Materials

• Butterfly template: Butterfly Maze
• Paint pens/ markers
• Boot or cereal box (make sure your magnet is strong enough to move through the cardboard thickness)
• Magnet wand (we show you how to make a DIY one)
• Acrylic paint
• Circular magnets
• Paint brush
• Pencil/ eraser
• Green beads or green pom poms
• Ruler
• Glue gun/ glue sticks or white craft glue

We always find these items useful too:

Directions

• Print and cut out your butterfly or draw your own.  You could also make something else that interests you!  Paint or colour it in the designs that you like.  Glue a strong circular magnet onto the bottom of your butterfly.

• Have an adult cut off the edge of one of the thin sides of your box as shown in the video.

• Plan out your design on a piece of paper the size of your box.  Then draw these ideas onto one of the large surfaces of your box.  We used a pencil, but you can trace your ideas with permanent marker.

• Paint (make sure your layer is thin) your base.

• Take your ruler (or if you like you can skip this, making the the path more organic) and lightly with your pencil make a path for your butterfly to maneuver through.  Be sure that it is wide enough for your butterfly’s wings with a bit of buffer space.  Will your maze have some tricks to it and/or an end goal such as the beaded flowers our daughter made?

• Glue your pom poms, beads etc. along your pathway on both sides (to look like plants/ bushes) and allow them to dry.

• Make a DIY magnet wand by gluing another circle magnet on a tongue depressor or popsicle stick.  (*Make sure it is glued so that it will ATTRACT to the one on the bottom of your butterfly*)

• Now place your butterfly on top of your scene and slide your wand underneath and try to move your butterfly throughout the maze!  Can you make it to the end?  How about a friend- can they?!

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Purpose

• Learning about how magnetism works.
• Learning about pollination.

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.
• Beads and magnets 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.  As it is very dangerous for a child to swallow a magnet, be sure to seek immediate medical attention if this happens.

Materials

• Printable: I love my
• Thick paper
• Paint (skin tones and various colours for facial features and accessories etc.)
• Items to create texture (you could use kitchen utensils, scrape with cardboard pieces, netting, pom poms etc.)
• Scissors
• Pencil/eraser
• Large piece of paper for the background
• Glue stick

We always find these items useful too:

Directions

• We are going to use this technique to create a Mother’s Day portrait, but as mentioned, you can make any image that you like!  Think about your mom, grandma etc. (whomever you are going to make this project for)- what do they look like and what do you appreciate about them?  You can sketch them out beforehand and cut out those pieces to use as tracers on your painted paper if you like.  For children who require a bit of planning with their pieces, this certainly helps and can always be modified and manipulated as you create.

• Create different pieces of painted paper (this is a perfect time to use up scraps from old projects).  We often paint the base and then added the appearance of texture on top.  So for example, we added a bit of white to our base colour and then dotted the paper with a pencil eraser.  You could create texture with sponges, a fork, a funnel- all sorts of things.  (Look at our Paper Flower Garden for more ideas: http://make-it-your-own.com/paper-flower-garden/).  You could section a large piece of paper off (by folding it into smaller rectangles and then unfolding it) and do this on one large piece of paper if you like.  Be sure to create a large piece for your Mother’s face.  Our daughter also painted another piece as slightly different tone to create some of the facial features such as the nose.   Allow this to dry overnight.

• Paint a large sheet of paper for your background.  You might want to think about a simple shade or shades for this to balance all of your textured pieces.

• When I would do this with my students we would then cut out each rectangle for easier management and then if there were colours or pieces that you didn’t need you could put them in a bin to share.

• One tip that really seems to work is to sketch your shape (say for example for the mouth) on the back of your painted paper lightly and then cut it out.   This eliminates the pencil lines and allows some children to better visualize the shape rather than free cutting.  As mentioned in the first point, some children might benefit from drawing out the entire face and characteristics that they want, cut them out and use them as tracers on the back as well.  Think of the needs of your child or group and what might suit them best or perhaps you can present a few of these tips for them to chose from as to what might work to help them create a piece that they are happy with.

• Cut out your face (we used a plate to get a circle and then shaped it) and arrange all your features, moving them about until you get your desired look.  (It is good to do this before you bring out the glue!).  You can use smaller items such as caps for smaller features if you need help creating specific shapes.

• Glue your face and features onto the upper portion of your background.

• Print out the label for you to fill out.  It is handy that there are two per piece as you can use the first one as a rough copy that you could edit and then use the latter for your good copy for display.  Once this is done, glue it onto your background.  If you like, back your work for display.

• Hang your work up for your mom/ special person to see and/ or give it to them on Mother’s Day or any day to show them your appreciation for who they are and what they do!

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Purpose

• Exploring different art making techniques inspired by artists, books etc.
• Developing one’s 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.

Materials

• Air dry clay
• Cooling rack
• Clay board or placemat
• Acrylic paint or paint pens (We like the Posca brand)
• Acrylic gloss or Modge Podge
• Paint brush

We always find these items useful too:

Directions

BUNNY

• Set up your work space.  You can use a clay mat/board or a placemat to work on and protect your table.

• To make a pinch pot, roll a ball of your clay.  Make an indent in the centre and then form the sides to your desired thickness with your fingers by pinching and pushing the clay into place to form a bowl-like shape.  We made our body oval replicating an egg. We then added on two smaller balls formed into ears, pinching the edges to the body.  Score the surfaces of your head and ear ends to help them attach together if need be.

•  One thing about working with air dry clay is that you don’t want to overwork the clay or work too slowly as it will begin to dry out before you get it to your intended shape.  Depending on your brand of clay, you can add water if you would like to delay the drying process or if you find the clay becoming crumbly.  However, it is best to do so sparingly.

• Have an adult help you carefully and slowly transfer your creation to your cooling rack.  If it seems to be stuck to the work surface, you can slide a knife gently under your bunny.  Allow your creation to dry throughly- this may take overnight or a few days, depending on the thickness of the project and the humidity in your area.

• Once your bunny is completely dry, paint it if you like, allowing that coat to dry.  You may need a few coats of paint.  Be sure to allow sufficient drying in between and go for more thin coats compiled, rather than one thick one.

• Here you can do two things:

A) Matte option

• Add details with your paint pens and allow them to dry.

B) Faux Glazed option

• Next add details to your bunny with acrylic paint, allowing those to dry overnight.  We dipped the end of various sizes of dowels in acrylic paint to get circular shapes.  You could use the eraser on a pencil too.

• We then finished our bunny with a coat of acrylic gloss (You could use Modge Podge or a similar product too).  This gives the project a glazed look.

• Give your Easter bunny to someone special!

EGG

Make these easy Easter egg pinch pot that each student can personalize by painting various designs and patterns! 

Directions

• Set up your work space.  You can use a clay mat/board or a placemat to work on and protect your table.

• To make a pinch pot, roll a ball of your clay.  Make an indent in the centre and then form the sides to your desired thickness with your fingers by pinching and pushing the clay into place to form a bowl-like shape.  We made ours oval replicating an egg.

•  One thing about working with air dry clay is that you don’t want to overwork the clay or work too slowly as it will begin to dry out before you get it to your intended shape.  Depending on your brand of clay, you can add water if you would like to delay the drying process or if you find the clay becoming crumbly.  However, it is best to do so sparingly.

• Have an adult help you carefully and slowly transfer your creation to your cooling rack.  If it seems to be stuck to the work surface, you can slide a knife gently under your Easter egg.  Allow your creation to dry throughly- this may take overnight or a few days, depending on the thickness of the project and the humidity in your area.

• Once your egg is completely dry, paint it if you like, allowing that coat to dry.  You may need a few coats of paint.  Be sure to allow sufficient drying in between and go for more thin coats compiled, rather than one thick one.

• Here you can do two things:

A) Matte option

• Add details with your paint pens and allow them to dry.

B) Faux Glazed option

• Next add details to your egg with acrylic paint, allowing those to dry overnight.  We dipped the end of various sizes of dowels in acrylic paint to get circular shapes.  You could use the eraser on a pencil too.

• We then finished our egg with a coat of acrylic gloss (You could use Modge Podge or a similar product too).  This gives the project a glazed look.

• Give your Easter egg to someone special!  (Be sure to write your name and the date on the bottom!)

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Purpose

• Working with various materials to create a 3-D shape.
• Recognizing symbols associated with various seasons.
• Developing one’s fine motor skills.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you use a tray and a smock to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Follow product directions.

What was more amazing that stemmed from the book was my daughter’s understanding of the scientific method.  She has been reading the books in the series and when her teacher mentioned that they were going to make a thermos, she came home and promptly started, experimenting with different materials and ideas and then learning what worked, what didn’t and re-trying.  The concept of the series certainly has impacted her thinking and approach to solving problems! 

Book Info.

• Canadians can purchase the book here:

Chapters/Indigo:

https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/unicorns-and-germs/9781943147472-item.html

Amazon:

https://www.amazon.ca/Unicorns-Germs-Ed-Asia-Citro/dp/1943147477

• Americans can purchase the book here:

Amazon.com:

https://www.amazon.com/Unicorns-Germs-Zoey-Sassafras-Citro/dp/1943147469/

*Disclaimer:  I received a copy of the book for review as I love so many books from The Innovation Press: http://www.theinnovationpress.com/our-books.  This is not a sponsored post and nor do we use affiliate links.*

Materials

• Shoe string liquorice (“Unicorn hair”)
• Clipboard
• Clean scissors

We always find these items useful too:

Directions

• Line up 3 pieces of liquorice.  We used different colours to make it really clear and easy to see which one to work with next.  Trim the liquorice so that the lengths are equal.  We went with a length that was about that of our arm for the necklace, but you could make it smaller to start to make it easier to work with.  Knot one end.

• We then clipped our “unicorn hair” knot into a clip board.  For braiding we find the trick of saying, “Left, middle. Right, middle.  Left middle. Right, middle.  Left, middle.” helps to keep one organized.  Use your opposite hand (the one not directing the string to put in the middle) to hold the work on your braid in place.

• Our approach to sweets are that they are a sometimes treat and I tell you, this trick of Nan’s sure got everyone braiding!   Enjoy your unicorn hair necklace!

Purpose

• Developing ones’s fine motor skills.

Safety Notes

• Cord, yarn etc. can be a strangulation hazard, therefore be sure to use with direct supervision and for its intended purpose.  Remove necklaces before play (especially on play grounds) and always consume food with direct, adult supervision.   Use scissors with care and supervision as well.

Materials

• Large bin
• Ziplock bags and/or smaller bins for storing materials

Frogs

• We bought this Wild Republic Tube on Amazon for the present, but you can purchase similar ones from Michaels by Safari Ltd.  We also have Schleich brand frogs as well.

Printable Cards

• Lily pad & flowers: lily pad card
• Cardstock
• Paint sticks (we used Kwik Stixs) and paint pens (we used Posca brand)
• Scissors
• Brass fasteners
• Hole punch

Counting Frogs

• Wooden plaque (We bought a circular one on Amazon, but have since seen similar ones at dollar stores)
• Green paint
• Sponge
• Drill (to be used by an adult)
• Garden markers (You can buy these at Michaels crafts store or dollar stores)
• Paint pen (we like the Posca brand which you can find on Amazon)

Play Dough Pond

• See our favourite recipe in the directions (use blue and green food colouring) or purchase blue and green Play Doh
• Circular play dough cutter
• Wooden flowers (you can purchase these at Micheals craft store or dollar stores)

Goop 

• Cornstarch
• Blue food colouring
• Glass gems

Water Play 

• Blue food colouring
• Lily pads (You can purchase these on Amazon or at dollar stores)

We always find these items useful too:

Directions

• Purchase the required items.

Printable Cards

• Print 6 copies of the template (or more if you have other ideas to add to bin).  We used them as a label for each activity (with the directions/ prompt/invitation inside), for a label for the bin and for a card as well.
• Colour or paint your lily pads and flowers.  Allow them to dry and then cut them out.
• Punch a hole in the middle of each flower and one on the top layer of of the lily pad.  Attach it all together with a brass fastener.  The flower layers with the smaller petal on top, the middle on the middle and so on.
• Write your titles on the outside of the cards and your prompts in the inside for the birthday child.

Counting Frogs

• Have an adult drill a hole in your plaque based on the garden signs that you have.  (You want them to fit snug in the hole.)
• Paint your plaque to make it look like a lily pad.
• Write the numbers 1-10 on your garden signs with paint pen.  We put the birthday child’s special number in a different colour.
• Put your garden signs into a container to keep them organized.
• Put all the supplies into a zippered bag or smaller container.

Play Dough Pond

• Here is our favourite recipe.  The cooking portion should be done by an adult. Make one blue batch and one green.  You could also just purchase pre-made Play Doh!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 salt
• 3 tbsp cream of tarter
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• Food colouring (or mainly yellow with a bit of red)

Directions:

• Combine all of the dry ingredients in a medium pot.
• Add water and oil.
• Cook on medium heat, adding the food colouring.
• Stir continuously.
• When the dough mix pulls away from the sides and forms into a large ball, the dough is ready to be placed in a small bowl to cool.
• Store in a plastic container or re-sealable bag.

Source: Japer Place Child and Family Resource Centre

• Add a circular cookie cutter, a small plastic play dough knife and wooden play flowers.

Goop 

• Add a box of cornstarch, blue food colouring and some gems (pop them in a container) or other items.
• Usually the recipe for goop is 2 parts of cornstarch to 1 part water, however, we find that you should add only half the water and then add the additional water by tablespoons to get the right consistency. (Different brands are slightly different in terms of moisture needed.).  Add the food colouring to the water.
• The goop could be made in the bin itself.

Water Play 

• Add the lily pads and food colouring to the container with the label on the outside.  Again, the container could be used for the water play.

Putting it Together

• Put all your activity bags into a large bin, attach your card to the top with a tape donut and if you like tie it up with a bit of ribbon!

Purpose

• Exploring different types of sensory play, developing one’s fine motor skills and one-to-one correspondence in counting.

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.
• The cooking of the play dough should be done by adult.
• Cord, yarn, ribbon  etc. can be a strangulation hazard, therefore be sure to use with direct supervision and for its intended purpose.
• Small items such as gems 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.
• Direct supervision is needed for the playing of these activities (particularly those that include water).

Materials

• Templates puffy_egg
• Cardstock
• Paper shopping or gift bag
• Yarn
• Large dull needle
• Hole punch
• Strips of newsprint, shredded paper, sheets crunched up (Re-use paper you have on hand)
• Painting or colouring materials (we used Kwik Stix and Posca paint pens)
• Pencil/ eraser
• Scissors
• Binder clips
• Tape

We always find these items useful too:

Directions

• Cut open your bag and fold it over with the two blank sides facing outwards.

• Draw an oval egg shape and cut out two copies. Or use our printable if you like! We have two options- one easier and one a bit more challenging with more dots: puffy_egg We printed it on cardstock and then attached it to the bag with tape donuts (loops with the sticky sides out).

• Lay your eggs with the blank sides up in your painting tray and paint, colour and/or decorate away!  Allow them to dry overnight.

• Lay your two copies of eggs together with the painted sides facing outwards and clip them in a few spots if you would like them to stay steady (and the holes aligned).  Depending on the thickness of your bag material, you may need adult help with this next part.  Punch holes in the eggs around the perimeter about 2.5 cm/1 inch apart.  As you can see, there are little marks for where to punch if you use our template:  puffy_egg

• Tie a knot on one end of your length of yarn or tape it into the inside as shown in the video.  We usually go with a length that is no bigger than the child’s arm.  Thread your needle on the other end.

• Sew around the edge of your Easter egg.  You could either use an “up/down” straight/ running stitch or wrap the yarn around the edges in a whip stitch style.  Sew your egg approximately 3/4 the way around, leaving a space for you to stuff in your shredded paper or newsprint before sewing the egg shut.

• Make a loop with yarn or wire (we added a few beads too) and hang your egg up for decoration!

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Purpose

• Recognizing the symbols of different holiday celebrations.
• Developing one’s fine motor skills (cutting, sewing etc.)

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

• Printables: 1 Large Egg: egg 2 Medium Eggs: egg 2
• Thick paper (cardstock)
• White, craft glue
• Salt
• Watercolour paint (you could use food colouring as well)

We always find these items useful too:

Directions

• Print out your egg.  Put your paper in a tray.

• Open your glue nozzle half way (be sure to use one that has a smaller opening) and outline the egg.  The glue works best when you almost pull the line of it.

• Design the interior of your egg- think about types of lines and patterns that you might create.

• While the glue lines are still wet, sprinkle salt on your glue, making sure that you thoroughly cover each line.

• Gently curve your paper and tap off the excess salt into a container so you can use it on your next egg.

• Allow your egg to dry overnight.

• Once dry, use pipettes or droppers and suck up your paint by compressing the bulb.  Take it over to your salt lines and slowly release your bulb, watching the salt absorb the paint, making a coloured, crystal-like effect.

• Our daughter explored WARM and COOL colours on her two different eggs.

• Once dry, you can cut them out, back them on coordinating paper and then if you like, string them on beads to hang up.  They would make a lovely garland as well.

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Purpose

• Recognizing symbols of various celebrations.
• Experimenting with different types of painting materials.
• Exploring warm and cool colours.

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.
• Once you are finished with the salt, be sure to put it away up high as large doses of salt consumption can be dangerous to small children.  Be sure to seek medical attention immediately should this occur.

In the style of Eric Carle, we used paper and other embellishments to create a flowery banner for the school’s spring family dance.  This is a great project for collaboration.

Materials

• A large sheet of cardboard or a roll of kraft paper (Since the creation had lots of beads etc. and could potentially be quite heavy, we went with cardboard)
• White craft glue or a glue gun/glue
• Collage papers *
• Beads
• Tissue paper
• Ribbon
• Yarn
• Pom pom maker
• Scissors
• Fringing scissors (Optional)
• Circle punch or lids (or both!)
• Pencil, eraser
• Paper
• Mesh or other recyclables

* We will show you several ideas for making paper with the appearance of texture below.

We always find these items helpful too:

• Smock
• Craft tray

Directions

Making Your Collage Paper

• Don your smock.  Below we show you several links to various methods for making papers with the appearance of texture (the link containing the steps is under the photograph).  You could also use artwork that you already have.  Just be sure to ask the child prior to cutting it up.  The kids usually separate their own pieces into those that they love and want to put away as keepsakes and those that are okay to use for another purpose.

http://make-it-your-own.com/roller-scrape-painting/

http://make-it-your-own.com/funnel-painting/

http://make-it-your-own.com/mesh-painting/

http://make-it-your-own.com/ribbon-roll-painting/

http://make-it-your-own.com/foaming-fun/

Assembling Your Collage

•  Cut out shapes for the centres of your flowers.  You could either do this free-hand or use a lid to trace and/or a circular punch.  The centres serve as a base for your petals.

• Cut out strips for the shapes of petals.  Our daughter liked to “shape” each strip into different petals whereas our son piled up the strips and used a more heavy duty pair of scissors to cut them all at once.  Folding the paper achieves the same result, without the need to hold the petals in place.

• As with any creative project, I always encourage the kids to cut out all the pieces, experiment with their placement and then glue to pieces together and/or down.  This tends to achieve a better approximation of their vision for something and allows them to re-work any elements that they may want to.

• If you want your flower petals to “pop out” from the page, consider folding them in half and making a fold near the bottom of the petal for gluing.

• Decorate your centres.  This may involve making yarn pom poms, gluing on store bought pom poms and/or beads and buttons- whatever you like and have.

• Glue your petals onto your centres.  You can do this by flipping your centre upside down and attaching the petals upside down.  Or if you like, cut another centre, glue the petals on right side up and then add your final, decorated centre to the top.

• Cut out your stems and leaves arranging them on the cardboard, gluing the flower on top.

• Combine patterned and plain paper to create contrast.

• Now to work on a welcome sign for the banner!

And how lovely is this: A classroom sent us the paper garden that they made and I particularly like the quote that they included:  Bloom Where You are Planted

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Purpose

• Learning how to create the appearance of texture with various tools and techniques.
• Creating pieces in the style of artists and/or illustrators.
• Recognizing seasonal changes (such as the emergence of flowers).
• Developing one’s fine motor skills (cutting, gluing etc.).
• Exploring patterns and symmetry (if you used these in attaching the beads in the centres for example).

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors and a glue gun with care and direct adult supervision.  (Or use white craft glue as an alternative.)
• Cord, yarn etc. can be a strangulation hazard, therefore be sure to use with direct supervision and for its intended purpose.
• Beads, 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.