Mathy Mother's Day Jewelry

Mother's Day is coming up!  So of course, fun kid-made gifts have been on my mind!  Last week we made these darling egg carton flower pins.  I thought they would go great with some lovely kid-made jewelry.  But of course, there had to be a twist!  (A math twist that is!)

Let's Make Mathy Mother's Day Jewelry!  

Virtual cutting

Last week I found myself happily lost in a maze of math brain teasers.  Here's one that I really enjoyed: 

Make one cut to the first figure (a) and then rearrange the pieces for the second figure (b).

Answer and next math brain teaser will be revealed tomorrow!
(Problem taken from NCTM Mathematics Teacher Dec 2010/Jan 2011)

5 Preschool Pi Day Activities

Ok.  Pi day is coming up this Saturday.  Are you ready to celebrate it with some fun activities?   Last year I came up with 3 Pi Day Activities for elementary aged children, like making Pi Day Bracelets and making 2 Types of Pi Inspired Artwork!  This year I thought it would be a fun challenge to try to introduce Pi Day to my Preschooler.

Pi Day celebrates Pi, the mathematical constant that describes the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.  Pi's digits stretch infinitely long, never repeat, and seem to be random.  I really wanted to share my love for math with my 3 year old.  So here are 5 Preschool Pi Day Activities that are fun, easy to set up, and great opportunities for some hands on learning!

5 Preschool Pi Day Activities

Painted Tin Can Succulent Pots

Spring has sprung!  Are you enjoying all the lovely blooms popping up around your neighborhood? In honor of Spring, today's Creative Preschool theme is.... plants!  So I wanted to share how we painted and repotted these tin can succulents.

Because this is part of the Preschool Collaborators Series, there are links at the bottom of the post to 4 other bloggers' great ideas for teaching preschoolers about flowers and plants!  (So scroll down to the bottom of the post to check those out!)

How to Repot Succulents in Painted Tin Cans 

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4 Kits to create your own DIY Summer STEM + Robotics Camp

Love the idea of sending kids to summer STEM and Robotics camps... but not the prices? I get you! We love doing easy science and STEM activities at home. This past summer, we considered sending my eldest to some robotics camps, but then realized that they just weren't in our budget. So, instead, we set up our own STEM and Robotics camps... at home by purchasing a couple of STEM/ Robotics kits and building them together. Here's a quick review of the 4 kits that we tried out!

A Review of 4 STEM and Robotics Kits 

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4 Fall and Halloween Count and Find Printable Activities (Free!)

 If you're looking for a super quick printable worksheet for the kids this fall, I made these super cute Halloween and Fall Count and Finds. :) Enjoy!

Free Fall and Halloween Count and Find Printable Activities

Pi Day Activity- Make Pi Art!

Happy Pi Day everyone!  I remember thinking this holiday was really cool when I was younger.  We let out our inner nerds, drank soda, and ate a pizza pie in class.  Earlier this week I whetted your mathy appetite when I shared how I turned Pi into wearable art.  My super easy and colorful Pi Day Bracelets were made by stringing different colored beads according to the digits in Pi.  Today I'm celebrating Pi Day with two colorful and geometric pieces of Pi Day Inspired Artwork.

 "Easy As Pi" Artwork!

And if you have younger preschool aged children, check out my 5 easy ways to celebrate Pi Day with Preschoolers!


Now let's celebrate your inner nerd and create some fun artwork to brighten up your wall.  Let's get started!

Colorful "Stamp and Paint" Heart Art

Ever try out a project, expecting one thing and then getting something completely different?  That’s what happened with a recent art adventure.  I loved this stained glass art with toilet paper rolls and never had a chance to try it out.  It seemed so easy.  Stamp, wait, then paint!  Boom.  Easy and colorful kid art!  Well, my preschooler and I've started making Valentine's Day Crafts and made a Valentine’s day version….with unexpected results! 

Colorful “Stamp and Paint” Heart Art

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STEAM KIDS- An AWESOME book with 50+ creative, hands-on projects for kids!

I love doing things with my kids.  But lately it's been hard to carve out time to find, set-up, and prep fun and educational activities.  With all the buzz about STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) activities, I've been especially keen on trying out more of those too.

Maybe you're like me?  Maybe you're looking for a great resource full of easy and fun STEAM activities to try out with your kids too?

If that's the case, then I'm so glad you're here!  I'm excited to announce the launch of a brand new book- STEAM Kids!      

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DIY Wooden Block Dolls

We've had a box of wooden blocks gathering dust in our closet for a couple of weeks now.  Recently I tried breathing life into them with this fun craft.  We made our own Wooden block dolls!  Armed with stickers and Sharpies, we transformed plain jane blocks into cute characters.  Aren't they adorable?  I love how they're full of personality and charm.

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.  For my full disclosure policy, click here.

50+ Super Cute and Easy Origami and Kirigami Projects for Kids

Looking for origami projects that are unique, cute, and easy-to-fold? Or, do you feel the need to grab a pair of scissors and cut some beautiful kirigami designs?  If you're on the hunt for kid-friendly paper folding projects for spring, summer, fall, and winter, then I've got the ultimate post for you. Here's a growing list of over 50 super cute origami and kirigami ideas for kids!

50+ Easy and Kid-Friendly Origami and Kirigami Projects

This post contains affiliate links. This means I make a tiny bit of grocery money from each purchase made.  Thank you for your support!  For my full disclosure policy, click here.

FREE Lunar New Year Count and Find Sheets

If you're looking for more Lunar New Year printables for the kids, I'm sharing these cute Count and Find sheets. They're a great math activity for preschoolers and kindergarteners. And if you want to make the activity more challenging, you can have children write the numbers in another language! 

Free Printable Lunar New Year Count and Find Sheets

Cardboard Ninja Throwing Stars

Ninja Crafts, I have found, can be quite polarizing.  Some parents think they're super fun and great for birthday parties.  Other parents are uncomfortable with kids using weapons like a sword, ninja stars, and such. 

While I don't condone violence, I do realize that making toys that shoot, launch, or fly (like this pom pom shooter, car launcher, or this 1 sheet paper kite) are always crowd pleasers.   (Plus, they're a great opportunity to slip in some STEAM learning.)   So today I'm sharing this cute Ninja Throwing Star Craft.  It was super easy to make and kept us relatively sane on a stuck-at-home-going-to-pull-my-hair-out-cleaning-the-pulled-out-puzzles-for-the-eight-time rainy day.

How To Make Cardboard Ninja Throwing Stars

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Preschool Weather Science: How can we stay dry?

I'm always looking for really easy ways to help Chuck learn science and math concepts.   We've been fighting colds these past two weeks, so activities that are easy to throw together and take little time to prep have been on the top of my list.  That's probably why I really appreciate good ebooks like STEAM: Preschool Activities for STEM Enrichment  (affiliate link). It's co-authored by one of my blogging buddies, Jamie from Handmade Kids Art and contains over 30+ simple and fun ways you can teach young children about science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics!

I recently received a free copy to review and ear-marked several ideas that I'd like to try out with Chuck.  Inspired by one activity in the book, here's a fun Preschool Science activity that we did to look at how we stay dry during the rain.

Easy Preschool Science:  How can we stay dry during the rain?

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Kids' Matisse Inspired Collages

Earlier last week, fellow Rockin' Arts Mom Kristen from Art History Mom shared a really neat way to introduce young children to the artwork of Henri Matisse.  I was so intrigued by her post that I did a shortened version of her lesson with my 2 1/2 year old son.  Wow.  I was so pleasantly surprised at how Chuck responded.  He loved looking at the artwork, counting the figures, and finding different colors and shapes.  Since Matisse's collages are so colorful and graphic looking, we then tried making our own Matisse inspired artwork at home.

Kids Make Matisse Inspired Collages

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Aren't they beautiful?  Now little did I know, Kristen (from Art History Mom) also had a similar idea in mind.  She ended up making these lovely Playdough and Construction Paper Collages with her son.  I think that using play dough to make collages is such a cool idea, so definitely check out her activity too!

#riskrejection- Confessions of a Kids' Craft Blogger

A couple of months ago, a friend shared some of my blog posts with her sister who has kids.  After seeing some of my posts, her sister said something along these lines... "Wow.  She makes me feel like a bad mom because I don't do those things with my kids."

Ouch.

Now, I think her sister was only half joking... but still, the comment dug in deep and hit me hard.  I started this blog as a way to document all of the fun and crapty ways that I keep myself (and now, my son) entertained.  And I've kept this blog going for because I want to keep creating things... and hopefully inspire other parents and kids to create things too.

In no way did I ever want to make someone feel bad about themselves...

So today's post is an honest post.  Friends, hopefully I haven't made others feel that way.  Let me share some honest, kid craft blogger confessions with you...

1.  Ever notice how Chuck is always cute and smiley in photos?
Confession- I bribe my child to smile.  *Gasp* Yurp.  It's true.  I give Chuck a gummy snack to smile and laugh for photos.  Yes.  Gummy snacks... the sugary, non-organic, artificial color-laden kind.  It works every time and he enjoys working for this "fee." 

2.   Ever notice how the first photo of each post shows a lovely project laying on a clean, white background?
Confession- It's staged.  *Gasp*  It's true.  I take up "office" in Chuck's room, move around his toys, place my artwork and projects on a white board, and shoot like a million photos.... and end up using only one or two.  (Oh and btw- I also recently learned that images are considered more "pinnable" if they're vertical ones instead of horizontal ones... so I've been working on that too.) 

3.  Ever notice how my photos are nice and bright?
Confession- They are edited.  *Gasp*  Yes.  It's true.  I take photos in the morning (for the best light).  Then I edit them on free software like Picassa.  (And here's another confession- I even do this for many of my photos on my Instagram Feed too)

4.  Ever notice that I post a lot of craft posts every week?  Where do I get the time to do this stuff?
Confession- I'm a super hero and have the ability to stop time.

Just kidding!  I hate cleaning.  When Chuck is finally in bed, and I see a dirty bathroom/floor/kitchen/bedroom (take your pick) and an enticing list of craft ideas... the craft ideas win every time.  So if you ever come and visit our apartment... sorry for the dirty toilet and the giant dust bunnnies... let's make something together!

5.  Wow.  So many of my projects seem to work out so nicely and neatly....

Confessions-

• 2/3 of my projects are "duds."  Ideas often don't work out (like my exploding dinosaur eggs) or activities just weren't very fun (like my DIY math game).   
• I usually go through several iterations of more complicated projects to get a version that I like. 
• Of the 1/3 "successful" projects, only about 1/2 of them ever make it to the blog.  The other ones are never posted because... (and I know this is superficial... but I'm being honest here)... the photos just aren't that great.  

 

And now that I've bared my kid crafter soul, I'll end with this post with couple of photos from our latest creative endeavor.  A couple of days ago Chuck and I had a TON of fun painting in our living room.  Here's a photo of our activity:

Yes.  this was in our living room.  Yes. We went a bit crazy.  He ended up painting his feet, hands, bubble wrap, a random tire, and some of his clothes green.  It was a good rainy, day, stuck-inside activity.   

And here are real* (and blurry) smiles from Chuck:
*No gummy treats were offered here

And here's our final artwork (made 100% by Chuck)

Heh heh.  Isn't the image gorgeous?  Isn't it super pinnable?

Friend, this is what a lot of our artwork and projects end up looking like... 




So that's the end of my confession.  I'm just a regular mom, who hates cleaning, but loves making stuff (some good, some really not so good) with my regular kid (who is sometimes happy and smiley and agreeable... and sometimes not).

Thanks for joining me on this crafty and crapty adventure.




Linking up with other ladies who are daring to be honest and risk rejection.

   

5 Flower + Plant Activities for Preschoolers!

Spring is here! Spring is here!  In honor of this lovely season, here are 5 flower and plant activities that are just perfect for preschoolers!

5 Preschool Flower + Plant Activities

What did you fail at today?

When I was in elementary and middle school, I was deathly afraid of getting bad grades.  Once I got a B (which my mind translated to F) on a test and I cried and cried and cried.

When I got to high school, the stakes became higher. I learned about the triad of dreaded acronymns- GPA, PSAT, and SAT. 

*Shudder shudder shudder* 

I wore them like heavy chains around my heart.  I became even more afraid of failing.  On the outside I showed a smiley faced demeanor and acted like I didn't care too much.  But inside I was fiercely competitive.  School was the one thing that I was always good at.  I studied hard and wasn't happy unless every grade was some sort of A.  I put a lot of pressure on myself because I didn't want to be labeled the dreaded F word: Failure.

*Shiver*

This September, for the first time in twenty-seven years, I'm no longer a student.  I'm no longer working for a grade and dreading what someone will label me.   (If you're interested in my decision to drop out of the PhD program, you'll have to wait a big longer.  I'm still reflecting on that whole journey.  That'll be for another post, for another day, for another blog...)


Now that I'm no longer being graded, I feel a loosening of the weights around my heart.  Gone are the scary nightmares where I'm back in school and *gasp* asked to take a ridiculous math exam that I didn't study for.

Now that I'm not being graded anymore, I'm giving myself a free pass.  I'm giving myself permission to fail.

Wait, strike that.  I'm encouraging myself to fail... every day.

Surprised?

Last spring I heard an interview of Sara Blakely, the inventor of Spanx.  (According to Forbes magazine, she's the world's youngest self-made billionaire.)  When I listened to her journey, I was struck by a story she shared about her father.  Every night he would ask his children to name one thing that they failed at that day.  Faced with this question night after night, Sara was encouraged to try to do new things every day. 

She learned not to be afraid of failing.  She also learned that failure didn't happen when things didn't work out.  Failure meant not pushing yourself to try new things, not pushing yourself to do and be more than the day before.

That story planted itself into my heart.

I'm going to fail at something every day.  This way I can stop being afraid of things and grow.

7 Tips for Taking Preschoolers to the Art Museum

Ever take your children to the art museum?  A couple weeks ago my friend and I brought our 3 preschool boys to our local art museum.  Can I admit something to you?  I was kinda  SUPER nervous about how it would go.  Three active boys walking around a building of beautiful, priceless, breakable artwork?  What could go wrong?  (Ha!)

Pre-mom years, I loved  visiting art museums with my husband.  But once I had Chuck... I put aside those visits because of my fears.  But oh, how I love looking at beautiful things.... and oh, how I love making art and crafts with my son.  Now that he's a bit older I figured it was time to give it a try.  So I asked for suggestions on FB... and we bravely visited the art museum with our 3 very active and curious kids.

Guess what?

It went pretty well!  We had fun and the art stayed unharmed!  Huzzah!  So here's a post detailing 7 things that we did to make our art museum experience more enjoyable (and educational) for the kiddos.

7 Tips for Taking Preschoolers to the Art Museum

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(Hey! Who's that boy in the photo?  Not Chuck. It's one of our friends!)

STEAM Kids Kitchen- 70+ Activities and Recipes for Creative Kids

It's here! It's here!

If you have curious and creative kids who love to tinker and question and make... then you'll love our new STEAM Kids in the Kitchen book!

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