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The other day we had paperplates in the house and decided to make a bunch of projects out of them!!  My Daughter looked at them and said “let’s make a project out of this” so off we went!!  Today I will show you the Paper Plate Tambourine we made.  It was really simple and fun to make.  My daughter loves playing music so she is really excited to add this to her instrument collection!!

Making a Paper Plate Tambourine

Supplies

• 2 Paper Plates
• Pasta/beans/Rice
• Stapler
• Crayons/Markers/Paint

Steps

1. Color (or paint) outside of plates
2. Pour Pasta/Beans/Rice in one plate
3. Put other plate on top and staple every 1/2 inch so contents doesn’t fall out
4. Shake your Tambourine!

Have fun with it!! Make a bunch and make a band!!  Take a coffee can and make a drum!!

Here is another of my Fun Activities for Toddlers !  This shaving creme craft will bring lots of joy, giggles and fun!!  My kids love doing this!!  It’s messy-but a fun and easy activity !  It can be done with kids old enough that they won’t eat it!  You know your child and if they will put it in their mouth.  My kids by 2 were fine with this type of activity.  This activity is really good for kids 2-7 (some kids older would like it too!).

Kids love to get their hands messy and feel fun textures!!  They also learn by doing things in different types of mediums!! This is a fun activity that let’s kids practice their letters while enjoying getting to play in shaving creme!!

Supplies:

• Some type of board, cardboard, chalkboard, white board (plastic plate works too!)
• Shaving Creme
• Smock, Apron
• Wipes or paper towels

Steps:

1. Put Smock or Apron on your child
2. Put a little bit of shaving creme on your board
3. Let your child spread it all out- They will love this!!
4. Show them how they can draw a letter in it with their pointer finger
5. Then erase it by wiping your hand over it
6. Let them try
7. They can do letters or draw shapes what ever you want
8. Be there to show them how to draw a letter or shape and they can try it next.  You can also help move their hand as they get the feel for it.

Depending on the age of your child you can help them write words, letters, shapes.  They can make pictures or whatever they want.  At the end you can even have them help you clean up the boards in the sink.  Have fun!!  Keep on the look out for more fun activities for toddlers!!

It’s Spring!! Hurray!! I already hear all the birds starting to sing and I love it!!  In honor of the warmer Spring weather we made a Bird house for our Fine Feathered Friends!!

While doing this craft, you might want to ready one of the following books with your child, depending on their age…Backyard Birdwatching for kids or Are you my mother?  The Backyard Birdwatching book is fun because you can ready about the birds and how you can attract them to your back yard and your bird house. Are you my mother? is a great book about a young bird looking for his mother.
This craft is so much fun and you can enjoy it all spring and summer!

Supplies

• Wood, Paintable bird house- I found mine at the dollar store!! But craft stores like Michaels or Target carry them too!
• Washable Paint
• Paint Brushes
• Clear Polyurethane

Steps

1. Get creative-Paint the birdhouse however you like!
2. Let it dry
3. Then (parents you will want to do this NOT your kids) once dry put a coat of polyurethane on it.
4. Let it dry
5. Then find a nice place outside to put it!

Enjoy your birdhouse!! I’d love to hear about your experience making this craft and to see pictures too!!

This is a a fun and easy Toddler Craft.  I read the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar before I create this craft with the kids and then we make the Hungry Caterpillar.  If you don’t have The Very Hungry Caterpillar and you have 1-4 year old I highly recommend you get it!!  It’s a great story by Eric Carle ( I love all his books!!) with big colorful pictures.  It tells the tale of a a Very Hungry Caterpillar who eats one apple on Monday, two pears on tuesday and so on until he becomes a beautiful butterfly!  Not only is it a great story but helps reinforce counting and the days of the week!

As you read the story you can count the objects together that the Caterpillar eats.  At the end of the story you can ask your child to retell the story in their own words, or ask what happened after the caterpillar ate all the food?  Discuss the story a little and then you can make your own hungry caterpillar together!!

Caterpillar Craft

Supplies

• Inside of a paper towel roll cut to about 3 inches, or a toilet paper roll inside
• Pipe Cleaners
• Fuzzy Balls
• Googly eyes
• Scissors
• Glue

Steps

1. Cut little holes in the top of the cardboard roll (2 right next to eachother for antenaes)
2. Cut pipe cleaner to 3 inches long-2 pieces
3. Place pipe cleaner in hole and bend bottom into the inside of the roll so it doesn’t come out
4. Curve top to make it look like an antenna  (do this in other hole-so you have 2 antennae)
5. Glue Googly eyes in front of antennae
6. Glue on Fuzzy balls all around top and sides of roll

Enjoy your Caterpillar!!  If you do this craft come share your pictures!!

Review of Jewish Holiday Games For Little Hands by Ruth Esrig Brinn.  With Passover coming up soon I thought it would be good a good time to review this terrific book and share an activity from it related to Passover.  This book has activities for all the Jewish holidays, with multiple activities for each holiday.

Here is a list of the holidays covered in the book:

• Shabbot
• Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur
• Sukkot & Simchat Torah
• Hanukkah
• Tu B’Shevat
• Purim
• Passover
• Shavuot

There are at least 5 activities for each category.  Most of the crafts and activities are simple to make.  They tie in the meaning of each holiday to help children learn from the activity or craft.  There are also activities that you can photocopy – like game boards, coloring activities etc.  If you celebrate the Jewish Holidays and have young children you definitely want this book!!

Leaving Egypt (This activity is from the book Jewish Holiday games for Little hands)

Supplies:

• Two Small suitcases or duffel bags
• Two sets of clothes ( for example-pants,shirts, hat, socks, mittens, jacket)

To play:

1. Divide children into two teams
2. Fill both Suitcases with similar items (each has a set of pants, each has a pair of socks, each has a hat etc)
3. Set a goal line across the room from each team
4. The first player from each team empties the suitcase and puts on all the clothes
5. They then close the suitcase and run with it around the goal and back to the beginning
6. Then they take off the outfit and put back in the suitcase
7. They then hand suitcase to next person on their team
8. The team that has everyone go and sit back down at the beginning first WINS!

The message is that the Jewish people left Egypt in a hurry running away from the Pharoah.  Reading a book about Passover and talking about how the Jews left quickly before playing this game will reinforce the message.