Watercolor Bookmarks

 February is around the corner and I have been brainstorming ideas for no-candy Valentines. I hope to share a few over the next couple of weeks. These bookmarks are great because you can recycle some artwork to become the bookmarks if you have some extra on hand (and we all know if you have young children, you have some artwork to spare!)

 On this day we painted a few special paintings specifically for the bookmarks. Using watercolors and card stock. Your child will also need scissors, a hole punch, contact paper and yarn.

 Em painted a few abstract paintings. We absolutely love these metallic watercolors that we found at our local used art supply store recently. They give a great effect with lots of shimmer. I believe they are made by Prang.

 Once the paintings were dry we cut the card stock into bookmark size strips and laid them onto the sticky side of a sheet of contact paper. Next, we covered them with another sheet of contact paper to seal and cut each one out leaving a small edge of the contact paper around each bookmark.

 I helped Em to punch a hole at the top of each and we picked the perfect yarn to add to each one.

 A simple knot on each of our bookmarks and we were done. She really enjoyed making these and using them.

 Art and literacy--all in a days work!

Don't you think these would make a great Valentine? You could even add little heart stickers or stick to colors like red, white and pink. So many ways to make these for your Valentine!

I shared this and other Valentine crafts over at Kiwi Crate.

Letter Magnets

 It's such an exciting thing when your little one starts to read and write. Watching them go from a wobbly-mama-dependent toddler to an independent kid who reads themselves books--awesome!! OK, can I be honest and also say it makes me sob like a baby that my baby is growing up and practically off to college already!! (Insert sad face)

 All kidding (and mama emotions aside) I love this time in my Emma's life. She writes me letters almost everyday (and yes I keep them all because one day when she does go away to college I plan to read them to myself several times a day) and she reads her baby brother books, talk about sweetness! It's all a new learning curve for me as I try to support and encourage her development, but all the while keep it an enjoyable experience for her.

 Okay, enough rambling and onto the craft. To encourage literacy in the home in a fun way I found some old letter game pieces and along with sticky magnet sheets we made a set of fun letter magnets.

This has been such a great tool for Emma to practice her spelling at home in a fun way. We leave each other notes daily and now even Grayson is starting to use them as he is recognizing his letters.

My Sweet Emma, 
You are growing up so very fast and making me so proud every step of the way.
Love, 
your mama

My full Letter Magnet tutorial is over at Kiwi Crate.

Glove Puppets

 

Making up stories is a favorite in our house. I love telling the kids stories in bed at night and adding little sneaky lessons to learn or including a challenge we had that day. It is a way they will listen and learn without pushing the idea away. 

Emma has become quite the little story teller herself. I love to see her imagination endlessly create and watch her confidence grow. We made a fun hand puppet to add to her story telling fun. She really enjoyed making her puppets and she especially enjoys using it while telling stories. The puppet also seems to get the attention of Grayson and really engage him in the story.

 Emma's teacher recently said he uses a puppet to talk to the class and that the kids really listen to this puppet. It made me giggle (mostly because I would love to see him chatting to the kids in a "puppet voice,") but also because it is amazing what a silly puppet or even just a silly voice can do when you are dealing with children. I think it is a genius idea and I may start walking around my house with an assortment of puppets to parent my children. Just imagine the things we would accomplish in this house!

 On to the hand puppet instructions.

Materials:

foam sheets

new kitchen sponges

googly eyes

tacky glue

child size glove

scissors

 Emma decided on going with a theme. You could do anything really, but she wanted--The Three Little Pigs. We cut the sponges into round faces for the pigs and wolf and even made a little house.

 Next, we cut foam pieces to be our details on our puppet faces. We added them onto each sponge with a little glue.

 You could use foam for eyes as well, but we went with googly eyes.

 The faces are added to each finger of the glove with tacky glue, but be sure to have something in the fingers of the glove to prevent them from sticking together. We used the foam sheet scraps, paper would work, too.
Once each finger puppet was in place I set a heavy book on top of the glove to be sure our puppets dried in place.

The next day we were ready for some story telling puppet theater! This has been such a good tool for both my kids to build confidence and spark those beautiful imaginations.

For more details, I shared this over on Kiwi Crate.

6-Word Memoirs, Honest Tea

This morning when I opened my bottle of Honest Tea I noticed writing on the inside of the cap. It read:

6-Word Memoirs

Mom's.

Alzheimer's.

She forgets.

I remember.

-Becky Blanton

This was so moving and inspiring to me. Just six words is all I read, but they were so personal and sincere. This tea cap writing inspired me to start a daily writing with Emma. When I picked her up from school I asked her to think about a point of the day where she felt lots of feelings. It could be good or bad. We sat together and talked about different moments in our day where we felt different emotions and which ones stood out.

I wrote six words about my morning with Grayson. How I watched him be two and remembered Emma "being two." It was a sweet and sentimental morning for me and I wished I could stay there for awhile longer than I know I will. 

Emma told me she really enjoyed school today. This is what she broke her six words down to, which let me tell you was a little difficult. 

And then she wanted to write six words about dinner because she said she loves to sit with her family at dinner especially when candles are lit. This was a reminder to me to actually sit while I am feeding the children and I guess to light the candles as well.

I loved sitting down with her today and recapping on our day together. I loved hearing her honesty and just talking openly. I will try to do this with her a few times a week. Not only does it help me to hear about how she is feeling, but I think these will be wonderful for her to see and read as an adult. 

Thank you Honest Tea. I love you for many many reasons, but your 6-Word Memoirs are so special to me now.