Crayola Floor Pad

Product Review:

For $5.00 you can't go wrong. This is a must have product for a house with a toddler. This was purchased for a specific project in mind but could be used for a variety of projects and activities. It was first introduced to my toddler as a deterrent but she figured out it was a lot of fun. The paper is so large that mommy and daddy were able to color with her. We will be using this pad over and over. The only issue I have with this product is that the papers come out without trying. Can be messy in the long run. I rate this product an A.

Sesame Street Themed Party Hats

These were so much fun to make. We made two types of hats one style for our guests that had a variety of characters and one special hat for our birthday girl that is Elmo and fuzzy. Our origial plan was to just do the Elmo hat but looking online for ideas I just could not resist doing this easy set I found.

The first set was super easy to put together all you need is:

Plain multi-color party hats (variety pack of 8 only $1.99)
Tape
Scissors
Character faces printed on regular copy paper

Set up was easy as you can see, the project is self explanitory (cut face and tape to hat, we rolled the tape), clean up was a cinch, and the turn out was amazing! This part of our project did not offer much creativity but my toddler was happy attaching the faces to the hat.

We lined the hats up and she told me one by one who each character was and even used their voices. Toddlers love to be Cookie Monster!

Before even starting the second hat I am irritated with the boa feathers all over my house. Lesson learned pay the extra dollar for the better stuff. The cheap stuff is not the same in this case. But we must move on! This project is a little advanced for a toddler, probably me too, so she will create her own hat without a pattern (Elmo). Allowing her to create her own hat is better open ended play.

We used the leftover hats from the multi-pack, glue, scissors, felt(white and black), puff balls ($3.99 but will get lots more use), and boa feathers ($2.99). To make the Elmo hat you will use the glue to attach the pieces; 2 medium size white circle, 2 small black circles, orange nose, mouth, and ring of boa at top and bottom of hat. You will need to allow hat to dry over night. A splash of hair spray keeps feathers together. For the toddler end allow her to select scrap pieces etc, to design her own, you can put a dab of glue on a paper plate to allow her to "do it herself".

D is for done!

Chocolate Covered Pretzel Stix

Yummers!

This week we decided to eat our art and make a crafty tasty treat. With Valentines Day around the corner a friend questioned what would be a healthy alternative to your standard Valentine treat be. First thing that came to mind was chocolate covered strawberries, but this can get pricey especially since she was thinking about doing it for her sons class. So the next obvious suggestion was chocolate covered pretzels. PERFECT! I had not thought about a daycare treat for the girls and decided that would be perfect for us as well.

Supplies:
Pretzel sticks
White melting chocolate
Colored sprinkles
Wax paper
Curling ribbon
Non-seal sandwich baggies

Cost was low for this project. I had all but two of the supplies available. I had to buy melting squares $3.00 and sprinkles $2.50. Both products can be used for future projects.

Steps:
1. Melt chocolate.
2. Set up area with wax paper, sprinkles, and pretzels.
3. Dip pretzels in chocolate and place on wax paper add sprinkles.
4. Allow to harden.
5. When cool and firm wrap in baggie and tie with ribbon.

Ok so the pretzel sticks were not that easy for little hands and we actually ate more of round one of our project then we produced. A second problem with the project was that when I set up the supplies I had found out that someone had eaten all but 5 of the pretzels.

Ok round two was a huge success, see what patience will get you? We decided to try smaller pretzels and were pleasantly surprised. I hope they like them at daycare today! In round two we also opted for easy seal sandwich bags already decorated for Valentines. It was very easy and I bought them from the dollar store so cost is still down.

Clean up is easy as we use most of our supplies for our project. They red coloring from the sprinkles was a little difficult to clean but only because I let it sit. Tip: Totally clean up immediately!

I would rate this project a B+. We will totally do this project again!

Join us next week as we create party hats for an Elmo Party!

Color Wonder™ Fingerpaints

Product Review:

I LOVE THIS PRODUCT!!!

 

A+ in my book. This was so much fun. Totally worth the $12.99. The fingertips each contain a generous amount of special paint that only shows on special paper. The kit comes with 12 large pieces of paper that I cut in half. (SCORE SAVINGS$$) We have used a few sheets but will save some for later the gel paint lasts a long time and it is easy to tote away from a nosey toddler. Clean up was easy any paint that got astray was easily scrapped up like Elmer's Glue. She loved the play and I loved the product. The paint lies very well on the firm paper, there is texture in the painting that pops right out at you. I loved watching her rub her hands in the sloppy mess. We will for sure be doing this project over and over again.

Alex Paint In The Tub

Product Review:

We bought ours for $4.99 during Christmas. For the price the product was ok. My toddler did have fun playing but the colors were not as dark or thick as I would have liked. When confining your art to a smaller section like one bath tile you get better results. We were only able to use the kit 4 times and I would not see myself spending money on more color. We will use the hand to sort beads or something so we will at least be able to recycle some part of the project. I would rate this product a C+.

http://www.amazon.com/Alex-Paint-in-the-Tub/dp/B00000IRYM

Zippy Sponge Painting

For our first blog challenge we tried Zippy Sponge Painting. I found this project on the internet and thought it would be a fun, clean, and cheap Rainy Day project to do with my toddler.

http://www.toddlertoddler.com/todays_zippy_sponge_painting.htm

We followed the instructions for the project as detailed in the link but pat ourselves on the back for the recycling points we earned. In all of our projects it will be an added challenge to either make it more cost effective or recycle. This project we used papers that Maise has already scribbled on. We selected some sheets that were not over colored for her to choose from. The paint is thicker than the crayon so it is getting two uses out of one sheet.

Supplies Needed:
Paper, kids paint, freezer bag, sponge, scissors.

Maise was able to select her own sheet of paper.

I cut the sponge into 6 pieces and then added a dab of kids paint to each sponge piece. Maise was then able to select her own colors for the project.

This is where you want to place the sponges in the bag and seal. This became a turning point in our project. Maise soon lost interest and became upset when I went to seal the bag. She thought the fun was over. I showed her how to move the sponges but deep down I think she knew it would be more fun to make a mess.

****This is where we take a break from our planned activity and break into good old-fashioned finger painting. Ah sometimes it's fun to stick with he basics I guess. We fooled around with the finger painting for a while and then went back to the project. She was more into learning something new after she was able to do something she knew. We even have two pieces of completed works.

She is being silly now that we are done and wiping paint all in her hair. But even she is impressed, at least Crayola's kids paint is true to its claim. Very very easy clean up.

Working on her highchair contained her paint well and there was not much mess after we were done.

Allow papers to dry in bag.

• I like that I was able to recycle doing this project.
• I like that my cost was low as I had most items available. The only cost was for the paint ($4.50) and I will get plenty more use out of it.
• I like that we will also be able to use the papers on future projects.
• I like that it was easy clean up.

I don't think we will do this project again because it was restricting and kind of difficult to maneuver the sponges inside the bag. Maybe if we did this project with sand, marbles, or rice. Hum, ok maybe we can revisit with a tweak.

Please join us next week as we create with food! We will be making Valentine Treats!