Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in albuquerque, NM

It's Not a Stick, It's A...

by Alison

April 13, 2009

Kids love to create, and their definition of artwork can be quite different from ours.  This means that chances are your child would be excited about an art project regardless of the materials used.  So, why not take advantage of that and scout out your home or your backyard for some craft supplies that would otherwise go unnoticed or just end up in the trash?

Flowers, grass, and leaves make some great collage materials.  I like to use clear contact paper to eliminate the need for glue (which is especially good for the littlest ones).  Then I also will cover the creation with contact paper as well.  Instead of just using  these materials for a collage, use them to spell your child's name - flowers are great for dotting 'i's! 

 

 

Head inside and you'll find even more great craft supplies. Cut pictures from old magazines. Look for specific colors, shapes, or letters and help your child create his own color, shape, or alphabet book. Popsicle sticks are lots of fun, too. Glue on some yarn for hair, draw on eyes (or use google eyes) and clothes to make people.  Glue four together to create a square-shaped picture frame. Challenge your child to make other shapes. Decorate old food containers (such as cool whip tubs or juice concentrate cans) and turn them into keepsake containers, pencil jars, or banks. Leftover bits of yarn, fabric, ribbon, or wrapping paper make great collage materials.

Create a stationary set for your child using the envelopes that come with junk mail (or your bills, if you pay them online and don't use them), paper that's been printed on one side already (cut them into fun shapes to make them seem interesting), and some return address labels. Use an old shoebox to make a mailbox.

Think outside of the box and you're sure to find lots of art materials around the house.  Before you throw it out, stop and think, what could my child create with this?

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5 Windy Day Activities

by Alison

March 31, 2009

Personally, I think spring is a bit overrated here in Albuquerque. Don't get me wrong, the weather is beautiful, but the wind - yikes! Too often I use the wind as an excuse to stay inside, but there are some activities that you just can't do any other day! Yesterday I wrote about kites, and here are some other windy weather activities for you to try with your kids:

1. Choose several objects of varying shape and size, such as rocks, paper, leaves, and maybe a small toy.  Take them outside and see if the wind will carry them away, and if so, how far they will go.  Allow your child to make guesses as to which objects will "fly" and how far they will go.

2. Use a pushpin, paper, and a pencil to create a pinwheel . To involve your child a bit more, have him or her decorate the paper before you cut it and attach it to the pencil.  Show your child how he can blow it to make it move, and then take it outside so she can see the wind make it move!

3. Use bubbles to teach your child about wind direction.  Have your child guess which directions the bubbles will go before you blow them.  Show him that regardless of where you stand and what direction you are facing, if the wind is blowing hard enough the bubbles will always go in the same direction.

4. For another lesson in wind direction, make a wind sock together.

5. Show your child that the wind can make music by making a wind chime. This one uses soda cans, silverware, CDs, nails and anything that would make noise when it clangs together.  Let your child choose materials and you could make several to see which one makes the best music or which one has the highest pitch.  Read more...

Let's Go Fly a Kite

by Alison

March 30, 2009

What better activity for a windy day than kite flying?  Simple kites are relatively inexpensive (buy several though, because they seem to break easily) or you can make your own using supplies you have around the house. These won't fly as high or as far, but I imagine your child will still love his kite that he made all by himself!  The simplest of all requires just paper, string and some crepe paper or ribbon.  Just cut the paper in a diamond shape to look like a kite (don't forget to cut some "sticks" out of the paper too to glue on one side) attach some string to the middle and the crepe paper to the bottom corner.  It will "fly" if your child runs around while holding on to the string. My son has made kites like this at preschool and he has a lot of fun with them.  The internet is full of directions for making your own simple kites. Some more involved than others.  Here are a few that I found:

• This bumble bee kite is made using just string and paper.
• Here's a paper kite that calls for a dowel or other piece of wood, so it's going to be a bit more sturdy than the others.
• A plastic grocery bag or garbage bag can be used to make a kite also.  Here's some directions that include a video as well.  I've never tried it, but I've seen grocery bags flying high in the air on windy days, so I imagine you could also just tie a piece of string to each bag handle and then join them together and perhaps make a pretty efficient kite.

The next time the wind is howling, no need to stay inside.  Just find an empty field (though your backyard will work well for these smaller ones) and fly a kite!  Come back tomorrow for more windy weather activities.  Read more...

Make Recycling Fun plus Giveaway Winner

by Alison

January 12, 2009

Last week my son and I watched an episode of Word World where Pig taught Duck all about recycling. Since all the objects in Word World are made from words, recycling there is fun and easy. They just add some new letters to the old word and suddenly a can turns into candy or a candle (which came in handy, since they were making a birthday cake for Frog). Ta-da! Something new from something  Read more...