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photo credit: Photocapy

This is one craft that your kids will surely love and enjoy. This will develop their creativity and resourcefulness. As they grow taller and stronger, they are attracted to moving objects.  They are also becoming more aware of their mobility.   Making a pull-along mini-cart would satisfy their curiosity and active desire to be in control of things.  Moreover, this craft can be a learning activity in which the children can identify colors and shapes.

What you will need:

• Drinking/plastic cup
• Colored cardboard
• Two pieces of pencils
• Modeling clay
• String
• Pair of scissors

How to do it:

1. Place your drinking/plastic cup on the colored cardboard and trace the base with a pencil to make four wheels.
2. Cut the four wheels out of the cardboard.
3. Push the two pencils through the two wheels respectively. Be careful in handling the pointed tip to avoid piercing or hurting yourself.
4. Attach the pencil on each wheel and seal it with modeling clay to prevent it from loosening.
5. Make a small rectangular box with an open top using your colored cardboard. You can use a different color this time to make the body of the mini-cart distinct from the wheels.
6. Make four holes on the sides of the box, two on each side.
7. Push the pencils with wheels through the holes.
8. Attach the remaining two wheels on the two pencils, respectively and fixing it with modeling clay.
9. Tie a string on one end of the box, just long enough for your kid to pull it along.
10. Now that you have a pull-along mini-cart, ask your child to give it a name to make it more meaningful for him.

photo credit: katekillet

Toddlers always enjoy making sounds, be it by just tapping objects or anything they can get their hands on. Teach your kids early to develop their love for music.

One simple musical instrument that you can do with your toddlers is a musical shaker made of ordinary things or recycled materials. Surely, it will be enjoyable for the kids to make, and play with!  To make their shaker colorful, the kids can add decorations on it.

Supplies:

• Two pieces of used plastic cups
• Dried lentils or beans
• Tape
• Colored construction paper (optional)
• Crayons or markers
• Glue
• Pair of scissors

Steps:

1. Clean up the cups very thoroughly.
2. Ask your child to take the dried lentils or beans and place them inside the cup.
3. Take the other cup and place it on top of the cup with dried lentils or beans.
4. Attach them with a tape (make it tight, so it doesn’t break open)
5. Take out your colored construction paper and wrap it around the shaker.
6. Assist your child in decorating the shaker with crayons or markers.
7. Ask your kids to shake it up and down, and side to side to make sounds.

Now, play the CD of your kids’ favorite songs and sing with them while demonstrating how you enhance the rhythm of the music using the musical shakers that you all crafted.  Add some fun dancing and surely the whole family would find great time and bonding.

photo credit: mitsukuni

You don’t have to wait for your kids to grow up before you can teach them how to cook, or even bake. It will be fun to do this with your kids. You can start with simple recipes that the kids will surely enjoy not only baking, but especially eating.

Doing things together with your kids at home, such as baking, will be an opportunity for you to strengthen your parent-child relationship, teach them simple household skills that they can use later in life, and develop in them important values like responsibility, industry, cooperation and obedience, among others.

Here’s one simple menu for you to experiment with your kids: Homemade Animal Crackers. Ask your kids to assist you in this baking activity.

What you will need:

• ½ cup oatmeal
• 2 tsp. salt
• ¾ cup flour
• ¼ tsp. baking soda
• ¼ cup softened butter or margarine
• 4 tbsp. buttermilk
• Animal cookie cutters
• Blender, bowl, and rolling pin

How to do it:

1. Use a blender to grind ½ cup oatmeal until becomes fine.
2. Mix the oatmeal with a bowl with honey, salt, flour, and baking soda.
3. Cut in butter or margarine
4. Add buttermilk.
5. Roll your mixture with the rolling pin until it is very thin.
6. With the cookie cutter in several animal-shaped template, cut into shapes of different animals.
7. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit on non-greased cookie sheet for about 10-12 minutes until they become golden brown.

Enjoy your time; develop teambuilding and rapport with your kids.  Perhaps you might want to organize a tea party and just have fun storytelling about the animal crackers you made while relishing great cracker and tea taste.

One activity that your kids will surely love doing with you is cooking. You don’t need to cook elaborate food to make it fun and exciting. Making cookies is simple and easy, but will be enjoyable to the kids. This will give you time to bond with your kids, and at the same time teach them simple lessons on responsibility and helpfulness. You can do this on special occasions or celebrations like Halloween.

What you will need:

• 1 ½ cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp almond extract
• 2 ½ cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cream of tartar
• Cookie cutters

How to do it:

1. Mix powdered sugar, butter or margarine, egg and vanilla and almond extracts.
2. Mix in flour, baking soda and tartar. Mix well.
3. Cover your mixture and refrigerate for two hours. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Make sure that your kids do not touch the hot surface to avoid burning.
4. Divide your dough into halves. Roll out on a lightly floured board.
5. Using cookie cutters, cut the dough into different Halloween characters or symbols (e.g., pumpkin, ghost, hands, etc.)
6. Place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
7. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes.
8. Give “Halloween life” to your cookies by letting your kids adorn them with colorful sweet icing tinted with your favorite Halloween colors of black, yellow, orange, red, and other dramatic colors that your kids may surely enjoy mixing and messing.

photo credit: eyeliam;

photo credit: thebittenword.com

Kids will have fun making animals out of ordinary materials which can be found at home. An example of this is the Potato Porcupine which your kids can easily do with your assistance.

The materials are commonly found in the kitchen, or bought in stores or groceries near you. They are not very expensive, so you can make several of this if you like. You can use different sizes of potato if you want to create, maybe, a family of porcupine. Each porcupine requires one potato only.

Materials needed:

• Small potato (uncooked)
• Craft sticks (or you can use popsicle sticks used for ice cream)
• Two wiggle eyes
• Toothpicks
• Glue
• Black marker

How to make it:

1. Use a small uncooked potato for this project. Do not peel.
2. Break the craft sticks into half, making sure that they are equal in length.
3. Push two half sticks into the bottom of the potato for legs, and another two at the sides for arms.
4. Glue the two wiggle eyes on the front of the potato. Draw a nose and a mouth using the black marker to complete the face of your porcupine.
5. Stick the toothpicks around the potato to serve as pins of your porcupine.