S is for The Very Busy Spider

When I planned these "S" activities, I completely forgot about this post in my archives. Do go have a look if you want some more spider ideas. :)

Do you know the book The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle? It's a great book with lovely illustrations.  In the hard cover version, the spider web is raised, so it's fun to feel how it gets bigger and bigger in the story. It's a very simple story line, so it's an ideal book for a young child. 

I've seen so many lollipop spiders on the internet and this inspired our very busy spider lollipop . For the head you need one green pipe cleaner. For the legs cut two orange pipe cleaners in half. Simply wrap the pipe cleaners around the lollipop stick to make the spider.  The eyes and mouth were cut out from felt and glued on.

Our very busy spider also got her own real life web. Little one punched some holes in a paper plate and was then supposed to thread the string through the holes to make the web. I was told, however,  quite emphatically, that he doesn't like threading, so I did end up doing it myself. If you can get your little one to do the threading, it's really a great fine motor activity. 

We also found some Very Busy Spider activities at Making Learning Fun.

I thought it would be fun to build a "S'" with little spiders. The "S" we used was printed from Confessions of a Homeschooler. If you go to this link and look for a-z lowercase worksheets, you will find all the letters of the alphabet ready to print. Thank you Heather!

Our last bit of spider fun was a small spider building station (Idea via Fantastic Fun and Learning). To make the play dough, I used my favourite recipe - no stove required! Here it is:

1 cup flour
2 Tbs cream of tarter
1 Tbs vegetable oil
1/2 cup of granulated salt

Add some essence for a nice aroma (orange, almond, peppermint)

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and then add a cup of boiling water. Stir until combined and turn it out onto a floured board and knead until smooth. Colour can be added to the boiling water or at the kneading stage. Just a tip - wear gloves when kneading - the food colouring does stain your skin and it isn't very easy to clean off. Store your dough in an airtight container. 

To make black play dough, I combined blue, green and red food colouring. I kept adding and mixing it until I was happy with the colour. 

Here are some more fun Spider crafts on the blog:

Bottle Top Crafts

Spider Party

Till next time, have fun.

PS. Linking to The Weekly Kids Co-Op, For the Kids Fridays @ Sun Scholars and Kids Activities Blog.

Dragonfly craft

Many, many of you who read or pop in here at Love and Lollipops, live way across the world in the Northern Hemisphere and for you today, I bring a "Happy Spring Time" craft.

Using three ice cream tub sticks (bought these at a craft shop),a popsicle stick, googly eyes and glue, I made these dragonflies. I do hope the picture "explains" it all.

I really love the natural wooden look of these and would have left them be, but Little One wanted to paint them and he really wanted to put glitter onto them. That was definitely his favourite part of the project.

Wouldn't these be fun to add to a nature sensory box?

And me - I'm over-the-moon happy that it's Autumn over here - my favourite season for sure :) 

Till next time. 

PS. Shared at sugar and dots and polkadots on parade. 

S is for Spiders {and a Giveaway}

Where have I been this month of October you are wondering?

Well, I have had two tummy bugs - really awful!

Both boys have had it too - more of the awful.

Not a great month in the healthy department, but we have all survived and are better. And now, speaking of bugs...

S is for Spiders... and Spooky and Scary and... Sensory box! 

When I saw these plastic glow-in-the dark spiders in the store, I knew a sensory box was to be made - a scary spider sensory box. I dyed some rice with red and blue food colouring, added the spiders and presented it to the boys in the dark - before bedtime - I know, it doesn't sound right? Well thankfully, they loved it. I think the only one who was "scared" was me - I actually jumped (and gave a squeamish yelp) when one of the spiders landed on my hand. Really. Big One's response to the sensory box was "It's brilliant" - to get that reaction from a ten year old is pretty cool I think.

A few days later I took the box out again - in daylight this time. I added some string (pretend web), snakes and the letter "s" from my alphabet set. It was great to see the boys enjoying the box again. I also added tweezers and a magnifying glass. We compared sizes; we counted; we took the string and made "s" shapes - all in all a great activity :). 

 

Oh yeah, would you like to win a fabulous 26 piece lowercase alphabet (like the one I used here)? This fantastic product is South African born and bred and made by Little People's Products.

If you would like to win, this is what you must do: Please head on over to their website and come back and tell me which product you really like. For a second entry, pop on on over to their Facebook page and "like" them and then come back here and tell me you did. And for a third entry, share this competition on your Facebook page if you have one. Please leave a separate comment for each entry and some contact details. The competition is open world wide and the closing date is Monday the 5th of November. Good luck!

More Bottle Top Animals

I had the wonderful opportunity recently to make some cards for a very special birthday party for the children of a children's home. Even though their ages ranged from one year to sixteen years of age, I wanted to do the same for all of them, so decided on some fun bottle top animal cards.  I thought that they would bring a smile to everyone...whether younger or older. I had a list to work from, so could also write a personal note to each child. It was great to be able to do this small act of kindness.

To see some more cute bottle top animals, click here.

 For some more fun planned with bottle tops, stay tuned :).


PS. Linking this to Making The World Cuter Monday

Bottle Top Animals

  Inspired by some wonderful bottle top animals at Silly Eagle Books, I created these and turned them into cards... to keep for some parties coming up. When the kids are in the mood, I think this makes for a great rainy day activity :).

  I simply cannot throw a bottle top away anymore... more ideas coming soon!

PS. Linking this to  

Weekend Wrap Up Party @ tatertots and jello 

For the Kids Friday @ Sun Scholars

Fun for Kids Friday @ Local Fun For Kids

Spider Party

A while back we were invited to a little friend's birthday party and were very surprised to find out that the theme was SPIDERS. You see, this little friend is a very petite, sweet, girly-girl and loves all things pink and pretty! So I thought, it must be a cute spider party ...yeah I know, spiders aren't cute, but you know what I mean. However, much to my surprise, this turned out to be a realistic ugly eight-legged hairy spider kinda party!!

Check out the cake!
(Made by THE CHOCOLATE MOOSE)

Don't you love this super spider accessory for the birthday girl's hair.

 There were super games at this party. 

Being wrapped in a spider cocoon...

...or being stuck in a spider's web!

I was inspired by these over at Silly Eagle Books and decided to add a cute bottle top spider to our gift. I really love how she turned out...yip it's a she...can't you tell?

Have you ever had a Spider party. If you have, please leave a link in the comments below. I would love to come and see!  

PS. Linking our spider to 
Fun for Kids Friday

Book Buddies

 

Do you remember Maisy? Well she inspired these :)

I made these book buddies to add to books that I gave as Christmas gifts to some special little boys in my life, my nephews! I decided to cut these out free-hand (no pattern) and it surprisingly worked out really nicely. (Perhaps a little bit of luck was involved, 'cause this type of brave cutting can go very wrong sometimes!) I then stitched the felt pieces together, filled the bodies with batting, stitched them up and then glued on the rest.

I won't say much here about The Very Hungry Caterpillar, other than it being a terrific book for a young child (aged 2-5 approx). If you would like to read another post I did about this book, click here.

I do want to tell you a little bit more about Lost and Found, by Oliver Jeffers. But before I do, I need to tell you about another Oliver Jeffer's gem. I was first introduced to this author when a colleague told me about his book How to catch a Star.(Thank you Carey!) Big One and I soon loved this simple, beautifully illustrated story of a little boy who loved stars and very proactively made all sorts of plans to catch a star to be his friend. I think it's a great story about "making a plan" and perseverance when you are faced with a problem.

Lost and Found is about the same little character, who this time tries to help a penguin, who he thinks is lost. In the end, however, he realizes that the penguin is simply lonely and wants a friend. It's another sweet story and a great icebreaker to introduce a conversation about loneliness and friendship. I think that both these books by Oliver Jeffers are great additions to a young child's library (aged 3-6 approx) and are super books to be used in Play Therapy.

Till next time, happy reading!

PS. I am linking this to:

Tot Tuesdays at My Delicious Ambiguity 

Show and Tell at ABC and 123 

Kids Get Crafty at Red Ted's Art Blog

Read.Explore.Learn at JDaniel4's Mom
Feed Me Books Friday @ Little Sprout Books

Colour Fun #6 - Bottle Top Ladybugs

 

I have always enjoyed observing my children's unique interests. What toys they choose to play with, books they favour and what games they play. Big One has always loved characters and little men, whereas Little One is already showing a strong interest in cars and other vehicles. Our children also go through phases and what may be a big hit right now, can wane over time. I think that while they are interested in a certain subject, we as parents can use that interest to make teaching more fun. Another approach is to focus on that area of interest while you have their attention. Little One is very interested in insects right now and one of his favourite books is Roger Priddy's BUG IQ. With this in mind, I really wanted to add a colour activity involving bugs of some sort.

I wish I could say that these cute little bugs were my idea. I first saw these bottle top ladybirds at Crafts by Amanda, a super blog with many amazing craft ideas. To make these, I used a permanent black marker to draw on to the bottle top and then added the plastic eyes with glue. I didn't want to paint the eyes (like Amanda's) as I really wanted to make them quickly and not fuss with paint. I was also able to get my circles nice and round by using a stencil.  I must add though, that having played with them a bit, I now know why Amanda chose to paint them. The permanent marker is not so permanent on the smooth plastic bottle top surface. I have solved this problem by having the marker nearby and touching them up every once in awhile, but it's not ideal.

To store our sweet little ladybirds, I made this ladybird jar. Another terrific idea of Amanda's. I didn't have a jar with a red lid, so settled for this one, which I purchased at my local plastic shop. All in all a really sweet craft and another fun way to focus on colours.

One interesting game that Little One has played with these, is to swipe them across the tiled kitchen floor. They glide across the floor with great speed. This grabbed both my and Big One's attention and we all ended up on our knees on the kitchen floor racing our speedy ladybirds! Not a game that I had envisioned, but great fun nevertheless.

I still have some more colour fun activities up my sleeve, so stay tuned. (And be sure to go check out Amanda's amazing blog!)

Pot Scourer Possibilities

  Plastic mesh pot scourers equals crafty goodness!

 Requirements: 

pipe cleaners, coloured paper, pom poms, plastic eyes, feathers, glue, and plastic mesh pot scourers (of course)

                                                   

Big One and I had such fun creating these. I'll not say who did what...but it was a hit!

                                                               

PS. I am linking this to two wonderful link parties: "Show and Tell" at ABC and 123  and "Tot Tuesdays" at My Delicious Ambiguity.   

PSS. The second picture is a little handbag, just in case you weren't sure. :)                                                              

No-Sew Caterpillar and Butterfly

As you may know I am a great fan of Memetales, an online e-book resource. 

Ditto The Butterfly

See more at memetales

Ditto The Butterfly is the sweetest story about a little butterfly who learns that it is important to drink from different flowers to become a beautiful multicoloured butterfly. The story aims to encourage children to have a well-balanced diet and to try out different foods.

I have been  inspired to do caterpillar crafts lately and did a post on The Very Hungry Caterpillar a little while ago. So when Big One and I read  this story about Ditto, I thought it would lend itself beautifully to this craft that we had been working on. I don't sew (except for buttons), so I needed to make this without a needle or cotton in sight. I was very pleased with the result and have put together a little tutorial for you.

You need socks (little ones), batting, elastic bands, plastic eyes and pipe cleaners. Simply take a piece of batting about the size of a golf ball and push it into the toe part of the sock. Shape it into a nice ball and when you are happy with the size, seal it off with an elastic band. I used elastic bands in colours that matched the colour of the socks. Continue until you get to the end of the sock. There will probably be a little bit of sock left at the end. Then attach the pipe cleaner, by inserting it through the top elastic band at the caterpillar's head and bend it to make two antennae. Attach some eyes and there you go...a no-sew caterpillar!

To turn your caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly, cut out some wings from felt and glue onto the body of the caterpillar. You can then decorate your wings with some more coloured felt.

We, however, wanted to make a craft that we could pair with this sweet story of Ditto, so we made a garden and attached some felt flowers with velcro. We then also added velcro to our butterfly's wings, so that when she goes to drink from a flower, you can remove the flower from the garden and add it to her wings. So as she drinks from the different coloured flowers, her wings become multicoloured, just as in the story!

You could add the velcro to either side of the butterfly's wings. I think it would look nice either way.  You could also add a mouth. We thought that the sock's seam looked like a gentle smile, so we didn't add anything extra.

PS. I linked this to:

Making the World Cuter Monday 

Show and Tell @ ABC and 123 

A Story and Art @ A Mommy's Adventures

StART: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

"StART" is the brain child of Michelle at A Mommy's Adventures. She encourages you to read a story to your child and then do an art project of your choice, based on the book you have read. I just love the idea and think it's such a good one, because what can be simpler than taking a great book as inspiration for an art project. You may be thinking that arts-and-crafts are just not your thing, but the truth of the matter is that most children would be happy to simply draw a picture about a book they have read, especially if they know that Mom is a participant of sorts in the event. Without me ever formally introducing this idea, my older son has done many StART projects spontaneously. He is often inspired by a book and comes up with wonderful ideas. I will definitely be sharing some of his creations with you in future posts.

Another fun part of StART is that after you have completed your art project, you can  link up to Michelle's blog (that is if you have a blog of your own) and share your ideas with other blogging Moms. So we are joining the fun and have decided to use " The Very Hungry Caterpillar" as our first book inspired art project.

Both boys thoroughly enjoyed the story. I love that my Big One is not too big to enjoy stories like these. For our art project we found these super cute craft packs from Play2Learn. My lovely friend Grietjie is a consultant for these terrific products and you can email her at joyfulmama@telkomsa.net  if you would like to purchase some. They cost only R20 and you can make two caterpillars/worms from each packet.

These were so easy to make. All you need is some thin wire, foam circles, beads and some eyes. The wire easily pierces the foam and the only tricky part was gluing the face on.

I really love this book. It teaches children about the life cycle of the butterfly, the days of the week, counting and about healthy eating. It also has die-cut pages which allows for some interactive fun. I went and checked out Eric Carle's website and blog and was surprised to discover that the book celebrated it's fortieth anniversary last year. Eric Carle also shares that his illustrations are collages, made from his own hand-painted tissue paper. I must say that I am inspired to do some tissue paper art after reading about this. If you would like to read up more about Eric Carle, you will find his website here and his blog here. Enjoy!

I hope that this has encouraged you to do a book and art project this week.  If you are looking for some more ideas, pop over to A Mommy's Adventures and have a look at all the StART posts.  I will also be sharing many more of these with you in future posts.

PS. I linked this to Making the World Cuter Monday