K is for Kangaroo

For our K craft, we made a kangaroo. I found the template for it here. We kept it simple--colored the pieces, Mom cut them out, and them we both glued together.

Jellyfish

For our J craft project we made a jellyfish, sort of inspired by the ones here and here. We really just used what we had on hand. Emma needed some help with the assembly but she loved the finished product. It's been hanging out in her room ever since.

Igloo

For our I craft project, we made an igloo. The original inspiration for the project came from here, but we modified ours a bit. Okay, a lot. I was a bit lazy and didn't want to craft with sugar cubes, so we worked with paper. It turned out okay. I outlined our paper "bricks" in black after we were done so you could tell what it was, but if I were to do this again I think I would draw the outline *first* and then "build" the igloo inside it. Emma had fun with the glue, though.

H is for Hat

What could be better for an H craft than a new hat? I took the easy route and bought a foam visor from the craft store for $1. Then we stuck on a foam letter H, some stickers, sequins, and colored it a bit. Easy and quite fashionable--at least to a two-year-old.

Ghost

For our G craft, we made a cheesecloth ghost. It's a little early for Halloween, but we're ready!

Materials:
newspapers
balloons
drinking glass or vase
cheesecloth, cut into double-layer 14 inch squares
shallow bowl
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons glue (I used Elmer's)

1. Prepare your work surface with newspapers. Blow up the balloons (one per ghost) and set them in drinking glasses; this will let you mold the damp cheesecloth in a ghostly shape that you like.
2. Cut square of double-layer cheesecloth. In a shallow bowl, mix the glue and water. Dip the cheesecloth square in the mixture and squeeze out excess. Drape the cheesecloth on the balloon in a ghostly shape of a flying or standing ghost. Let it dry overnight on the glass.
3. When dry, add a face (we used googly eyes), then remove the balloon by popping it.

Our finished version:

F is for Flowers

Our craft project for F was flowers. I had a lot of ideas to make them fancy, but at the end of the day (or, more accurately, the beginning of the afternoon when I sat down to do this with Emma), I realized that easier was going to work better, so we simplified to using strips of paper.

The supplies:

Construction paper, glue, tape, scissors, pom-poms, and colored straws
We glued strips of paper together:

Added pom-poms for the centers and straws for the stems:

Voila! Paper flowers. Emma has been carrying them around for a few days now.

One hint: the pom-poms stay on better if you use special felt glue. (Elmer's doesn't do jack.) I found some at my craft store for about $2, so we added it to our supply closet.

Egg Decorating

For our E craft, I bought some foam eggs for Emma to decorate. It was her first time using markers, and she had an absolute ball. I only gave her 3 eggs to start, but she was having so much fun that I gave her the rest of the pack--it kept her busy for almost an hour! I now have 12 decorated foam eggs; I'm thinking of punching holes into the top and making a garland out of them. This was a fun, easy project and is easy to gear to any age. If Emma were older, I might have bought foam shapes for her to glue on, ribbon, glitter, etc. This was a great E project and is helping us look forward to Easter!

Dalmation Puppet

Admittedly, I was feeling lazy when it came to our craft project this week. So I was thrilled to find this at Wal-mart:

A Dalmation puppet kit, with pieces pre-cut and lined with adhesive, all for less than 4 bucks. Here's what the kit came with:

The kit said it was for ages 4 and up, but I thought it was perfect for toddlers. All Emma had to do was stick the pieces on the little bag. I'll admit I was a little OCD and corrected some of her placements for the vital pieces (ears, paws, etc), but the spots were all her.

We're already having fun with the finished product: woof, woof!

Cards

With Valentine's day this week, what better craft than to make cards? I simplified things by using premade cards, which Emma colored with crayons and decorated with stickers.

The front of a masterpiece:

I helped by writing a message inside:

This was a fun, quick project, and even though we didn't get them done in time for Valentine's day delivery, I'm sure they'll be appreciated!

Butterfly

Our art project this week was to make a butterfly. I had orignially thought to stick two hearts together as wings, but to emphasize the letter, I took a 12x12 piece of cardstock, folded it in half, and drew a big letter B, with the straight edge on the fold, like so:

Then I cut out along the B with scissors, careful not to cut through the fold. Then we whippped out the crayons, and Emma colored the wings:

To finish it, I punched a hole in the top, and put in a plastic twistie-tie (like from a loaf of bread) to make the antennae. I really would have preferred pipe cleaners, but I didn't have any. I guess I will have to stock up on toddler art supplies. The finished product:

Apple Prints

For our "Make" activity for A, I decided to try making some apple prints using paint and apples as stamps. (For a full set of instructions, see here). I had never painted with Emma before, and she was a little freaked out by the idea and didn't want to do it herself. (Part of the reason may have been that I stripped her down to her diaper to paint. I wasn't particularly in the mood to test just how "washable" the Crayola paints really are). However, she loved picking out the colors and sat at the table like a little general, telling me which color to stamp next. I will have to do art projects with her more often so she can become more comfortable--maybe watercolor paints next time? :) But it was fun, and will probably go over better if you have an older child.
Here's a photo of our masterpiece, as well as Emma being silly, which she is inclined to do lately whenever she sees the camera: