Hot Glue Tin Foil Painting

For a Memorial Day craft project I had a 5-year-old paint an abstract American flag on tin foil. I used hot glue to make a box and lines on the tin foil for the child to paint inside the lines. Be sure to read children’s books about Memorial Day while doing this project. We recommend, […]

Laundry Detergent Slime

For kids that like using their hands to make projects, this is such a simple slime recipe to make at home. The 7-year-olds I care for are addicted to making this slime. I never measure the glue and laundry detergent precisely but mixing the two ingredients together always works. I bought a bunch of glue […]

Itsy Bitsy Spider Characters

One of the most popular finger plays is the “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” It’s fun using props to act out the story while singing the song. I had my school-aged Nanny Kid help make the characters in the song for her younger sibling. Click here to learn how to use other finger plays with the children […]

Unicorn Books and Unicorn Craft

I love finding activities to do with kids that correspond to their favorite books. I also enjoy using recyclables to make crafts with kids. The Mini Mad Things Instagram page sells inexpensive templates to trace onto cardboard to make crafts. I recommend using pastels and paint sticks for these cardboard projects. I used the unicorn […]

Easter Crowns

After 30 years of working as a nanny and family assistant I thought I had done every Easter project possible with children. But I found these beautiful and easy-to-make Easter Crowns on the Sassy Mamma web site to do with my Nanny Kids this spring. You can print the crowns for free on the Sassy […]

3-D Bunnies

I love the Mini Mad Things web site. For a very low cost you can purchase the templates for bunnies to print out and trace onto cardboard from the recycling bin. After cutting them out I let the kids use paint, markers, pastels, crayons, or colored pencils to decorate the bunnies and use the bunnies […]

Science Fun: Rubber Eggs

Here’s a science project to do with the kids from the steamsational web site. The vinegar eats through the calcium shell, but cannot dissolve the egg’s membrane, which is how the eggs retain their rubbery appearance after the experiment is complete. The egg membrane is semi-permeable, which simply means that the liquid vinegar will pass […]

Handmade Christmas Tree Cards

Children love making holiday cards and their friends and family love receiving the personalized cards as well. A 7-year-old girl and I simply cut triangles from white paper to make a tree shape on holiday colored card stock paper for her Christmas cards. You Will Need: Patterned Holiday Card Stock Paper Solid Color Card Stock […]

Sidewalk Chalk Paint

This is a non-toxic and washable, three ingredient art supply for some summer fun. Children can paint on their driveway and once this sidewalk chalk paint dries the colors are vibrant and beautiful. We used this beautiful food coloring. We didn’t use filters for these photos! We experimented with the recipe. The children in my […]

Peeps Chicken Coop

I always dye eggs for Easter with the children in my care but this year we made the Peep Chicken Coop as well. The children loved using the sugar cookie panels, Peeps chicks, premade icing, and assorted candies to make this holiday chicken coop. You don’t see all the sugar cookies in our coop because […]