Hungry Baby Birds

This week our main focus has been birds and their families. It tied in great with both Brown Bear, Brown Bear as well as the topic of family. We discussed how baby birds are dependent on their parents for food, and shelter much like they rely on us for the same thing and how the Lord has given us (as parents) the job  to protect them and care for them. They have been especially fascinated with how both parent birds feed their babies. I found THIS book at the library and it was a perfect fit. I decided I wanted a craft that would replicate a baby bird with an open beak.

Here's what you need

• toilet paper roll
• googly eyes
• two orange construction paper triangles (beak)
• two diamond shaped construction paper cutouts in whatever color you chose (in our case it was red)
• paint (for bird body)
• glue

1. first color your whole roll whatever color you would like your bird to be (allow to dry)

2. glue your triangles on the top portion of the roll (this should look like an opened beak

3. glue wings on side of roll and fold to look like they are flapped open

4. glue eyes on side under one of the beak triangles (allow to dry)

The idea is for it to look like a baby bird with  its head back and mouth opened. 

The next day for snack I pulled these little birds out and told them we needed to feed the baby birds too. I was inspired by My Nearest and Dearest' "eat like a bird" exercise.

What you need. 

• small snack (nuts, dried fruit,) something they can pinch. 
• baby bird (from craft above) 
• a plate to catch food underneath
• tweezers or tongs

I had the boys pick up one berry at a time using the tongs and "feed" the baby. Wolf had a hard time with the tongs so we opted for him to use his hands. The tongs we used were a little big but Bear seemed to get the hang of it. We also tried using a pair of fine point tweezers. If I had to do this again I would have wished we had kid plastic tweezers. But it worked with what we had on hand. 

After filling  the baby birds belly we lifted up the bird and enjoyed the snack ourselves. Now the boys can't stop talking about the babies being hungry again. Looks like we may have to give this another go soon.

Leaf Printing and Palm Sunday

Sometime last week while playing outside I got the idea of doing a Palm Sunday craft that involved leaf printing. We went out and collected a few leaves and set ourselves up for an easy craft.

Materials needed
*green construction paper
*paints (we used light green, green, and yellow)
*collected leaves
*paint brush

There wasn't a whole lot of direction with this one. I was more curious to see how they were going to use their tools. Bear started painting the leaves themselves and later started stamping them on the paper while Wolf finger painted more and explored the leaves later. It was a very easy open ended project that  every kid will do differently.

I  later decided to cut out a donkey out of soft cardboard (cereal box) and have them paint it brown and cut the leaf print into a palm shape. I taped the donkey to the palm leaf and 'poof' you've got yourself a whole Palm Sunday craft.

Humpty Dumpty Puppet

image source 

Despite snotty noses and and extra naps there was only so much TV these boys were willing to watch before they started getting a little restless. We managed to get this little craft done. 

I got the idea from Hubbard's Cupboard yet again. I cut and glued the egg shaped paper to the bag and also pre-cut eyes, arms, legs, hands and feet. I laid out some markers and a glue stick and let him go to town. Only explaining to him that Humpty needed a face. It was a similar process to what we did last fall with our Jack O'lanterns but with a different result. He actually got the placement of the eyes right. 

It is so amazing how fast our children learn and process things. Even the most simple craft project can make you see how quickly they are growing. 

Easter's on its way!!!

There are so many wonderful things about Spring. Flowers blooming, more sunshine and of course Easter. Although the whole lunar calendar always throws me off but never the less it is a holiday that we are so blessed to celebrate. The boys Bubbie sent over a few simple Easter story books that we have been reading together and she actually lead me to Hubbard's Cupboard. They have an awesome lesson plan for 2 year olds that ties in crafts, scripture and fun activities for the whole month. I read through it and the basis of the lesson plan sounds simple and fun while leaving a few spots that I may want to change or add on to. What's great is that most of the activities shown are either with things that you might already have in your art supplies or items that you could easily pick up at your local dollar store.

Our first activity we tried was this eraser sorting game. I picked up a couple packs of these erasers at the dollar store and pulled out a few small plastic containers for the boys to sort with. At first I placed one type of eraser in each container letting B sort out the rest. He quickly got the hang of it and did it a few more times before starting to make simple patterns on the table with them. W got the idea of sorting but not putting them in each container. After he sorted them he would place them back in one container and do it again.

I enjoyed the fact that it was a perfect dinner making game since it is easy to clean up and it kept the boys occupied for some time. Definitely something that we will be doing again through out the month.


*** p.s. in the first image you can spot Bear's sport injury on his forehead that I mentioned in this post. What a trooper. **

Cardboard picture frame and Giveaway (closed)

As a child and even to this day I have been fascinated with how things are made or how things work. When I was little I have vivid memories of  watching Mr. Rogers' crayon factory tour and thinking it was  the greatest thing ever. When I was recently sent a few Curiosity Quest DVDs I was pretty excited. If you haven't heard of Curiosity Quest it is a family show that airs on PBS. Kids submit things they are curious about and host Joel Greene goes out and answers it a very hands on unscripted way. It sounded right up my alley. 

Here's what I loved about the show. I appreciate that although it is a kids show it engages the whole family, I was entertained and actually learned a few things along the way. Joel is a great host, he is  engaging and friendly but not talking to my kids through the screen (i.e. Blues Clues, Dora type shows). Bear totally loved it. (We don't always watch TV so it is nice to have a few quality shows I use as a special treat from time to time). You can be inspired and actually opens a dialog between your kids.

We watched the Family Recycling episode from their CQ goes Green series. I was automatically interested in scaling this down to something that made sense to the boys. Here is what we came up with.

                                            Upcycled cardboard box picture frames

What you need: cardboard box, scissors, glue, scraps of paper or paint, masking tape

1. I sketched out and cut the shape of the frame and measured and cut out the center according to the size of my picture. My picture was 4x6 so I cut the center half an inch smaller all around (3.5x5.5). 

    2. I had a few scrapes of construction paper that I tore into small pieces and had B glue around the frame 

      

I also had W finger paint his frame since that is easier for him to do.

Once dry I cut out a small square of cardboard to stick to the back I tried glue but later realized that it was hard to get the picture in once dry. I opted for placing my photo inside the frame first and then taping the back with painters tape since it can be easily removed if I choose to change the picture.

3. If you have takeout restaurant magnets you can glue one on the back and hang it on your fridge, or you can glue some ribbon to hang. 

I love that these can be great holiday gifts for the family made by your little ones and even better that it is all recycled material. 

I have even better news. Curiosity Quest also sent me two extra DVDs to giveaway to one lucky reader. These are great gifts and stocking stuffers so it's a perfect time for it. Good Luck! The winner will be announced here December 12th. Sorry, USA and Canada residents only. 

For more information and list of episodes be sure to check out their site. Just click on the image below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
**This is a sponsored post and giveaway. All opinions were my own and would only recommend things that I would sincerely use on my own**


UPDATE 12/11: Congratulations to Jamie R. Please send me your info at cuteandpeculiar (at) gmail

Pumpkin Stamping

 After we had our pumpkin science we decided to be resourceful and use our gutted pumpkin again. This time we did pumpkin stamping. Although you will only get a stamp of the outline of the cut pumpkin it still worked out. I gave Bear a brush and he traced around the pumpkin which was a great way to reinforce CIRCLE which we have been working on this past week.

Wolf of the other hand flipped that little pumpkin half right over and painted the inside. Well after the attempted to eat the paint of course. What is it with my boys and their silly faces? W in this last picture makes me laugh every time.

More leaf activties

       

       

       

   Well fall is officially upon us. How exciting!!! I have yet another leaf activity to share with you. (what can I say...we have been taking a lot of walks and leaves are free. It's a win win people!!!) This time it is from The Artful Year: Autumn crafts and recipe e-book.

Our first project we decided to make was her Fall Leaf Suncatchers. As you can see Bear was really focused on his work here. I mean seriously look at those chubby toddler hands at work. So cute. (okay doting mommy moment over). The results were lovely and I especially liked the fact that it was a craft that Bear could easily make.

If you are looking for Autumn activities to do with your little ones this season this e-book is well worth the money. With 78 pages of lovely pictures displaying each activity it is as much eye candy as it is instructional. There are so many great ideas. I have been reading the Artful Parent for some time now and am excited to be an affiliate for such a great book. For a sneak peek and info on how to purchase just click on the image above or on the sidebar. I can't wait to get started on a few of these.