Paper Flower

My unit on food has come to an end (though I still have a ton of ideas); now I am moving on, and yesterday we made these simple flowers. My kids loved this project!

All you need is a cupcake liner, some construction paper, a cottonball, glue, and some perfume. Cut out a stem and some leaves from green construction paper. Have the kids glue them on the page. Then flatten a cupcake liner a bit and glue that on as the flower. A cottonball gets glued in the middle of the cupcake liner. Then spray some perfume on the cottonball and let everything dry. There you have it--simple, quick, and oh so fragrant!

I hung these low on our playroom wall that my kids could enjoy them whenever they had the inclination. What a great sensory activity! Try it with your kids!

Banana Prints

With Valentines day coming up, I wanted to do something for the grandparents, but also stick to my food theme (which, by the way, is coming to a close soon). I came up with banana prints. I cut several pieces of cardstock into squares and then sliced a banana (still in the peel) in half. We used pink and red paint to stamp banana circles on the paper. We glued these squares, along with some red decorative paper to large construction paper. On top of each painted square, I added a wooden heart made from a Popsicle stick (an idea I found on www.flipflopsandapplesauce.blogspot.com). Inside, I wrote "Love is" and had each of my children dictate to me what they thought love was. Of course, afterward, I sliced the dirty part of the banana off and we had a sweet treat!

To make the Popsicle stick hearts, simply cut the ends of a Popsicle stick or tongue depressor off at an angle using a strong pair of nippers, and glue them together to make hearts. I had mine color them with markers, but you could also paint them. Here are some pics:

Muffin Tin Lunches

If you frequent kiddie blogs like this one, you know that muffin tin lunches are very popular, not to mention very easy to do! All you do is fill a small muffin tin with different foods; we used dried apricots, a windmill cookie, a pb sandwhich, mixed veggies, dried peas and grapes. The kids love it because it's unique and novel, and I love it because it exposes them in small portions to new or different foods! Here are our lovely lunches:

Food Group Placemats

Here's a fun activity for tots and preschoolers--food group placemats. My nephew came over to do this one with us, and I think they turned out so cute! Initially I thought that the kids would enjoy doing this more than they did, but it wasn't to be. They liked it, but I thought they wouldbe more excited about all the foods. However, we've been using them as placemats ever since, and THAT they do enjoy!

This one takes a little planning, but nothing too exerting. I collected the grocery mailers and other coupons from our junk mail for a couple weeks, cutting out different or interesting pictures of foods over time and storing them in a bin. I also cut out glasses and silverware from an IKEA catalog, and little squares from checked paper to use for napkins. I also cut out a circle from construction paper for the plate.

The morning we planned to do this project, I had my 3 year old sort the food items into their food groups. He did surprisingly well, and even dumped them out after sorting them once and sorted them again! I don't think he realized he was learning! ;) There's no real reason to sort the food if your toddler is too little to do that. I just thought it'd be a fun activity for my preschooler.

Following that, I gathered my materials--glue stick, construction paper and contact paper (and of course the food cut outs). We glued the plate onto the construction paper first, then started adding our foods, silverware, glasses and napkins. When they were finished, I put contact paper on both sides to protect it from moisture. We then went through and named all the foods on the placemats. The kids brought out the kitchen toys and got to work having an impromptu picnic in our living room. At lunch time, we used them for our real foods, and have been using them since.
This is a great activity to work on verbal skills with your kids. It's also interesting to see what foods they choose. You can ask them to name the foods or to tell you why they picked what they picked. You can extend it to talking about sweet and salty foods, the food groups, etc. And since it can become a permanent fixture at your dinner table, the learning can extend much longer than the 15 mintues it takes to put the mats together. I hope you like this one!

Noodle Stringing

I decided to give this classic child's craft a try the other day. I dyed our noodles using the same method that I used to dye the rice; 2 tsp rubbing alcohol plus food coloring, then shake the colors in separate ziplock bags. The noodles take a little longer to dry than the rice, so be patient and prepare ahead of time. Then I cut long strips of yarn for stringing. I made a little "needle" out of a pipe cleaner and we had fun making these pretty neclaces. I've made this a permanent activity on our "preschool" shelf at our house; instead of yarn, I am using a shoelace with masking tape on the end for a needle. The kids have picked this up several times since we did this activity, and enjoy just making the long strings of noodles and then pulling them off one at a time and putting them away. Try it! Your kids may like this too!

The Rice Rainbow

Okay, this is my last activity with rice, I promise! But just think--I've used this same 1/2 cup of rice to teach so many things already, I feel so "green"! After our first activity with the rice, we made a rice rainbow, which turned out really cute.

Besides being cute, what I liked about this project was that it required my little ones to follow directions, pay attention to detail and color, and work with a glue pen and the fine kernels of rice.
To do this project, you will need colored rice (see my posts under "fun with foods" for instructions on dying rice), a piece of construction paper and glue--I used a glue pen. Have your child draw (or draw it yourself) an arch with the glue. Then have them add red rice as you would add glitter, to the arch. Repeat, varying the colors until you have a completed rainbow. You can use this activity to talk about the letter "R" because both rice and rainbow begin with R.

Another Activity with Rice

So, I expanded on the drawing in rice activity, and my kids really enjoyed it, so I will share it with you! It's a really simple activity, and one that I am SURE we will be repeating again and again. Pour out about 1/2 cup of rice onto a plate. Place the plate on a cookie sheet to contain the mess. Give your child different utensils to manipulate the rice. Things like measuring cups, spoons, medicine spoons and cups, or a funnel are great ideas. Let them scoop, pour, transfer, and otherwise work with the rice.

An activity like this is a wonderful learning tool to help teach a child about cause and effect, and it develops manual dexterity. My children both had a great time with this activity, especially my 2 year old. She kept at it for 30 minutes or so, and I know she'll be asking to do this one over and over. I hope your little ones enjoy this as much as mine did!