Simple St. Patrick's Day Playdough Play

The boys are already looking forward to St. Patrick's Day, which means we've been doing some fun, little things already to get ready to celebrate. Which is how we came up with this Simple St. Patrick's Day Playdough Play invitation.

As with most of our playdough recipes we started with our Basic Cooked Playdough recipe and then tweaked it a little to make it match the St. Patrick's Day theme. 

Paper Plate Wreaths for All 4 Seasons

In the last few years we've discovered how easy it is to make a "Paper Plate Wreath" using a paper plate and some decorations. In fact, we find them so easy we've made them for several different seasons and holidays!

Which is what inspired collecting all of these awesome posts from other bloggers too - because if they're that easy to make, why not make one for every season of the year?

Bunny Valentine - Lunch Box Treat

One of the fun things I like to do near the holidays is find little ways to surprise the boys in their lunch boxes. These sweet treats will be headed into their lunch boxes on Tuesday in honor of Valentine's Day.

When I spotted these yummy Annie's bunny grahams at the grocery store the other day they inspired me to create this fun Valentine's Day Lunch Box Treat. 

"Shades of People" Handprint Wreath

For the third year in a row we are honored to be participating in a Blog Hop in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. hosted by the Multicultural Kid Blogs. Each year a group of bloggers share resources and activities in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. and the causes he stood for.

This year the boys and I reread a book we've liked for quite a while titled "Shades of People" by Shelly Rotner. Afterwards we created a paper plate handprint wreath celebrating all the ranges of skin colors in the world.

Christmas Tree Quesadilla

With just a few days to go until Christmas, the energy and anticipation are both on high at our house. I find during these times one of the best things to do is add quick, small bursts of fun into our day to help keep everyone distracted.

A few years ago I came up with these pretty simple Christmas Tree Quesadillas. They are perfect for a fast dinner or lunch in the lead up to Christmas. And they add just a small dose of fun to keep people positive.

Easy Button Tree Card

A few days ago I came up with this Easy Button Tree card for a quick evening project. And it just came out too cute not to officially share it.

It took just a few minutes to prepare, and the kids were able to put together a few cards pretty quickly. They'll use them later this month for teachers and other special friends.

Cork Christmas Trees

Through most of our Thanksgiving break one (or both) of the boys were fighting some kind of bug. Not so fun for a holiday weekend, but on the other hand it did mean we got some much needed downtime at home.

On one of the days it was clear we needed something fun and festive to perk us up, which is why I pulled out the materials for these Cork Christmas Trees.

They were a quick, easy to assemble craft that definitely has us thinking about Christmas already. 

Jack O'lantern Suncatcher

Still looking for some quick and easy Halloween projects? This Jack O'lantern Suncatcher is not too messy and is quick to put together.

Little Brother and I enjoyed making it recently and we love the Halloween color it adds to our window!

Cardboard Tube Easter Bunnies

The Easter holiday is almost here. This cute craft is pretty easy to put together and doesn't take too long to finish. Best of all, they use something you probably even have laying around: cardboard tubes!

We love finding ways to use up things we already have on hand, and for that same reason we're usually hanging on to things like cardboard tubes. You just never know when you might have a project with them, just like these fun Cardboard Tube Easter Bunnies!

Peas 'n Carrots Sensory Bin

A few weeks ago we used dried peas in our Leprechaun's Letters Sensory Tub, and they proved to be a great sensory tub filler. So while we still had them out, I decided to tweak the bin a little to reflect the next upcoming holiday: Easter.

Last year I picked up these cute little carrot containers at The Dollar Tree (I saw others for sale this year as well) and I've been looking for a great way to use them. What goes better with carrots than peas?

Kid-Made St. Patrick's Day Wreath

It's hard to believe that we're already jumping into March and thinking about the two holidays that are coming up this month: St. Patrick's Day and Easter. But, I have to say with these dreary, stalled-out, winter days going on I'm loving the bright greens and spring colors that come with these two holidays.

This project was a quick and easy way to make a kid-made St. Patrick's Day decoration. We were able to tackle it in two short project times after school (each part took less than 10 minutes) and the boys love the results.

Graphing with Easter Candy

One of our favorite things to do with seasonal candy is use it as a math manipulative. In the past we've used candy hearts for math games, counted with pumpkins, and done math play with jelly beans.

So when I saw these SweetTart Easter Candies at the grocery store I knew they would be perfect for math play.

Since the candies were both colorful and different shapes, we decided to graph them! I made up two graphs: a color graph and an animal graph. We want you to be able to play too, so at the end of the post you'll find the link for the graphs!

Mitten Ornaments Inspired by Jan Brett's "The Mitten"

Mitten Ornaments

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We're really excited to be participating in the 10 Days of Kid-Made Ornaments as hosted by Mama Miss. There are so many amazing homemade ornament ideas being shared by some of the most creative kid bloggers out there. And all of the ornaments are both kid-made and inspired by a different children's books! Of course you can see why we're excited.

For our ornament project we decided to read Jan Brett's "The Mitten" and create our own snowy white mitten ornaments.

Tabletop Cork Turkeys

Thanksgiving is just a few days away, yet there is still plenty of time to make these tabletop cork turkeys.

We love using corks in projects, like printing with them to make cork spiders or crafting cute cork bats. These little tabletop turkeys were just as quick to put together and just too cute! We're planning to put a whole flock on the table this coming Thursday.

Potato Stamped Tea Towels

We were really excited to be able to participate in the Kid Made Gift Series that is being hosted by Teach Me Mommy. We really like making homemade gifts, especially around the holidays. These potato stamped tea towels were something I'd been thinking of trying for a while now, and we just love how they turned out! 

Potato stamping is always fun and versatile, as you can create just about any kind of stamp you want. In our case, we want these to be holiday gifts to we made Christmas themed ones. 

Fourth of July Star Wands

Every year we head to our local parade on the 4th of July. We love the fun of the trucks, floats, and of course candy.

Each year we usually bring small flags for the boys to hold, but this year we decided to switch it up and create something else a little festive for the kids to hold: Fourth of July Star Wands.

Jelly Bean Math (3 Preschool Play Invitations)

Big Brother was under the weather this week, and looking for a pick me up, which meant it was the perfect time to introduce some of the jelly bean math play invitations I'd had up my sleeve.

In the past we've enjoyed using candy hearts at Valentine's Day to practice early math skills. So with Easter coming up jelly beans made lots of sense for more candy math play invitations. For our play invitations we used Teenee Beanee American Medley Jelly Beans , which comes in six colors. 

St. Patrick's Day Rainbow Windsock

With a few more weeks until St. Patrick's Day we're having fun creating colorful crafts to brighten up our house a little. Color means lots of green and rainbows! We settled on one craft where we could combine both of them: a St. Patrick's Day Rainbow Windsock.

This windsock is a decoration windsock for inside and is very similar to the one we made for the 4th of July this summer. 

Simple Sticker Valentine's (with Free Printables)

I absolutely love all the amazingly adorable and fun Valentine's ideas you can find these days on Pinterest. We've loved sharing them this month on Facebook and adding them to our Valentine's Day Pinterest Board.

And while we were tempted to recreate some of these amazing ideas, this year we decided to keep it simple with these Sticker Valentine's Day cards.

I originally didn't plan on sharing them, so we're posting this a little close to the day, but they were so simple and easy to create, and looked pretty cute in the end we couldn't resist posting anyway. 

Rolling Pin Valentine's

I first saw using a rolling pin and foam stickers to paint this fall over at Fantastic Fun and Learning when they were creating Rolling Pin Fall Leaf Paintings. I tucked it into the back of my mind as something I wanted to try with the boys. When I was trying to think of a way for Little Brother to be a little more hands on with his Valentine's, it came to mind.

I decided to use the smaller rolling pin that the boys use in their play kitchen or play dough play, with the idea it might be easier for Little Brother. Even though it's a rolling pin used for play, I took the tip of wrapping it in plastic wrap. On top of the plastic wrap I added a few foam heart stickers. (Foam stickers are pivotal to the project as they are thick and are raised off the pin.)