I just can’t with these craft stick people. My daughters and I are obsessed! Their crazy hair is our favorite part. We have been trying out different hairstyles on them all day. Our favorite so far is rainbow hair. Besides being adorable and fun to play with, they are also educational. You can use them to review so many skills. We are going to review odd and even numbers with our new friends, but there are so many other possibilities. You can review numbers, colors, patterns, addition, and subtraction, just to name a few. If you’d like to make these craft stick dolls too, scroll down.
What You’ll Need
People Craft Sticks
Markers
Pasta
Food Coloring
Vinegar
Zip lock bag
Measuring cup
How To:
- Pour two cups of pasta into a zip lock bag, add 1/4 cup or vinegar, and several drops food coloring and shake the bag until it is fully mixed in. Let the bag sit for ten minutes and then pour the pasta out onto a paper towel to dry.
- While you are waiting for your pasta to dry, you can color in your craft stick people.
That’s it. They are so simple to make and so much fun to play with. My daughters didn’t even mind doing math with their new friends. As long as they got to play with the pasta hair, they were happy as can be.
Comment down below and let me know what you think. Until next time.
*Adult supervision required*
My husband and I regularly discuss with our daughters how to recognize, manage, and express emotions. It is really important to give children the proper vocabulary to express themselves. At times, children may not fully understand what they are feeling, or why they are feeling that way, and this can leave them feeling extremely frustrated. To help strengthen my daughters emotional vocabulary, I created a feelings board for them.
When introducing the feelings board to my daughters, I asked them to describe a time they experienced each emotion on the board. We then discussed different strategies we have used in the past, and strategies we could use in the future when experiencing specific emotions. We wrote each of these strategies down on popsicle sticks, and put them in a mason jar right by the emotions board. This way, they are easily accessible when we need them.
How To Use The Feelings Board:
Each morning my daughters will put a clip with their name on it, on the emotion they are feeling. If I see a shift in behavior, I will guide them over to the board and help them figure out what they are feeling, and we will move their clip to that emotion. We will then discuss why they are experiencing that emotion and if needed, we will pick a strategy from our mason jar. Once we have worked through whatever it was they were experiencing, they will get to move their clip back to the emotion that reflects how they are now feeling.
What You’ll Need:
Cardboard ( we recycled a box)
Markers
Ribbon
Tape
Scissors
Corkboard
How To:
Cut out your feeling faces out of cardboard. Draw different faces to represent whatever feelings you are working on with your child. Curl the ribbon and tape it to the back of the head and pull a piece over to the front to show the hair.
I would like to share that the inspiration for the look of my little characters comes from @mummyandthebears. I was scrolling through Instagram and saw that she made these adorable smiley faced “hairdo heads”, as she calls them, and I knew I had to find a way to recreate them for our feelings board.
I hope you found this helpful. If you give this feelings board a try, comment down below. I would love to hear how it is working for your family.
*Adult supervision is required*
Today I didn’t feel like cleaning up a major mess, but I really wanted to do a Memorial Day craft with my daughters to go along with some of the lessons they are learning in school. Virtual school that is.
I decided on a no mess painting project. It didn’t end up being “no mess” the way we did it, but don’t worry, I eventually realized why paint splattered out onto my wood table. The table I said we could paint on without a table covering because it was a NO MESS project. Way to go mom!
To be honest, I wasn’t sure my daughters would like this project. We haven’t done a no mess painting project since they were five. They are eight now. Would they think it was babyish or would they love it? Turns out, they still love it!
Materials
Gallon Size Zip Lock Bag (This is where I went wrong. We used a plastic sleeve and I forgot to seal it!)
Paint
Tape
Poster Board
How To
Draw a picture on your poster board (cut to fit the zip lock bag) and add globs of paint within the lines. Carefully insert the poster board into the zip lock bag. SEAL the bag well.
You can place this on a table and let your little one get to work. All they need to do is squish the paint through the bag with their fingers. My daughters love when I tape these to our sliding door. For some reason it is even more fun if they get to stand while painting.
If you do not want to draw a picture, you can simply cut a poster board to fit into a zip lock bag, place globs of paint onto the poster board, carefully insert it into the ziplock bag, and let them squish the paint around. They can trace shapes into the paint or letters. Whatever they would like. Either way, it is a fun and easy project.
Comment down below if you give this a try. Can’t wait to read about what your little ones created.
*Adult supervision is required*