Wooden Stick Puzzles

Preschoolers at my mother's church always enjoy it when she has them make wooden stick puzzles during their craft time. To prepare ahead of time for the craft she lays 8 wooden tongue depressors side by side and tapes them together on one side with packing tape.

On the other side she draws the outline of some easily recognizable object (like a tree). The preschoolers color the tree and rip apart the wooden sticks. Now they have a puzzle to put together! (They also enjoy taking the puzzles home in ziploc bags for their families to try)

Lamb Mask

While my mother was here visiting this week she and M did this sweet lamb's head craft together. M helped mom color the ears pink. Then came the fun part- tearing apart cotton balls and gluing them to the mask (already cut out). Mom poked a hole on each side of the lamb's face and tied a string of elastic to both holes to make it ready to wear.
Doesn't M look cute as a lamb? (We tried the mask on her Raggedy Ann doll as well)
The lamb mask template is one that my mother made herself. If you click on the image below, you will have the mask full-sized and ready to print for your own use(use heavy cardstock).

Kid's Test Kitchen

Though we have not yet had one in Austin, I've noticed that there have been a rash of snow days around the country lately. If you and your kids have been running out of things to do on those occasions, and being cooped-up together is starting to drive you just a little bit crazy, maybe you can try this activity!

Tell the kids that you are hoping that they can experiment and come up with some delicious new snack recipes. You can call it "(Your family's last name)'s Test Kitchen.

Set out stations around the kitchen for each child. At each station place an apron, a couple of small bowls, saucers, spoons, butter knives and small amounts of ingredients.

Some ideas for ingredients: raisins, ritz crackers, celery sticks, raw carrots, cream cheese, honey, peanut butter, apple slices, pretzel sticks, plain yogurt, dried fruits, almonds, peanuts, cinnamon-sugar, bananas, granola, cheerios, graham crackers, olives, shredded cheddar, sunflower seeds

They are sure to come up with some interesting combinations! Encourage your kids to sample each other's creations, and when a child is satisfied that he has come up with a "winner," be available to write down directions on a recipe card.

Who knows? One of them might discover a new healthy snack that they like, and wouldn't they feel proud to see you following a recipe that they had made each time you made it for them?

Of course, your experimental test kitchen is sure to make a mess and a lot of work for you. But by a unfortunate twist of fate, I think a colossal mess actually is part of the magic for kids and helps turn a passing afternoon activity into a lasting memory.

Have fun! and if you do this activity or have done one like it in the past, I'd love to hear about how it turned out!

Choo Choo Chair Train

Do your kids look a little bored this afternoon? Maybe you could suggest they build a train out of chairs! Send them scouting around the house for as many as they can find so it can be really long.

Then of course, they'll need to round up some passengers; stuffed animals and little siblings work well!

Kids can take turns being the engineer- tooting the whistle and leading the others in the chugging sounds and of course, announcing what they see up ahead on the tracks. Maybe they would like to sing along with a Thomas the Train CD after they have made up their own fun for a little while!

Apple Puzzles

Here is a puzzle you can make for your kids that takes no more than 5 minutes- and it tastes good too!

With a sharp knife cut deep and jagged around the middle of an apple.

When you have cut all the way around, you should be able to easily twist your apple into two pieces. Now you have your puzzle!


Let your child see if he can put the apple back together again. If he is older, you can challenge him to put it back together on the first try (without touching the two pieces together until he has made his guess)
Apply a little lemon juice to the pieces and it would make a fun bagged lunch item for school!

For more great ideas today visit here!

Cleaning Pennies

Some cleaning jobs are particularly satisfying because they make such a noticeable difference. (I think washing mirrors fits into this category). Washing pennies is so dramatic that it's actually fun!

If you want a fun rainy-day activity to do with your kids that makes them feel that they are doing something (semi) useful- try this:

1. Send your kids on a mission to find all the dirty pennies in the house. (Have them look in the car, the bottom of your purse, under seat cushions, etc).

2. Find a big glass or plastic bowl and have your kids measure 1 cup vinegar and 10 tablespoons salt into it.

3. Let a younger child mix the salt into the vinegar with his hands.

4. Drop the pennies into the bowl and have your kids mix them around with their hands.

5. Watch as the pennies "magically" lose their tarnish and become wonderfully shiny. For older children, you can even turn this into a science experiment. Why did they become shiny?

--Pennies get dull over time because the copper reacts with the air to form copper oxide. Salt and vinegar form an acid that erodes the copper oxide (but doesn't hurt hands in case you were wondering)--

6. Make sure you take before-and- after-pictures that they can show their dad when he gets home!My toddler and I did this activity this morning. She isn't old enough to appreciate science behind it or to measure out ingredients, but she thoroughly enjoyed mixing the vinegar and salt together and dropping the pennies into the bowl (Of course, closely supervised because the pennies might be a choking hazzard).And yes, she does smell like a pickle right now, but it was worth it! :-)