Tear Paper Craft: The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli {Read and Play}

"Mommy, can you read this book to me?" ... or from the toddler ... "Read a book?"

Day after day after day, book after book after book. 

I love my kids' enthusiasm for reading.

I just don't love doing it all the time. the same book after book, over and over again.

And now that it is summer, it is the perfect time to get some crafty, playtime ideas together. 

Our MOPS group is bringing back Kids Book Club from when I was creative and activities leader and I am super excited, I had to jump in! It needed to be something summer-esque like watermelon or ice cream.

Ooh. Making Ice Cream would have been perfect too. 

We are not making ice cream. I'll have to file that for later.

I went searching the library and came across a few watermelon books. Have you seen how many watermelon crafts there are on google? I didn't even try Pinterest. We love some tear-paper art here. Can't go wrong with having kids tear their own pieces of paper.

"You mean I'm allowed to be destructive?" As their little faces beam with every satisfactory riiiip of the construction paper. Hey, It's good fine motor practice for those little fingers too.

You need:

half a paper plate

about a quarter to a half a piece to a full piece of red construction paper

about a quarter to a half piece of green

liquid glue

q-tips to dab glue

black paint for seeds (little fingers make cute seeds)

         or black construction paper circles cut from a hole punch if you don't want to brave the paint. We just ended up using construction paper

Kids tear and glue to make a slice of watermelon. then glue the black seeds down (or paint the seeds) on the red. Super easy, super cute, and the kids love tearing the paper.

We read "The Watermelon Seed" by Greg Pizzoli to go along with the craft. It's all about swallowing a watermelon seed. It made me laugh a little given my current state. The kids didn't quite get why I  thought it was funny.

I'm super excited that the big guy has enjoyed reading this book multiple times over since this activity.

What are some watermelon crafts you have done with your littles?

Penguin and Pinecone by Salina Yoon: Using Your Senses {Read and Play}

We jumped in with Virtual Book Club for Kids and their weekly book selections this past week. Since S has only a year and a half until she starts Kindergarten, I figure it might be a good idea to start doing more to get her ready. It was so fun when we followed along while N was a preschooler... This week's theme is penguins, and the main book is Penguin and Pinecone by Salina Yoon. We love her Penguin series and S was super excited when this one came in at the library! (seriously, holds are awesome!)

There are so many directions you can take this book, one of the reasons we love the series! We went the science route and combined it with art!
**Check out my inspiration of the painting activity over at Inspirational Laboratories**

What you need:

• Penguin and Pinecone by Salina Yoon
• objects from around the house to practice using the senses (Sight, Sound, Touch, Smell, Taste)
• Rocks (we searched for ours outside. Yay, Desert Nature!)
• Black, white and orange paint
• paintbrush
• newspaper (I'm just glad I had the wipes available! oops!)
• wipes for quick and easy surface clean-up

We've read the book several times by this point. I opened this "lesson" by feeling, sniffing, and looking at the book.

When I get to the point where Penguin is using his senses to discover that pinecone is not a snowball and cold we pause and talk about what Penguin is doing in each of the images (using sight/eyes, taste/mouth/tongue, touch/hands/feel).

Discuss the senses and how we use them to observe and make sense of the world which surrounds us. Practice on objects from around the house and what senses we use for those particular objects. We used a koosh pool ball, a soft rattle, a foam number, and a lolipop!

Using sight, touch, (and maybe smell) search for the perfect rock on which to paint your own penguin. We talked about not always using all our senses (we don't want to lick rocks, Yuck!)

If you decide to wash off your rocks, give them time to dry. We just dry brushed off the dirt before starting.

While we painted we talked about P being for Penguin and Pinecone too! And I think these turned out great!

I ended our activity with a quick recap of our senses!

The possibilities are endless!

These little rock penguins were super fun! We did some role play after they dried. Paint some more and use them for counting, one-to-one correspondence practice, non-standard units of measure, Paint some pinecones and use them in combination with penguins for adding/subtracting, create a tic-tac-toe set

Water Painting with Kelly J Designs: A Week to Beat the Heat

Last day of A Week to Beat the the Heat and I have had so much fun!

If you missed the previous days, check them out:
Mae&K Ways to stay cool
homemade snowcones with the wholesome mama!
fresh fruit popsicles with Create 3.5!
Ice and Water fun with HattieLu Handmade

Today we have Kelly J over at Kelly J Designs doing some painting with water!

We are beating the heat by painting with water!  This was a favorite summer activity of mine when I was a kid and now I'm sharing it with my boys.  You just need some cheap paint brushes, a bucket of water, and cement.  Paint your cement canvas over and over again as your water "paint" dries in the hot sun and disappears.  Or paint some toys, the house, or even each other for a nice cool down!

Water and Ice Activity with HattieLu Handmade: A Week to Beat the Heat

Day 4 of A Week to Beat the Heat is here! This week has gone by so fast, my goodness! With so many neat ideas to keep you cool during the remainder of these warm hot summer days, it'll make the rest of the summer go by so fast!

If you missed the previous days, check them out:
Mae&K Ways to stay cool
homemade snowcones with the wholesome mama!
fresh fruit popsicles with Create 3.5!

Today we have Hattie over at HattieLu Handmade for her water and ice activity!

"My Boys love the outdoors! If they could have their wish we'd be outside from sun up to sun down. To keep the boys moving and shaking, I came up with an awesome use for water and ice. Get ready to get messy while having a blast!"

So much fun! I cannot wait to give that a try with my kiddos. Well, at least baby girl. I know she loves to get super messy! :)

Check it out! Have fun and stay cool!

Fresh Fruit Popsicles from Create 5.5: A Week to Beat the Heat

Have you been following along this week? It has been great fun!

If you missed the previous days, check them out:
Mae&K Ways to stay cool
Wholesome Momma Snowcones with Natural Flavorings

Today we have Meriel from Create 3.5 with some fun fruit popsicles!

We made ice pops! Homemade flavors are the best, customized to include family favorites. Today we have sweet tea with candied lemon, for a "sophisticated" ice pop that kids can enjoy as well as parents! The perfect way to beat the heat - and have a little fun, too!

Those sound so good. I think I will be putting some in my freezer! 

Have fun and stay cool! 

Snow Cones with The Wholesome Mama: A Week to Beat the Heat

Welcome to day 2 of the series A Week To Beat the Heat! 

Did you have fun yesterday trying out some of those activities by Mae&K? If not check out her fun ideas here! or day three with Create 3.5 here

Today we have Courtney from The Wholesome Mama!

Want a sweet treat to beat the heat? Head on over to find out an easy way to feed those taste buds and take a little edge off the heat this summer!
Homemade Snow Cones

Yummy! I cannot wait to try some of these!

Have fun and stay cool!

A Week to Beat the Heat: Kicking off with a Round Up from Mae&K!

It's the middle of summer. It's been hot. Here in the desert it has been in the 100's. Actually we got into the 110's for a few days! What a perfect time to have a tour of activities you can do with your little ones to help stay cool during these hottest months of the year! Plus, our kids out here start school in a week, so what a fun way to finish off summer!

Introducing: A Week to Beat the Heat

Kicking off is the awesome Maegan over at Mae&K with 5 ways to stay cool over the summer without a pool!

Some awesome ideas! I love seeing water play without a water table (we don't have one) and I totally haven't thought of just using buckets and bowls!

Check it out! and stay cool!

check out day two, homemade snowcones with the wholesome mama!
day three, fresh fruit popsicles with Create 3.5!

Time to Travel Blog Tour {Sewing With Boys' E-Book: Review}

I am super excited that I get to share with you this e-book by a group of fellow bloggers, Sewing With Boys, called Time To Travel!

The book is pretty awesome, and perfect for the upcoming summer vacationing season where a lot of us go out and travel! So many great things from suggestions of fellow mommies, activities to do with the kids, patterns to sew.  I love it!

Just Like Papa Briefcase

Perfect with the spot for coloring utensils, pockets for toys, spots for coloring/working pages. so fun! and great for in the go to a restaurant, plane or car ride! (all of which we will be doing this summer, score!)

fabrics used: 

I repurposed dad's jean denim, hand me down quilting cotton. The only thing I had to buy was the zippers! I'm super stoked about that! Airplanes seem appropriate for it's purpose

modifications:
I used a stabilizer for the main/outer fabric to make it a little more firmer and add some strength to worn out jeans! I used Craft Fuse 808, as I always have some of this on hand (or the 809, but that's the same thing anyway just wider).

embelishments:
re-used one of the back pockets on the front. It holds the wallet perfectly!

The pattern: 

no need to be intimidated! It really was fantastic to put together, and the directions take you step-by-step! You would be so proud once it is complete! a perfect carrying case for any boy (or girl, I may need to make one for baby girl now!)

You can either cut by pattern pieces or use provided measurements. In this case, of the repurposed pants, I used the pattern pieces. But with yardage, it would be so easy to cut by measurements!

Ready Set Go Wallet

Seriously, they must have been reading my mind of what my son needed, and a wallet all his own was exactly the thing! 

Fabric used: Recycled daddy jeans, left over yardage, same as the briefcase! perfect combo!

Modifications:

none!

Embelishments: none

It's so great to use for play! I didn't get any pictures, but he used it for it's intended purpose! We put his commission money from chores in it and went to the store to make a purchase! He was telling everyone his mom made his wallet. :D Proud momma right here!

The Pattern: A great and fast sew, easy to follow directions. I love the use of the bias tape, especially around the curved edge!

Printables

We used the airplane ticket, drivers license and money to play, pretend and prepare for our future plane ride we will be taking in June and our driving trip in July! I'm getting spoiled this summer. It will be almost 3 years since our last vacation and here we are getting 2! Yay! but honestly, it was so hard to take picture because, well, I had to be the airplane pilot. Little man, and "definitely not" baby girl were too young to drive an airplane apparently... LOL!

Mom the ticket taker... "all aboard!"

practicing getting on a plane is so much fun!

Carry on goes under the seat...

Getting ready to take off and watching mom bounce to the turbulence... he was just amused! Ha!

Pretend store for gas, food, and other things is a great life skill! Yay life skill! we practiced counting by 5's and 10's too.... So many uses!

I also printed the lacing cards. We have been using lacing cards when we do preschool and Little man is so proud of himself when he finished one! Coloring though is so labor intensive for him. So I colored them myself.

As soon as he saw the belt, little man has been requesting it as a "batman belt!" perhaps birthday? 

Best part? It gave me some other ideas too for our trips that I will be sharing with you later ;) Probaby would not have if it weren't for the articles and travel tips in the e-book!

And now? the e-book is on sale for the duration of the tour!
It is 30% off during the tour and already marked down.
Buy on our site: http://sewingwithboys.com/time-to-travel-ebook/Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/230096393/time-to-travel-ebook?ref=shop_home_active_1

We all love Giveaways!!!

"Grand prize: $50 gift certificate to FabricWorm and a copy of Time to Travel*
2nd: 1 yard of fabric from Mabel Madison and a copy of Time to Travel*
3rd: a copy of Time to Travel*
*If you buy the eBook and win the giveaway, we will either refund your money, or send the copy on to a friend of your choice.
But that's not all! If you buy the eBook during the tour, you'll be automatically entered to win a $30 gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop!"

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to check out these other awesome ladies and what they created from the e-book and the patterns that are included!

April 20: Rachel at Once Upon A Sewing Machine || Michelle at Falafel and the Bee
April 21: Becca at Free Notion || Heather at All Things Katy!
April 22: Chelsea at GYCT Designs || Ula at Lulu & Celeste
April 23: Stephanie at Swoodson Says || Sherri at Thread Riding Hood
April 24: Meriel at Create3.5 || Sara at Made by Sara
April 27: Melissa at Oh Sew Boy! || Stacey at Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy Crafts
April 28: Teri at Climbing the Willow || Ajaire at Call Ajaire
April 29: Jessica at The Berry Bunch || Dana at Sew Thrifty
April 30: Stacey at From-a-Box || Maegen at Mae & K
May 1: Kelly at Handmade Boy || Roxanne at Pen, Seb & Rox

and some more pictures... ( the bag and wallet have not left him these last few days!) I can't wait to do the treasure map printed on paper. Really, there is so much in the e-book, you really need to check it out! :)

 http://sewingwithboys.com/time-to-travel-ebook/Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/230096393/time-to-travel-ebook?ref=shop_home_active_1

Tiger Tail Tutorial: GYCT Design's Make Believe Week

Welcome to my stop on the Make Believe Week with GYCT Designs! 

Several months ago I had a friend send me a message asking for a tiger tail. Not anything super specific, but just to play around Daniel Tiger style, an luckily at my leisure without a deadline. Then GYCT Designs came out with this neat series, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to work out the snap on (or you can use velcro) Tiger Tail! And, I made a matching set of Tiger Ears to go with the tail! Check out the other awesome Amazing projects from today over at GYCT Designs!

Such a fun set! Little man likes it. Actually, he hasn't taken it off for 2 days.

The ears a just a strip of fabric covering a headband. Large enough to slide the headband in and out of the tube.

The tail was initially going to be the only thing I made. But it seemed to need the ears. It is made from felt, poly-fil and snaps. 

It's been a lot of fun for little man, running around the house and pretending to be a tiger!

I decided to make up a tutorial for the tail so you can make one for yourself!

Tiger Tail Tutorial

what you need:

Rotary cutter

2 sheets of felt (I just got the paper sized pieces from my local Joann's store) 1 orange 1 white

1-2 pipe cleaners

1 snap set

poly-fil

Cut strips off your length of your sheets of felt, 3 each color. In my case, because I had used an inche, I cut 2" by 10".

Sew the strips together, alternating in color. I used a 1/4" seam allowance here. Top stitch seam allowance down.

Cut the panel in half across the strips. In my case it was 5".

Sew the two panels together making sure to follow the alternating pattern. Top stitch seam allowance down.

Fold in half, mark seam allowance (3/8"), and using a curved piece (a camera lens cap worked perfectly), mark the end of the tail following from the seam allowance of one side to the fold on the other.  As you can see, I accidentally forgot the seam allowance. That is somewhat important. :)

Sew down the length of the tail, following your traced curved line and backstitching at the fold to secure. be sure you leave the top open!

Trim the excess corners at the end. 

Taking your pipe cleaners, fold in the ends so not to poke through, and zig-zag stitch them down on the seam allowance from the end of the curve to the last inch of the tail. Backstitch the ends of the pipe cleaners a couple times

turn the tail right-side out

Lightly stuff with poly-fill. Too much wont lend to the pliability of the pipe cleaners.

Stitch the opening closed 3/8" 

fold the seam allowance down and pinch the ends baste 1/2" down.

Time for the snap, or velcro, pieces: Cut 2 strips, 2" x 1.5". This image is the finished tab. 

Fold one end down by 1/2" and stitch in place,

fold in half long way and stitch down the edge. repeat for the other snap tab

place the non folded edge on the triangle lining up with the basting stitches.

Stitch in place. I stitched along the triangle to secure it down. 

Repeat with the other snap tab.

Apply snap according to manufacturers directions. Make sure that you have the snaps facing the correct way! I may or may not have had to re-apply the snap once, or twice...

And, voila! A Tiger Tail you can attach to a belt or belt loop!

Happy sewing, and make believing! :)