Thursday, May 28, 2015

Robots
The kids had such fun building  their robots today. 
I love to watch their creativity as they glue all 
sorts of odds and ends onto the robot. I started out
with some cardboard squares. I am a craft hoarder so 
I had pieces of light weight cardboard in my craft cupboard.
You can always just cut cereal boxes, or use poster board.
 I then cut toilet paper rolls in half for the body and cut  a smaller piece
for the head. (Cut them in half long ways). I covered them in foil
 and used the hot glue gun to attach them securely to the cardboard.
For this project we used tacky glue. Its a thick glue that holds
better than white glue. I gave the kids little cups of glue with a q-tip.
I then set out  cut up colored craft sticks,  cut up straws, small washers, 
nuts, bolts, buttons, and beads. The kids had such fun 
 with this craft, they even gave their robots names!
Supplies needed
cardboard
foil
toilet paper rolls
tacky glue & q tips
assorted "junk" for gluing onto robot




Tuesday, May 26, 2015


I'm back sharing more make it take it crafts!
These past six months have been a difficult season 
for me as well as for my family. In October my mother suffered a stroke. 
In November my mother in law suffered a stroke. My husband and I  
along with our siblings, their wives and our children were
 overcome with great sadness as we learned our mothers/grandmothers
 would not survive the massive strokes they had had. We gathered together 
and spent as much time as we could at our mothers side, soothing them, reminiscing 
about our childhood, and just being there capturing every moment with 
them we could. We were blessed to have them in the same care facility. 
Helen passed away Dec 5th. My mother Joyce passed away May 24th. 
It was bittersweet saying good bye to our mothers as 
God greeted them with open arms. We can smile through the
tears knowing a day will come when we will all be together once more.


Monday, November 24, 2014


Fun with colored popcorn kernels
Today we put out colored popcorn kernels for a 
Thanksgiving sensory activity.The kids had such fun
pouring, measuring and sorting the kernels we 
decided to use them for our turkey craft. To color 
the kernels pour them into gallon size zip lock bags. 
Add tempera paint and mix the paint and kernels 
together. Lay them  out on newspaper (I put mine outside in the Phoenix 
sunshine) and let them dry overnight. We then filled shallow boxes 
with the kernels, added small cups, spoons and funnels. 
At the art center we cut heavy paper plates in half. 
The kids painted the plates with white glue.For easy cleanup and  
drying we did this on sheets of wax paper. After the plates were
covered in glue, we set them in the box of popcorn kernels
and let the kids cover the plate with the  colorful kernels. 
For the turkey head  the kids added eyes, a beak, a gobble
 and feet to a brown circle. Use a heaping blob of
 glue to add the turkey face to the plate. 
What cute Thanksgiving  turkeys!
Supplies needed
brown, yellow, orange and red paint
gallon size zip-lock bags
newspaper for drying
heavy paper plates
white glue
brown , orange and red construction paper
googly eyes
shallow boxes
assorted cups, spoons and funnels

Saturday, November 15, 2014



Leaf prints
I love fall crafting!
Today we did one of my favorite fall
crafts,leaf prints.The kids picked out large 
leaves. Using fall colors they painted their leaves.
What fun they had painting leaves picked from
the trees out back! Once painted we laid a piece of white 
construction paper on top of the leaves and had the kids press
the paper onto the painted leaf. We discovered the they could
get two prints out of each painted leaf. The kids had such fun with this
craft!They loved the surprise of seeing the leaf prints as they
lifted the construction paper.
Supplies needed
leaves
newspaper for less mess
paint
paint pots & brushes
construction paper

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Kazoo's
Kids love making musical instruments. 
Today my kids loved making and playing their kazoo's.
We started out with paint pots, brushes and toilet paper 
tubes. Painting is always a favorite activity here at Homespun 
Childcare.After the kazoo's were all painted we sat them aside to dry.
 Once dried I used a pencil to poke a hole in the tube, added
 wax paper and secured the wax paper with a rubber band.
 The kids had a great time talking, humming and 
singing into the kazoo's.
Supplies needed
toilet paper rolls
paint and brushes
wax paper cut into circles
rubber bands

Friday, October 24, 2014

Jj is for jelly fish
We had lots of fun today making jelly fish. 
I started by giving each child half a sturdy paper plate.
They enjoyed choosing their favorite colors of 
paint  to paint the jelly fish. We added large googly 
eyes, then carefully turned the plates over and the kids picked out 
colorful ribbons  to glue on for the jelly fishes tentacles. I love simple 
crafts that allow the kids to have fun and be creative!
Supplies needed
paper plates
paint 
paint brushes
googly eyes
ribbon
glue

Friday, October 10, 2014

God is good.
 It's letter Gg this week.
We are so happy that God has sent us cool weather!
We can do our preschool activities outside.
The kids love it when we do our lessons out back. 
Today we used golf balls to paint our Bible verse art.
I like to use open ended art when teaching Bible thoughts
and verses. That way I don't have to worry about cutting
 out lots of craft  pieces, trying to build crafts that are not age
appropriate, and that  frustrate the kids and myself!
 I can focus on Gods word while the kids have fun with art.
Each child has a shallow box, golf balls and paper. I put the
balls to the side of the box, put paint on the golf balls
and let the kids roll them across the paper. As the children  enjoy the
 art activity we talk about the Bible story and the Bible verse.
No matter how young or old the kids are they love golf ball painting!
After they are done, we add our Bible thought or verse.
Supplies needed
shallow boxes
golf balls
paint
paper
Bible verse