ್ದಿನ ನಮ್ಗಾಡಿ

ಕೊರಳಿಗೆ ಗ೦ಟೆ ! ಕ೦ಚಿನ ಗ೦ಟೆ

ಘಣ ! ಘಣ ! ಗ೦ಟೆ

ಝಣ ! ಝಣ ! ಝಣ ! ಗ೦ಟೆ

ಕೊ೦ಬಿನ ಕಳಸಕೆ ಕಟ್ಟಿದ ಗೆಜ್ಜೆ

ಕಡಾಣಿ ಕ೦ಬಿಗೆ ಹಾಕಿದ ಗೆಜ್ಜೆ

ಝಣ ! ಝಣ ! ಝಣ ! ಗೆಜ್ಜೆ

ತಾಳಕೆ ಇಡುತಿಹ ಎತ್ತಿನ ಹೆಜ್ಜೆ

ಘಲು ! ಘಲು ! ಘಲು ! ಗೆಜ್ಜೆ

ಗಾಲಿಯು ಉರುಳುವ ಕಟಕಟ ಸದ್ದು

ಗಾಡಿಯು ಓಡುವ ದಡ ಬಡ ಸದ್ದು

ದಡ ! ಬಡ ! ದಡ ! ಸದ್ದು

A rhyme in kannada about the Bullock Cart.

Ice and Salt Art

2012-02-04T08:43:00.000-05:00

Pin It

Putti has been asking to paint with Ice as we have done in the past, but I just cannot find our Ice cube trays. And then I remembered seeing this great idea on The Artful Parent last summer and wanted to give it a try. I just froze water in a couple of bowls and gave Putti the Ice, some water colors (She wanted ONLY green and blue, no other colors) and salt. Left her to just play with it and explore what happens as I watched her.

At first, she just played with the ice, tried stacking them and enjoyed the cool feeling on her palms:)

Then she dropped the colors on the ice and watched it slowly drip. She then went on adding salt and more colors and more salt. She loved watching the ice melt and the colors running through the cracks in the ice.

This is a very open-ended activity, so there’s really no right or wrong way to do it. If you first add the salt, it will melt the ice faster, creating tunnels and cracks in it. Then if you add the water colors, it will run through the cracks that the salt made in the ice. But it does not have to be done that way, see you can see anyway you do it you can see that cool effect:)

The entire activity was like a mini-science lesson. We talked about the physical reaction of salt on ice and also the concept of solids transforming to liquids. This also promotes hand-eye coordination and using those pipettes is great for building fine motor skills.

All in all a wonderful activity, which we will be repeating with more ice and more colors and maybe do it outside next time!!

Linking this to all places mentioned here

Giveaway for The Heart project

2012-02-03T01:15:00.000-05:00

I have a special giveaway for you today, Please scroll down to find out how you can win these goodies!!

Please check the "The Heart Project", a fundraiser for The American Heart Association for more details and consider joining hands with us.

Donate $5 and get the ebook

Order the Printed Book US$20
Here's how we're doing so far ...

We have 2 of our projects, The Hearts Tree and I heart U cards in the The Heart Book. Click on the photos to go to the posts and see how we made them.

Giveaway (USA only… sorry everyone else )

Now, here's a chance to create your own I heart u cards and the Hearts Tree!

You can enter for a chance to win these

**a pack of Foam Glitter Hearts Stickers**

**Melissa & Doug Rainbow 6 Color Stamp Pad**

**Crayola 24ct Long Colored Pencils**

Mandatory Entry:

~~Leave me a comment along with your email address on this post telling me~~ ~~who your kid(s) would send a 'I heart U' card to~~. The random number picked was comment number 18 Nicole who said "Love both your heart projects!! My girls would love to make them for their granparents. Thanks " Congrats Nicole, check your email please!! Thanks everyone else for entering

Extra Entries (Optional)

Please leave a seperate comment for each entry!

Did you support The Heart Project and AHA by donating to the AHA or buying the Printed Heart Book? Leave a comment letting me know you did for an additional entry
Share the Heart Project on Facebook & leave the link in a comment here. Can be done once daily.
Tweet about the Heart Project, can be done once daily: Help raise funds for the @American_Heart with #theheartproject http://bit.ly/ACOE18 @putti_prapancha

Giveaway Rules & Information:

- US Residents only.

- This giveaway ends on February 9th at 11:59pm (PST).

- A random entry will be drawn on February 10th and announced on the blog. I will notify the winner via email also.

- The winner will need to provide their full mailing address to me within 72 hours of announcement. If no response, a new winner will be drawn.

This is not a sponsored giveaway. Putti Prapancha has received no monetary compensation or products for this giveaway.

The Heart Book !!!

2012-01-31T22:19:00.000-05:00

February is American Heart Month, and unfortunately, most of us know someone who has had heart disease or stroke. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States; one in every three deaths is from heart disease and stroke, equal to 2,200 deaths per day. Americans need more funding for heart disease and stroke research. With research, medical improvements are made, safer options are made possible, and more beneficial information is found out. You too can help today! We hope you will join us in our efforts to raise $1000 by Valentine's Day for the American Heart Association!

As I shared earlier Putti Prapancha is very excited to be part of Collaborative Heart Project, which is a fundraiser for ' The American Heart Association', put together by Jamie at Hands on as we grow. I have had the great privilege of collaborating with more than 70 fellow bloggers from all over the world to create an e-book showcasing our heart craft ideas. This e-book is filled with over 100 gorgeous heart-shaped crafts including two of our own projects viz, The Hearts Tree and I heart U cards.

I have seen many pictures of the projects that fill the book pages, and they are all absolutely beautiful. Here is a sneak peek from The Heart Book.

All projects will have links to see how each was created and are great projects to make for Valentine's Day. Make a US $5 donation to The American Heart Association and receive this beautiful e-book as a free gift. Downloads to the e-books are now available through-out the entire month of February only.

♥Donate US $5.00 to AHA and recieve the ebook as a free gift♥

I am thrilled to announce that a hard-copy of this gorgeous heart book is also available for twenty US dollars ($20) plus shipping. Its a 8.5 x 8.5", beautifully printed, full color, paperback. Five dollars from every purchase of a hard-copy book will go to the American Heart Association.

♥Order the Printed Book US $20.00♥

You are willing to donate more or less than $5, then click the Donate button below to make a donation to the American Heart Association without wanting the ebook. Remember Every little bit helps!

Craftprojectideas is contributing $1 for each ebook sold this month! That means in addition to your $5 donation towards The Heart eBook, they will donate another $1 on your behalf (up to $500!)!
Hop over their Facebook page and tell them a BIG THANK YOU for being so generous!
From now until Valentine's Day, there will be a giveaway each day to help raise funds for the American Heart Association. You are not required to donate in order to enter in any of these giveaways. We just want to help bring awareness to the American Heart Association.
The giveaways are going to be related to The Heart eBook. They are the project themselves, the contents to make the project yourself, or the book!
Putti Prapancha will have a giveaway on February 3rd and the 8th, Please do come back and check it out.
There are also a couple special giveaways from Melissa & Doug, Fudoo Boards and CraftProjectIdeas!
Be sure to check here each day throughout February and check out that day's giveaways.

Fundraiser Auctions:

♥ All proceeds of each auction will go to the AHA ♥

Melissa & Doug - 4 Trunki with Teddy Bear Auctions!

Fudoo Boards - 3 Fudoo Board Kits for Auction!

Fudoo Board Kit, ends Feb 10
Fudoo Board Kit, ends Feb 10
Fudoo Board Kit, ends Feb 10

Here is the list of all the bloggers who are participating in The Heart Project!!!

hands on : as we grow	♥	A Little Learning for Two	♥	Among Many Blessings
Angelique Felix	♥	At Home with Ali	♥	Broken Treasures
Busy at Home	♥	Busy Kids Happy Mom	♥	Carrie Saindon's Photo Journey
Child Central Station	♥	Classified: Mom	♥	Classroom Magic
Creative with Kids	♥	Creativity My Passion	♥	Critters and Crayons
De Tout et de Rien	♥	Dilly-Dali Art	♥	Dinosaurs & Octopuses
Excited 2 Learn	♥	Hand Over the Cookies	♥	Handprint & Footprint Art
Happy Hooligans	♥	Heart Journey	♥	Imagination Soup
Jamie's Jumble	♥	Kitchen Counter Chronicles	♥	Kreative Resources
Let Kids Create	♥	Little Illuminationss	♥	Living Montessori Now
Loudness of the Lambs	♥	Love and Lollipops	♥	Mama, hocemo nesto da pravimo
Mama Pea Pod	♥	Mama Smiles	♥	MemeTales
Messy Kids	♥	Mindful Meanderings	♥	Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas
Mommy Labs	♥	Mommy Perks	♥	Mum Paints Lives
Mummy Mummy Mum	♥	My Creative Family	♥	NurtureStore
One Artsy Mama	♥	Peace Love & Rainbows	♥	Play Dr Mom
Putti Prapancha	♥	Rainbows within Reach	♥	Reading Confetti
Ready. Set. Read!	♥	Red Ted Art	♥	Sense of Wonder
Share & Remember	♥	Stacy Molter	♥	Sun Hats & Wellie Boots
Teach Preschool	♥	The Artful Child	♥	The Chocolate Muffin Tree
The Craft Barn	♥	The Educators' Spin on It	♥	The Golden Gleam
The Imagination Tree	♥	The Iowa Farmer's Wife	♥	The Joy of My Life
The Kids Fun Review	♥	The Outlaw Mom Blog	♥	The Preschool Toolbox
The Seeds Network	♥	Toddler Approved

Heart Flowers

2012-01-30T13:01:00.000-05:00

This is a very simple craft that Putti loved making.

You will need Red and/or pink and green construction paper, Glue, Scissors, craft sticks and Markers. Cut out four red/pink hearts for the flower and two smaller green hearts for the leaves.

Glue the red/pink hearts one by one as shown below. Let it dry.

Then glue the flower to the top of the craft stick .

And glue the leaves to the bottom..

Draw a face on the flower with a marker and give as a gift to your favorite valentine!

This can be simple gift that kids can make for birthdays, Mother's Day etc. Change the colors to fit your mood or your loved ones liking! Frame it too.

Linking to all places mentioned here

I Heart U Cards

2012-01-29T16:06:00.000-05:00

We are getting ready for 'Valentine's Day' and made some 'I heart U' cards to be sent to loved ones...

Have you noticed that each pencil comes with a tiny eraser, which can be used to stamp perfect rounds? We used them with our Rainbow Stamp Pad and played to make some 'I heart U' cards !!
You will need some cardstock, a piece of card the size of your card(I used cereal box), pencils, little bit of painters tape and Melissa & Doug 6 Color Stamp Pad .

Cut the cereal box to the same size as your card. Then cut off a heart in the center of it. Now layer the cereal box stencil on top of your card and use a little painter's tape to secure them(very helpful when working with kids).

Then invite your kid to play with the stamps...

I used a different pencil/ eraser for each color to keep the colors clean and let Putti stamp away!

I encouraged her to dot around the stencil's edges, so as to create a clear outline of our heart.

Remove the stencil and write the letters 'I' and 'U' on the card. This is our first card..

This was a FUN project to do! And here's some of our cards...

Dont have a stamp pad? No worries, you can use qtips and paint or even fingertips too.

Linking to all places mentioned here

Our Other Valentine Ideas:
Magazine Tree of Hearts
Hearts Tree

This project is part of 'The Heart Book' filled with over 100 heart shaped projects for kids. Click 'The Heart Book' to find out how to get one and by making a donation to 'The American Heart Association'

ಅಮ್ಮ ಅಮ್ಮ ಚಳಿಯಮ್ಮ

2012-01-28T06:36:00.000-05:00

ಅಮ್ಮ ಅಮ್ಮ ಚಳಿಯಮ್ಮ

ಎರಡು ಹೊದಿಕೆ ಬೇಕಮ್ಮ

ಬೆಳಗಿನ ಈ ಚಳಿಗೆ

ಹೇಗೆ ತೊರೆಯಲಿ ಹಾಸಿಗೆ.

ಪಾಠವ ಓದಲು ಆಗದು

ಕೈಯಲಿ ಲೇಖನಿ ನಿಲ್ಲದು

ಕಾಫಿಯ ಕೊಡು ಮೊದಲು

ನಂತರ ಹೂರುವೆ ಓದಲು.

ಸ್ನಾನಕೆ ಬೇಕು ಬಿಸಿನೀರು

ಊಟಕೆ ಹಪ್ಪಳ ಸಂಡಿಗೆ ಚೂರು

ಬಿಸಿಬಿಸಿ ಅನ್ನ ಸಾರಿನ ಊಟ

ಅಜ್ಜನ ಕಥೆಗಳ ನೀತಿಯ ಪಾಠ.

ಸೂರ್ಯನಿಗೇಕೆ ಮುನಿಸು

ಬೇಗನೆ ಬರಲು ನೀ ತಿಳಿಸು

ಬೇಸಿಗೆ ರಜೆಯು ಅವನಿಗೂ ಇರಲಿ

ನಮ್ಮೊಡನಿರಲಿ ಕೊರೆಯುವ ಚಳಿಯಲಿ.

-ಎನ್. ದಿವ್ಯಾ.

A poem in kannada where a child tells his/her feelings about winter:)

Shaving Cream Drawing !!

2012-01-27T14:47:00.001-05:00

Shaving cream is fun to play with and wonderful to draw on.

Weather has been really beautiful for the last few days and have been spending a lot of time outdoors. This idea to draw on the window came from the Artful Parent . Putti had a lot of fun spreading the shaving cream, squishing it with her hands, writing and drawing on it.

Oooooh it feels lovely...

More squishy fun...

Smoothening to draw..

That's our house with stairs and all (we live on 2nd floor)

Squishing it all again to draw more n more..

I clicked photos for the first 10mins or so and went inside, while Putti continued this for almost 1hr+ and kept calling me to look at her beautiful drawings:)

It is a great sensory medium, plus it has the added bonus of cleaning power. With a simple rinse, the windows are now clean too. Love that!

Linking to all places mentioned here

Rolled Paper India Flag!!

2012-01-26T21:34:00.000-05:00

Inspired by The Chocolate Muffin Tree's "Patriotic Folded Flag", We made some flags for Indian Independence Day while we were in India in August 2011. We made Our Tiranga!!! This is a very simple paper flag which Putti and her friends enjoyed making. Here's she and some of her friends with their flags .

First begin with a sheet of white rectangular paper . Fold the paper in quarters. Then open up the paper so you have four sections. Cut off one of the sections.

Next, roll up from the other end of the paper as shown below which will become the flag pole. Use a piece of tape or glue to secure rolled paper from unrolling. Once it is taped it is ready to be painted or colored with markers or crayons as the kids wish.

Putti and her friends busy coloring the flags...

Here's some of their flags drying..

Putti wanted to make a handprint India flag like the one we made earlier. So, I painted her hands and she printed it on the flag..

Here's her handprint Tricolour India Flag !!!

India celebrates her 62nd Republic Day on January 26th commemorating the date on which the Constitution of India came into force. Wishing all my Indian friends a Very Happy Republic day !! Jai Hind !!!

Our other projects related to India:

Handprint India Flag

Pulses Triranga flag

National Symbols of India

Indian Independence day idea round up

Hearts Tree !!!

2012-01-25T13:44:00.001-05:00

I guess you have seen the Magazine 'Tree of Hearts' we made a couple of days ago. And as I mentioned in my post that day, Putti was not really happy with me for having cut her hearts. So we HAD to make another one and this time (just to keep it simpler and avoid the melt down when her cut hearts aren't perfect) I suggested we use stickers and she said 'Yes!!!!' . I found a pack of heart foam stickers at Dollar Tree, 200 stickers for $1 can you beat that? :)

Putti started by tracing her hand and forearm on a green construction paper...

Cut it and applied glue all over it...

Stick it to the white cardstock

And then, had fun peeling the back of the heart stickers...

And stuck them on her cardstock

Her 'Heart Tree' kept growing...

And here it is her own 'Heart Tree' !!!

After she finished, she asked if she could do one more with all the sticker back papers. How could I say no?

She used school glue to stick them on. And here is her second 'Heart Tree'. Love it that it was all her idea and now we have 2 for one project for less than a dollar:))

Linking this to all places mentioned here

This project is part of 'The Heart Book' filled with over 100 heart shaped projects for kids. Click 'The Heart Book' to find out how to get one and by making a donation to 'The American Heart Association'

Balloon People !!!

2012-01-24T08:43:00.001-05:00

A new friend has arrived in our house to join Putti in all her plays. She had a little party today with her new friend. Want to know how she ~~created~~ made her friend, visit Quirky Momma for the complete post where I am guest posting today on these Balloon People.

You can meet the whole gang of Balloon people there :)

Other Ideas with Balloons :

See how the balloon play started at our house.
Look at the balloon drawings Putti has made.
I have a couple more ideas for the rest of the balloons at home, so stay tuned...
And then Finally, I would love to try making balloon sculptures as done by The Chocolate Muffin Tree. She recommends a lovely book too.

Magazine Tree of Hearts !!!

2012-01-22T00:12:00.001-05:00

Believe it or not, this beautiful 'Tree of Hearts' was made out of old magazines and this entire project cost me nothing except the frame:)

Pin It

After We had made our Magazine Tree, I saw this awesome Tree of hearts over at 'Ideas from the Forest'. I fell in love with it immediately and wanted to try it with Putti. So, we started with the same method that we did in our magazine tree. I asked her to look for and cut red and pink parts from the magazines. And then, while she was not around I went ahead and cut them all into hearts. I do not own a heart craft punch, so had to cut them individually. This turned out to be a BIG mistake, Putti was really annoyed with me for cutting all of "HER" hearts ahead of time. I had to promise her that we will do one more 'Tree' soon and that I will not interfere then. A great remainder to me about helping her only when asked for:)

Well here is our cut hearts and the stem traced from her handprint!

She then went on glueing them onto the card stock.

Work in progress...

Our completed 'Tree of Hearts'

Pin It

~~Coming next is our another version of 'Tree of Hearts'...~~.

Up date: Our kid friendly 'Hearts Tree', made with foam stickers is posted now, check it out.

Linking to all places mentioned here

Runnies

2012-01-20T16:04:00.001-05:00

This idea is from MaryAnn Kohl’s Preschool Art book (pg. 33, "Runnies"). I had tried this with Putti in the past as you can see here, but Putti had not liked it much then.
The book says to drop a spoonful of watered down paint on the paper, then twist and turn the paper all around slowly, so the paint can run and create tracks!!
We used a mixture of washable crayola paint and water. The mix was about half and half. You need to make sure that the paint will run. We used thick card stock. Be prepared for a little mess and make sure you cover your work surface. Having a cookie tray or pan to hold the drips is very helpful.

Putti started by spooning a little paint on her cardstock.

Then, holding her paper over a cookie sheet, started turning and tilting the paper from side to side to create runnies. She loved this.

Here is her first finished masterpiece....

Next, she asked for pipette and paint brush to drop little droplets on her card stock. Pipettes are great for helping to develop fine motor skills!

The colors got mixed as they ran into each other, while she tilted and twisted,

creating a unique design each time....

The colored droplets on the cookie sheet.

You could place another card stock to collect all the droplets too..

These runnies would make lovely thank you cards. You could write a message on the back, or glue them to colored paper.

I think they would look great framed too.

Instant, bright and happy kid art for your walls!

Putti loved that the paint runs in all different directions! She thought that was very cool! I love that each time the result would be different:) Great process, but also amazing product! Here's our lot from today drying...

Linking to : Summer Fun Party, Made by little hands, Show and tell, Kids get crafty, High Paw, Its Play Time, Monday Madness, For kids friday, Fun for kids Friday, Play academy, No time for flash cards, Craft school sunday, Sunday Showcase, Kids can craft and all other places mentioned here

Drawing on Balloons !!!

2012-01-19T09:08:00.002-05:00

I am in love with these simple and lovely Balloon drawings that Putti has made.

Pin It

Remember, Putti had a room full of balloons waiting for her on her 4th Birthday morning? After more than a week of continued Balloon Play, I thought this was the time to try make some balloon art with all those balloons lying around in her room. When I suggested we can draw on these balloons Putti liked the idea and jumped right into it:) Washable markers smeared more easily and so we used Permanent markers. If you will be doing this with young kids, carefully supervise them.

Here's Putti making her first few lines...

She was amused by the funny sound the balloon made as she drew with her marker. But did not like the balloon slipping away, so I had to hold the balloon for her to draw....

This is her first balloon... love the line doodlings..

She soon developed her own techinque to do this. She would just glide her markers on the balloon, while I had to keep rolling the balloon in various directions. It was FUN !!!

Next, she made some dots. But realised they can be made into balloons just by drawing a ~~line~~ thread below the dot. Love this balloons on balloon :-)

I had a phone call and could not hold the balloon for her. But she did not want to stop, so tried holding the balloon in different positions and finally felt resting the balloon on her lap and holding it was very comfortable for her to draw. Now on she did not need me...

Beautiful flowers isn't it....

Some stars, names and other drawings...

Faces and people, that green guy was made by her appa as per her instructions..

Pin It

Two of her balloons burst while doing this, so you may want to warn your kids about it. Make sure they do not apply too much pressure while drawing.
I think this can become a great activity for kids and adults at any party!! Also is a fun way to make your own personalised balloons:))

Stay tuned to more ballooney fun !!!

Collaborative Heart Project Fundraiser

2012-01-18T13:12:00.001-05:00

I am currently working on a project, started by Jamie at Hands on as We Grow, who is putting together a “HeART Project eBook". This collaborative project currently involves more than 50 bloggers, will be a fundraiser with all proceeds going to the American Heart Association.
The Heart Project eBook will contain photos of kids' art and crafts projects that are related to 'hearts'. The ebook will be available by making a $5 donation.

If you are a blogger, you can also participate in this great fundraiser by submitting your own heart project photo (can be a old project too) by January 25th. For complete details on this event, visit Hands on as We Grow. More information to follow!

Many participating bloggers, including me will also host giveaways in conjunction with the fundraiser to raise awareness. Putti Prapancha will be hosting giveaway on February 3rd 2012.

Sankranti Celebrations 2012 !!!

2012-01-17T11:22:00.000-05:00

We had a lovely Sankranti festival celebrations this year. I love when our Indian celebrations fall on weekends, giving us just the time for being together with family and friends. This year was double fun as we had celebrations on two days at friends place.

This is my Sankranti Platter filled with ellu-bella, sugar figurines, sugarcane and fruits..

This is the complete decoration over at my friend's place with our coffee filter suns, paper tube sugaracane and a painted pot filled with ~~cotton~~ pongal :)

The berry shower which is called ellu eryodu in kannada, bhogi pallu in telugu, bor nahan in marathi !! Putti is wearing fruitloop necklace.

The highlight of the day was Kites!! A friend had got these for kids to play with and Oh my did we all have a blast with them. Putti was super excited...

Here's all of us having fun with our kites..

And this is me trying to get Putti's kite up...

Here's putti trying her hands on the kite !!

Next day, Putti all dressed up with our spin art sun banner in the background !!

The plate filled with berries, soaked chickpeas, coins, sugar cubes ready to be showered on kids :)

The shower.... Found this cute candy necklace at dollar store:)

Putti's sankranti in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Spin Art Sun Banner !!

2012-01-14T10:12:00.000-05:00

We made this beautiful Spin art Sun Banner for Sankranti at our home:))

After, I gave away the coffee filter sun banner We made for my friend, Putti was really sad that we did not have one. So we thought of making one for us too. only this time we used our beloved salad spinner to make suns. I love this because putti enjoys spin art and also because the process is so easy, you can make many pieces in a short span of time.

Cut paper the size of your salad spinner. Putti used droppers to drop slightly watered paints onto the paper.

Close the lid and spin, spin and spin...

Ta-Da !! Its all done... Add more colors and spin if you want..

These are our suns !! Ignore the one at the corner, putti found our do-a-dot marker and went dot-dot with it, before I stopped her:)

I would have left it at this stage, Putti wanted me to cut the edges to make sun rays just like in our Coffee filter suns. So, I did... But next time I think if we make these, we will cut the edges ahead before painting:)

And finally glued on the individual alphabets and taped them all together and pinned it on the wall.

Wishing all my readers a Very Happy Makara Sankranti !!!!

Sankranti Coloring Pages !!

2012-01-12T12:36:00.004-05:00

Coloring pages are not a biggie with Putti, I use them only rarely on travels etc. But many friends of mine think they are the best activity to set up especially when you are not around to monitor them.

These are some of the Sankranti coloring pages that I made for Putti last year. I used clip art available on the net because nothing related to sankranti is readily available and made these using power point.
Feel free to click on the pictures so that it opens a bigger image and you can download them to use with your kids. If you need the writings in english, do let me know I will happy to make one for your kids :)

Sankranti Greetings.

Sun Sankranti

Pot of Pongal

Sankranti

Let me know if you use them, Thanks !!

Coffee Filter Sun !!

2012-01-10T13:22:00.000-05:00

Last year when I posted this for Sankranti, many people did not believe these were made of coffee filters!! This Coffee Filter Sun bunting is very easy to make and looks great too.

We made them again this year for a friend for Sankranti at her house. So, here is the 'how to' as promised. First fold your coffee filter in half, two times and then cut little triangles around the edges as marked in 4.

Once you open-up your coffee filter, you will have a sun!!

Cover your work table with newspaper and get your supplies - yellow, orange and red paint, droppers and or paint brushes and a spray bottle filled with water. Since, we wanted to make a bunting we need lots of suns. So, I piled up 2-3 coffee filters on top of one-another and putti sprayed them with water...

When its all nice and wet, drop paint on it and see how it spreads...

Add more colors ...

and see the colors spread...

Putti used paint brush at times....

And then, spray more water so that all the coffee filters (remember we stacked a couple) get the colors...

Here's our lot drying... ~~I do not have the finished bunting photo yet, will update here as soon as I get from my friend.~~

Here is the finished bunting with paper tube sugarcanes

Check out Frugal family Fun's post about similar coffee filter suns. I love how she let her little use markers for this and also she has used brush to paint with water on it.

Linking to all places mentioned here. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="javascript:void((function(){var%20e=document.createElement('script');e.setAttribute('type','text/javascript');e.setAttribute('charset','UTF-8');e.setAttribute('src','http://assets.pinterest.com/js/pinmarklet.js?r='+Math.random()*99999999);document.body.appendChild(e)})());" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Pin It" class="aligncenter" src="http://www.clickinmoms.com/cmprodaily/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/pinit.jpg" /></a></div>

Sankranti, the Indian Harvest Festival !!!

2012-01-09T10:33:00.000-05:00

Makara Sankranti is one of the auspicious days of the Hindu calendar. Sankranti is one of the few Hindu festivals that is based on the solar calendar. It signifies the transition of the Sun from Sagittarius(Dhanus) to Capricorn (Makara) and is therefore almost always on the same day in the English calendar Januray 14 or 15th . Traditionally, this has been one of many harvest days in India.

It is celebrated with distinct names and rituals in different parts of India. In the states of Andhrapradesh and Tamilnadu, it is celebrated as Pongal and is a 4 day festival. While in Karnataka (my home state), it is called as Sankranti. Read more about Makara Sankranti on Wikipedia.

In villages, people celebrate it their new harvest. They buy new earthern pots, decorate it and cook the rice and lentil mixture dish called as 'Pongal' in the new pots. They allow it overflow and shout "Pongal-O-pongal" as it does. They do hope their joy overflows in the same way in their lives too.

Nithya has some great pongal photos with recipes of the dish.

Jennifer Kumar of Alaivani website shares more on Pongal here. Love this beautiful pulses rangoli that she has made. It shows a pot filled with pongal overflowing from it(a rice and lentil dish).

Since the festival is celebrated in mid winter, food prepared for this festival is such that it keeps the body warm and gives high energy. Sweet balls called as laddu of sesame made with Jaggery is a specialty of the festival. In Maharashtra it is called 'Tilgul'. In Karnataka it is called 'ellu-bella' which is a mixture of sesame seeds, dry coconut, peanuts, jaggery etc. People exchange this 'ellu bella' mixture with family and friends and say "ellu bella tindu olle maatadi" meaning 'eat sesame and jaggery and talk sweet' :)

via Taste of Mysore

Also little figurines made of sugar is exchanged. Love this photo from Chittara made with ellu-bella, sugar figurines and filed beans.

In some states, especially in villages cattle are decorated with various colours and are made to jump over a bon-fire. Sankranti is also famous for kite flying. Love this cute kites card made by little P for sankranti.

As it is the festival of Sun God who is regarded as the symbol divinity and wisdom, we had made this lovely 'Sun Bunting' made of coffee filters last year. The how to is coming up soon....

It is customary to decorate the kids in new cloths and necklaces made of sugar balls. But since we do not get those sugar balls here in USA, last year had made fruit loop necklaces.

And in the evening the kids are made to sit and a mixture of ziziphus berries, pieces of sugarcane, coins and flowers are mixed and poured over their head and an aarati is performed. The neighbors are invited to participate in this ritual. This is done to drive away the evil eye. This showering ritual is called as 'Bhogi Pallu' in telugu and there is a lot of variations in the things being showered. Some people add soaked chickpeas, while others add rice or puffed rice too. Read more about it here and here.

Any celebration in India is not complete without a colorful rangoli design in front of the house. I really miss making them. Rangoli with the drawing of Lord Surya(Sun), sugarcane picture, boiling Pongal pot etc are the most preferred Rangolis during Makara Sankranti. These are some the rangolis that depicts the importance of Sankranti from the web !!

via Kavin

via The Hindu Blog

Love this handmade pongal card made by Ramya

Another beautiful craft by Daydreams...

And simply love this photo...

Please stay tuned for Sankranti related kids activities ......

”ಈ ಸಂಭಾಷಣೆ’ ಪುಟ್ಟಿ ಧ್ವನಿಯಲ್ಲಿ / Putti sings 'ee sambhashane'

2012-01-08T09:54:00.000-05:00

ಮುಂದಿನ ಪಾರ್ಟಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದೆರೆಡು ಹಾಡುಗಳನ್ನು ಹಾಡಲೇಬೇಕೆಂದು ’ಹೇಮಂತ್’ಗೆ ಗೆಳೆಯರು ಒತ್ತಾಯ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದರು. ಕಾಲೇಜು ದಿನಗಳ ನಂತರ ಆಗಾಗ್ಗೆ ಗುನುಗುವುದು ಬಿಟ್ಟರೆ ಹಾಡೋದು ಪೂರ್ತಿಯಾಗಿ ನಿಲ್ಲಿಸಿದ್ದ ಇವರು, ಈ ಪಾರ್ಟಿಯ ಸಲುವಾಗಿ ಕೆಲವೊಂದು ಹಾಡುಗಳನ್ನು ದಿನವೂ ಹಾಡಿ ಪ್ರ್ಯಾಕ್ಟೀಸ್ ಮಾಡಲು ಶುರು ಮಾಡಿದ್ರು. ಅಪ್ಪನ ಹಾಡು ಕೇಳಿ, ಕೇಳಿ, ಪುಟ್ಟಿಯೂ ಅವುಗಳನ್ನು ಕಲಿತುಬಿಟ್ಟಳು.
"ಅಪ್ಪ ನಿನ್ನ ಹಾಡು ನಾನೂ ಹಾಡ್ತೀನಿ ಕೇಳು" ಅಂತ ಮೈಕ್ ಹಿಡಿದು ಹಾಡಿಯೇಬಿಟ್ಟಳು. ಯಾವಾಗ ಅಪ್ಪ ಹಾಡಬೇಕು, ಯಾವಾಗ ಅಮ್ಮ(ಹೆಣ್ಣು ಧ್ವನಿ) ಎಲ್ಲವೂ ಚಾಚೂ ತಪ್ಪದೆ ಹೇಳಿ ನಮ್ಮನ್ನು ಬೆರಗುಗೊಳಿಸಿದಳು:)) ಹಿನ್ನಲೆ ಸಂಗೀತದ ಜೊತೆ ಹಾಡುವುದು ಅವಳಿಗೆ ಹೊಸ ಆಟವಾಗಿದೆ. ಕಾರಣಾಂತರಗಳಿಂದಾಗಿ ಹೇಮಂತ್ ಪಾರ್ಟಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹಾಡಲಾಗಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಆದ್ರೆ ನನಗಂತೂ ಖುಷಿಯೋ ಖುಷಿ!! ನಾನು ಹೇಳಿ ಕೊಡದೇ ಪುಟ್ಟಿ ಅವಳಾಗಿಯೇ ಕನ್ನಡ ಹಾಡು ಕಲಿತಿದ್ದಾಳೆ, ಅದಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಹೆಮ್ಮೆಯುಂಟೆ :))
ಪುಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ಮಕ್ಕಳ ಪದ್ಯ/ ಹಾಡುಗಳನ್ನು ಹೇಳಿಕೊಡುವಾಗ ಅವಳ ಜೊತೆ ಹಾಡುವುದು ಬಿಟ್ಟರೆ ನಾನು ಹಾಡೊಲ್ಲ. ಹಾಡಲು ಬಾರದಿದ್ದರೂ ಇನ್ನ್ಮೇಲೆ ಅವಳಿಗಾಗಿ ಹಾಡಬೇಕು ಅಂತ ನಿರ್ಧರಿಸಿರುವೆ ;)
ಅವಳ ಹಾಡು ಕೇಳಿ....

Friends had requested my hubby dear to sing some kannada songs in an upcoming get-together. And since he has almost stopped singing after college days, begun to practice some of the songs to re-learn the lyrics with a 'karaoke' machine daily. Putti loved listening to her dad sing. Within a couple of days, she proclaimed "Appa! I too can sing your song" and took the mike and sang the song along with the background music. She knew exactly where to stop, where to begin again and also knew where the female voice comes everything, We were amazed:))

Though hemanth could not sing in that party, I was very happy that this made Putti to learn a kannada song all by herself with no efforts from me. I am not at all good at singing, so I sing only with her especially while teaching her kids songs and rhymes. But, now I am determined to sing more often in front of her because I think that makes it easy for her to learn.
Here is the video of she singing the song 'ee sambhashane' a romantic song from the 1971 kannada movie 'Dharmasere'.