Mini Cuties

Painted Pine Cones - Christmas Ornament

2011-10-13T17:56:00.000-04:00

Thanks to MG for this excellent idea!

All you need for this Christmas Ornament is :

Pine Cones
Paint, glitter
Kids willing to get painted, dirty and have fun!

Paint here...

Glitter there...

All you need to do after that is let is dry. (Have the kids take a bath). Some ribbon and Voila!

You could also make Christmas Tree Ornaments with them.

Amazon's Deal of the Day

2011-09-23T10:41:00.001-04:00

Check out Amazon's Deal of the day! These 2 scholastic storybooks classics dvd collection!
I don't like television for my kids, but I allow them to watch a show on rainy days for a half hour normally, so these dvd's would be perfect now that fall has arrived!

A is for Acorn - Acorn Paper Garland

2011-09-22T18:18:00.000-04:00

This week is letter A week...we decided that since it is fall season (just started), we would make something special to decorate our house! We made an acorn garland. This is how:

We fold the paper accordian style. You have to make sure that the squared are the same size of the template.

I made this template you can download. You are free to use it. Remember to put the fold-line on the edge of the paper and NOT to cut where the dots are.

Open the garland and paint (My daughter made a "blue" squirrel)

We used water colors. They are perfect for this kind of craft.

Enjoy!

Decoupage Ikea Drawer with my kids

2011-09-12T16:54:00.000-04:00

Question of the day: What can I do with this Fira Drawer from Ikea? I really want to put some color on it. I don't want to use paint...

Answer: I asked my daughter to cut out of magazines all the things she liked. Then we used glue, water and a brush... and voila! We made a beautifull collage on a simple drawer. She uses this to put all her paint supply.

This tecchnique is called decoupage and is really simple. I haven't tried it with the special glue they sell for this. I used regular classroom glue and a little water. The bad thing is that the magazine paper gets really wet and you have to be very careful that it dries before putting the next coat. Next time I will use the Mod Podge Satin All-In-One Decoupage Sealer / Glue / Finish (8 fl. oz. ). They say it's excellent!

Father's Day Gift....We make a Great Team (Football Pompom Weepuls)

2010-06-09T22:19:00.000-04:00

Do you remember those very famous '70 - '80 little colored pompoms? They were called Weepuls and we used to give them to friends, family, for Christmas, birthdays.... The messages were beautiful and having these weepuls attached to it, made it more beautiful....it was just so trendy. So I thought this would be nice for Father's Day. We made these Weepuls using the colors of his favourite Football Team... :-)

Here is how I did it.
1.- Make a Pom Pom. Yo can use this tutorial or go step by step as I show you on these pictures. (I recommend to use this tutorial for the smaller pompoms and do the bigger ones using the cardboard.)

Create 2 donuts shaped pieces of cardboard

Place the rings together and pull the wool making a loop

Make a knot and start to wind the wool around the rings.

You should have something like this. You can use one or several colors.

You can wind several layers...the more wool you use, the bigger the pompom

Move the wool a little 'till you see the cardboard.

Cut the wool around the edges of the cardboard. It is VERY important to keep your other hand holding the center of the cardboard.

Pass a lenght of wool between the two pieces and tie it firmly together.

Remove the cardboard Rings (Cut if necessary)

Trim the pompom until it gets a tidy look

A nice trick is to hold the pompom several seconds above some steam. This makes the pompom very soft!!!

Using felt, cut a heart that you can use as feet.

Some googly eyes, and done!

We wrote a very special message for daddy

And here we are...the 4 of us! (Look at the little girl with the pony tails on the left....hehehe)

Letter X is for Xylophone

2010-05-25T21:16:00.006-04:00

We are almost done with the Alphabet!! Letter X was a really difficult one, but we found some great ideas on the Internet. X is for Xylophone! First we made a Xylophone using toilet paper rolls...this is not a Xylophone that's really going to make music but the idea is to create, use your imagination and have fun! This is how we did it:

PAPER ROLL XYLOPHONE

We used 4 toilet paper rolls (We made the rolls each time smaller. The 2 littlest ones, are the part of the third and fourth roll. You can use scotch to close them)

All we needed was:

Toilet paper rolls
Paint
Glue
Jumbo sticks
Needle
Yarn
Beads ( if you like)

Before painting, I made a little hole in the toilet paper rolls. Now we can "sew" them together after they are painted.

My daughter painted each toilet paper rolls and the sticks with a different color.

We sewed the toilet paper rolls using the beads in this step.

She glued the jumbo stick on each roll (you can match it or let your child be original...mine wanted to be creative. That's OK with me!)

You can leave it like this and have a mobile, but we glued it on a wrapped shoebox cover and my daughter wrote the word Xylophone all by herself! This was for me the best part of this project... :-)

WATER BOTTLES XYLOPHONE

Another type of Xylophone (that actually works!) is this one! My daughter really loved this one! We used 6 glass bottles, water and food coloring.

You just need one drop of paint and water. Pour as much water as you want. You can leave them like that or put the lid on. And now just play!

Isn't it cute to see the faces of your children when they realize they have just created something so cool??

Letter W is for Watermelon!

2010-05-21T10:31:00.000-04:00

Al you need for these delicious Watermelons is a paper plate, some red and green paint, glue and some Watermelon seeds you can buy in any garden shop.

My daughter loved this activity and reminded her dad that these Watermelon were not for eating...they are just pretend...I guess she said that because they look just like real Watermelons!

Here is how you do it.

Fold the paper plate in 2

Open it again and paint the center red and the border of the plate with green paint

Glue the seeds

Fold it back a little bit...Enjoy your Watermelon!

Letter V - Vegetalbe Print and Venus

2010-05-18T11:16:00.001-04:00

This week, letter V.

VEGETABLE PRINT

We made a painting using as brushes and stamps some vegetables.

We used carrots, broccoli, peas, cauliflower, zuchinni, and a potato. The idea is to dip the vegetable into the pains and stamp them onto paper.

My daughter had so much fun! The lettuce was a BIG brush, the peas rolled and made a nice line. There are lots of vegetables and some have realy nice prints (maybe nicer than the once we used), so try it.

We loved the brocolli and peas pattern!

I used a potato to make a stamp. I cut the potato in half. On the cut face of the potato, I used a knife to carve the letter V. I cut away the potato surrounding the shape, so that it end up with an aprox. 1/5 inch shape.

Here you can see the letter V print made with the potato.

VENUS

Remember the coffee filter, markers and water activity (Umbrella)? Or the Earth activity This time we made Venus!

We colored a coffee filter with red, orange and pink markers. Put some water on it and let it dry...that's all!

Step by Step Mother's Day Paper Tulips Bouquet Craft

2010-05-06T11:31:00.007-04:00

Mother's Day is next Sunday! And we made these Tulips for Grandma and Auntie...

(and some will stay here at home! A little present for myself)

Since there is no much time left, just take a look at the pictures and make a colorful bouquet to be given as a gift!

STEP BY STEP

Step 1 - Make squares using construction paper (4.5 inch X 4.5 inch / 11.5 cm X 11.5 cm)

Step 2 - Fold the paper in 2, then again. Both sides. You will have now 4 X 4 = 16 little squares.

Step 3 - Cut where you see the lines. Then fold in 4 and cut a little in the right corner so that you get a tiny hole once you open it.

You should have something like this.

Step 4 - Put glue only on the squares where you see the arrow.

Step 5 - Paste it like this, overlapping the other square next to the arrow.

This is what you should have.

Step 6 - To make the stem, have some green construction paper. (6 inch X 3 inch - 22.5cm X 7.5cm)

Step 7 - Use a pencil to roll it lenghtwise.

Step 8 - Put some glue on top. Remember to take out the pencil after you glue it :-)

Step 9 - Cut the stem like this

Step 10 - Put the stem inside the tulip and fold the tip

This is how it looks inside the tulip

Your tulip is ready

Step 11 - For the leaves, you can do anything you like. The leaves are a little bit folded in half.

Step 12 - To make this effect, I pasted the bottom like this

Make a nice Mother's Day card, a vase (this one is made of a Parmesan Cheese Bottle) and done!

HAVE A WONDERFUL MOTHER's DAY!

Letter U - Umbrella and Universe with Coffee Filters (and the Earth)

2010-04-30T10:15:00.023-04:00

UMBRELLAS, UNIVERSE AND THE EARTH

This was a tough week....letter U...Umbrella, Under, Underwear, Unicorn, Universe....

I had an idea of making some umbrellas but my daughter preferred the Universe....until I told her that in order to make the umbrellas, we had to make it rain....hum, that's mysterious??? How???

Here's how:

First you need this template (download it by clicking on the image)

Then you need:

Coffee Filters
Water
Scissors and Glue
Markers

Umbrella

Print the template and cut the umbrellas. Don't color them.

Color the coffee filter with markers. Just scribble scrabble...

These are the ones we made. (the blue one is for the Universe activity. You also need a green one if you want to make the Earth activity...)

Put the umbrellas on a surface and put on top the colored coffee filter....
LET IT RAIN!!!!

She had so much fun!

Wait until it dries and look at your umbrellas now...now they are colored!

Since I was trying new techniques, we used food coloring to paint the background. You just need one drop and some water! I am definitely using this technique again!

With regular paint and a Q-tip, we made some rain drops...oh, and the clouds are made of cotton balls

We need the umbrellas with this rain!

Done! U is for Umbrella!

Universe

Put the blue coffee filter on a blank paper (this one had a little blue on the background since I was trying the food coloring paint) and let it rain!

Wait until it is dry. We used this coloring page of the planets (kaboose website) and my daughter used watercolors to color them. She cut them out and glued them...this is our Universe

The Earth

I know this has nothing to do with the letter U, but it is still Earth Day Month, and we have to recycle, so instead of trowing the colored coffee filters away, we made a nice craft with it.

I don't have a picture of the green coffee filter but you do the same...just scribble scrabble a little bit green and make it wet. After it is dry, you cut it in little pieces and glue it on the blue one, making the continents. Here is the Earth. It is so easy to do, and you see the different blues and greens, just like in our real World!

Recycled Nature Box and Carton Wallet - Earth Day Activities

2010-04-22T20:12:00.015-04:00

April 22 is Earth Day and we need to encourage our kids (and remind ourselves) that this is the only place we have to live on and that it is going to be for ourselves, our children and grandchildren. We have to take care of the planet, today and everyday.

At school my daughter has learned a lot about recycling, and now she knows what belongs in the recycling bin and what not. For her Show and Tell, we made 2 things. First, something made with recycling material and something related to the Earth. Second, an activity I saw on Family Fun.

RECYCLED NATURE BOX

I first saw this activity here and thought it was a great idea since we could use recycling material while having a nice walk outside and enjoy our planet...our planet is so colorfull...sometimes we forget it!

First we painted the egg carton with colors. (Ours was clear plastic)

My daughter looked everywhere and we found a lot of items that matched the colors inside the box! She was so proud when she filled all the colors!

We had:

Yellow, green and orange leaves.
Purple, yellow, pink, orange and red flowers
Blue, gray, white rocks
Green rosemary...that smells so good!
Brown dried coconut husk, stones and wood

I found this activity on Coastal Girl' s blog and she has a lot of nice ideas and activities!

CARTON WALLET

I found this great craft on Family Fun yesterday and since it was Earth Day, we decided we had to do it.

It's an activity for older children, but I made it, and my daughter drew something nice so she could give it to her teacher as a present. You only need a juice or milk carton, scissors and the template

Hope you had a wonderful Earth Day!

Letter U - Under the Sea Tank- (Recycle Earth Day)

2010-04-16T10:59:00.026-04:00

I was not sure if it was letter T week again or the letter U...

My daughter's teacher told me they would continue last week's activities about the Ocean, about Earth Day and that they would go on a field trip to the beach and do some research and snorkeling, so we came up with this

Under the Sea Fish Tank made with Recycled Materials to celebrate Earth Day!

(This is another variant of the Kijkdoos I explained last week...)

Working together was so much fun and this project was so easy to do!
All this was made with stuff I had at home....look at the details...

A shoebox...
This pattern I created and I want to share with you for download and use.

NOTE:

You can download this template and use it anytime, but please don't copy it anywhere else without my permission. I worked on it and a simple link to this page would be a great way to share it. Thanks!!!

The Top Sign was made with the back of the shoebox. I cut a piece of the box before placing the blue tissue paper so the light would come trough. We glued 2 Goldfish crackers and my daughter wrote the word TANK.

The Red Crab is made with Farfalle Pasta (Bow Tie pasta) and red paint. Glued some eyes and done.

And the Sea Stars with Stelline Pasta.

The Sea Algae (Seaweed) was made with Raffia.

In the corner you can see some Corn Kernels. These are our Sea Plants!

The Rocks are little stones from our backyard.

Glitter gives the water a bubbling effect.

The Sea Shells are Cavatelli Pasta and the Coral Reef are pieces of Walnut

After we places everything inside the box, I used some thread to hang the fish.

Are you ready to go Scuba diving???

We used these real cool markers called Elmer's Kids Arts and Crafts Paintastics Color Changing Markers
A great way to draw and create with no mess. These paint brush pens feature vivid, true color paint right in the brush, so there is no need for jars, water or separate brushes. The washable paint in the pens dries instantly for less smudging.

These color changing pens paint in one color, then can be changed to two more colors by using the color Magic Wand.

Simply rub the Magic Pen over the other 5 pens to produce instant color changes. Each pen can produce 3 different colors!

The Letter T - Train Station and more...all in a kind of "Television Box"

2010-04-12T10:28:00.012-04:00

This week we made a "Kijkdoos" (show box or diorama).

I grew up in The Netherlands, and I remember making these boxes with all kind of themes...and it was so much fun! And so simple to do!

This time we made 2 boxes. The first one was a Train Station, and the second one was just full of objects that starts with the letter T.

Train Station

Here is how I made this one.

All you need is:

A shoe box (the ones with a hole in front are the best)
Tissue paper
Glue
Scissors
My Train Template you can download here...Free!

I will draw more templates in the future! Hope you like it!

NOTE: You can download this template and use it anytime, but please don't copy it anywhere else without my permission. I worked on it and a simple link to this page would be a great way to share it. Thanks!!!

Step by Step:

Print the Template and let your child color and cut it.

Decorate the inside of the box as you wish. You can use anything, paint, stickers, etc. We used Tissue paper. It gives a colorful and nice effect.

Then glue the cutouts inside the box. You can back them with cardboard if they are too thin to stand by themselves. Remember to fold the paper and put only glue on the bottom.

Another important step is to work from back to front. Place the largest cutouts in the back and the smallest in the front. Since our box was too narrow, we decided to put the train on a wall...it didn't fit in the back where I thought would look good...anyway...

This is how it will look like...

Open some windows on the lid of the box. You get the best effect if you make two rectangulars, one in front and one back. But we made also the letter T to reinforce the letter of the week.

Glue some tissue paper inside the lid and close the box.

...and take a close look!!!!

For the Letter T Objects Box.

Let your child look for little objects that start with the letter T and glue them or use tape to place them in the box.

We found:

Telephone
Train
Tape
Tomato
Tiger
Teaspoon
Turquese Crayon
Turttles
Teddybear
Triangle

This box has a flying Tiger inside...left...

Center...

Right...

My daughter found this so funny....

Have fun making yours! You can create so many nice boxes!!!!

S is for Spring, Snake and Spider

2010-03-26T14:00:00.005-04:00

Spring Snake

Spring, Sun, Sand, Smile....Sounds like So much fun right??? And Sounds like a lot of Ssssss....

This week we made a craft project starting with the letter S.

We are a big fan of Teach Preschool which is a excellent website with lots of craft ideas and stuff you can do with your little one. She promotes excellence in early childhood education, professional development and practice. A website to bookmark. One of the ideas I saw on her page was this Kid-Safe Sweetest Snake!

She linked it from this other excellent website called PreschoolRock.com, a network providing parenting information, craft and project ideas, activities, games, toys, books, nutrition, fitness and everything else related to children between the ages of three and five. You have to check it out!

You can read on their page how we made it!

The Plastic Egg Snake Preschool Craft

We didn't have to use the drill. The eggs we found already had 2 little holes.

I used a Crochet needle so my daughter could make the project herself.

I put dried star pasta instead of dried beans for the rattling tail.

We glued 2 eyes on it.

We didn't cut the "tongue" of the snake. That way my daughter can wiggle the snake!

She looooves her new pet!

Spring Spider

She also made this cute little Spider. The body are her hands...I love the Smile!

Have a great Spring Break!!!

Easter Garden Flag Decoration

2010-03-24T20:59:00.032-04:00

In our street lives a lady who has these very cute Garden Flags and she changes them everytime there is a celebration, holiday, or change of season. Now she has an Easter Flag and my daughter really loves it.

I looked it up on internet to see if I could find one, but I found myself with 2 problems...one, Easter is next week...two, they are so expensive! (and even more if you ask for faster shipping).

So, why not make one ourselves...this was the best idea ever for a beautiful day like today's! We had so much fun in the garden! And the flag, one of a kind!

Here is how we did it:

What I used was a old bed sheet as canvas. I googled for some Easter Rabbits Coloring Pages and this one was the one I liked and tried to copy it on the fabric. (If you find it difficult to draw it yourself, just make a bigger scale print and trace it)

After I copied, I grabbed an old box and used some painters tape to hold it.

Some paint, brushes and an apron....and let your child be creative...I promise you, you will see the most beautiful garden flag EVER!

This is our New Easter Garden Flag!

I loved the detailes...look at her signature with a spider next to it and the ladybug!

The Letter R is for Rainbow, Rabbit (Easter?) and Rooster

2010-03-19T14:07:00.005-04:00

Photo by Kriss Szkurlatowski

The Rainbow

Today is a perfect day for a Rainbow!!!

What we need:

A paper plate (With the same plate we will also make the Easter Rainbow Rabbit!!)
Scissors
Art tissue paper
Glue

First we cut the center of the plate leaving a border and a circle. We cut the border in two. Now we have a crescent or half border that we are going to use for the rainbow.

We cut the tissue paper

Glue it on the border using the colors of the Rainbow. On each end also a couple..

She was so proud!

Ready!

The Easter Rainbow Rabbit

With the circle of the plate we used before, we made this cute little Easter Rainbow Rabbit (Easter because it will be Easter next week...LOL).

We draw a rabbit on the circle. You can download the one I made and copy it.

Download Rabbit

Draw or copy the rabbit

Cut the 2 circles for the rabbit to have "hands"

Put some color on it!

Isn't it cute?

Rooster footprint

I found this Idea on this website Crafty-Crafted.com. So cute!! The only things you need for this project are:

Blank paper
Yellow and red paint
Orange felt, paper, foam for beak
An eye
And a foot!

The materials!

Paint the foot yellow and the toes red...

She had so much fun with this activity! I had to put this picture here!

Stamp it on a blank paper. Glue on the beak and the eye (yes, I know...a little big, but that was the only one I had LOL). With your child's thumb and red paint, make the wattle! I really think this is unique! So cute!

The Letter Q is for Quilt and Quarter

2010-03-19T12:28:00.003-04:00

This week we wanted to make something with the letter Q, so we made a Quilt and a copy of a Quarter. These are very easy activities for preschoolers and fun.

For the Quilt:

Colored paper or fabric
Scissors
Paper
Glue

Just cut the papers in little pieces and paste it on a paper. This is my daughter's Quilt.

For the copy of the Quarter you just need a Quarter (any coin will do), crayons and a blank paper.

Put the coin under the paper and let your child copy the coin! It's just like MaGic!!!

The Letter P activity for Preschool

2010-03-05T14:56:00.010-05:00

For this week the kids have been working at school on the letter P.

Every Friday they have their "Show and Tell" and the kids have to bring in an object that starts with the letter of the week.

For this Friday we made some craft!

Project Nr. 1

Pink and Purple Pig Paper Plate Puzzle Pieces*

*(or Paper Plate Pink and Purple Pig Puzzle Pieces...after we made it and showed it to my husband we talked about the order of the words and if it was correct...I am still a little confussed...hihihi....sorry if I made a mistake!)

You don't need much for this project:

1.- paper plates

2.- Pink and Purple colors/crayons/Pencils

3.- Scossors

4.- A marker

Draw a Pig with the marker and let your kid color it using Pink and Purple colors.

When ready, just cut and play!

Color!

Cut!

Play!

My daughter loved her own hand-made-puzzle!

Project Nr. 2

Popstick Puppet

Let your kid draw "somebody" on a cartboard or paper (we used the paper plates again)

This is me!

Cut it.

Glue it on a Popstick

(can you read my name?: mama!)

Some color and voila!

Mommy Popstick Puppet!

St. Patrick's Day and Green Day (Recycle - Reduce - Reuse) full of Spinach

2010-03-01T14:03:00.006-05:00

A couple of days more and it is Spring and St Patrick's Day! There is nothing better than to see trees with Green leaves, colored flowers and the garden Greener than ever! It is then when I think about how beautiful our world is and why we don't do more to keep it that way...

We are encouraging our children to recycle. Also their school teach them how to recycle, how to stay fit eating healthy and how to fix this planet!

All this has inspired me to make a GREEN weekend! How? Well...with Spinach!

This is the Menu using a 2.5 pound spinach bag

Green Smoothie (non-dairy)
Green Pesto
Green Soup
Green Salad ....and I still have Spinach left!

For the Green Smoothie:

1.- Mix of Fruits
2.- Mango Juice (You can use any juice you like, orange, grapefruit, grape...)
3.- Spinach

Put everything in the blender, if you like a little bit of sugar, water, ice and voila! It won't taste like vegetable! I promise!

Pesto :

Spinach, Garlic, Pine nuts, Olive Oil, Parmesan Cheese and salt.

It is the first time I make pesto without Basil, and I have to tell you, it taste actually very good!

To make the pesto: Put some spinach, minced garlic, pine nuts in a mixer and pour some olive oil into it. Mix. When ready, grate some cheese on top of it and ready.

The Green Soup was a succes! My daughter loved it and loved the idea that eating the soup would make her even stonger and bigger!

It is a very simple recipe:

4 cups Spinach

2 celery sticks.

1/2 cup broth.

Small onion.

Butter.

2 cup Milk.

Parmesan Cheese.

Salt and Peper

Cook the Spinach in water with salt. When boiling, put them in blender with the same water. Add a cup of milk.

Saute the onions and celery. When they are golden, put them in the blender with:

½ Cup Chicken broth
Salt and Peper
Cup milk
Parmesan Cheese.

Once you have blended these ingredients, mix with the Spinach and leave it to boil a little bit.

The Green Salad...Well...Green Lettuce and that's it.... .

The dinner was....uh... GREEN....but very good , healthy and nutricious!

After dinner, we read some books about Recycling, Reduce and Reuse, and St. Patricks Day. This was a very nice way to teach them how to care about the world...and how to celebrate this cultural celebration of St. Patrick's Day.

Happy St. Patrick's and keep being....GREEN!

The Letter M

2010-02-04T12:36:00.004-05:00

photo by Kriss Szkurlatowski

At my daughter's school they started to talk each week about a letter of the alphabet. This week letter is the letter M. Her homework is bringing into class things that start with the letter M. We found a lot of things inside the house that started with that letter, but we decided to make some craft. Here you can find some very nice things to do: DLTK's Craft. From this great website we made the Marshal and the Monkey .

We also made a Mobile with things that start with the letter M.

We used this letter M (click here)

And these at Kidzone.ws. (it is suppose to be a little Letter M book, which is also a great idea!)

Milk, Monkey, Mouse, Mushroom, Moon, M mayuscula, M minuscula

And this is our Movile!

2009-11-23T21:53:00.003-05:00

Amazon.com Widgets

Happy Holidays

2009-11-23T16:06:00.004-05:00

I am sorry if I haven't updated my blog with new ideas for Thanksgiving or the Holidays...

I haven't been able to work on the projects since I am already 36 weeks pregnant. I will see you next year with a lot more ideas!!

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays!

Grab my Code

2009-11-05T16:30:00.006-05:00

Now you can share, link or just grab my button! Show your support by adding my button to your site. Just copy the code below to add it to your blog or website. Thanks for your support!

Fireflies and Jellybeans Giveaway

2009-10-28T21:12:00.004-04:00

"Fireflies and Jellybeans is hosting an arts and crafts giveaway! Check out All ChildrensFurniture.com for your favorite brands like Little Tikes, KidKraft, and more! Giveaway ends 10/29"

A Simple but very Unique Picture Frame

2009-10-22T13:50:00.013-04:00

Last Thursday, it was Daddy’s Birthday and my daughter made this beautiful picture frame! Daddy loved it! The material you need for this project is::

Jumbo Sticks
Glue
A picture ( I used Picassa to make this photo)
Scissors
Colors, paint, glitter, or whatever material you have to decorate the frame

The first thing to make is the frame.

Depending on the size of the picture, you make the frame. I put a diagonal stick to support the back (and in our case to write down the date and a happy birthday

Glue the picture to the base.

Glue the picture...

Make the border with some other sticks. Here you can use your imagination! We made the frame different from the back to make it unique!

Let it dry so it is is ready to paint and decorate (put it under some heavy books for a little while)

Then you paint it and make the decoration using the material you have...

My daughter also wanted to decorate the bag. She wrote her name and last name on it!

Crochet Pumpkin - Link to Free Pattern

2009-10-14T22:50:00.001-04:00

I found a great website where they not only give you a free crochet pattern of a pumpkin, but also, if you are a beginner like me, you can take a look at the video made by Teresa - The Art of Crochet. Her videos are fantastic and so easy to follow......Her website is called Learn to Crochet and here you can see the pumpkin I made this afternoon using her pattern. It is super easy to make (I have only made a couple of scarfs so far). This is how it came out:

Halloween Activity - Yarn Pumpkin

2009-10-13T22:42:00.001-04:00

This activity is perfect for Halloween! Or to decorate your home this fall. A very easy activity for old and young. My preschooler loved it! All you need is yarn, a piece of cardboard, rafia and scissors.

I used the same method as my previous posting, but instead of using chenille stems, I used rafia. If you want bigger pumpkins, just use a bigger cardboard and more yarn :-)

My plant with the little pumpkins

Diferent colors pumpkin!

This is what you need:

Yarn, rafia, cardboard, scissors

To make the green/orange pumpkin, just do the same as with the regular pumpkins but use the 2 colors at the same time.

Wrap it around the cardboard and follow the same steps as on the website on my previous posting....and ready!

Cute Fall Apples made with Yarn

2009-10-09T22:23:00.001-04:00

The other day I found this activity on a website and it caught my eye. I think this is so cute!

That same afternoon I tried to make them with my daughter. She had the next day her "show and tell" and I thought this would be a great activity for that occasion. The only thing was that I couldn't find brown chenille stems. Neither at my local craft store. But I found orange and green yarn, so I said to myself...why not try to make Halloween pumpkins? I will show them in my next posting.

I leave you here the directions and the website where I found this so cute activity:

My daughter loved to glue the leaves on the apples! And she was so proud during her "show and tell"!

Activities and Responsability

2009-09-24T17:52:00.001-04:00

Since we moved, we have given our daughter a little more responsibilities, like for example, take care of her pet and her plants (herbs).

She does these activities daily and she enjoys it so much. It is a good exercise to start responsibility and even it seems not to be a big deal, she is so proud of it. Every afternoon she gives her fish his food and give water to her plants. She smells the leafs and acts like an adult. This age is so beautiful!

I'm Back!

2009-09-24T17:47:00.001-04:00

I’ve been gone for a while because of several reasons. The first one because I felt so sick the first 5 months...I had no energy, I didn’t want to do anything but sleep, had nausea....sounds familiar? Well, yes! Our daughter is going to have a little brother! We are so happy! All this made us be very busy moving, having grandma (Oma) with us so she could help, prepare and celebrate our daughter’s 3rd birthday. A lot of things that kept us busy but now we are back on track and ready for our baby boy to arrive and ready to continue our blog.

Meanwhile the time has passed and my daughter has been growing so much. Each day she talks more and more. I have been studying a lot lately about multi-linguistic children since we are raising her using 3 languages (Spanish, Dutch and English).

She speaks and understand them very good. A very good website for bilingual and multi-linguistic children is Multilingual Children’s Association.

There are a lot of parents who have questions or experiences that can help you if you have any question. You could also try to read some very nice books about this subject. There are tons in the library or look here at Amazon: Multilingual Children

Since English is not my first (or second...but thirth lenguage as you may notice...) I need to study a lot more about this subject. I will let you know more how my daughter is advancing...

Amazon.com Widgets

Crochet

2009-05-18T11:29:00.001-04:00

Patron
Originally uploaded by www.MiniCuties.com

I have been a little sick last weeks and to keep me busy I decided to try something I had never done before: Crochet.

My problem is that I am a lefty and to find someone to teach me has been always very difficult. So I decided to learn and teach myself to crochet like a right handed person would do....I found some good tips and ideas on this page Crochet Pattern Central.

Another good website is Crochet Cabana

I tried the single, half double, double crochet. After a while I had made a big square...I didn't want to trow it away or just let it sit there (although you can see I made a lot of mistakes on the sides)

So I decided I could make a little bag...

This is how it came out:

I sewed a big orange button on it

My daughter loved it...

Spring Craft Sweepstakes

2009-05-12T16:25:00.001-04:00

A while ago there was a sweepstakes on ParentsConnect and we participated with some of the activities I have shown you here on my blog. ....And guess what? We WON!!!

The activity that won the price was Button Caterpillar!

Take a look at the website! It is very nice site where you will meet a lot of moms with the same interests and it has a lot of information and activities.

Earth Day

2009-04-22T12:25:00.002-04:00

There was a book fair the other day near my place and I found these books which I bought. They are super cute. They are written by the same author (Jean Marzollo) of I Spy and other very good and known books. The illustration is beautiful, all made out of cut paper. Even though it is a book for a 4 years old who starts to read, my daughter loves it because she is starting to understand how things work in this world....I really recommend you this collection of books. They have several titles.

For the occasion of Earth Day, we read the book I Am an Apple (Hello Reader Science Level 1). We could learn how a little seed changes into a big tree with a lot of apples in it! We also read about all the things you can do with apples! Yammi!

Later we looked for some material so we could make our own apple tree...

I found loose fill peanuts, a toilet roll, a half Easter egg, paint, glue....

We put the half egg inside the roll to create a base.

We glued the peanuts and colored them green...(we used one of the peanuts to paint them. We painted the toilet roll using brown.

I still had some "San Valentine Day" hearts. These were perfect for our Apple Tree!

Happy Earth Day!

Amazon.com Widgets

Looking for the High Rise Step Stool, Kitchen Helper or Learning Tower?

2009-04-15T20:48:00.003-04:00

My daughter loves to see everything I do. When I am in the kitchen, she wants to be there and help! We have some barstools where she was trying to climb on, but I didn't let her since I thought it was not really safe. So surfing the web I found these 3 perfect options!

1.- The Learning Tower by Little Partners

2.- Guidecraft Kitchen Helper

3.- Guidecraft High Rise Step Up

I really liked The Learning Tower by Little Partners. My sister-in-law has one and it is really sturdy, easy to access (for the kid of course) and easy to clean, but too big for our kitchen.

Guidecraft Kitchen Helper was another good option because it folds so you can store it. But to store it you have to take out your tool kit, and right now, I don't have time for that....

So the last option was Guidecraft High Rise Step Up, which was a little smaller and not so expensive as the other two. My daughter loved it!

She climbs and gets down whenever she wants, and she loves it so much that some days she prefers eating standing so she can be on her stool.

If I had more space in the kitchen, I would have probably bought The Learning Tower by Little Partners, but this stool does the same function and it is light enough to carry from one point to the other...

My daughter loves to do the dishes and I let her! (Looks like I have one thing less to do, right? ummmm...No!

First I have to clean them and leave them in the sink... she thinks they are dirty and washes them again... It is so lovely to see her imitate me!)

Her you see her cleaning the dishes on her Guidecraft High Rise Step Up

MONTESSORI: This is a wonderful Practical Life activity and kids love it!

I Love your Blog Award

2009-04-13T11:41:00.001-04:00

Yeah!!! My first award!!!

I was nominated by Painting Pink Pajamas and I am so happy!

I always saw the award on other blogs and thought..."That would be so cool to be nominated! People must really like this blog!" and now I have one! Thank you SkylarKD, I REALLY do appreciate it!!!

Here are the rules:

Add the logo of the award to your blog
Add a link to the person who awarded it to you
Nominate at least 7 other blogs
Add links to those blogs on your blog
Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs!

This is a great opportunity to share some of my favourite child-related blogs with you! My nominees are:

I could list so many others, but I guess most of them will have gotten the award already...

Thank you once again for the award!

Button Caterpillars (and cat)

2009-04-02T14:29:00.002-04:00

I had absolute no idea what to do yesterday afternoon, so we opened our craft drawer, and found some buttons, some chenille, glue and some eyes...

Since it is Spring time, I thought about creating something for the garden. (We do not have any garden, but that doesn't matter...it is the idea, right? :-)

Caterpillar Material

Originally uploaded by www.MiniCuties.com

So...it could be some flowers...a butterfly...a Easter bunny...

But while I was thinking, my daughter was already very busy putting the buttons in the chenille stem.

We ended up making this beautiful creatures!

Take a look!

MONTESSORI:

This activity is a great way to practice hand and eye coordination,

concentration and fine motor skills, a skill needed for writing later on.

After the body was done, we made a little face and glued the eyes

Voila!

She had so much fun that we made a couple more...

We used all the buttons we had! And here the whole family!

This morning my daughter woke up and the first thing she did was asking for more buttons....I could only find these ones. She made this beautiful cat!

Easter Activity 3 - Easter Chick, Lamb and Egg

2009-03-31T12:03:00.005-04:00

THE EASTER EGG:

Materials:

Print out this egg (use bigger scale)
Colored coding labels

My daughter had a lot of fun with this activity!

And this is how her first Easter Egg looks like! And no mess in the kitchen!

Easter Activity 2 - Easter Chick, Lamb and Egg

2009-03-31T12:02:00.003-04:00

THE LAMB:

For this activity I printed out this page
Cotton balls
Glue

Here you can see how she made it. The pictures are self explanatory.

My daughter loves to "pet" the lamb. She loves that it is so soft...

Easter Activity - Easter Chick, Lamb and Egg

2009-03-31T11:41:00.003-04:00

EASTER CHICK:

You don't need a lot for this activity....just cut and paste...

A coloring page of a chick (I found this one here)
Different type of material (I used paper, cardboard, corrugated cardboard, foam)
Scissors and Glue

Cut

Paste

All done!

Cute Egg Holder for Easter

2009-03-26T17:02:00.011-04:00

Do you want to know about a nice way to start talking about Spring? Easter? Or maybe practice geometry? Or just paint? I am sure you have all the materials at home to make these Cute Egg Holders!

What you need is:

One toilet roll
Print one of these attachments (colored or blank available)
Paint and colours
Scissors / Glue
Eggs, if you like.

Here you can download the PDF Files.

If it is too dificult to cut the eyes with the scissors, you can use the Push-Pin tecnique.

When she was ready I asked her which ones were circles, how many were there...until she got borred of so many questions!

The best part is to put this puzzle together! And glue...

We made the egg holder with a toilet roll cut in 2 and we painted it.

All done....

How to Cut Paper without Scissors?

2009-03-24T17:41:00.003-04:00

One of my daughter’s favorite activity is to cut paper and most of the time I give her the scissors. But sometimes she gets frustrated when she wants to cut out an object with “not so much straight lines”.... For that there is no better solution than using a jumbo pin push and a cork or felt like they taught her at school.

To push pin the outline is difficult but with a little practice we can! And how much fun is it to pull away the surrounding paper and to see that what you have in your hands is the same shape as the drawing on the paper where you have to glue it on!

After we push pin it, we glue it on the alphabet

And this is how it starts to look like...

Muakmuak!

Thumb sucking? Play this!

2009-03-24T17:34:00.002-04:00

My daughter sucked her thumb ever since she was a little baby and we have always tried to make her stop. Now that she is a little older and understands a little more about her surrounding, we have started talking about being sick, germs, fingers in your mouth, etc...It’s been a week since she has not sucked her thumb! I thought it would be almost impossible, that she would cry the whole day, but she has been working really hard to not forget about her thumb and she feels really proud every time we tell her she is doing a great job. Sometimes she forgets, but then she remembers and smiles...

We have been trying to help her by playing games together that keep her hands occupied and where she can be distracted and not have any intention of putting her thumb in her mouth (normally she sucked her thumb without even realizing she was doing it). These games include puzzles, painting or jumping on the bed! (don’t worry, it is just a mattress on the floor in her play area!)

I found an activity in a Montessori book a long time ago, which I think is a great game for this occasion and started making it.

What you need is:

2 string bags ( I didn’t have bags at home and since I had some fabric, I decided to sew and make them myself)
Several matching objects.
If you want and your child feels it is comfortable, a blindfold

These are some of the matching objects I found and put inside the bags

I used different colors for the decoration on the bags

Here you can see the game. The Mystery Bag activity involves asking a child, blindfolded or with eyes closed, to put both hands in a bag and identify an object inside.
Another possibility is the matching game. You use both bags. First, again blindfolded or eyes closed, the child pulls out a piece and then he/she has to pull out from the other bag the matching one. This matching game helps children refine their visual and tactile senses.

Here you can see how my daughter plays this game:

First she pulls out the first piece

Try to find the match....

Here it is! (Look how happy she is!)

We are almost there!

All done!

One more time Mommy?

This was a perfect way to play, learn and not sucking her thumb! Today she even felt asleep without this bad habit!

From coffee table to drawing table.

2009-03-24T17:30:00.007-04:00

We had at home this old coffee table that we didn’t want to trow away and nobody wanted to have it, so we had a great idea! We could make a drawing table for our little one! My daughter loves to paint, draw and everything that has to do with colors. My husband worked on it and made this fantastic table!

The coffee table before...

The drawing table after!

This is her creativity table!

Some details:

You can find the paper at Ikea for just $6!
The little colored cups also at Ikea for just $ 1.99 (6 cups!)
The cups are in a rounded opening we made so they don’t fall. Also, easy to take out, for example, to pour water for watercolors or other kind of paint...or just clean them.
The box filled with crayons is attached to the table. This means...no crayons on the floor...
We putted a clip so it could hold the paper

A clip that hold the paper

The holes for the cups

Using a larger cup, I filled it with a little water so we could clean the brushes.

A drawer attached that doesn't open or close...perfect for her coloring books!

How to make a Sock Monkey

2009-03-24T17:30:00.006-04:00

Do you have an old pair of socks? One of those you love so much you just can’t trow away?Well, I found some similar to these ones (these will be my next project!)

Thanks to internet (again) I found how to keep my sock FOREVER! hihihi....

There are a lot of tutorials on the internet, but I clicked on this page"Craftbits.com"

Enjoy!

Felt Gnomes and The Little Mushroom House

2009-03-24T17:25:00.002-04:00

I had a couple of loose wooden balls and spools in two different tins so my daughter could sort them, but now she is a little older, this game was a little boring for her. So I thought that I maybe could use them for something different. I ran to buy glue, found some felt and made this little gnomes. You can find these materials at any craft store.
I glued them and looked up a website that had inspired me... "Squirrel Acorns" (it includes the tutorial) and started sewing... After I made the gnomes, I had to make them an home! I found the tutorial on this page The Little house by the Sea"

This is the gnome and the Mushroom. I made 10 gnomes. My daughter really loves it!

Muakmuak!

Sorting colors

2009-03-24T17:23:00.002-04:00

One day I found these wooden cut-outs and I didn’t know what to do with them. I thought, I could put some color on it, and who better helper than my super-creative daughter?
On each cut-out I painted a little dot with a primary color and each one of them had a different color.
I cut some pictures from magazines (solid primary colored pictures), collected pieces of colored paper, and made foam shapes. I also took some crayons (same colors as the dots on the cut-outs).

It was a nice activity. My daughter made these beautiful masterpieces!

Muakmuak!

My own Sensory Table

2009-03-24T17:20:00.002-04:00

Since I have been involved in Montessori Method, I have always wanted a sensory table, and all the ones I had seen on the internet were really nice, but I couldn’t afford one. So I thought I could maybe come up with an idea.
I went to Amazon
and found this WaterWheel Play Table for just $35:

We live in an apartment so we can use this table only in the summer time and on the balcony. Do you remember the split peas we used for the other activity? What about joining them with the Lentil Family?

A very nice game for this kind of table is:

1.- Tell your child to close his/her eyes

2.- Hide little pieces under the split peas and lentils (I used those little horses and animals that come in a tube)

3.- Let the child “explore” and “dig” until he/she find them all!

She found one!

Muakmuak!

Opening and closing lids

2009-03-24T17:18:00.002-04:00

If you want to make a different kind of puzzle and have fun at the same time, you can do what I did a while ago.

I collected some jars and sat down with my daughter. I explained to her which lid belonged to which jar and closed it, then opened it again.

Now it was her turn to try. And she did a fantastic job!

Muakmuak!

My version of a Montessori Activity

2009-03-24T17:17:00.002-04:00

With 2 bowls, rice, grains, cereal, cotton balls, etc, and a spoon you can make a very fun game. This activity Develops concentration, motor skills, and eye-hand coordination and the child is learning to transfer using a spoon. This is a practical life activity.
I used a very special spoon made out of a “tapara” (Calabash tree - Caribbean). As transferring material, I used split pea.

Here you can see my daughter transferring the split peas carefully from one bowl to the other. I putted a Pyrex under the bowls for two reasons: 1.- This way it could not slip of the table. 2.- If she dropped the split peas, they would not fall on the ground but inside the Pyrex.

As you can see on the next picture, most of them are inside the Pyrex... :-)

Another activity is to use measuring spoons....which one has more? Can I transfer from the big one to the small one? and vice versa? How beautiful it is to discover!

Muakmuak!

Making Sugar Cookies

2009-03-24T16:34:00.001-04:00

Sometimes when we want to play with something like play-dough, why not make sugar cookies? You do the same, except, that at the end, you eat the creation you made! That’s a bonus!

There is nothing better that a cup of thee and homemade cookies.

Muakmuak!

Carboard Box Car

2009-03-24T16:28:00.002-04:00

One of my first activities I did, was cutting a box and make a car out of it. My daughter helped me decorate it of course. The only thing you really need is a box big enough so your child can sits in it, some tape, colors and imagination!

She felt very proud of her car, that she made by herself! And the best, she could carry it everywhere!

She could color on it, too!!

She loved here car so much, she even used it as a table, to read a book, to eat or just relax in it.

Muakmuak!