Easy Pen Craft

For Christmas, we mailed these adorable pens to our out-of-town family and friends.  

I used to be a server, so I am cursed into being a pen toting, pen collecting, don't-throw-that-pen-away freak.  Naturally, I thought these were just the most perfect little useful gifts ever. 

They were also cheap to mail, inexpensive to buy, and quick to make.  Not to mention, they came out super adorable and personal.  Well, I loved them so much that I wanted one or four for myself.  So today we made more cute pens for me...and Daddy. 

They're color coded.  

The blue print is Skyland. 

The green print is Azariah. 

The yellow print is Noelle.  (Yes, even my seven month old joined in on this one!)

And I wanted my pens to be a bit more special than the ones I sent out, so the red print is me.

All you need is pens and paint. I got a pack of  ten white ballpoint pens from Dollar Tree, and they work perfectly for this project.
I'm sure you can tell how to do this just by looking at the pictures, but I'm going to briefly explain it anyway. 

One child at a time, I dipped a finger in a very small, way-less-than-a-pea-sized bit of paint, and let them touch all the pens.  (Being careful not to let the prints overlap too much! )

Then, I put the pens up to dry for a few hours, and that was it. 

Including set up and clean up, the activitity took less than 5 minutes.

I was pleased to have a small surprise for Jeffrey when he got home, and even happier to add some keepsake, sentimental pens to my collection. 

Besides, who doesn't need pens?! Especially when they've got the cutest prints on them.  

Wrapping Paper Silhouettes

I don't know if it's the same for yall, but Christmas means lots and lots and LOTS of wrapping paper. And wrapping paper, because I'm no pro, means plenty of scraps.
So I made a craft with my boys using my many scraps. 

I gave them a red and green sheet of construction paper and let them glue on all the scraps they wanted to. Finding Dory came on, so they didn't really try. But they enjoyed the five minutes they (somewhat) dedicated to the craft. I even got a blurry picture of them trying to show off their finished products.
After they were finished gluing, I outlined a Christmas shape on the back. You can do a star, sleigh, tree (I didn't do a tree because of our ToiletTree  that we still have up), gift boxes, snowflakes, a bell, Christmas hats, holly, snowmen, gingerbread men, a wreath, any silhouette you can think of!  Trace any silhoutte and cut it out. I tried to free hand my bell and star silhouette, and it was not my finest artistic moment.
Because I already had the trees on a toilet paper roll, and we've already made ornaments I didn't make an ornament or stand out of them (but you can!). I also thought about framing them and hanging them up, but didnt feel like finding a frame. Ultimately, I decided to decorate our fridge with them, our kitchen was lacking Christmas cheer anyhow. 

The wrapping paper silhouttes came out cute and they were so easy that I plan on making a few extras. But instead of Christmas silhouttes, I'm going to cut out into their little handprints and we're going to mail them off as bookmarks with our Christmas cards this year. 
Like the ToiletTrees, you don't have to use wrapping paper. You can use glitter, stickers, other construction paper, tissue paper, crayons, anything Christmas-y you have lying around. Flexible crafts are the best crafts!

Easy ToiletTrees

Horrible name, right? Well my husband thought of it and it was pretty Punny. So I stuck with it. 

Anyway, the week before Thanksgiving the boys and I did a "sit at the table" class, it was our first one in over a month. 

But I had a really cool idea for a craft that I wanted to try out. 

I love trees. Especially when they're bare. I think they're beautiful! Autumn is definitely the time of year to do some tree crafts.  (I know it's Christmas time but stick with me here- this was an in between craft!) 

We all loved doing this one because there were no directions required. 

I handed the boys construction paper. I used yellow and orange. But you can use red or green (since its close to Christmas)! In my mind, red makes the most sense; it would easily fit in with Autumn and Christmas decor. I handed the boys fall colored crayons: deep purple, red, brown, yellow, orange.  They colored the blank papers until their little hearts grew tired. 

I outlined a CHRISTMAS tree. Cut it out. And and glued it unto cardboard rolls.

Simple. Easy. And oh-so-cute. (And you can totally use markers or paint instead of crayons). The craft looks absolutely adorable beside their Autumn Wine Glasses. One tree fell down, and one of my monsters destroyed it before I got a picture of both of them.  But the one I still have is adorable enough to feature. 

During this activity I got the kids to count crayons, review colors, and talk about weather.  So you could even consider it educational art!

Autumn Wine Glasses

The last few days I haven't had much going on. Instead of wasting everyone's time with fillers, I just did not post. I'd rather say what I want to say than take the time to write something that I don't even find interesting. 

The last two or three weeks I've been slack. I will be the first to admit, I am easily distracted from my to-do list.  We went on vacation a couple of weeks ago, then we weren't feeling well, and I pretty much dropped the ball on my boy's schooling. We've verbally reviewed everything randomly, but they haven't sat down and done work in a while.  

Today we resumed class work, and the boys weren't too psyched. So I planned an awesome activity to kickstart their mood (and mine) before we did our overdue table work.

After breakfast, I collected fingerprints on wine glasses. I stuck with Autumn colors: red, yellow, orange.  

We then cleaned up,  headed outside & collected some Fall memorabilia.

I gave them both plastic bags & told them what to collect: leaves, acorns, tiny sticks.  While we tread the yard, I incorporated some education. I had them describe the weather  (which was perfect and  "Autumn" like) , review colors and count things.  And my sweet boys even gave me a few gifts of dirt and kisses.  And fought each other with sticks.

 

Once we came in, we sat at the table. I let them explain all their findings. We compared things and I even had them describe the textures.  After we finished discussing everything, they put their findings in their wine glasses, and I sat them on the mantle for everyone to see.

I guess I had the right idea;  we got through school seamlessly afterwards. They were focused and energetic (but not too energetic), and I couldn't be happier with how our afternoon began.  Not to mention our outdoor activity mixed "adventure" with science, English, and a little bit of math.

Originally I was going to use jars, but we didn't have any. I am glad, though, I think the wine glasses added a special touch that made this project look just perfect.

Chores for Preschoolers

Instead of an activity today. My boys and I cleaned.  I enlisted my little heroes (who were dressed the part in honor of a true hero, Jacob Hall), and had them help and save me from my never ending chores.  That became our fun activity of the day. 

I knew they'd be pretty decent helpers, considering they are always pulling the brooms and Swiffer out of the kitchen closet.  But I was not expecting them to enjoy themselves as much as they did.  And my chores were actually more fun with their giggles and little hands involved. Everything also took twice as long, but since they weren't making a mess, fighting, or being sneaky while I was cleaning it was totally worth taking the extra time. 

Cleaning time is officially mommy and kids time.  I did have to go behind them and help them some, but for the most part, they were a proud and independent little ninja turtle and batman.  While my boys aren't quite ready to save the city, they did an awesome job of saving mommy today! 

I put together a list of chores for tots, specifically 2-4-year-olds. My sons helped me do all of these today: 

1. Putting clothes in the dryer 

2. Taking clothes out the dryer 

3. Holding the dustpan 

4. Putting dishes in the dishwasher 

5. Wiping the tables and chairs 

6. Throwing things away. 

7. Cleaning up floor with a towel (with one of the floor towels they cleaned up the water they splashed on the bathroom floor at bathtime)

8. Picking up toys 

9. Dusting 

10. Wiping window sills 

11. Putting clothes up- one. at. a. time

12. Putting up shoes 

13. Wiping bottom cupboards 

14. Putting clothes in the washer 

15. Helping unload the dishwasher

Please note: I didn't use any of our cleaners. They used soapy or dry rags when they had to wipe something.