See our Instagram for a video of the activities in action! https://www.instagram.com/make_it_your_own_/

We created a

1) A Butterfly Garden Puppet Theatre: https://h20195.www2.hp.com/v2/getpdf.aspx/c06699971.pdf

2) Ant STEM activities (including a math memory game, stamped ten frames and an ant magnet maze): https://h20195.www2.hp.com/v2/getpdf.aspx/c06699984.pdf

3) Activities with Pom Poms (including a Tree Pom Pom Push, A paper pond and a space maze): https://h20195.www2.hp.com/v2/getpdf.aspx/c06700045.pdf

Head over to their site www.hp.com/printandlearn, and select the “Get Real Learning Series” filter under the “Creator” drop down menu, to find printables for science experiments, games, puppets, magazines- all sorts of neat, free printable projects! Whether you are a parent or teacher, we hope you find this helpful!

#printplaylearn #sponsored

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Materials

• Lily Pad Template: lilyPadSoftiePattern
  
• Felt
• Sewing Scissors
• Scissors
• Embroidery floss
• Needle
• Bead
• Stuffing
• Tape

We always find these items useful too:

Directions

• Print and cut out the patterns for your softie.

• Tape them to your felt with a donut (where the tape forms a loop with the sticky side facing out), cut out your shapes.

• Sew any details that you may like to your flower petals.

• Layer your petals on top of one another with the larger ones at the bottom.  Place a bead on top for your centre and then sew the flower to one piece of your lily pad.

• Place your lily pad with the flower on top of your other lily pad and then sew around the edges (with a little border).  Be sure to stop to leave a space to insert your stuffing.

• Insert your stuffing or filler.

• Sew your lily pad closed.

• Incorporate your lily pad into play or give it to a friend along with a frog figurine or stuffie!

Find all the Sew a Softie FREE patterns here: https://www.sewasoftie.com/2020/08/free-softie-sewing-patterns-sew-a-softie-2020.html

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Purpose

• Learning how to sew allows children to practice a multitude of fine motor skills.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you use a tray and a smock to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors with care and direct, adult supervision.
• Cord, yarn etc. can be a strangulation hazard, therefore be sure to use with direct supervision and for its intended purpose.
• Beads can be a choking hazard, therefore be sure to keep them out of the reach of children ages 0-3 years of age or those that tend to put things into their mouths.

Materials

• Printable Background & Vases: vase
  
• Paint
• Pencil/ eraser
• Scissors
• Glue
• Cardstock

We always find these items useful too:

Directions

• Print out the background and vase pages.  There are two options for you to chose from.

• Cut the background into pieces and paint them in your tray. (You could leave them together, but cutting allows for really sharp lines)

• Cut out and paint your vase if you like.

• Now for the creative part- design different types of flowers for in your vase. One trick that our daughter thought of to make the flowers line up perfectly for your vase is to trace the shape onto your paper and then draw your flowers to fit the top (where the opening would be).

• Paint and cut out your flowers.  We used a thin, permanent marker to outline the flowers.

• Glue your background pieces onto a piece of cardstock.

• Glue on your vase and then your flowers.

• Pop your work into a frame and display it! (Or back it with a corresponding colour of paper like we did)

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Purpose

• Exploring with different ways to create a simple background.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you use a tray and a smock to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors with care and direct, adult supervision.

Materials

• Box
• Butterfly Template: butterfly
• Paint (or markers)
• Pom poms
• Scissors
• Circle punch (or milk jug lids and a pencil)

We always find these items useful too:

Directions

• Paint the top of your box if you like.

• Cut out your butterfly and paint or colour it.

• Punch holes in the areas where you would like your pom poms to go through on the wings.

• Trace your butterfly onto your box and the holes too.

• Have an adult cut holes in the box where you traced your holes for the pom poms.  (Use a utility or craft knife to do this, exercising caution)  Make the holes bigger than those that you punched.

• If you would like the child to work on their colour matching, take a cap (like one from a milk jug) and trace around the holes on your butterfly and then colour or paint the remaining space in to correspond with the pom poms to insert.

• Glue your butterfly onto your box, making sure that that the holes on your butterfly line up with those on your box.

• Give your butterfly box to friend with the pom poms inside and a small container and watch them go!

Other Butterfly Projects might like:

• Recycled Butterfly Puppets & Writing Booklet: http://make-it-your-own.com/butterfly-puppet-and-writing-booklet/

Butterfly Magnet Maze: http://make-it-your-own.com/butterfly-magnet-maze/

Spin Art Butterflies: Find the templates here: http://make-it-your-own.com/spin-art-butterflies/

Watercolour Butterflies:  http://make-it-your-own.com/watercolour-butterflies/

Design Butterfly Wings:  http://make-it-your-own.com/design-your-own-butterfly-wings-with-loose-parts/

Butterfly Cards: http://make-it-your-own.com/butterfly-valentine-card/

Butterfly Wall Hanging: http://make-it-your-own.com/butterfly-wall-hanging/

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Purpose

• Developing one’s fine motor skills.
• Identifying colour matches.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you use a tray and a smock to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors with care and direct, adult supervision.
• Small items such as pom poms can be a choking hazard, therefore be sure to keep them out of the reach of children ages 0-3 years of age or those that tend to put things into their mouths.  This activity is therefore not recommended for those 3 and under.
• A utility knife, drill or craft knife should be used by an adult only!

Materials

Templates:

• Coloured Version:  barn milk container (Barn, Animals, Hay Bales, Pond, Tree, Railroad, Dirt Roads)
• Colour Yourself: barn milk container bw
• Barn Writing Booklet: Colour: farm writing colour Colour Yourself: farm writing BW
• Story Planner: story planner

• Washed milk/ beverage cartons (2L)
• Paper (we used cardstock for a more sturdy build)
• Scissors
• Glue
• Farm Vehicles (we constructed ours from https://connetixtiles.com/shop/)
• Cardboard tubes (re-use TP or paper towel rolls)
• Paint, brush

We always find these items useful too:

Directions

• There are options that are fully coloured for each idea or ones that you can colour yourself.

• Print the barn pieces.  Cut them out, fold along the dotted lines and glue them on the side of your milk cartons.

• Print our your animals and cut them along the dotted lines. Glue the two pieces together, back to back.  Along with the animals is a tuft of grass which they will stand in.  Snip the line under the animal’s feet and the one in the grass and then slide one into the other to make them stand.  You could also add toy animal figurines if you have them.

• Print your roads and railroads and cut them out.  The grass folds up along the roads if you like.  You can connect them together to build an intricate system.

• Print and add a pond to your farm yard if you like.

• The trees work with the same premise as the animals.  Paint cardboard tubes to use as the trunk and insert the tree tops into the trunks along the smaller snip lines.

• Add your farm vehicles.  We created ours out of the Connetix vehicle set (the roads and the railway are the width of the wheel base).  Find them here: https://connetixtiles.com/shop/
  

• Enjoy your farm!

Farm Writing Booklet

• Print the cover of the booklet that you like (you can either chose a coloured version or one to colour yourself).  We used cardstock for the front and back cover as it is a bit more sturdy and then regular paper for the interior writing pages.  Use the writing booklet to describe what happens on a farm or perhaps a report on one of the animals that are found on a farm.  You could also use it for narrative writing.  You may find this story writing template helpful: story planner.  We printed some extra copies of the interior pages so we could write a rough copy, edit it with an adult and then write a good copy.

If you like this idea, we also have:

A Beverage Carton Haunted House: http://make-it-your-own.com/milk-carton-haunted-house-scene/

A Beverage Carton Gingerbread House: http://make-it-your-own.com/beverage-carton-gingerbread-house-and-play-scene/

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If you love this idea, why not make a PAPER FAIRY GARDEN too!

Find the printables here: http://make-it-your-own.com/paper-fairy-garden-and-writing-booklet/

OR our BUTTERFLY THEATRE & SCRIPT

Find the printables here:

http://make-it-your-own.com/printables-on-hp-play-learn/

Purpose

• Reimagining recyclables for play.
• Writing for various purposes whether it be fiction or non fiction.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you use a tray and a smock to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors with care and direct, adult supervision.

Materials

• Printable Alphabet Booklet: Letter
• Pencil/ eraser
• Glue
• Coloured paper/ construction paper
• Magazines/ flyers

We always find these items useful too:

Directions

• Print out the cover page.  Add your name to it. Letter
• Print out the number of pages that you would like for your book with each page representing a letter. Letter
• You can:

1)  Add illustrations that correspond to the letter.

*Isn’t that a beautiful pencil case that our son’s teacher made for every kid in the class!?*

2) Cut out items from flyers/ magazines that correspond to the letter.

3) Cut out and glue together items that correspond to the letter.

4) Take photos of items, print them out and then add them to your book.

Once your pages are dry, staple them together.

Once you are finished with letters, you could move onto common diagraphs (blends): Sh, Ch, Bl, Sp, Cr, Th, Br etc. 

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Purpose

• Recognizing words that start with a specific sound, corresponding to a chosen letter.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you use a tray and a smock to protect your clothing and surfaces if you are using glue.
• Use scissors with care and direct, adult supervision.

The first activity is a kids’ craft pop it into a glass-less frame to display on the wall.  The third activity is a Father’s Day card you could make for dad or send it in the mail for Grandpa! 

Materials

• Printable dad faces: dad faces
• Decorating materials (Use what you have such as buttons, beads, chenille stems etc.) OR loose parts
• Glue

Card: 

• Printable: fathers day face
• Markers, pencil crayons etc.
• Pencil/ erasers
• Cardstock

We always find these items useful too:

Directions

Design your Dad’s Face- Craft Project

• Look at the dad faces and decide which one best matches your father or better yet, draw your own.

• Think about your dad’s face- what colour are her eyes?  What is the shape of her nose?

• Create the features of your dad’s face using materials that you have on hand (this is a perfect time to use up odds and ends that you may have).  Our son used layered buttons, beads, pom poms and chenille stems.

• Plan out and glue on your facial features.

• Once dry, pop your work into a frame and then give it to your dad!

Design Dad with Loose Parts 

• Put the dads into page protectors if you like.

• Put out a tray of loose parts (buttons, beads, rings etc.- whatever you may have on hand)

• Have each child select the dad that looks like theirs and design the face.

Father’s Day Card

• Print the card on thick paper such as cardstock.

• Create the facial features with pencil and then colour them in with pencil crayon, marker etc.

• Write a personal message inside!

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Purpose

• Recognizing the physical features that make your parent unique and recreating them out of crafting materials.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you use a tray and a smock to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors with care and direct, adult supervision.
• Small items such as beads, buttons, pom poms etc. can be a choking hazard, therefore be sure to keep them out of the reach of children ages 0-3 years of age or those that tend to put things into their mouths.