When I think about summer, I think of the sudden increase is dirt and mud everywhere! Baths are a frequent necessity. Strawberry and Kitty love to dig, apparently only encouraged by their brother, who is on a new emphatic hunt for “rocks” hiding beneath our lawn and play set.
The only way to get by is to embrace it, I know! I knew the perfect picture book to go along with dirt: I’m a Dirty Dinosaur! by Janeen Brian and Ann James.
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One thing I love about I’m a Dirty Dinosaur is that as the dinosaur gets progressively dirtier, he spends time relishing in the mess: first his messy feet, then his messy hands, and then his messy tummy, and so forth. Strawberry loves to act out the simple rhythmic pages for each messy part of the Dino.
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The most clever part of the simple art in this book is that the dirty brown that covers this adorable dinosaur in each picture is actually mud! To extend the fun, we decided to make our own mud paintings.
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Tag Archives: Crafts
Fine Motor and Literacy Stickers Activity
Practice fine motor and early literacy skills by placing stickers on words. This is a preschool activity that blends fine motor skills practice in an early literacy activity. Put stickers on names, sight words, or Valentines! Since Strawberry loves stickers, the color pink (currently her favorite,, although it changes weekly), glittery things, and hearts and she’s been asking “when is Valentine’s Day?” ever since Christmas ended, she loved today’s activity. She practiced fine motor and early literacy skills by making a sticker words page as a Valentine (for me, apparently!).
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Easy Elf Christmas Ornaments for Kids to Make

My mother and father found themselves celebrating their first Christmas together away from home during my dad’s assignment in Germany at the end of the Vietnam War. To decorate their humble Christmas tree, they purchased a few supplies and made Christmas elf pipe cleaner ornaments. Making these easy elf Christmas ornaments has become a family tradition.
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For my preschooler, this angel kids craft was a nice alternative to snow play. The craft can also be converted into an angel Christmas ornament. The angel uses an outline of the child’s hands and one foot to form the wings and body, and a personal photo of the child’s face makes it personal. My daughter has a spitfire personality, so I loved the ultimate result of this craft thanks to the addition of her face to the angel.

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Apple Busy Box Activities from Toddler to Kindergarten
From when my second child was a toddler till today, when she is a kindergartner and my third child is a toddler, I keep them busy by setting up busy boxes (also called busy bags or workboxes). With fall comes apple picking season for us. The activities and books below are perfect for an apple themed busy box!
I teach a class at our co-op, and my son is present for one or two other classes as well. This means that my two daughters get to “hang out” a lot each week, sometimes with a different adult to watch her.

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Super Easy No Sew Felt Corn
My most recent crafty project was a random one that I thought of as I watched my kids playing: I made some corn on the cob to go in my son’s play kitchen. I’ve mentioned it before, I don’t feel that I am a particularly crafty person. Put me in front of a computer and sure, I can make something. But give me crafting supplies, and I often feel a little lost as to what to do first. Also, one other thing you should know about me: when I was about 7, I burned off a fingernail with a super hot glue gun. So I’ve always avoided those types of crafts. But. I have decided to give craftiness a go. My no sew felt corn creation has been the perfect compliment to our play kitchen, and it is so easy that even the not crafty can do it!

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Picture Book-Inspired Scratch Board Art Project

The Caldecott Award-winning book The House in the Night is illustrated with scratch art as it tells a story with the feel of “This is the House That Jack Built.” As we poured over the textured images, we were impressed with the ways that lines created texture to look like birds’ wings or tree leaves. After being inspired by this picture book, we decided to try our own hand at in a scratch board art project. Continue reading
Creating Animals with Hearts: Picture Book Preschool
My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall was an interactive picture book for us, just the way a picture book preschool lesson should be. The author, who is a graphic designer, has created a zoo full of animals, each one created using hearts of all sizes. The text provides similes comparing ones’ heart to the animals (such as “eager as a beaver”). Strawberry loved counting the hearts on each page, and we made our own heart animals. Her favorite page in the book is the hippos drinking apple juice. Continue reading
Leaf Rubbings
It has been an amazing few weeks for me. Since I last posted, I had the honor of welcoming my third child into my family. My newest daughter, nicknamed “Kitty Cat” for the sake of this blog, was 7 lbs 2 oz, and arrived October 2 after a much-too-short labor. She’s a sweet little one, and 8-year-old Raisin and 3-year-old Strawberry love her. It’s good Kitty is a good sport, given the number of hugs and kisses her siblings smother her with!
I’m easing back in to blogging today with a simple fall project we did when Grandma was in town: we searched for favorite leaves and made rubbings! A nearby maple tree shed it’s super-sized leaves for us to enjoy, and it was fun to create leaf rubbings, a simple art project for all ages.

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Quill Painting to Learn about Then and Now
My daughter and I have been having fun together since my seven-year-old son has been at day camp for two weeks. (More on this to come!)
One fun thing we discovered as we dropped him off at the beach for his Beach Day was a large feather. Strawberry was delighted when I showed her how we can “tickle” each other with the feather. She proceeded to tickle herself all the way home. I mentioned, in passing, that in the past people would use a feather or “quill” as a pen, by dipping the tip into ink and writing with it. She was so excited by the idea that she wanted to try it! Hence, we had a morning of quill painting.

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