Wednesday June 3rd Poster Power/ Artsy Fartsy
You need:
Chart paper, Large paper
old magazines
crayons or markers
color sheet print outs?
glue
scissors


Toddler:
My friends daughter actually did this activity with (and for) the kids. She took all the old baby magazines we had in the house and cut out babies. They found tons and tons of babies! Then they glued the babies on a poster. We took it to Kinko's and laminated it. We hung it very low to the ground and they LOVE it! Other babies who come over are very attracted to this poster as well!

Preschooler:
Project #1
Is your preschool really "into" something?  What is their favorite animal? My son talked about whales non-stop after seeing them on a Reading Rainbow video. We got tons of books and other whale things. Then we found that the local library gets rid of their old magazines once a year. We got all the National Geographic Kids, what a score! We found numerous whale pictures to cut out and we typed up some fun facts about whales, and glued this all on our own poster. My son shows his poster to all guests! There are also coloring sheets for your childs favorite Tv shows or movie characters. Label your pictures with words and fun facts!

Project #2
We read Brown Bear Brown Bear all the time. Then I found a website (I will add the link if I can find it again) with print outs for all the animals. It took us a few days to color all the animals the right color and then we made another poster about our favorite book! Look up your childs favorite book and see if you can find coloring sheets for it.

Thursday June 4th / Snail Mail

Toddler or Preschooler:

You need:
Paper
Envelopes
Stamps

Write letters today!
Fold a piece of paper in half.
Decorate the front with any crafty materials you have.
Inside show your child how a letter is written.
Have them add pictures, letters, and/or words.
Ask the person in your letter to please write back and/ or call you when they receive the letter!

Language:
Ask you child what they want to say and write it as they tell you. Read it back to them.

Put the letter in the mail box together or go to the post office.
Try to explain to your preschooler how long it will take to get there.
Send out several letters and see how long it takes to get one back.
You might want to call whoever you are writing to and ask them to respond as soon as they get the letter!!

Toddler or Preschooler:
You need:
1 tablespoon unsweetened powered drink mix (or more)
1 tablespoon warm water
Muffin Tin or place for colors
Paintbrushes
Paper

Mix different flavors in different muffin tin compartments
Paint a Picture (like water color paints) on paper
Let it dry
Scratch and sniff your picture!

Send me an image of your picture and I will make a gallery on this idea!

Terrific Toddler / Artsy Fartsy / 10 Tips
Adapted from Karen Miller and "Things to Do With Your Toddler and Twos"

1. Toddler years are not the time to worry about final projects.

2. Let them enjoy the process and explore new materials to create with.

3. It is the time to focus on "What can this do?" and "How does this work?"

4. Consider all of your art projects a time to explore.

5.Introduce crayons, markers, paints, pencils, pens, highlighters, chalk.

6.Also introduce different ways of applying these materials like brushes, cotton swabs, feathers, sponges, tooth brush, paper towels, eye droppers, let your imagination go.

7.Watch and see how your child discovers pushing, pulling, dotting, the feel of things etc.

8.Can your child do it alone? Sit close but resist the need for perfection. Only assist when asked or intervene when necessary.
9. Allow them to do all of these art activities over and over again.

10. Make an area to display your childs art work!

Toddler or Preschooler
You need: Your make-up bag and a mirror

This is a sad but true story. I was getting ready to go out and brought out my make up bag. My son said, "Oh mommy, What are you going to be tonight??" This stems from the fact that my make-up is used more often for dress up / face painting time than me going out! (How sad )

You can make up their faces like clowns. Use eyeliner pencil to make triangles above and below their eyes, lipstick for a big clown smile, eyeshadow for circles on cheeks and nose.

Your kids will like to add pictures to their cheeks and hands such as: butterflies, hearts, truck, or ANYTHING

We also use eyeliner to make whiskers and freckles. Then they can really pretend to be a kitty or lion. The freckles started after they saw someone with freckles and wanted to know what they were.

You need: Dishsoap, white paper, large bowl, food color is optional.

Add bubbles to bowl and water. Make sure bubbles reach the top or higher of the container sides. Lay your paper on top of the bubbles and then lift up. You are left with a bubble print. Let this dry. You can draw a picture on top or leave your  bubble print. Display.

If you use food coloring you will have different colors. You can also use more than one bowl and create multiple colors on one page.

Warning! Totally unhealthy snack ahead, oh yeah and to top it off, we are encouraging them to play with their food! Yikes!

You need: Licorice string and fruit loop type cereal.

Show your child how to string the cereal onto the licorice. If you have long enough licorice strinf tie one end so the cereal does not fall off as they try to string it. The food can be a bracelet, necklace, or just eat it. You can work "hand over hand" with your toddler.

Tomorrow is May Day!  
Let's make some May Flowers.
You will need coffee filters, water colors or water and food coloring, paint brush OR an eye dropper.

Lay the coffee filter out flat. Use an eye dropper to drop small drops of color that will expand on the coffee filter and leave a nice design. You can also use a paint brush and just lightly tap the brush to the filter, you will get the same effect.  

Let the flower tops dry.

Glue the tops to the top of a piece of paper. You can add stems with crayons, markers, or cut stems from a piece of green construction paper.

Extend: Make your flowers into May Day cards and give them to others with a special greeting!

Thursday: Let's Get Messy!
Toddler and Preschooler
Let's finger paint. No worries about your toddler eating the paint...we can make edible finger paint! Pick a recipe from below. Use the "paint" on paper, paper plates, or directly on the tray of your highchair.

Recipe Ideas:
Flour and water
Pudding
Rediwhip
If you want different colors add food coloring.

You will need paper and crayons or pencils.

Toddler: Draw, show your toddler how to draw lines... "Big Ones" from top to bottom of the page, "little ones", curvy, circles etc. They will scribble and that is GREAT! Now write their name on the top and put it on the wall with blue tape or hang it on your refrigerator. Show any one who stops by and watch how proud your child is.

DISPLAYING ART-Blue tape is painter tape and a treasure with small children's art work. Hang it up and take it down with out ruining the wall. Another idea is to get a clothes line and hang that in the playroom, bassement, or on a bedroom wall. Use clothes pins to hang art work and easily take down and add to the line.

Preschooler: Ask your child to tell you about something they are interested in...dinosaurs, cars, babies, grandma, or family pet. Using only the bottom half of the paper, write down the "story" they tell you. You can do minor adjustments but try to stick to their version as close as possible.  Then give them the paper to draw a picture on the top. Remember to hang it up and tell them they are an author!

Ask questions to help guide them. 
"What color was it?"
"What happened next?"
"How did they feel?"
"What did it look like?"