Pine cone bird feeders

 

   



Dylan, Jake and Emma go to school 3 days a week and on their campus they have these beautiful Pine trees we walk through every afternoon on the way to the car.  It has become a tradition that every day when we leave they each go and find a pine cone to take home. After a few weeks these pine cones have started to pile up so I needed to find something to do with them. I decided to turn them into bird feeders. What a great spring project!

 These were easy for the kids to make independently and the only thing I had to buy was the bird seed, which I found at target for only a few dollars.

 Here's what you need:

 - Big pine cones (ones that have opened up more will work better)

 - Peanut butter (use sun butter for nut allergies)

 - Bird seed (bought generic wild bird seed at target)

 - Plastic knife (optional)

 - Paper plate

 - String

 I let Dylan, Jake and Emma each pick out one of their pine cones from their huge pile and then I scooped out a big scoop of peanut butter and put it on their paper plate. I gave them a plastic knife and told them to use it to cover the whole pine cone completely. (For younger kids, you could skip the knife step and have them use their hands!)
 
 

 

 

 Once their cones were smothered with peanut butter I wiped their hands off (so the seeds wouldn't stick to their hands) and then poured the bird seed onto the plate. I told them to roll the pine cone in the bird seed making sure that the whole pine cone was covered so that birds would have lots of food to eat!  They loved this!

 

 

 

 Now that the cones were covered we let them rest on the counter for a few minutes and they ran outside to see which tree they wanted to hang their bird feeder in. When we came back in I used some twine and tied it around each pine cone. Then we brought the bird feeders excitedly outside to hang in the trees.  They each picked a different tree that we could see from our kitchen table.  We hoped birds would come soon to enjoy the delicious bird feeders we created for them! 



The finished product!



 

 

 

 To be honest, I wasn't sure if these we're going to work, but the next morning imagine my surprise when birds started landing on the pine cone bird feeders and eating away!  The kids were squealing with delight. The joy in their faces as they saw the birds enjoying their hard work was priceless. Every morning we look to see how many birds are coming to eat from our bird feeders and it's a highlight to our day. I definitely recommend doing this fun and earth friendly activity with your kids!

 

 

Valentine's Day Heart Stamp Painting

 

So I'm always looking for an easy art project to do with Dylan, Jake and Emma to keep them happy and keep my sanity during long days at home when we have no plans. We did this activity last year, but it's so easy and cute we had to do it again. You only need 4 materials that I'm sure you have lying around your house already. And you know you need more Valentine’s art to decorate your house with!  It's great for young toddlers and kids of all ages!

Here's what you need:
• empty toilet paper rolls (or half of a paper towel roll)
• white paper
• red and pink washable paint (I used Crayola washable paint )
• paper plate
• pink or red construction paper (optional)

 
 

 

 

Set up:

Take your toilet paper roll and fold the bottom part in half creating a crease, then bend the top part down to form a heart shape. This will be your stamp for your little one to use. It's great too because you just toss it out when you are done.  Easy clean up... My favorite!

 

 

 

Next put pink and red paint on a paper plate to create your paint palette to dip the heart stamp in.
Now you are ready for your little one(s) to begin their Valentine's Day heart masterpiece.
I actually created the heart stamps in front of the kids. They were fascinated that I took a circle and changed it into a heart. This got them excited for the activity.
I handed them each a piece of white paper and a stamp and then I handed out the paint last. I showed them how they could use one side of the stamp for the pink paint and one side for the red paint.  As always, I reminded them to keep the paint on their papers and told them to have fun!  And they did!  They each made two pictures.

 

When their paintings were finished and dried I backed them on pink construction paper and then hung them up in our family room. They look beautiful and add some Valentine's Day décor to our room.

Have fun and Happy Valentine's day!

I love you to "pieces" stained glass Valentine's Day project

 

 

 



I LOVE Valentine's Day! I love the colors, I love all the love in the air and I love the projects I can now do with the kids. This stained glass heart art project I did with the kids is something I saw done a few different ways on Pinterest, but I decided to put my own spin on it and I am obsessed with how they came out!  I hope you love them and try it at home with your kiddies!

LOVE!

 This activity is great because it's not messy and you can keep it for yourself or make it as a gift to give to grandparents!  There's a little bit of prep work involved to create this beautiful piece of art, but it's easy and worth it. Here are the materials you need:
• construction paper (red or pink)
• tissue paper ( pinks, red and white)
• clear contact paper (12in x 36ft size roll worked perfectly for this project)
• small paper bowl
• scissors (adult use)
• permanent marker


Make sure it is clear.  I got mine at Walmart.

 So to start you want to fold your piece of construction paper in half and cut a half of heart out so that when you open it you will have a heart in the center. Make sure to leave just enough room at the top and bottom to write words on your picture. (Save your cut out heart for another project!)

 

Once your construction paper is ready. Cut your tissue paper into approx 1/2" squares and place them into a small bowl for your little one to use for the project.



 Now you're almost ready to begin. Take your roll of contact paper and measure it so that it fits across the whole piece of construction paper and covers it completely. You will need to cut two pieces of the same size because you will use the second piece at the end to finish the project.  Take the backing off one piece of the contact paper and press the construction paper directly onto it. (I like to lay the contact paper on the table, sticky side up, and put the paper directly on top.)

Heart is ready to be covered with pieces!

Now the heart should be sticky and ready for your little one to cover it with the tissue paper pieces. The kids LOVED this project!  They were having fun and concentrating very hard all at the same time.







When it's filled with pieces, use the other piece of contact paper to cover the back of the art and "seal" the pieces in. This not only gives the art a nice laminated look that you will be able to keep forever, but you have also created a stained glass window!  

Trim the edges if needed to give it a "finished" look

Now to make it extra cute for Valentine's Day I wrote the phrase "I love you to pieces!" in sharpie on top of the contact paper. Make sure to write it on the front/pretty side of the paper.  (*Note: You can write on the construction paper before you put the contact paper on. Words go on the side the contact paper goes on first.)


Your project is now finished!  Find a window to display your beautiful I love you to "pieces" stained glass artwork and enjoy or make it as a card and give it to a loved one!
                                      ❤️ Happy Valentine's Day! ❤️

I love how it looks in our window! 

Marshmallow Snowmen

 

The other day we made these adorable marshmallow snowmen. This was the perfect craft to do on a day where it was freezing outside...by LA standards!  The kids were motivated to do the activity since they knew that they would be able to have a "sample," as they like to call it, when they completed each step.  We did it step by step so that each part was completed and no one got frustrated.  They all did wonderfully.  They got to make it their own by choosing what colors eyes, mouth and buttons their snowman would have.  They also decided how they wanted the snowman's arms to be positioned. They had lots of fun and I even heard a lot of counting as they were placing the marshmallows onto the body of the snowman.  Follow the steps below with you kiddies to have a fun filled winter craft to display in your home!
Materials:
Blue construction paper
Any other color construction paper (for the hat at the end)
Glue (in a bottle not a stick)
M&Ms
Mini M&Ms
Candy corn
Marshmallows
String licorice
Stick pretzels

To begin trace the outline of a snowman on the blue piece of construction paper. I used 3 different sized bowls to help me to insure perfect sized circles for the body.  Make sure to leave enough room at the top to fit a hat!

Next, have your child pick out what color eyes their snowman is going to have using the regular sized M&Ms.  I put 2 drops of glue for each eye and then they put the M&Ms on top.  After, we got the eyes glued we looked at our faces to see what was under our eyes and we discovered our nose.  We used a candy corn for the nose. I again put the glue on and they picked which way they wanted the nose to point. The last part of its face was its mouth.  To make the mouth they all decided they wanted a rainbow colored mouth.  We used mini M&Ms to form a smile.  At last our face was complete!  This also meant they could have a few M&Ms as promised!  Now it was time to turn our snowmen white.

 

 

To make the snowmen white, we used marshmallows. We needed to allow time for the pieces on the face to dry so we started at the bottom and worked our way back up. I put the glue onto each circle (only one circle at a time) and then they filled in the body with the marshmallows. I reminded them to make all of the marshmallows touch like they were holding hands because they are best friends. I told them once they finished each circle they could have one marshmallow. They were thrilled with this reward!  We continued filling in the snowman until his whole body was white.

  
Once all the marshmallows were placed, they each picked out 3 M&Ms to use as buttons on top of the marshmallows. I helped put the glue on top of the marshmallow and they carefully placed each M&M on top.
Now we needed to give the snowman some arms.  We used 2 pretzel sticks for these. They decided if they wanted his arms up or down or one of each. The boys both picked one up and one down, but Emma decided on both down for hers.
We decided the snowman also needed a scarf so I found some leftover licorice Halloween candy and cut it to make it fit like a scarf. It was a little tricky making it fit, so I did this part while they watched with excitement.
The final part of our project was giving the snowman a hat. In retrospect, I could have used pretzel pieces to design a hat, but we decided to give him some color and use construction paper for its hat. The boys both picked yellow and Emma went with pink. They glued on the hats and marveled in awe of their adorable snowmen!  Then they finished up their yummy craft with some pretzels!

Have fun and try not to eat all of the supplies before you finish the project!