Fabulous Fish

Another weekend spent at the beach so another beach inspired craft. These fish are super easy, require minimal preparation and are very toddler friendly.

We used:
Paper Plates ~ smallish ones which were great as they didn't take long and the kids didn't loose interest
Patty Pans ~ I cut these into halves or the larger ones into quarters
Glue Sticks
Sticker Dots ~ We added these for eyes but you could add googly eyes or just draw the eye on
Stapler
Scissors

I cut approx a quarter out of the plates to make a mouth opening and used the left over piece to form the tail.

Attach the left over quarter to the opposite side of the mouth using staples.

We then used glue sticks to paste the cut up patty pans all over our fish, they made brilliant scales as they didn't sit completely flat.

One of our very cute fish.

The variations of fish created, many scales verses minimalist.

Our completed school of fish up at Playgroup.

Simple Sorting

I came across this idea on the Crafty Mumma's Facebook page and loved it. Such a simple activity to make and educational too!!
So here's how we did it. While Master E and Miss M were asleep I added coloured paper spots to the bottom of an egg carton for some colour matching fun.
We headed outside to see what we could find!

All ready for some matching! 

Master E picking some RED leaves to pop into the red spot.

Slowly getting there. White flower, red leaves, brown stick, green leaves, purple flowers!

Miss M was keen to help but not so great at working out where things should go.

All done, we found something for each spot minus the light blue! Master E got right into the matching and was really good at finding the colours. He did need a bit of direction, for example I would say "Can you find something to put in the white spot?" and off he would go searching for the appropriate colour. With some of the more difficult colours I would prompt with "I can see something for the blue spot" followed by a location.   

Master E was really into this one and when we came inside he started to do some matching with his cars.

Fruit and Vegetable Printing

This is a really simple and very effective printing activity. Choose a variety of fruits and vegetable to create prints from. We used potatoes, orange and apples. If you cut the apple across ways and remove the seeds you reveal a fabulous star shape which looks brilliant when printing. 

I cut a few apples, oranges and potatoes in half and mixed up some simple colours in poster paints on some lids from margarine containers.

The fruit and vegetables were cut into chunky pieces that were easy for little hands to hold. 

Sliding the fruit and veg made some great colouring mixing occur!

We also had some great paint pads which worked brilliantly with the oranges showing all of the lines and details very clearly.

 Some hand painting and face painting added to the sensory experience.   

 The results were simple yet very effective and will look great on my wall!

Simple Butterfly Fun!

Another wet day here, so here is a simple wet day craft.

Here is what we started with, a wooden peg, some pipe cleaners and tissue paper.

Master E decided on red wings, so I cut him a piece of tissue paper to use. He need help to twist it and pop inside the peg. We then added a pipe cleaner for antennae which we twisted through the peg.

Master E adding some colour to the body and some eyes and a mouth.

The finished butterfly off for a fly!

This is a really simple craft that takes no time. Master E did need quiet a bit of help, but enjoyed it all the same!

Treasure Hunting (for pegs)!!!

My Cheeky Monkey's absolutely love clothes pegs and since we are in the lead up to Easter I thought we might need a bit of hunting practice. This was a really quick and easy activity to set up ( I quickly hid approx 30 clothes pegs around our undercover area of the backyard for Master E and Miss M to collect all while they watched an episode of Peppa Pig!)

So here is what we had 2 buckets (1 for each monkey) and lots of clothes pegs.

Since Miss M is only 18 months and Master E is 2.5years I made sure not to make the hiding too difficult.

Some more of our hidden pegs!

As soon as Master E walked out the back door he commented  "ohhhh Mummy Pegs." So I gave him and Miss M a bucket and set them off.

There was lots of talking about on and off when they moved the pegs. Lots of under and on top of. Some sharing also occurred when Master E realised Miss M didn't have many pegs he helped her find some and then gave her some of his own!

Pegs were in the most unusual places!

Of course the pegs had to go for a ride in the back of the bike.

Found some more on the gate.

And in the garden!

Once we had collected all the pegs it led to a discussion about who had more and we had to do a quick count, followed by some colour sorting.

Our simple Treasure Hunt ended up being a bit of a Maths Lesson with lots of directional words used, some counting and sorting. Not bad for having fun!!!

Easy Outdoor Fun

It's a glorious day here so why not head outside for some fun in the sun. Here are a couple of easy things to do to entertain your toddler outside.

A watering can and a bucket of water keeps Master E busy!

A bucket of chalk is always a winner. Let them draw, write and scribble until their heart is content and the next time it rains it will be easily washed away!

Bubbles!! Even Miss M loves trying to blow bubbles.

Enjoy! We will be adding lots more simple outside activities in the weeks to come!

Simple Fine Motor Fun

Looking for something simple to keep the kids amused for awhile. This is so easy and a great fine motor activity. I filled a couple of old egg cartons with various sized and textured pompoms. Left some small ice tongs with them and let the kids explore.

Wow, look what's in here! 

Master E working out how to use the tongs and getting a cup to put his pompoms into.

Good squeezing. Lots of chat about in and out.

Miss M was keen to have a go but got frustrated when she couldn't manipulate the tongs and used her fingers instead.

Practising some more in and out.

Beautiful Butterflies ~ Inspired by The Very Hungry Caterpillar

 The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is the current favourite book in our house so we have been trying to think of as many butterfly and caterpillar related crafts as we can.


You will need some thin coloured card, clear contact and we used pre cut paper mosaic squares.

I had already pre cut the shapes of the butterflies and and stuck the contact to the back so there was a  sticky side for the children to stick there squares straight onto, no need for glue.

Miss L very carefully sticking her squares onto the contact.

Miss M was having lots of fun once she got the idea.

Miss G, took the most care and was very carefully putitng her squares on. She was very carefully selecting the colours and seeking out the pink!

Master E had a different approach. Just tip as many of the squares as you can and then shake off the rest. A very efficient way of getting you butterfly decorated.

Testing one of the butterflies on our window to see how it looked. 

Busy creating, and having fun spreading the mosaic squares across the lounge room.

Miss G very proudly showing off her finished butterfly.

The finished masterpieces. Looking fabulous!!!