Mommy Crafts A....

Time Out Mat

I found the idea for the mat on one of my craft blogs, and they used a dollar store mat and fabric paint to paint the words "Time Out."

I love the idea of a mat, because you can take it with you. We have a 2-level house, and while having the same spot is a great idea, that can be tricky with a tantrum-ed toddler. So, the idea of having a portable "spot" sounds great to me. But, the idea of a plain old mat didn't (you know me).

So, hey, I have all of these left over spit rags (cloth diapers) sitting around, and they are the perfect size for a two yer old tooshy. And, my mother gave me a fabric clock years ago that she found somewhere, that you stuff and sew to help kids learn time. Perfect!

Now, if you are thinking that I wasted the time telling clock, you are wrong. What is perfect is I can hang this up after the "time out years" and we can use it as a clock. I simply glued the felt piece that says "Time Out Thomas" on it to the clock as well as the felt hand pointing to the 2 (you should give your child one minute in time out per year he/she is old), but I didn't heat set it--so it will come off with a wash in the machine.

Mommy Crafts A....

Green Vest & Bow Tie

I used a vest that currently fits Thomas to make a pattern for this one. I LOVE the frogs. And, you know how I love bow ties. So, I made him one from green felt to match it! No one was pinching these cheeks today...but you know you want to! :)

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I entered this in to my first "link up" with another crafting site. Call me super brave since I am not so confident in my sewing ability. I just like making things for my kids!

Hand Print Leprechaun

Toddler, Pre-K, K

You know I would have to squeeze in a hand print idea!

To make this craft you will need:

• Orange paint
• Green paint
• Peach/flesh paint
• 1 cute hand :)

Paint your child's palm skin color, his fingers orange. Now wipe those colors off and paint the three long fingers green and stamp them at the top of the "head" on your paper. I painted my son's pointer finger green and attempted to stamp the brim of the hat, but that was tricky.

Once your paint dries add some features with a permanent black marker. And don't forget the date!!

Rainbow Snack

Since Gracie was buying lunch today (a rarity I tell you!) I had to make something festive for her snack.

Actually my friend Candice gave me this idea based on one she found in a magazine.

To make this snack you will need:

• Wooden skewers (cut the pointy end off after you make your kabob!) or lollipop sticks
• Strawberry Slices
• Mandarin orange slices
  
• Pineapple chunks
• Green Apple chunks
• Blueberries (this will add to it, I didn't have any and forgot to get them :(
• Purple (well they are called red) grapes

Put your fruit on the skewers, but off the pointy end when you are done and pack in a container.

Viola! A edible rainbow!

Rainbow Treasure Hunt

K, 6+

After school today, my kids found a note from the leprechaun leading them on a rainbow treasure hunt. And they loved every minute! I hid the clues around the back yard and dressed up a Costco box and hid it out iof sight. I put a few $1 store goodies inside, and it was a blast to watch them find it!

I found this great idea here--and you can print the shamrock clues, or save ink like I did and write it on construction paper that you cut into shamrock shapes!

For this game you will need:

• All colors of construction paper, or a printer
• A few goodies

Counting Coins

Toddler, Pre-K, K

What a fun idea this turned out to be for Thomas!

I had the idea to start introducing counting to him. He already knows 1, 2...3! Because it usually means something fun afterward. So, I came up with this idea, and he has been playing with it for days!!

To make this counting craft you will need:

• Pot of Gold pattern
• Black marker
• Gold coins (so MUCH easier)
• or make your own coins:
  
• Cardboard
• Glue stick
• Gold paper (I used a gold gift bag from the 1$ store)

You can find many pot of gold patterns online, pick on you like and print it out. Trace your coins on the pot. I did 10 of them to learn to count to 10. My idea was to hide the coins and let him find them, but he saw what I was making and couldn't wait.

We would place the coins on top of the drawn coins on the pot and count.

Now, in hindsight, I shouldn't have numbered the coins I made (I just cut circles from cardboard and glued on the gold paper). Just number the paper circles. It is less confusing.

And, his favorite part about the idea was that I found a wooden box in the $1 store as well, and this was his treasure box. He LOVED keeping them in there and opening and closing the box and taking out his treasure. And the lesson worked so well! He really is counting out the numbers (not in order yet, but still he is getting there!)

Leprechaun Treat

I am posting this idea first, so you will give yourself more time to make it than I did! I found the idea online, and we loved it! Yum, Yum!!

To make this snack you will need:

• Several HOURS!
• 3 cups of boiling water
• 1 big box of Lime Jello
• 1 16 oz. tub of Cool Whip

Mix the Lime Jello powder with the boiling water for 2 minutes or until completely dissolved. Add the Cool Whip to the bowl. Stir until all the Cool Whip melts into the warm Jello mixture. Carefully pour the Jello into glass containers. This makes approximately 10 servings 1/2 cup each. Refrigerate the mixture for about 8 hours until set. Top with a little Cool Whip.

St. Patrick's Day Fun

GREEN fun for all! Play With Us!

Horton Dinner

Now, to finish off a fun Seussical day with a Horton Dinner!

How fun is this idea?!!

Although, I will tell you, that connecting the dots with the spaghetti was a little more challenging than I would think, and my 7 year old got bored and quit after a while. But, I made my very first meat balls and she LOVED them, and I think it all matched the theme of the day perfectly.

Click on the link to find the printable, but other than that you just need to make spaghetti and meat balls. The original blogger used green beans for stems for her meatballs, but I found celery sticks did a great job for me.

My Dr. Seuss Book

Toddler, Pre-K, K

Well, I couldn't let Gracie have all of the Seuss fun today!

So, Thomas and I made our own Dr. Seuss Book! I thought up my own hand and foot print ideas...with the exception of Thing 1 & Thing 2--which is genius!!!

To make this craft you will need:

• washable paints
• hands & feet & fingers too

Give these hand & foot print ideas a whirl!

Horton's clover; palm of the hand painted pink. Finger painted green, add white to make the speck with your child's pointer finger. Now, you can see mine is purple--it would have worked better on not white paper. You couldn't see the white at all, so I went over it with a darker color.

The Foot Book: self explanatory, choose colors your child likes and make an imprint of their left and right foot.

Red Fish, Blue Fish. Paint hands red and blue and stamp. Add bubbles, fin and mouth for fun!


This was a genius idea! Mine did not come out nearly as well as hers. But, I love ti none the less. I had Gracie make Thing 1 (since she is the oldest), and Thomas is Thing 2. Paint palm of your hand pink/peach/flesh, fingers blue, and wrist red. Stamp! Add facial features.

Thing 1 & Thing 2 Pencils

Mommy Craft

Okay, I was out of time, but full of creativity, and I found the idea for the pencils online and just HAD to make them and sneak them in Gracie's back pack for today!

To make this craft you will need:

• 2 red pencils
• blue felt
• hot glue

Now, the original crafter used some sort of fuzzy material, but I didn't have any, so I spent A LOT of time "roughing up" a piece of blue felt. When I had made it fuzzy enough, I use hot glue to secure it, and I wrapped it around the red pencils. I added a printout of a Seuss quote and she found them in her snack bag for the day.

And, I had to jazz up her bag, so I added the "Thing 1" circle to her snack bag for the day.

Oh, how much fun I had doing all of this!

Seuss Lunch

Okay, I had tons of ideas for a fun Seuss lunch to pack Gracie, so I will just share my ideas and maybe you can use some...or all.

Oh, and I found pictures on the web of the books/characters that went with the food names, so I made my own circles and added the pictures and a fun description of each item. Gracie loved it, and so did her teachers!!

She had:

• Pink Ink Drink (pink lemonade)
• Green Eggs & Ham (ham and crackers from a lunchable--I brushed the crackers with green tinted milk to color them, and placed a small circle of cheese on top of the cracker to make it look like an egg yolk)
• Cheese Trees (the cheese from a lunchable that I cut into trees with a knife)
• Red Fish, Blue Fish (colored gold fish crackers)
• Who Pudding (Vanilla instant pudding)

I also packed her a granola bar for snack time and covered it with a paper Cat in The Hat hat.

Seuss Snack

I found this super fun, and super easy snack online, and I just have to share it with you. I made it for an after-school snack, but you could have it for desert after dinner if you'd rather.

To make this snack you will need:

• vanilla ice cream
• plastic cups
• sharpie marker
• vanilla wafers
• strawberry slices
• cool whip

Now, the original recipe called for milk, but I thought it would make the cookies soggy, so I went with vanilla ice cream.

First, I drew a Cat In The Hat face on my recycled plastic cups. And, added a red bow tie. I printed off a picture of the cat and stuck it inside the empty cup and traced the outlines on the outside of the cup.

Any how, I filled my plastic cups (saved from apple sauce lunch sized containers) with 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream. Then I dipped my vanilla wafers in the cool whip covering them as best I could one at a time. Put the first cookie on top of the ice cream. Now put a strawberry slice on top. Now, another cool whip covered cookie. You get the idea. Make it as tall as you want--but be careful, it will get unsteady after a while. You want to end your pattern with a cookie.

Keep it in the freezer until your kids are ready to eat it. But, don't make it too early (like the day before) because it will freeze everything and your kids will have a hard time eating it.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Join us for all sorts of Seussical Fun today on Dr. Seuss' Birthday!