This is a project I like to do every year with my boys… It lasts a long time and looks adorable as a Thanksgiving decoration! It also helps them think about everything they are thankful for…
To start you need to cut some feather out. You could use white paper and let them decorate the feathers or you could use different colors of construction paper, either will work! Then ask your children to write (or write it for them)one thing they are thankful for on each feather. I got everything from bananas, horses, and toys to family, friends, and our home. This year I jotted their answers down on paper “feathers” and let them use crayons to decorate them.
After they were done decorating their feathers, I taped each feather to a bamboo skewer. My idea was to push the feathers into a pie sized pumpkin that we had leftover from Halloween, but sadly they were a little softer than I liked. So instead I poked them into a squash (I would have gone out and bought another pumpkin but my thrifty husband suggested the squash)… I quickly cut out a face, eyes and beak from construction paper and attached them to the bottom of the squash and we have the cutest little Thanksgiving Centerpiece. Depending on the age of your kids, they could do the drawing and cutting, as well. It was very easy and very quick.
I just love that it got them thinking about being thankful. On Thanksgiving I hope they will be just as excited to ask our relatives what they are thankful for!
Gobble Gobble!
The family and I are in Omaha, Nebraska visiting friends for Halloween… Between the two families we have 6 boys! My friend Lynn had to orchestrate her son’s school party and so we came up with this easy craft for her to do with them. My boys stayed home and we made the craft as well… It’s super easy, super cute, and might kill some time before trick or treating… All you need is paper, Q-tips, and glue!
To make:
1. Cut out a skeleton head and draw a face!
2. Glue the head to a black piece of paper and then let your child use the glue to stick on the q-tips. We tried two different methods and both worked fine. We put the glue directly on the paper and stuck the q-tip to it and then we also put the glue directly on the q-tip. Both methods worked well!
3. For the phalanges break the q-tips in half. It’s easier to bend them then to cut them!
4. VIOLA!
Well, the big truck just pulled away and we are on the adventure of our lives! Being that we’re in the midst of a move, we are “skipping” Halloween this year 🙂 Well not really, we are celebrating at a friends house, but we are not decorating outside! My friend Jessica posted these on her FB wall the other day and I knew you all would love them! Jessica used to be my daycare provider, the craftiest one in town! Jessica has her own fun blog at http://sizeelevens.blogspot.com/ check her out!
Mason Jars, any size
Tissue paper
Mod Podge
Paint Brush
Glue
Ribbon or paint for the tops (explained below) and Kid Helpers!
Step 1: Find several
old mason jars. You won’t be using these
babies again to can anything. I think
varying the sizes is fun, especially if you are making a ‘family’ of lanterns,
like we did.
Step 2: Pick out a
color of tissue paper. Lay the tissue
paper out on a hard surface. Lightly
cover ¼ of a mason jar with Mod Podge.
With ½ inch of tissue paper overlapping the top of your jar, start
rolling the jar on the paper, adding more Mod Podge as you go around. Basically, you are covering the outside of
the jar with the paper. Remember: less Mod Podge the better. A little bit goes a long way with this stuff,
especially when using thin tissue paper.
Too much and you are in for one sticky mess. Other tutorials have you cut ½ inch strips of
tissue paper and glue each individual strip to the jar. TIME CONSUMING!!!! We tried this with the first jar and gave up
quickly. Plus the kids were already
signed out, on the couch watching cartoons.
Not good!
(I must
have actually used this one Mason jar to can something. Just this one. The dishwasher did not do its job. Good thing we are covering it up!)
Step 3: Place some
Mod Podge along the inside lip of the jar and fold the extra ½ inch of tissue
paper inside the jar. Cut off enough
excess along the bottom of the jar, add some more Mod Podge and fold the excess
over again to cover any remaining areas not covered by tissue paper. Miss a spot?
Rip off some tissue paper, add some glue and cover your spot. This really is a fool-proof craft. The more mistakes, the better! In the end, the mistakes make for one creeeeppppyyyy
lantern!!!!!! Pick a variation of tissue
paper colors and complete Steps 1-3 for all of your jars. Let them dry completely overnight. It’s a good idea to put them on some type of
non-stick surface…a cookie sheet covered with tin foil worked well for us. Pulling dried Mod Podged jars off your nice
countertops in the morning might not be the best way to start off your day.
Step 4: Add faces and
ribbon to your jars! We printed these faces
from Not So Idle Hands and cut out each
face. We used regular school glue to
attach them to the jars and the hold seemed to work great. We also picked out some coordinating ribbon
and hot glued a strip around the top and/or bottom. We put a few faces on upside down so the tops
of the jars were actually on the bottom.
Step 5: Put these
beauties on display on a window sill in your home. The natural light shines through well enough
for that great lantern glow. If you
want, put a small tea candle in the jars and light them for your Spooky
Halloween dinner! Be careful! If you go the candle route, the jars will get
very hot! You can also add a string of
Christmas lights inside the jars for a different lighting option.
What do you think about these cuties? The same craft can be used for other holidays
as well. Christmas, Easter or
Thanksgiving! Give them a try!
Still feeling a hidden surge of Halloween craftiness coming
on? Find an old strand of white
Christmas lights, small plastic white cups and googly eyes. Warm up your hot glue gun. Stick a few eyes on the skinnier end (turn
the cup upside down) of 18-10 cups. With
a sharp knife, cut a small X shape slit on the bottom of each cup. Gently push the cup over a light bulb, evenly
spacing the cups throughout the entire stand of lights. This will vary depending on what size stand
you start with. Plug into the nearest
outlet and enjoy your spooky lighted ghost garland!
SUPPLIES:
9.5×11 orange construction paper (you can use bigger paper for bigger pumpkins)
Black, Green, or Brown construction paper for stem (and face if you want)
Glue/Glue Stick
Stapler (or glue again)
DIRECTIONS:
Cut one inch strips out of the orange construction paper. For my preschoolers I first fan folded the paper and then let them cut along the folded lines. This seemed to work pretty well for them. The bigger pumpkins were fan folded the “long” way and the smaller pumpkins the “short” way.
Take the one inch strips and lay them out like a “sun” making sure that the ends of each of the orange pieces are on top of each other. Glue these ends together. Pinch them together to make sure they are stuck. Then curve the other pieces up again so the tops of the paper are overlapping at the top. I then staple these together so that they are certain to stay together.
To add the stem I just folded one end of the paper and had them glue it to the top. We then added the faces, pom pom balls etc.. with glue! EASY PEEZY! Here is a close up of one of the ones my three year old made. You can see that he did the cutting, glueing etc.. It’s not “perfect” but it is more adorable than perfect in my eyes…
Yesterday was my son’s 6th birthday. We are in the middle of a move so I decided that hosting a party in a house full of boxes was out of the question! We thought about the things that Sutton loves and the things he loves to do and came up with DONUTS… Yep, the boy loves Saturday morning donut runs…. We knew some friends of friends who owned a local donut shop so my handsome hubby called them up and asked them if they’d do “parties” and guess what, they DID… So it was set, Sutton’s party would be at “Yo-Yo Donuts”! I made some invites on my computer that said “You DONUT want to miss Sutton’s 6th Birthday”… Nothing fancy, just a picture of a donut and the details! The other thing I did prior to the party was order some “favors”… I ended up going with a Curious George book about donuts that I found on Amazon. I also wanted to make some felt donuts, but ended up ordering them from Etsy (because of the craziness of the move), which was a much better idea…
OK, Party time… The children arrived and they colored some different donut coloring sheets for about 5 minutes until everyone was there… The owner of the bakery (Mr. Chris) was the guy who “ran” the party and the children thought he was great! He explained to them a little bit about being bakers and then they all made bakers hats to keep their hair from falling in the donuts (HA HA)!
After the bakers hats were complete he took them into the donut kitchen…
This was awesome! I think the parents loved this as much as the kids did! We learned about how they mix the dough, get the air out of the dough, roll out the dough, cut the dough, and the differences between the two donut doughs they use! We even got to see his big fridge and freezer!
At Yo-Yo donuts they are known for their funky flavors and varieties of donuts. They are well known for their S’MORES donut which Mr. Chris taught us how to make…
After we toured the bakery we had to get suited up for donut decorating… This meant we needed APRONS… The kids used fabric markers to make their aprons all their own!
Then it was time… DONUT DECORATING… Mr. Chris gave them all sorts of fun things to decorate with… We had gummy worms, Oreos, fruit loops, sprinkles, and frosting in all sorts of colors.
After Donut decorating we packaged the children’s donuts up so they could take them home… Then Sutton got to open his gifts! I love how young children are so excited to give gifts… They all wanted him to open their gift first, it was adorable! After gifts we sang Happy Birthday and ate DONUTS from the cool donut tower Yo-Yo made!
After we had them all sugared up we played some donut games….
It was almost time for our party to commence… I read the children the Curious George book and Sutton passed out his favors! Since most of the parents stayed for the party, the children gathered their things, gave big hugs and were on their way! It was a special party for our very special 6 year old! No matter where you live, I suggest calling a local bakery and seeing if they do birthday parties! If you live in the Minneapolis area call YO-YO! We had a lot of fun and learned a lot too! Thank you Mr. Chris and Yo-Yo donuts!
What you’ll need:
Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting… Just use your favorite recipe!
Oreo Cookies
M & M’s
Candy Corns
The hardest part of this project is separating the Oreo Cookies… Twist them very carefully!
Super easy, super cute!
A couple days ago we went on a fall leaf hunt around the neighborhood… I wanted to make something that was different than the traditional rubbings, trees etc.. so I decided on a turkey… We are in the middle of a move so everything seems to take a little bit longer so I apologize if you Mommyapolis Face Book friends have been waiting for these pics… I’ve also found that I am quickly forgetting about October, so sorry if this is a little early for you! Save your leaves and make these in time for Thanksgiving… You’ll need construction paper in brown, orange and red… Colorful leaves, googley eyes and GLUE! I did the paper parts the boys did everything else!
Here is the process…
Yesterday was my hubby and my 8th anniversary… I never know what to get him for any holiday, but especially an anniversary. This year I decided to get him “8 Dates”… I like these kinds of gifts because they are interactive and FREE (at least yesterday they were free)… OH and it rhymes, I love to rhyme!
OK, you can do this and not rhyme. You could do 12 dates, or 6 dates or what ever… It actually turned out to be kind of fun. Here is what I did…..
I brought 8 envelopes and 8 notecards to the restaurant. I tied them up all cute in a little bow and wrote “8 Dates” on a little tag…. I explained to him that we had a “craft” to do (which he didn’t think was very funny)… He actually said “I didn’t bring my camera,” LOL!
During dessert I took out the note cards and we brainstormed different date ideas we thought might be fun. We came up with 8 ideas ranging from picnics, hikes and outdoor concerts to dinner in a new area and watching the sunset… We put the notecards in the envelopes and sealed them. We tied them back up in a cute little bow and decided that we would pick one date out each month (skipping 4 months maybe when it’s crazy busy). Now we are just praying we don’t get “outdoor concert” in February! We made some rules about exchanging envelopes only for WEATHER purposes etc… If you live in a warm climate you fortunately won’t run into this issue!
We actually had a lot of fun talking about the dates and I think we were both excited for our first date card…
Let me know if you try it and what you come up with! I’d love to hear your date ideas!
Yesterday Sutton had a play date after school. He goes to half day Kindergarten so he is done with school at 11:15. It’s just so crazy when you get to the age of having play dates that are not centered around the Mom’s having coffee at the park, but rather another child coming home with your child after school…I picked up Sutton & Rosie and we headed to the park… After the park we went home for some lunch and play time. The two of them are both very “artsy” so they wanted to do a craft… I had to think quickly, but love this time of year so I have a head full of October crafts! We decided to make spider webs and spiders! This craft is not only adorable, it’s fun too! Here is how you can do this at home:
construction paper for background (any “halloween” color, I chose purple, but I’ve also done this with orange paper)
black construction paper for spider
tempera paint in coordinating halloween color ( I chose orange, but purple would be fun on orange paper)
marble
google eyes
lid to a box or tub
Put the marble in the paint and roll it around until it is covered
Put the construction paper in the box lid
Place the marble in the box (on top of the construction paper) and let your child roll the marble around making a ‘web’ like design
You may need to re dip the marble a couple of times to get the desired web design
Set your picture aside to dry
Trace something circular on black construction paper for the spider’s body, I used a jar of salsa 🙂 that was out from lunch!
Cut 8 half inch strips of black paper for the legs
Accordion fold/fan fold the strips of black paper so the legs are wiggly
Glue the legs onto the body of the spider
Glue the entire body and legs onto the web you painted earlier.
Add the google eyes
TADA…. OK on that note, my kids have taken several art classes at a local studio and at the end of the class they always have “TADA” time, I think this is so sweet!
Hi, My name is Shannon Dodds! I am the wife of Ben, mommy of the S brothers and legal guardian of Wrigley. I have taught elementary school for 12 years, have a hard time keeping my house clean, love warm weather, gardens, and a good book! Join us on our adventure!
mommyapolis 
