Preschool Science: Let's Make Charts!

While I enjoy making things with Chuck, I'm also always looking for easy ways to incorporate mathematics and science into our daily activities too.   I loved math and science as a child, so I'd love it if he appreciated those subjects too.  Since he's only 3, our activities have to very pretty hands-on and relevant to his interests (like our shape dice,  cardboard bridges, and shape touch and find activities.)  We love taking walks outside.  So I incorporated science and math into our walk and created this chart to help us count the number of different things in our neighborhood. 

STEM ACTIVITY:  Make Charts With Preschoolers!

This was a super easy STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) activity to do with my preschooler.  It required very little prep and we practiced our observation, counting, and data analysis skills in the process!

Here's how we did the activity!

DIY Hedgehog Ring Toss

Do you love hedgehogs?   I do!  They're such adorable animals.  So I'm super excited that my first contribution for MollyMoo will be this super cute DIY Hedgehog Ring Toss Game!  

It's made from an old moving box and didn't take very long to make at all.  (My kind of craft!)  So if you want to make one, I'm sharing directions over here!

Love forest-themed crafts?

Then you might also like these...

• Super Easy Toilet Roll Flowers
• Bunny bean bag toss game 
• Toadstool Stools (a cute Ikea hack)
• Build a bird's nest with kids
• Egg Carton Bugs
• DIY Flower Crown

Let's keep in Contact!

Like this idea?  You can always find other fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts!


Happy Thursday!

DIY Cardboard Rocket Launcher Toy

Apparently we've reached the stage where Chuck likes pretending to shoot things... and people.  (Ack.  Is this common?  I'm assuming so... )  So I thought it would be fun to somehow make a toy that would actually shoot things, like a catapult or a slingshot.  We always seem to have cardboard rolls lying around, so I built this cardboard roll rocket launcher toy.  Then, we had a BLAST playing with it!

Get it?  Rocket launcher?  Blast? Like blast off?   Hee hee hee... wah wah wah.

DIY Cardboard Roll Rocket Launcher Toy

(Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support.) 

This rocket launcher toy uses rubber bands and cardboard rolls to shoot aluminum foil balls.  It's so powerful that we can actually shoot a ball across our (small) patio... whoa, right?  Since the balls are made from aluminum foil, they don't hurt. So you could create several launchers, shoot each other, and then not worry about anyone getting hurt.  Excellent, right?

Keep on reading to build your own rocket launcher and see other cool DIY toys that you can make and play with your little one.

Make Egg Carton Bugs

I love a good egg carton craft.  We don't eat eggs too often here, so whenever we finish a carton, I'm always super stoked to make something with it.  Today's Egg Carton Insect Craft came about because ants have been on our minds a lot lately.  For some reason there seem to be ants EVERYWHERE in our new home.  Eeek.  Plus, we recently watched "Honey I shrunk the kids" and Chuck loved Anty the giant ant.   So that's why we had to make ourselves some egg carton bugs!

Let's Make Egg Carton Insects!

(Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you so much for your support.)

Build a Bird's Nest

Lately Chuck and I have been going on a lot of nature walks.  Typically after lunch or dinner we'll just walk around our neighborhood and fly our toy planes, or pick up random rocks and twigs on the sidewalk.  Because Chuck loves collecting different objects, I thought it would be fun if we tried making something with the items that we found.  This time, we tried our hand at making a bird's nest.

Let's Build a Bird's Nest!

DIY Paper Slingshot

Hi everyone!  Sorry for being MIA for about a week, but we finally did our cross country move.  Now we're calling California home.... and trying to tackle mountains of unpacked boxes.  Eeek!  Right now I'm taking a quick break and figured I'd upload a fun DIY toy post.  During our last week in Jersey, I kept wanting to craft something... but found it difficult given that everything had already been packed away.  So while we were playing outside with friends, I spotted this Y-shaped stick and thought it was the perfect for making a slingshot!

DIY Paper Slingshots!

(This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you so much for your support.)

When I told hubby about my idea, he showed me how he used to make slingshots as a kid.  So I took his design and adapted it to the twig.  Now, I know that some of you consider this a weapon... but we made sure to set some ground rules and  only aim at objects and NOT at people.  

Make Toilet Roll Glasses!

Toilet roll crafts are some of my favorite ones to make.  (You can check out our extensive toilet roll craft gallery here.)  Right now we're still living out of our suitcases, so good ol' tp rolls are also some of the few craft items that I still have on hand.  Recently I saw Krokotak's toilet roll sunglasses tutorial and I knew that I really wanted to make my own version.  I've had pineapples and rainbows on my mind lately, so naturally they found their way into this adorable craft.

Toilet Roll Glasses

3 Easy Bear Hunt Activities (with printables)

I love making beautiful things with kids.  But I'll be honest with ya.  Often times making beautiful things takes time to plan and prep... and I just don't have the energy.  Often times I'll find myself at 11pm at night thinking, "Now shoot.  What craft are we going to do tomorrow?"  That's when I resort to fast and easy no-prep activities for the kiddos.  And that's how these 3 "Going on a Bear Hunt" themed activities came about.  Chuck and I love reading the book, so I came up with 3 really easy crafts to go along with the bear hunt theme.

3 Super Easy Bear Hunt Crafts

(This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!)

If you find yourself semi-scrambling for an easy craft idea too, then perhaps this activity is for you!  (And here's an added bonus, if you don't want to do your own drawings, you can always just printout my doodles.  I've included pdfs of those too down below. )

Ready to go on a bear hunt with us?  Ok.  Let's start crafting!

Make a Folding Popsicle Stick Fan

So our move is currently underway!  Eeek.  The movers just took away our boxes and we're doing some "urban camping" in our apartment (aka sleeping on air mattresses and living without a tv and toys) for the next week. While this is happening, Chuck and I are still trying to find moments to create.  Today I'm going to share with you a super easy tutorial for a folding popsicle stick fan that we recently made.  Yes.  It really folds.  Pretty neat, right?

Make a Folding Popsicle Stick Fan

(This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support.)

The idea came to me after watching a tv show explaining how women make traditional folding fans in Asia. After the episode ended I knew I had to adapt the steps for a kids' craft.  This fan doesn't open as smoothly as its real counterpart.  But it's still a neat kids' craft because it highlights a traditional art form.   Now let's get making!

Homemade Body Paint Recipe (2 ingredients Needed!)

Last week I shared a simple 3-ingredient homemade body paint recipe. While we had fun trying it out, I kept wondering if there was another way to make homemade body paint.  Turns out there is!  I peeked around the internet and found this neat series of body paint recipes.  The author shares a couple recipes that involved using washable white paint (which I kind of felt weird using on my skin...)  and one that involved using two ingredients that I already had on hand.  

2 Ingredient Homemade Body Paint Recipe

6 Fun Flower Activities for Kids

I've had flowers on my mind lately.  But can you blame me?  Spring is here and the world is bursting with color!  Plus, Mother's day is coming up and I imagine mothers all over receiving flowers as gifts.  So that's why I put together this list of 6 fun flower activities that you can do with your kids.   You can turn flowers into works of art, use them to decorate stationary, or place them in a sensory bin!  Let's get started!

6 Fun Flower Activities 

Painted Twig Wall Hanging

Painted Twig Wall Art 

Chuck's still too young to completely understand the idea of Mother's Day.  But if he were going to give me a handmade gift this Sunday, I'd venture to say that this Painted Twig Wall Hanging would probably be it.  My little guy has an eye for twigs.  Whenever we go for a walk outside, we inevitably bring back a twig, or a rock, or a leaf (luckily, he hasn't asked to bring back any bugs yet.  I might have to put my foot down there.)  Our nature collection tends to grow pretty quickly.  That's why I really like this twig wall art.  It's a beautiful way to remember walks outside, showcase his collection, and do some fun mommy-son crafting too.

Build a toy car that moves

I love painting things with Chuck, but sometimes I yearn to make things that actually move or do things.  So when a mommy friend suggested that we build cardboard toy cars that actually move, wowzers, I had to say yes.  She found the directions in an old kids' science book (that I don't remember the name of... sorry).  And that's how we spent an awesome play date with five kids- eating pizza and then building and racing some cardboard racing cars. 

Kid Science: Let's Build a Car that Moves!

Today's craft is awesome for 2 reasons:

1.  The cars really move.  Really.  You just twist the tin can and then let go.  Bam.  The rubber bands store the potential energy and then once released, they turn the can... and your car moves by itself!

2.  You don't need any expensive materials.  In fact, you probably have most of the items already at home.  

Have I whet your appetite enough?  Ok.  Let's build! Vroooom!

Kid Painted Umbrella (Mother's Day Gift Idea)

Lately Chuck and I have been painting... a lot... and I thought I'd take his artwork up a notch.  So I let him paint one of my umbrellas!  What?  What?  Well, it's always fun working on projects involving bigger and different objects.  Plus, Mother's day is coming up, so I thought that this painted umbrella would make a lovely handmade gift. 

Mother's Day Gift Idea- Kid Painted Umbrella

Painting an umbrella is a great way to showcase your child's artwork... plus, it's super fun.  (Chuck also had a blast painting it.)  Rainy days are always kind of a downer, so opening up an umbrella and seeing a beloved child's artwork will surely brighten up someone's day.   Now let's get painting!

DIY Dandelion Crown

What are your thoughts on dandelions?  Love em?  Hate em?  Since we live in the city and I don't do any yard work, I love the little suckers.  Their bright yellow color always cheers me up.  So dandelions can sprout anywhere as long as I'm concerned.  Like his mama, Chuck adores these little yellow flowers too.  He picks them from our neighbor's yard (shh, don't tell them!)  And he loves blowing them once they turn all white and poofy (again, shhhh, don't tell the neighbors... but they're probably going to get a bumper crop of dandelions next year.)  Because we both love these yellow flowers, I had to make a dandelion flower crown for Chuck. 

How to Make a Dandelion Flower Crown

Full confession here- I'm an impatient crafter... so this DIY dandelion crown was right up my alley. It only took a couple of minutes to make and then voila!  My son now has a crown fit for a little story tale prince.  Let's get crafting!

How to do Flower Pounding

Happy Earth Day everyone!  How's the weather where you are?  It's slowly getting warmer and sunnier over here, so Chuck and I have been taking nature walks around our neighborhood.  I was surprised to see so many tiny flowers blooming.  (Nature is so resilient, isn't she?)  Chuck really loved seeing the colorful blossoms too.  We ended up picking quite a few and bringing them back to do some flower pounding. 

How to do Flower Pounding With Kids

This craft basically involves hitting flowers (or grass or leaves) with a hammer or rock to release their pigment.  As you can probably guess, it was a big hit with the little guy.  (Sorry downstairs neighbors!)  Keep reading to see how we pounded our flowers!

Make Easter Egg Weebles

This Easter we had a lot of fun hanging out with family and friends.  I kept meaning to take lots of photos.... but I was having too much fun doing activities with the kids.  I'll try to upload my one or two photos this week.  Today I just wanted to show you this really quick DIY Easter Egg Weeble Craft.  Yup, you read that right. I made Chuck a couple of cute little Easter Egg Weebles from plastic Easter Eggs.  They're weighted, so they don't fall down.  (Scroll down for a video of Chuck trying to run them over with a Jeep... yup... that's my kid.)

Cacti and Farm Animal Easter Egg Weebles

If you still have your plastic eggs lying around, you might like making these little guys too.  Keep reading to find out more!

Freezer Paper Stenciled Canvas Bags

We're back from Australia!  Chuck had a ton of fun playing with his cousin.  I'll try to upload some photos next week once we get readjusted to East Coast time.  (Eeek.)  In the meantime, here's a quick post showing how I made these freezer paper stenciled canvas bags.  A couple of weekends ago, I hung out with some old college friends.  Wanting to give them something handmade, I whipped up these colorful bags. 

Freezer Paper Stenciled Tomato, Pear, and Flower Canvas Bags

Like the designs?  I think they're happy and bright, but I can't take credit for them. I modeled the images from ones that I saw via Pinterest. 

Toilet Paper Roll Flowers and Cacti

I've said it once, and I'll say it again.  I've got a black, black thumb.  And this saddens me because deep down, my heart is really green.  I love looking at plants, I love eating plants, and goodness one year I was even a tree for Halloween!  But I'm a plant killer.  So this makes today's toilet paper roll craft perfect for me.  These cardboard roll plants are pretty to look at, and impossible to kill.

Make Toilet Paper Roll Flowers and Cacti

Yup.  Aren't they pretty?  If you're interested in making yourself some everlasting recyclable plants, keep on reading!

Make a simple paper kite

Spring is here!  Let's go outside!  Let's go fly a kite!  What?  You don't own a kite?  No worries, we can  make one!  Today I'll share with you this really simple DIY paper kite.   It's easy to make, fun to play with, and my young son loved decorating his very own kite.  

Spring, spring, la la la!  (Can you tell that I have a bad case of spring fever?  *Twirls around and leaps*)

Make a Simple Paper Kite

Now the only warning I have about this craft is that you have to make more than one paper kite.    Seriously.  Each kid should get have his own.  And, be prepared for kites to break or float away.  (One of our floated away.) 

Alright, let's make some paper kites!