Tuesday the boys spent all day in their pajamas (I had to get dressed in the afternoon to run errands - sad) and we made hearts. First we made paint chip hearts...
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| big buddies heart |
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| supplies needed: paint chips, scissors, contact paper cut in to the shape of a heart |
This project was great for practicing scissor skills.
Mini Man is still pretty new to scissors but all on his own he came up with a method that I thought was pretty brilliant. He'd make lots of little cuts...
And then tear the rest.
Once the the strips were all cut/torn, I removed the back of the contact paper and boys placed the paint chips at random. I emphasized to them that they should put the colors face down, Mini Man thought it was very funny to pretend he was going to do the opposite.
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| my jokester |
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| mini man's heart |
The other hearts we made were actually valentines to our squirrel friends and was inspired by this post on Poppytalk. To make ours a little more attractive to the squirrels we added bird seed and cranberries instead of petals.
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| mini man's |
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| supplies: bird seed, dried cranberries, water, garden twine tied into a loop, heart shaped pan, tape |
I taped the loop to the top of the pan and then let the boys decide what to do next.
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| big buddy added water first and then the cranberries and seeds. |
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| mini man chose to add the water last |
After they added all their ingredients we stuck them in the freezer overnight. Then the next morning I let them set in a warm water bath for a minute or two till they fell easily out of the pans.
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| big buddy's |
This activity was a ton of fun and I loved how it combined elements of both art and science. It was also a hoot watching the squirrels "unwrap" their valentines. This is definitely a craft we will make again and again - long past February.
I love both of these ideas!! And I just might do them with our 3 munchkins.
ReplyDelete...and I pinned them both. :)
DeleteLove both of these ideas! So far this winter has been to warm for the ice heart but I still want to make one :) Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteRachel, I love these ideas. We've been making all kinds of Valentine crafts around here and these ones look perfect to try today (it's going to be a mostly stay home day for us too).
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! I'll be visiting again :-)
Cyndi Crognale
Cute, cute cute! I wish we had squirrels around here to try out that last activity. I might just try it and see if we could attract some new bird friends.
ReplyDeleteClever ideas!
ReplyDeleteLove the squirrel Valentines! My 3 1/2 year old enjoys watching the squirrels outside our apartment, so we may have to make these on Valentine's Day.
ReplyDeleteTwo kinds of fantastic hearts!
ReplyDeleteI love your paint chip hearts. I bet they do make good cutting practice. The squirrel treats are cute. Thanks for sharing at AfterSchool.
ReplyDeleteBoth are adorable! I think I think we will try the paint chip heart for a 4 leaf clover for St Patty's day! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteGreat crafts! I never thought of using paint chips like that - brilliant!
ReplyDeleteWow, excellent ideas for Valentine Crafts!! Your boys are so cute. We have jammie day too, with the older kids I do have to make them earn it ;-)
ReplyDeletewhat super fun activities!!! We may try the bird feeder one! Thank you so much for the idea!!
ReplyDeleteI love both of your heart activities.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it great teaching little ones??
My youngest is now 15 :(
LOVE your paint chip heart - super cute!!
ReplyDeleteBeth
Thanks for Linking up to the Afterschool Blog Hop! We love paint chip projects at our house too! The frozen heart is adorable. I'll have to remember that for next year.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE your site! thank you for linking up! :o) This is fabulous! I Have a three 1/2 year old little guy! and I found some awesome ideas he will love!!!! the frozen heart is SOOOO CUTE! ...
ReplyDeleteSuch a fun way to reuse colour swatches. And we love making ice ornaments (in fact still have some in freezer that we need to hang out!!)
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing on Kids Get Crafty!
Maggy
What wonderful crafts! Please consider linking them up on my blog hop - http://www.hammockhomeschool.blogspot.com/2012/02/valentines-day-worksheets-writing.html
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