Creative Family Fun

Your one-stop shop for kids activities and family fun

Terri Thompson

Paper Plate Tambourine Kids Craft

By

Do you remember some of the fun crafts you did as a kid? I do. I’ve always loved craft projects.

Let’s go on a trip down memory lane and do some of those fun classic craft projects with our own kids. Doesn’t that sound like fun?

This paper plate tambourine craft is a fun choice. It’s easy to make and you can make music with them after you’re done.

Make your own musical instrument with this fun classic kids craft, Paper Plate Tambourine. It's fun for preschoolers to make and play their own instrument.

Let’s grab some craft supplies and get ready to have some fun!

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Make your own musical instrument with this fun classic kids craft, Paper Plate Tambourine. It's fun for preschoolers to make and play their own instrument.

Supplies needed for your tambourine craft

Paper plate (2 per tambourine)
Paint
Dried beans
Stapler
Hole punch
Ribbon

How to make a paper plate tambourine

The first thing you want to do is decorate your paper plates. You’ll need to decorate two plates for each tambourine. Decorate the bottoms of your plates, since that will be the side facing outward.

My girls chose paint because they love every excuse that can get to throw on their smocks and start painting.

You could also use crayons, markers, stickers, or even glitter glue to decorate your plates.

Once your paint is dry, flip one of the plates over and add a handful of dried beans.

If you don’t have any dried beans, or do not want to use a food product, you can add beads or small pebbles.

Take your second plate and line it up over your other plate. Both of the bottom sides will be facing outward.

Use your stapler and staple along the edge all around your tambourine.

Leave enough room in between your staples to punch a hole. We put one hole between all the staples.

Cut small pieces of ribbon and tie them in each hole. We used curly ribbon from our gift wrapping supplies and found it worked really well.

Now it’s time to play with your paper plate tambourine.

Shake it.

Rattle it.

Drum it.

Or, hide behind it.

It also works quite well if you hold it under your chin and beat it like a drum!

What was your favorite craft you made as a kid?

Make your own musical instrument with this fun classic kids craft, Paper Plate Tambourine. It's fun for preschoolers to make and play their own instrument.

You may also enjoy one of these fun classic crafts for kids:

Craft Stick Frames

Pom Pom Caterpillar Craft

God’s Eye Craft for Kids

Pet Rocks and Pet Rock Houses at Buggy and Buddy

30 Summer Crafts for Kids at Hands On As We Grow

Make your own musical instrument with this fun classic kids craft, Paper Plate Tambourine. It's fun for preschoolers to make and play their own instrument.

My recommended craft supplies for this paper plate tambourine

You only need a few simple supplies to make these paper plate tambourines. And, the best part, is that you can use these supplies over and over again with other craft projects. Here are some craft supplies I recommend:

Outdoor Shape Activities for Kids

By

Whenever the weather is nice, it’s always so much fun to take your learning outside.

You can play, explore, and learn all at the same time.

These fun outdoor shape activities for kids are great ways to play and learn with your toddlers and preschoolers.

Your kids will be having so much fun, they won’t even realize how much they are learning.

Outdoor shape activity collage showing several activities like sidewalk chalk shapes, rock shapes, and water play

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Fun Outdoor Shape Activities

Get moving, explore nature, and get creative with all of these fun ideas.

They’re perfect for anytime of the year and a great excuse to get outside and learn with play.

Outdoor Shape Activities

These fun outdoor shape activities for kids are great ways to play and learn with your toddlers and preschoolers.

Shape Hopscotch Outdoor Game

Learn shapes with a fun sidewalk game when you play our version of Shape Hopscotch.

Driveway Shape Maze

Find your way through our Driveway Shape Maze and learn all about shapes as you go.

Outdoor Shape Hunt

Grab a camera and hunt for shapes when you go on our fun Outdoor Shape Hunt.

Running Circles

Get your wiggles out by running circles and other shapes with our fun driveway game.

Geometry Game

Photo Credit: simpleplayideas.com

Explore big shapes by measuring, walking, and creating them with your body with this geometry game from Simple Play Ideas.

10 Ways to Play with Rocks {Sensory Summer} - Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten

Photo Credit: mrsplemonskindergarten.com

Create shapes with rocks with this fun idea from Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten. (You'll find several other cool rock ideas in this post too!)

Scooping Shapes Bubble Water Play

Photo Credit: www.fantasticfunandlearning.com

Play in bubbles with this bubbly water shape sorting game from Fantastic Fun and Learning.

Find & Erase the Matching Shapes

Photo Credit: Hands On As We Grow

Find and erase shapes with water with this fun activity from Hands On As We Grow.

Making Shapes With Acorns Fine Motor Shape Activity

Photo Credit: www.creativelittleexplorers.com

Build shapes with acorns with this simple idea from Creative Little Explorers.

Nature shapes outdoor math activities

Photo Credit: nurturestore.co.uk

Use nature treasures to create shapes with this fun activity from NurtureStore.

I don’t know about you, but I’d love to do all of these outdoor shape activities! Which ones do you think you’re going to try with your kids?

Outdoor shape activities for kids collage showing water play, grass shapes, and sidewalk chalk shapes.

You May Also Enjoy One of These Other Fun Outdoor Activities:

10 Fun Walk Ideas for Families

Driveway ABC Game

Silly Races

You can find all of our toddler activities at this link.

Smaller outdoor shape activities collage showing the different activities talked about in this post.

My Recommended Shape Resources

It’s so much fun to learn shapes through play. You can play these fun outside games or try one of these great shape toys for toddlers. Here are a few more playful ways to learn shapes:

Shape Hopscotch Outdoor Game

By

Shape hopscotch, a fun outdoor shape game, is not a new idea to us, nor is it new to this blog. (I shared it here in the very first months of this blog.)

But, I wanted to share it again for a few reasons.

First, it’s fun and we play it often.

Second, it’s easy to do and it’s a great way to get outside.

And third, both toddlers and preschoolers will love learning with this fun outdoor shape activity!

Two pictures of children playing shape hopscotch with the words shape hopscotch overlayed. You can see the children jumping on shapes drawn with sidewalk chalk on the driveway.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Set Up Your Shape Hopscotch Game

Grab a few fun colors of sidewalk chalk and a bare spot of cement.

Draw several shapes in a line; the same as you would do for a regular hopscotch game.

Get moving and learning with this fun outdoor shape activity, Shape Hopscotch. It's easy to set and so much for for preschoolers and toddlers.

I used simple shapes as a review for my 3-year old, but you could make things even harder by using octagons, polygons, and any number of shapes

Find a couple of rocks, grab the kids, and start playing.

Get moving and learning with this fun outdoor shape activity, Shape Hopscotch. It's easy to set and so much for for preschoolers and toddlers.

How to Play Shape Hopscotch

For our version, the girls took turns throwing their rock onto the shpaes. They had to hop to the shape closest to their rock.

They practiced jumping on one foot and they also had to name each shape as they landed in it.

For these two, the hopping on one foot was a much bigger challenge than naming the shape.

Get moving and learning with this fun outdoor shape activity, Shape Hopscotch. It's easy to set and so much for for preschoolers and toddlers.

Shape Hopscotch Variations

You can mix up this game any way you want!

If you’re playing with toddlers, just have them jump (or run) to each shape and then name the shapes as they stand in them. If they’re just learning their shapes, you can call out the name of the shape. This is such a fun and active way to learn shapes!

You can also call out a shape and have your kids run to that shape.

Practice your gross motor skills by hopping, standing on one foot, skipping, etc. The possibilities are endless.

The best part is that it gets you outside and gets your kids moving!

Have you ever played shape hopscotch?

Get moving and learning with this fun outdoor shape activity, Shape Hopscotch. It's easy to set and so much for for preschoolers and toddlers.

Find more shape activities here:

Get Crafty: Shape Collages

Shape Hunt

Driveway Shape Maze

10 Shape Activities for Toddlers at Hands On As We Grow

12 Shapes Themed Sensory Bins for Preschoolers at Fun With Mama

Fun Toys for Learning Outside

It doesn’t take fancy toys to learn outside. In fact, a package of sidewalk chalk is about all you need. But, if you want to kick it up a few notches, here are some fun tools and toys for learning outside.

Butterfly Paper Plate Wreath Craft

By

B is for balloon, bear, and boat. And also, B is for butterfly.

We’re going to have fun with the letter B and also with butterflies with this fun craft, a Butterfly Paper Plate Wreath.

With this craft, we’ll combine a couple of different classic crafts to form one pretty wreath. It’s so much fun to make!

Let’s get started.

Create a pretty butterfly paper plate wreath with simple supplies. This is perfect for a preschool springtime unit or letter B unit.

Disclosure: CraftProjectIdeas.com provided some of the supplies we used in this project (fuzzy craft sticks and watercolors). All ideas are our own. There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Supplies Needed

Paper plate
Light blue craft paint
Scissors
1 coffee filter for each butterfly
Watercolors (We love this set from CraftProjectIdeas.com for its bright, vibrant colors.)
1 fuzzy craft stick (pipe cleaner) for each butterfly
Stapler (or tape)

How to make your Butterfly Paper Plate Wreath

Before beginning, cut out the middle of your paper plate. Depending on the age of your child, this part may best be done by an adult. Save the middle for a future craft project.

Use your light blue craft paint to paint your paper plate wreath. If you don’t want blue, use whatever color you want. We used blue to mimic the color of the sky.

While you are waiting for your wreath to dry, flatten your coffee filters. Use watercolors to paint a design on each coffee filter.

Paint a bulls-eye design (like we did above), splotches, stripes, squiggles, a solid color, or any design you desire. Get creative. Have fun!

Paint as many coffee filters as you want butterflies. We used two coffee filters per wreath, so that we could have two butterflies on our wreath.

Let your coffee filters dry completely.

Once your coffee filters are dry, it’s time to turn them into butterflies.

Take a fuzzy craft stick and bend it in half.

Gather your coffee filter in the middle and spread out the two sides (your wings).

Slip the middle of your coffee filter into your bent craft stick. Twist your craft stick both above and below your coffee filter to hold your butterfly’s shape.

Bend the two ends of your craft sticks a little so that they look like antenna.

Finally, it’s time to attach your butterflies to your wreath.

I found it easiest to use a stapler. All it took was one staple next to the craft stick to hold the butterfly in place. You could also use tape to attach your butterflies. Unfortunately, glue does not work well in this situation.

Once your butterflies are attached, your B is for Butterfly Wreath is ready to be hung up! Such a pretty kid-made decoration!

Create a pretty paper plate butterfly wreath with simple supplies. This is perfect for a preschool springtime unit or letter B unit.

You may also like one of these paper plate crafts:

A is for Apple Paper Plate Wreath

Paper Plate Tambourine Kids Craft

Phases of the Moon Mobile

Beach Themed Paper Plate Wreath at Rainy Day Mum

Create a pretty butterfly paper plate wreath with simple supplies. This is perfect for a preschool springtime unit or letter B unit.

My recommended craft supplies

This butterfly wreath is easy to make with a few craft supplies. Many of these you probably already have on hand. If not, keep a few in the craft cabinet so you can do more crafts with your kids.

Find and Tally Sight Words Activity

By

Since my youngest daughter is heading into first grade in the fall, we’ve been focusing a lot on ways to learn sight words.

She’s got a great handle on some, but as you know, there are many to learn.

We’re trying to keep up the practice over the summer, but I definitely want to keep things simple.

That’s where this fun Find and Tally Sight Words activity comes in. It’s easy to prep. Simple to do. And, it’s fun.

Learn sight words with this fun reading game that adds a little math in with your reading practice with this Find and Tally Sight Words activity.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

How to set up your Find and Tally Sight Words activity

This activity was so easy to set up.

I started by making a list of sight words that my daughter needs to learn. I chose only six because I didn’t want her to be overwhelmed by too many.

Next, I made it into a pretty chart to make the activity all the more appealing. But, this is not at all necessary, you can just grab some paper and jot down a few sight words leaving room for your sight words.

Now it’s time to tally sight words!

Now, it’s time for the fun. Let’s practice our sight words!

Give your child the chart and a book. They need to go through the book and make a tally mark each time they find one of the words.

It can be slow going and they may not get through the whole book. We didn’t. Our focus was on sight word identification and not reading, so we just did a few pages. We’ll read the book together later.

At the end, add up the tally marks. Which word did you find the most often? The least?

Learn sight words with this fun reading game that adds a little math in with your reading practice. Sight Word Tallies is easy to set up and fun to play for your beginning readers.

Can I give you a quick word of advice?

I made the mistake of not comparing my list of sight words to the book when I did this with my oldest. Oops. It was a lesson in frustration. Page after page and no sight word in sight.

Take the time to make sure the sight words are actually in the book you’re using. The activity is so much more fun when you can actually find the words!

I loved this sight word activity because it was easy to prep and fun to do. Plus, it added in a bit of sneaky math practice with the tally marks.

We’ll do this fun Find and Tally Sight Words activity over and over again for a fun way to practice our sight words.

Learn sight words with this fun reading game that adds a little math in with your reading practice. Sight Word Tallies is easy to set up and fun to play for your beginning readers.

You may also like one of these sight word activities:

Sight Word Islands – get outside and practice your sight words on the driveway.

Sight Word Pick and Spell – a fun game that is similar to bingo

3 Easy Ways to Practice Sight Words – the easiest ideas ever!

Practice writing your sight words in a Dragon Sensory Writing Tray from Inspiration Laboratories.

Choose a great book for this activity:

We found success using a book that my child was already familiar with. I’d suggest you turn to your own library of books for inspiration.

You’ll want a book with several instances of the sight words you’re working on. Do check to make sure the sight words you need are in the book!

Here are some great options: