10 Little Bunnies

With Easter approaching, we've been doing all sorts of related crafts, songs, baking and planting. There are so many songs and rhymes that your toddler and preschooler will enjoy. I'll share a couple of my favorites.

To the tune of 10 Little Indians:
Do the actions as you sing
1 little, 2 little, 3 little bunnies,
4 little, 5 little, 6 little bunnies,
7 little, 8 little, 9 little bunnies,
10 little bunnies hopping up and down.

1 little, 2 little, 3 little bunnies,
4 little, 5 little, 6 little bunnies,
7 little, 8 little, 9 little bunnies,
10 little bunnies jumping up and down.

1 little, 2 little, 3 little bunnies,
4 little, 5 little, 6 little bunnies,
7 little, 8 little, 9 little bunnies,
10 little bunnies twirling around.

1 little, 2 little, 3 little bunnies,
4 little, 5 little, 6 little bunnies,
7 little, 8 little, 9 little bunnies,
10 little bunnies hopping on one foot.


A Rabbit

Preschool children act out this rhyme
Can you make a rabbit
With two ears, so very long
hold up fingers
And let him hop, hop, hop about
hop
On legs so small and strong?
He nibbles, nibbles carrots
act out
For his dinner every day;
As soon as he has had enough
He scampers fast away!
hop on all fours

Slotted Game

Don't forget your little ones! Even though they can't do all the painting, planting and cooking doesn't mean they don't want to have fun activities too. My 11 month old enjoys this game and it holds his attention for quite a while. Here's what you need:
*some kind of can: coffee, formula, gerber graduate finger food cans work really well because they don't have sharp edges.
*milk lids, foam shapes, or anything that size
*scissors
*tape if you use a can with metal on it

I really recommend the Gerber cans or an oatmeal can. Anything that is made out of cardboard. If you don't have one, remember to cover any sharp edges with tape. Cut a slot in the lid big enough for your shapes and let your child loose with it. See if they can figure out how to get the shapes in and how to get them out. Let them explore the different textures and the sounds the objects make in the can. If your child is anything like mine watch them closely with smaller shapes because everything ends up in their mouth.

What's for Dinner?

This recipe, if you can even call it that, is so simple and one of our favorites. Here's what you need:
*chicken breasts
*BBQ sauce
*buns
Told you it was simple! About 5 hours before your dinner time. Throw the chicken in the crock pot with some BBQ sauce. You don't need to cover the chicken with the sauce because you'll add more later. Don't forget the crock pot liner if you want a speedy cleanup! Turn your pot on low and cook for a few hours. I usually forget about it until an hour and a half before dinner time. At that time, take 2 forks and pull apart the chicken breasts. I like mine to be really shredded. After it's all shredded add some more BBQ sauce to make sure the chicken will be nice and moist. Then leave it until you're ready to eat. Serve on buns with your choice of sides.

Egg Man

These Grass Hair Egg Men are fun for kids. They love to see how things grow. At least mine does. Everyday it is fun to wake up and see how much the grass has grown and to water them. It gives your child a chance to be responsible for something. Let them water the grass with a spray bottle. Here's what you need:
*Eggs and a carton
*knife and bowl
*soil
*grass seed
*spray bottle

First tap off the top of your eggs and wash and dry them.



Then let your child fill them with soil and sprinkle the grass seeds in. (we might have gone overboard on the seeds)


Cover the seeds with more soil and lightly water. Make sure not to over water these. That's why I recommend a spray bottle. Then in less than a week, see hair start to sprout! Saetia decorated hers with permanent markers. You could really get into it and glue on googly eyes or foam shapes. You could add pipe cleaner glasses or feet. I think next time I'll use alfalfa sprouts so when you give your egg a haircut you can eat the sprouts!

Old Timey

My friend introduced me to historical fiction recently. Now I have to read every book by Philippa Gregory and authors like her. They get a little racy but that never hurt anyone ;) So in those books they're always talking about sealing wax and letters with seals so I thought it would be fun to try. I had no clue they still sold wax seals at Michaels and that it was a popular thing to do on wedding invitations. That's where I bought my sealing wax. I bought a vintage brass seal from England(on EBAY). I guess if you're going to do it you might as well make it authentic. I thought it would be fun to occasionally send real letters instead of email all the time. I burnt my paper to make it look old. So here's how mine turned out and my mess to go along with it.

Fruit Face

I decided to experiment with my face for the sake of science...I saw this Face Mask recipe originally on Grow Your Own Drugs(I know it sounds bad) Anyway, it's a tropical mask that gets rid of dry skin. Normally, I would just go get microdermabrasion. But this seems WAY cheaper and easier. So here's what you need:
1/2 a kiwi
1/2 a papaya
juice from 1/2 a lime
1 packet of veg. gelatin (i used regular)


Cut the kiwi in half and peel. Mash it through a sieve into a bowl. Add juice from 1/2 a lime. Next, cut papaya and scoop out the seeds and peel. Mash that through a sieve into a different bowl with the gelatin. Heat over a saucepan of boiling water for 3 mins or until it is sort of a runny gel. Remove while still stirring and SLOWLY add lime and kiwi juice. Let cool(luke warm) and apply to face. (No, I'm not adding a picture of this) Leave on for 20 mins to an hour. Wash off with warm water.

Okay, so I did all that and here's my thoughts. IT WORKED! My skin is seriously smoother. After 20 mins or so the mixture gets hard. I left mine on for 40 mins. Here's a tip though, watch out for any cuts. My son scratched my neck and the lime juice got in there and stung! Obviously watch out for your eyes too.

Scratch and Sniff

I originally saw this Kid Concoction on an IPTV infomercial. They gave a few recipes for fun kid stuff. You can buy books on their website for $12.95 or 3 for $34. Oh, and they also have a Concoction of the Month I just catch the infomercials and do the free ones ;)

We tried the Scratch and Sniff Watercolors. All you need is Kool-Aid packets and water. I hate to say this but you should really get the Kool-Aid Brand. I tried a few generics and the colors weren't as true. Kool-Aid has all the colors of the rainbow plus pink. Grab a muffin tin and pour one packet into each hole and add a Tablespoon of water to each packet. Mix and paint! This will stain fingers so I advise to steer clear of finger painting with this. After the materpieces are finished, let dry. Overnight is best. When they're dry, scratch and sniff them!

Breakfast fun

Why make the same old round pancakes? One of our favorites are Mickey Mouse pancakes. I cook the pancakes and I let Saetia decorate the faces. Today we used lazy pancake mix, the Bisquick that you just add water to, and chocolate chips. For a healthy version, use whole wheat pancake mix and blueberries.



Another idea is letter recognition through pancakes. First pour your letter. Remember to do it backwards!



After a few seconds pour more batter on top.



When you flip it the letter should be a little bit darker than the rest of the pancake. See if your child can guess the letter. Mine was too easy I was told!

5 Little Shamrocks

Okay, I know I'm a day late with this but here it is anyway. This is a St. Patrick's Day craft we did. It's a felt board with 5 little shamrocks and their neighborhood.
Things you'll need:
*A piece of cardboard
*Felt, Green, Yellow, Blue and Brown
*markers, scissors and templates if you don't want to free hand your shapes
*googly eyes if you want your shamrocks to have faces

Cut your piece of cardboard however you want. I just cut mine to match the size of the felt. Actually, I just bought a piece of self adhesive felt in blue and stuck it on. Voila, a background. Next, cut out your shapes. You'll need 5 shamrocks, a door, a tree, and a bee hive. Add faces to your shamrocks if you want. If you want your shapes to stick to your felt board you can glue a little piece of coarse sandpaper to the backs. But if you don't have sandpaper you can just play with it laying flat. Another option would be to glue your shamrocks to popsicle sticks to make puppets. Kids seem to like waving things around. Mine is very plain but you can get creative!



The poem: (you can laminate the poem or stick it between 2 pieces of contact paper)

One green shamrock in the morning dew.
Another one sprouted,
and then there were two.

Two green shamrocks growing beneath a tree.
Another one sprouted,
and then there were three.

Three green shamrocks by the cottage door.
Another one sprouted,
and then there were four.

Four green shamrocks near a beehive.
Another one sprouted,
and then there were five.

Five little shamrocks bright and emerald green.
Think of all the luck these shamrocks will bring!

Feed The Birds

I like this project because you can do it during any season. The birds will always be hungry! Also, your child can do it almost all by themselves.

These are Pine Cone Bird Feeders. Supplies you'll need:
*pine cones (can substitute for orange rinds)
*bowl of peanut butter (if you have allergies I'll list an alternative later)
*bowl of birdseed
*string or yarn and scissors

To gather the pine cones we went on a Nature Walk. I let Saetia pick out her own but after a while I had to direct her (she likes anything that is tiny and tiny pine cones won't hold many seeds!) After you gather your pine cones and the rest of your supplies you can start to assemble. It's simple, tie a piece of yarn or sting around the pine cones you want to use then hand it over to your child (if you aren't afraid of a mess) Let them spread the peanut butter.



Then roll it in the bird seed.



Ta Da, you have a bird feeder! Let your child choose where to hang the feeders. It took our birds a couple days to find the feeders. It was fun to go out everyday and check to see if they've been eaten.



Peanut Butter substitute for pine cones (this recipe works better in cold weather)
Mix ½ cup vegetable shortening (or alternative) with ½ cup oatmeal or corn meal in a mixing bowl until well blended. (This amount will cover one large pinecone or two or three smaller ones.)

Bear with me while I try to figure this whole blog thing out. I don't know anything about making a website so it might take me a while to figure out how to make it look nice. BUT...first real post coming soon!