Butterfly Baggies

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In a moment of babysitting desperation, I mean genius, The Butterfly Baggy was born!

Tiny game pieces were everywhere and a bitty sibling (with a tendency to eat everything inedible) was about to wake up. So I said to my toddler pal, “If you help me put the pieces into these little baggies, they will turn into butterflies!” You’ve never seen little hands clean so fast!

Butterfly baggies often take flight with barbie shoes, legos, caps, beads, and coins. But really any small objects you want to gather will do. We added loose stickers to ours here to give her extra pizazz.

Just add a pipe cleaner antennae and kids of all ages will love to see what tiny treasures they can find for their butterfly’s wings. Cleaning up has it’s perks!

Making Mud!

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IMG_4966When art feels too structured, it can lose appeal to kiddos. But even crafting’s toughest little critics will usually jump at the chance to make “mud!”

All you’ll need is brown finger paint and Italian bread crumbs. Use a paint brush to slather on the dirt, or dig your hands in to make it a sensory experience.

We painted some Creatology bear masks with our “mud,” but painting hand drawn animals is just as fun. Or make use of that stack of coloring pages by getting the characters muddy after a long adventure!

Making mud becomes even more popular when you switch out your materials for sweeter ones. Try using chocolate pudding and crushed cookies the same way for an artsy dirt dessert!

 

An Ikea Hack!

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Ikea Hack

After another epic trip to Ikea-land, we came home with one too many cardboard boxes and some new MALA florescent paints. But instead of just taking our paint to plain old paper, we decided to create GIANT CARDBOARD MURALS… $10 never went so far!

Toddlers will love it if you shake the cardboard back and forth underneath them as they squirt the paint, modern art style.

For bigger kids, tape a cardboard slat on the bottom of an outdoor table. Then have them lay on their backs to paint, Michelangelo style!

Ladybug Lost Her Spots!

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Ladybug

 

Counting becomes fun when a Ladybug loses her spots! It’s part game, part craft, and all learning!

To play you’ll need a paper plate, red paint or crayon, glue, plus extra paper to precut a head & plenty of spots. Googly eyes come in handy too.

1. Have your little decorate the ladybug’s back (paper plate) red. Glue your bug’s head onto the top. But oh uh, this ladybug is missing her spots!

2. Next, hide the ladybug’s spots (black circles) around the room. Count aloud together as your toddler finds them. (We hid 12 because that’s as high as we know how to count!)

3. Now it’s time to glue the spots onto the ladybug’s back, hooray! You saved her spots and saved the day!