Nutty Squirrel Game

Mommy Craft

Game great for: Pre-K, K, 6 & Up

*I let my toddler play this game with me and his big sister, but since it calls for a small but, you want to be aware of the choking hazard. I keep the nut put up and will pull it out for games. But, you may just want to make this cute little squirrel with or for them**

Where is the nut?! That is the question my daughter keeps giggling to her little brother. What a fun fall craft and game wrapped in one! These squirrels make a great addition to my fall decor and they double as a fun afternoon game for the kids and I.

It is definitely a win/win.

To make this craft/game you will need:

• Egg carton (empty ;)
• Brown paint
• Brown pipe cleaner (just 1)
• Brown felt
• Black mini pom-pom (I just used a piece of scrap black felt, my pom poms were too big)
• Googly Eyes
• An acorn/nut

(I am copying the instruction from the Family Fun site where I got the adorable idea. They do a pretty good job of explaining it, and I wouldn't want to miss anything as I recall how I did it.)

Instructions

1. To make the squirrels: Use a pencil to poke a tail hole in one side of each cup, then paint the cups. For each squirrel, cut a face, ears, and a tail from brown felt. Once the paint dries, glue the faces onto the cups, then glue the eyes, ears, and pom-pom noses onto the faces, trying to make the squirrels look identical for a better game. Fringe the edges of the felt tails and glue a piece of pipe cleaner in the center of each, letting a 1/2-inch stem extend beyond the bottom. Attach each tail by inserting the stem through the hole and gluing it to the inside of the cup.

2. To play the game: With the other players watching, place a nut on the table and cover it with one of the squirrels. Now begin sliding the squirrels around the tabletop, weaving them around each other to make the other players lose track of which squirrel has the nut. The faster you move them, the more likely you are to distract your audience. After a while, stop and challenge one person to guess which squirrel hides the nut.

Mommy Tips: First, when they say "be careful making your hole"--be careful--ouch! As I mentioned in the supply list, I just used a piece of black felt for the nose, but you could use black construction paper. Now, here's another thing with the game, maybe my egg carton was too big, but Gracie could clearly see the nut under the side of the squirrel whom posses it. So, I plan to go back over and add some felt around the carton openings to make it a little harder. And, don't forget your nut can be a challenge with small kids who like to put things in their mouths. I couldn't find an acorn, and I have no idea what nut that is that I did find, but it works. You could substitute the nut for a pom-pom or something else clever, but it would still need to be small, and thus a possible wind pipe blocker--so keep it up around small ones.

Fall Treat Tree

Mommy Craft

This edible fall idea has been around for a while, and like the finger print tree, it has many versions, so get creative..and messy.

Now if you asked me which one I chose, I would say my own super duper HARD way!

I am not an engineer, but I couldn't figure out how peanut butter was going to hold these pretzel sticks upright, so I got the bright idea to use a marshmallow cut in half for a base.

It kind of worked...

For this snack craft you will need:

• Pretzel rods
• Graham cracker squares
  
• Regular shaped pretzels
• M&M's in fall colors, or sprinkles
• Peanut Butter
• Marshmallows (optional)

The idea is to put the pretzel rod and stick it to the graham cracker base, Then you break the pretzels regular shaped snacks to look like branches and stick your candy leaves to them, also with peanut butter.

I only had miniature pretzel rods and regular shapes, so I took 3 rods and stuck them in half of a marshmallow that was stuck to the graham cracker. I used the other half of my marshmallow to put a the other end of the pretzel rods. I broke the regular shaped pretzels and made branches and stuck them in to the top marshmallow as well. I cut my M&M's in half (to cut down on the weight and because it looked more leaf like) and then put peanut butter on those and stuck them in the branches.

All of this took time and patience, and my saving grace was the freezer. It helped freeze it all together.

Just before snack time I pulled them out and covered the bottom marshmallow with more peanut butter and shook on some crushed pretzels and M&M's to look like fallen leaves.

I wouldn't call it a piece of art--but it was kind of cute, and Gracie thought it was yummy. (Nope, Thomas wouldn't touch his).

Hand & Fingerprint Tree

Toddler, Pre-K, K, 6 & Up

There are many variations on this craft, so use your imagination and have fun with your kids. In years past I have made a mommy tree and a Gracie tree on very large newsprint. And, until this year I didn't even think to use my child's hand and arm for the trunk and the branches. You could do one tree, or a whole forest--but when you and your little one make the leaves, don't forget a few that have fallen to the ground.

For this craft you will need:

• Brown paint
• Red, Orange, Yellow (or your leaf color choices) paint
• 1 cute hand (and possibly arm)
• 1-5 adorable finger tips

If you want to save your child's hand print along with the finger print leaves, cover their hands in brown paint. You could paint a bit of their arms with brown as I did, but my toddler didn't get the idea and it smeared. He was used to hand prints, but not the arm. It is just as cute to then paint your own stem.

Clean off the brown from your child's hand. There really is no reason to make them wait until it is dry. They are already having fun in the paint and odds are you aren't going to want to pull this all out again. So, start painting their fingers.

With my young one I tried to just paint his pointer finger. I got better results with one finger. When the process got tedious and he got bored, I painted each finger a different color and kind of "stamped" his fingertips--but you can probably see how those smeared. Pre-K and Kindergarteners should be able to not only make their fingerprints clear, but will also be able to change from color to color.

Experiment with the colors and don't forget to put some at the bottom of the tree. I have my kids do one color at a time because they will eventually get yellow in the orange ad red, etc--but I didn't have this luxuary with Thomas, and I kind of like the blended colors! They are a lot more realistic.

Have fun!!