Lion and the Lamb Craft

I made these cute lion and lamb handprints with my preschool class last year. These are perfect for discussing how March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. These would also be great for Easter.

For the lion, I made a mixture of yellow and brown (just a little) paint to make that sort of mustard color. I painted the children’s palms with the paint and made a handprint on thick paper. For the lion’s mane, I cut up small strips of brown construction paper and rolled them around a pen to get them to curl. Actually, I had one of my student’s help me with this task because she loves to help. We glued the strips for the mane, made a tail of yarn, and then I added the face. Definitely cute and simple.

For the lamb, I traced the children’s hand onto a black piece of construction paper. If they had good cutting skills, I let them cut out their own handprint. Then we added torn pieces of cotton for a fluffy look, wiggle eyes, and a drawn on mouth. I’m not too thrilled with the face on this lamb, but you live and learn. I’m sure there’s something cuter that could be done. Maybe next time.

I hope you enjoy making these fun and inexpensive crafts.

Wordless Wednesday: Naughty Kitty

Fish are yummy!

Online Fun for the Kids

I have a 4-year-old little girl so I try to stay on top of websites that would interest her. Here are some that I've found:

AGkidzone is awesome! They have videos, games, printables, and activities. We played a game the other day and after each level, you could print off a coloring page. On their site you will find Holly Hobbie, Strawberry Shortcake, and Care Bears.

Noggin also has tons of things for kids to do. There are printables, video, games, activities, and all sorts of things from some of your favorite Nick Jr characters.

Nick Jr has a lot of the same kinds of things that Noggin has. Nick Jr also has some Holly Hobbie activities and recipes.

PBS Kids has music, games, and coloring.

Here are some other sites I've recently found. We'll be trying these out soon.

• Berenstain Bears
• Hershey's Syrup Kid's Zone
• Playhouse Disney
• Lite Brite
• Little People

Let me know what fun activities you have found on the internet.

Jan Brett's Word Family Charts

Jan Brett has word family charts on her site that you can print off. Aren't they cute? The charts have the 37 most frequently used word family patterns. From these patterns, a child can master 500 primary words. Click here to see the large collection of printable phonograms.

Painting with Ice

A few weeks ago, my daughter's preschool class learned about winter. One day the teacher made ice cubes with food coloring and then left the kids "paint" with them. I thought this was a pretty neat idea.

Crafting Tip

Making and gluing crafts can many times be quite a pain with all of the glue running every where. Liquid glue takes a long time to dry and sometimes papers accidentally get stuck together. Children sometimes don't understand that they don't have to use the whole bottle. And if you try to use glue sticks, sometimes they don't put enough glue, they clump it up in one spot, or they use too much and the glue sticks can be costly.

Here is a trick that I learned while teaching preschool. I've used it for years and it works great. Save an old plastic frosting container and lid. Put about an inch of liquid glue in it. Use an art paint brush for spreading the glue around.

I have found that children are more likely to spread the glue around more evenly and they see it as a fun painting activity. You don't have to worry so much about them squirting glue everywhere and you don't have to worry about the bottle of glue drying up. We bought the large containers of Elmer's for our class, but you could probably use the smaller ones. It's great to buy those at the beginning of the school year during the back to school specials. You can usually pick them up for 20 cents a bottle. Another great thing is that you can add a little water to the glue to thin it out some (which I usually do) and you can add paint and glitter to it. You can also add a little water to it if it starts to thicken too much.

Hope this crafting tip helps!

Pizza Hut Book It! Homeschool Program

Pizza Hut's Book It! Program rewards children's reading accomplishments with praise, recognition, and pizza. Enrollment is now open for homeschooled children in grades kindergarten through sixth. Click here for more information.

Thanks to my friend Jennifer at iMommies for the tip.

Fun-Filled Friday: Valentine Edition

Valentine's Day is less than a week away, so here are some links to give you plenty of ideas.

50 Nifty Valentines

Heart Collage

Conversation Heart Votive Candle Craft

Play Clay Hearts

Barrettes

Bracelets

Napkin Rings

A Kid's Heart

Heart Pattern

Star Pattern

Connect the Dots

10+ Valentine Games

Bingo

Bookmarks

Printables from Jan Brett

PBS Valentine Printables

Custom Coupons

Word Search

Maze

Coloring Pages

Clip Art

Have you found any neat Valentine ideas? If so, leave a link below. :)

Teddy Ruxpin DVDs Winner

Congratulations to "jafarhie". She has won the Teddy Ruxpin dvds. Please check your email inbox or junk mail box for an email from me.

Thanks to everyone for participating. If she does not claim her prize, another winner will be selected.

Stay tuned . . . I will have some Valentine links for you later today.

Fun Valentine Crafts

Here is a picture of some Valentine crafts I made last year with my preschool class.

1) Heart collage - Thankfully, I had a die cut machine to help out with all of the hearts. What a time saver! I just gave the children a bunch of different hearts to choose from and let them paint the glue on the paper and attach the hearts. If you're brave, you could throw in a little glitter. ;)

2) Painted hearts - These are painted hearts we did with marbles. I cut heart shapes from large cardstock style paper. I dipped the marbles into different colors of paint. I put the large heart into a box top (such as one that comes with copy paper) and used spoons to dip the marbles out of the paint and put them onto the heart. The students will turn the box top all different ways to make marble designs on their heart.

3) Valentine cards - I let the students add hearts to the cards with my foam stampers and some hearts cut from construction paper. Although this card doesn't show it, I used their hands to make a heart. To make the heart I put paint on each of their hands and pressed their hands (fingers down), overlapping the thumbs. Handprint art is always a hit. They also used heart stickers to decorate the cards.

They also made Valentine bags with white lunch bags. They used markers and hearts that I had cut from construction paper to decorate their bags. I hung them on the bulletin board so that they could get Valentines in their bags throughout the week.

I really like to do the golf ball paint/marble paint activity. This works for many occasions. For Christmas, you could paint on a green Christmas tree and add some sequins or beads for ornaments. For St. Patrick’s Day you could use this activity for a shamrock. It’s very versatile and the kids really enjoy this activity.

Free Subscription to Family Fun Magazine

I’m excited to announce that you can get a year’s subscription to Disney’s Family Fun magazine just by registering with the Party City website. The Family Fun magazine has lots of great ideas for crafts, games, recipes, and other great family friendly fun. Click here for the free subscription. Thanks for my friend Jennifer at iMommies for this great tip.