Homemade Kazoos

Creative Wednesdays A kazoo is a very simple musical instrument, made up of a hollow pipe with a hole in it. They may be simple, but these little noisemakers are a great way to explore sound with kids. In this activity have the kids investigate how kazoos work by building their own. Thin plastic, waxed […]

“Leap Back Home to Me” by Lauren Thompson and Craft

Weekly Trip to the Library I love making arts and crafts that correspond to a children’s book that I read to my Nanny Kids. This week we read a cute book with frogs as the main characters and made some paper plate frogs. In Leap Back Home to Me a little frog’s first leap out […]

Craft Stick Puzzles

Creative Wednesdays I found this idea on Instagram. It is an easy puzzle to make and keep to use over and over again. I trimmed colorful craft sticks into different sizes to see if the kids can line up the colors and sizes together with these homemade crafts stick puzzles. You Will Need: Multi-Colored Craft […]

Patriotic Paper Plate Ring Toss

Creative Wednesday This paper plate ring toss game is a fun way to keep the kids busy for the afternoon both painting and coloring and then practicing their tossing skills. Use patriotic colors for national holidays like Labor Day. If it is a rainy day it’s safe to play indoors. If you’re looking for an […]

Matching Lower Case and Upper Case Letters Game

Creative Wednesdays Here’s a quick and easy project I made with my Nanny Kids. We simply recycled a cardboard egg carton and used plastic spoons they had left over from a party their family had last summer. Since it was a huge egg carton with more than 26 eggs I added some numbers to the […]

Cookie Painting

Creative Wednesday All kids love to paint and all kids love cookies. Combine these two loves by having the children paint cookies. These cookies can be made year round for any reason. Don’t forget to let the kids measure the ingredients, mix, sift, roll out the dough, and use cookie cutters before painting the cookies. […]

Straw and Pipe Cleaner Geometry

Creative Wednesday Teaching shapes is fun. Using simple materials, my 8-year-old charge created squares, triangles, diamonds, quadrangles, and more. Older kids can be more creative and make 3-D shapes such as cubes. Build them, take them apart, and start all over again. You Will Need: Pipe Cleaners Straws Safety Scissors What to Do: Show the […]

St. Patrick’s Day Counting Fun

Creative Learning Saint Patrick’s Day is coming up making it the perfect time to make this easy counting game. A common symbol of the Irish holiday is the pot of gold protected by leprechauns at the end of rainbows. So we made this simple counting game of putting paper coins on a paper pot. You […]

The Hat by Jan Brett and 6 Learning Activities

Weekly Trip to the Library Read Jan Brett’s fun book The Hat then do some fun corresponding activities with the kids. In The Hat: Oversized Board Book Lisa’s woolen stocking flies off the clothesline, Hedgie finds it and pokes his nose in. He tries to pull it out, the stocking gets stuck on his prickles […]

Foam Beehive: Bubble Science

Creative Wednesdays All children love bubbles. They will all love this bubble science experiment. When bubbles connect to one another, they create a shape with minimal surface area. If three bubbles unite, they arrange themselves into a 120 degree angle from one another to create a perfect hexagonal shape — exactly like a beehive. Bees […]