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This week at Toddler Crafts we are hosting a giveaway of labels/stickers with Uprinting!  Click Here to find out more about it!

This weeks McKlinky Blog hop is about why you should read The Toddler Crafts Blog (well actually, each blog will talk about why that particular blog is special!).   So, I will take this opportunity to share why I think you should read Toddler Craft.

As a mom, and day care provider, I am always looking for inspiration to create fun and simple activities with the kids.  I realized, that I would always search the internet and books for new ideas.  I personally liked simple crafts and activities for kids that had some educational value.

When I discovered blogging through my freebie trading I thought that it would be great to share some of the fun things I did with the kids with other parents.  From this idea, Toddler Craft was born!  My goal is to share easy, fun and educational crafts and activities for kids ages 1-7.  I believe, you should be able to create most activities with things you have on hand.  It doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated to make crafts with kids.   I also  share helpful parenting tips or experiences I have had.  Some of the topics I discuss are: getting your child to sleep, potty training, school anxiety, and going back to work.

I hope Toddler Craft gives you the inspiration I was always looking for!!  I’d love your feedback and to hear the types of activities, crafts or advice you would like to see here.  Please share it in the comment area.  Thank you  for reading Toddler Craft I really enjoy the community of readers that participate on Toddler Craft!

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Happy Fourth of July!!

In keeping with our Fouth of July theme, we made another Fourth of July Craft. We made a Rainstick/Noisemaker.

This one can actually be made at any time, you would just decorate it differently! It’s fun and easy and your kids can play with it after! Best of all, you probably have most of the supplies handy.

Supplies:

• Paper towel Holder
• Saran Wrap
• Tape
• Rice/pasta
• Glue Stick
• Red/White or Blue Construction paper
• Red/white/Blue Paint
• Star Sponge (you can cut this out of a regular sponge if you don’t have one)

Steps:

1. Stamp Blue and White stars on Red construction paper
2. Let it Dry
3. On bottom of papertowel roll hold saran wrap and tape around it to make a bottom to the Paper towel holder
4. Fill Paper Towel 1/4 way with rice/pasta
5. Put Saran Wrap on top, tape around to seal
6. Take Dried Star Print Construction paper, and tape end of it to Paper towel roll
7. Cut off Extra that goes above Paper Towel Roll
8. Glue Print construction paper to paper towel roll

Your done!! You now have a fun music maker and noise maker for the Fourth of July. You can do this activity at anytime.  Just change how you decorate the paper!!

For my Daughters birthday she got this adorable wooden dragon fly that can be painted.  She was so excited.  She was really cute with how she picked out the colors very carefully and was so proud of her finished product.  I have seen these at the dollar store and Michaels craft stores.

Supplies:

• Wooden Dragon Fly
• Washable Paint
• Clear Acrylic spray (if you are going to put it outside)
• Paint brush
• Plastic Table Cloth
• Tupperware lid

Steps:

1. Put some colors in the tupperware lid
2. Paint the Dragon Fly
3. When it drys Spray the Acrylic Spray to protect the paint.

I love these kinds of crafts because they can give them as gifts or hang them up and display them.  They are very inexpensive and simple to complete.  My daughter is thrilled with her masterpiece!

It’s almost summertime and getting to that time of going to beaches and lakes and exploring all the creatures that live there!  My kids love going to this beach by us that is in an inlet.  You can see the crabs and minoes moving around.  They love to catch the tiny fish in the bucket and watch them!!  In honor of the coming warmer beach weather (can you tell I am ready for it?) I am doing some sea animal crafts!  Today we are creating a Crab Craft!  I was inspired for this craft by a GREAT craft book called Crafty Kids: Fun Projects for You and Your Toddler by Rosie Hankin.  I was at the library with my kids the other day and discovered this book while browsing the craft section for inspiration.  All of the crafts in this book are simple to create and have great colorful pictures.  You will be seeing more crafts inspired by this book in the future.

So here is what you need to make Carl the Crab

Supplies

• Paper Plate
• Construction paper-one color for legs and one for background
• Paint
• Glue
• Tape

Steps

• Paint underside of paper plate
• Paint eyes on plate by edge
• Let Plate dry
• Tape two pieces of construction paper together (unless you have a big piece of paperstock)
• Put plate on paper, centered and draw a circle around it.
• Remove plate
• Cut out two pincher claws and eight legs from other color construction paper (different from background)
• Glue Pinchers and legs on circle
• Glue dried plate on Construction paper.

You might like to talk about that Crab starts with C and write out the words “Carl the Crab” showing your child the C to reinforce their letter learning and the sound that goes with it.  Enjoy your Crab Artwork !!

What do you like to do in the summer? Share in the comments below.