India Crafts for Kids

In our unit study on India this summer, we spent a couple weeks exploring Hindu holidays as well as the animals that live in India.  The kids (ages 5, 5, and 3) had a wonderful time making a variety of crafts...

Paper Lamas {Latin American Craft for Kids}

One of the books I checked out from the library on Latin American crafts had templates for making these cute paper lamas.  The kids LOVED them.  They ended up making about two dozen of these in different colors and played with them all week.  Sometimes the simplest things are just as entertaining as the most elaborate homeschool lesson plans!

Molas craft {South America unit}

In our two-week unit on South America and Mesoamerica, we read a lot of traditional folktales from those regions and made crafts inspired by tradition handiwork from different countries.  The molas (blouses) of the Kuna women are just gorgeous, and the girls enjoyed making their own versions out of paper..

Pin-punch Constellation Craft

The kids took a day learning about constellations as part of our week on ancient Greek mathematicians and scientists.  After reading some picture books on stars and constellations, we did this fun little craft...  I found some online printables of various constellations and the girls used sewing pins to punch holes in black construction paper..

Grecian Vase from Paper Mache

The kids (twins are almost 6 and little guy is almost 4) have been learning about ancient Greece all month using Story of the World and other sources.  One of their favorite crafts so far have been these neat Grecian vases made from paper mache.  Here's what we did...

The Middle Kingdom of Egypt {SOTW Chapter 12}

Instead of only spending a single day a week on ancient history, the kids (1st grade & pre-k) and I decided to do a full week unit study out of three chapters from Story of the World {Middle Kingdom of Egypt, New Kingdom of Egypt, and the Israelites Leave Egypt}.  We also threw some old kingdom in there since we covered that last year, and the girls read Mummies in the Morning by Mary Pope Osborne.

Titanic Crafts for Kids {Tonight on the Titanic}

The twins (age 5.5) have been in a virtual book club all year as part of their Calvert online school.  Recently they read Tonight on the Titanic by Mary Pope Osborne, and had to present a project related to the book.  I described some ideas for crafts to the kids and then let them create them themselves...

Bead Belt Craft for Kids {Native American Unit}

Last month, I started an eight week unit on Native Americans with the kids (ages 3, 5, 5).  Every week we read a story about a little Native American boy or girl from a different tribe in the book Eight Little Indians by Josephine Lovell.  The book belonged to my husband when he was a young and despite being published in 1936, it depicts the Native Americans in a very positive light and is a wonderful resource for educating children on the varying traditions of the different tribes.

The first story we read was about Leaping Trout, an Iroquois boy who loved to swim and built his own canoe.  When Leaping Trout's father sent out a messenger to invite others to his party, he gave the messenger his wampum belt to show that the message was really from him and not a trick (the large amount of purple shells on his belt indicated his power and wealth).

For a fun handicraft to go with the story, the children made their own wampum belts.  My 5 year old twins were able to make these with only minimal assistance.  This would also be a great craft for kids for the Thanksgiving holiday!  Here's how we did it..

Miss Rumphius - Painting Lupine Flowers

Nothing makes a picture book more fun than letting the kids do a special activity related to the story.  After reading Miss Rumphius a book by Barbara Cooney about a woman who plants Lupines to make the world more beautiful, the girls painted their own Lupine flowers.  Here's what we did...

Claude Monet Artist Study

Since we learned about France last week, it seemed natural to use Claude Monet for our artist study in homeschool Kindergarten.  After looking at some of his better-known works (especially the water lilies and haystacks), and learning about impressionism, we made some art inspired by his paintings.  The picture above was a collaborative effort between me and E (almost 5) using the oil pastel / watercolor relief technique (lots of fun for Mommy too!).  We tried different mediums, as well, and by the end of the session everyone was obsessed with lily pads..

Foil Sculptures

The girls really enjoyed making foil sculptures last week (using aluminum foil over pipe cleaners).  This project came from the Usborne Art Treasury book in the study of a sculptor named Alberto Giacometti.  It was a nice change to incorporate some three dimensional art in our artist studies...

The Easiest Glider You'll Ever Make!

After reading an article in Click Magazine on flying squirrels (and how they glide rather than really fly), we made our own gliders.  It literally took me less than 5 minutes to make three of these gliders with the kids (including finding supplies)...

Pond Life Theme in Homeschool Kindergarten

We completed this mini-unit about pond life earlier this school-year in Homeschool Kindergarten, but I totally forgot to post about it.  After reading some books about the various animals that live in ponds, the twins had a chance to make some cute crafts which I'd love to share...

Learning About Sheep

We're reading through Among the Farmyard People by Clara Dillingham Pierson (free on Google Play Books and Project Gutenberg).  After reading a chapter about a lamb who bragged about his long tail, I decided to let the kids make a quick (and cute) sheep craft.  The one pictured above was H's (2.5 years old) - I made the sheep and he glued the cotton balls for the wool.  The twins (4.5 years old) made their own..

Chinese Paper Lantern Craft {for Chinese New Year}

One of our crafts for Chinese New Year (and our Kindergarten thematic unit on China) was to make this cute paper lantern craft.  I thought the kids would enjoy this activity because they love arts and crafts, but I had no idea how much they would get into it.  The girls kept asking to make more and more lanterns and now our house is completely covered in them!  It was a great way for the twins to practice following directions and to use their scissor skills.  Here's how you make them..

Felt Fortune Cookies {Chinese New Year or Valentines Day Craft}

Earlier this month I read A Cricket in Times Square aloud to the twins.  In one of the chapters, the main character was invited to a Chinese dinner and was introduced to his first fortune cookie.  The girls and I made these adorable felt fortune cookies to go with the book and our "China" theme for January.  They would make perfect little crafts for both Chinese New Year or Valentines Day!  They were surprisingly simple to make.  Here's how its done..

Unit Study - Snow {Homeschool Kindergarten}

After a snowfall last weekend, the girls and I did a mini-unit on "snow" in our homeschool Kindergarten.  It was simple, but a lot of fun.  Here's what we did:

Homemade Plantable Paper (AKA Seed Bombs)

One of the homemade presents that the girls made for Christmas were these colorful pieces of plantable paper (also known as "seed bombs").  They make a cute holiday gift and make planting flowers really easy (just put them on the ground, sprinkle with soil, make sure they get enough water and soon flowers will appear).  This was a great way to incorporate two of the topics we've been learning about in Homeschool Kindergarten - seeds and recycling.  Here's what we did..

Homemade Gift - Toddler Crayons

This week the girls and I have been creating a variety of homemade gifts.  One of these projects was to recycle broken crayon pieces into new multicolored crayons for their little brother.  It was really easy (and not as messy as I thought it would be).  Here's how we did it..

Making Tiny Clay Pumpkins

 

Last week, the twins (4 years old) and I made some cute little pumpkin decorations out of Crayola  Model Magic.  It was super easy and lots of fun.  Here's how we did it..