Creative Family Fun

Your one-stop shop for kids activities and family fun

Terri Thompson

Finger Painting

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I had a revolution of sorts the other day. I was browsing education.com (a great go-to source) and discovered a recipe for homemade finger paint. Who knew? Well, I’m sure some of you did… but, I didn’t! It was cheap, easy and I had all the ingredients already in my pantry.

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I won’t reprint the recipe here, but you can go to this link to find it. All you need is cornstarch, water, salt, sugar and food coloring or powdered tempura. Lizzie was very fascinated by the mixing of the colors. I think next time we’ll experiment more with color mixing instead of just using primary colors.

 
 
 
This finger paint was also surprisingly easy to clean up, which is always a bonus. After making the paint, I just let the girls paint as they wished with it. I had to show AJ how to fingerpaint, but after that, I did not want to direct them. I love seeing what they can come up with on their own. The girls had a blast!
 
 

I love homemade art supplies! There’s no worrying about what may be in there and it’s a lot cheaper than buying them in the store. I’ll definitely be exploring more recipes and I’ll share the good ones with you. Oh, and we’ll be finger painting a lot more as well!If you enjoy this post, please consider following me on Facebook. Thanks for stopping by!

Classic Stories: Fun With The Three Little Pigs

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My oldest has been obsessed with the story of the Three Little Pigs lately. The version she’s holding, by James Marshall, is especially popular in our house. The story is well-told and humorous and the pictures are classic Marshall. 
We’ve read it enough that she knows the book by memory, If you listen outside her room at night, you can hear her reciting the story before she falls asleep. She loves it. This obsession has made me realize that these classic stories are perfect for learning and fun.
So, how else can you use the story? For the preschool or younger set, you can:
– Build the houses and try to blow them down! Make paper “straws” for the straw house; it should blow down easily. Get out the wooden blocks for the stick house; again, it should blow down easily. Finally, get out the Legos for the brick house. No matter how much you huff and puff, it won’t come down!
– Practice dramatic play. The story is easily told and most preschoolers would have a blast playing the different parts. You won’t even need costumes!
– Create! Get out the play dough or construction paper and get to work. Make the pigs, make the houses, make the wolf.
If you have older children, you can:
– Challenge them to retell the story with other characters. How would the story be different if it were about the Three Little Bunnies or the Three Little Turtles?
– Make a comic book! Draw a large grid on paper, then draw the story out into the squares comic-book style.
Check out the library or any book store, you’re sure to find a great version of the story. You can find the above version, by James Marshall, here at Amazon.
Read the story and let your imagination run wild! Have fun!

Rock Collecting & A Rock Journal

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The girls and I went on a rock collecting adventure a couple of days ago. It was on our summer bucket list, so it was definitely something I was preparing to do. After running various ideas through my head about where to take them, I ended up with the most simple idea of all… walking through our own neighborhood. We had a lot of fun wandering around and enjoying each others company.

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We turned our trip into an art project. I made each of the girls an art journal and we took those along and a bag of crayons. I taught Lizzie to do rock rubbings and she was soon a girl on a mission, running around, finding rocks, then doing a rubbing.If you want to make your own rock journals, you can print out the cover here. It prints out on 8.5 x11 inch paper and then you fold in half for the front and back. I found it works best on card stock, but any paper would work, so don’t let that stop you! Then add as many interior pages as you want, I used two pieces of paper per journal, which was 4 pages. I didn’t want too many pages to make it overwhelming for my girls.

To hold the pages together I used embroidery thread. I used one continuous thread, sewing through the top, then through the bottom. I left the ends on the outside of the journal, so I could tie them together. (You could also staple!)

So head out and look for rocks! Use the journal to record observations, practice drawing rocks or make rubbings like we did. Turn your trip into a scavenger hunt and search for specific colors, sizes or shapes of rocks. Bring some home and create with them. Here are a few fun projects I’ve seen lately.

Make alphabet rocks like these from Momtastic.
How about some cute ladybug rocks? Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas shows you how.
Education.com shows you how to make a painted rock mosaic.

Go out, hunt rocks and have fun!

Math Play: Counting Blocks

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On Monday, I mentioned that we had been using the book Math Play! by Diane McGowan and Mark Schrooten lately to work on our numbers and have fun at the same time. I wanted to tell you a little more about it, because it truly is a great resource for toddlers and preschoolers. The book is designed for ages 2 to 6, making it perfect for my 4- and 2-year old. The activities are fun, easy to set up and require little if any special supplies. We’ve had the book for a couple of weeks now and have already done 8 activities with plans to do more.

 

One game we had a lot of fun with was Tower Counter. The supply list: blocks. Yep, that’s it. Easy-peasy. I started by asking her to build towers with a certain amount of blocks. She’s build it. Then I’d either ask her to add a certain amount or take away a certain amount. After she did that, she recounted the blocks in her tower. It was a great introduction to addition and subtraction for the preschool age. Lizzie had a blast and kept wanting to play well beyond the point where I thought she’d want to stop. What was AJ doing this whole time? She was building with us, just not using the math concepts. She was in the build and knock down mode.

If you’re looking for a great way to introduce or reinforce some math concept, take a peek at Math Play! It’s a great resource.

Make Learning a Game

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Motivation has been a huge problem with my 4-year-old lately, especially when it comes to learning writing skills. She has the tendency to use the words “I can’t” too much without even trying. After a few weeks of wanting to bash my head against a wall, I came up with a solution. Turn learning into a game! Two pieces of paper and a Sharpie later and I had the “Lizzie Learns her Numbers” game. Yep, it did the trick.

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I drew a board game form and started filling in the squares with the skills I wanted her to work on – writing her numbers. I also included fun games and activities designed to help her with her numbers. Most of the activities on the game were pulled from Math Play! by Diane McGowan and Mark Schrooten. (This is a wonderful resource for fun math activities for ages 2 to 6.) She has to complete a square to earn a sticker and move on to the next. Every 4 to 5 squares also has a special prize that she’ll earn. When she completes the entire board, she will earn a grand prize.

In order to make the flip up squares, I cut around 3 sides of one of the squares. I then glued an extra piece of paper to the back of the game, that way, when she flipped up the square, I had room to write underneath it. Simple!

I’m sure you’re wondering what sort of prizes she’s earning through this game. I’ve filled it with fun activities such as making cookies, a trip to the park and finger painting. I tried to come up with things that would be a treat, yet wouldn’t cost me money. The grand prize will be a trip to a nature center.

So far, the game is working to motivate her. Her “I can’t’s” are gone and she’s actually eager to learn to write. So, if you’re having a problem motivating your little one, turn it into a game!