10 Ways to Craft a Paper Egg!

If you're just joining us, we're in the middle of a crafty Easter Egg Extravaganza! Check out the 6 eggs we've created HERE, and stay tuned this week for the next 4!

Cotton-Ball Egg

Paper Egg Craft #6

My boys had fun making this egg. Pulling the cotton was good fine-motor practice, and best of all: it turned out to be softer than LL's sweet baby buns!

Supplies:

• 1 Egg cut out of white cardstock
• Cotton balls
• Pom-poms
• Glue

Here's what you do:

1. Pull on the cotton-balls softly so they come apart and you end up with a lot of cotton fluff.
2. Put a bunch of glue on the egg.
3. Place the cotton-fluff on the glue.
4. Put dots of glue on the cotton and put the pom-poms on top!

Check out the other Paper Egg Crafts we've done so far:

Click HERE.

And stay-tuned for MORE to come! :)

TP Roll Flower Egg

Paper Egg Craft #5

To me, nothing brings a stronger sense of panic than getting to the end of the Toilet Paper roll and realizing I forgot to re-stock the stash under the sink. But that same little, empty, cardboard-roll that inflicted so much anxiety & fear can also be the source of tons of fun and joy, as evidenced in this cute and simple craft.

Supplies:

• 1 Egg cut out of white cardstock
• Paint
• Toilet paper roll, or paper towel roll.

Here's what you do:

1. Cut slits into the end of a TP-roll and bend the edges back so it looks like a flower (shown below).
2. Pour paint out on paper plates--whatever colors you'd like.
3. Dip the TP-roll flower into the paint and stamp it onto the egg! 

**And even if it's not for Easter, you can also use this same technique to make a fun flower painting any day of the year!

Check out the other Paper Egg Crafts we've done so far:

Click HERE.

Paper Weave Egg

Paper Egg Craft #4

Supplies:

• 1 Egg cut out of white cardstock
• 2 pieces of Colorful paper (scrapbook paper, construction paper; we used wallpaper)
• Tape

Here's what you do:

1. Cut out 5-6 strips of each piece of the 2 colorful papers.
2. Lay one of the colors of strips facedown on a table, horizontally. Place the egg on top. Then one of the ends of each paper around the egg and tape down. 
3. Repeat with the 2nd bunch of strips, only going vertically. After you tape them down, it will look like picture #1 below from the back, and picture #2 from the front.
4. Start weaving. (Like in the pictures below, alternate the strips) 

When I did this with the boys (5 & 2), I had them take turns placing one of the strips down as I held them up in between.

Check out the other Paper Egg Crafts we've done so far:

Click HERE.

And stay-tuned for MORE to come! :)

Yarn-Lacing Egg

Paper Egg Craft #3

Supplies:

• 1 Egg cut out of white cardstock
• Hand-held hole-puncher
• Yarn

Here's what you do:

1. Punch holes into the paper egg. 
2. Cut a few long pieces of yarn.
3. Put one end of the yarn through one of the holes and tape it down to the back of the egg so it stays in place. 
4. Start lacing the yarn through the holes. When you get to the end of your piece of yarn, simply tie another piece to it until you lace through all the holes!

Check out the other Paper Egg Crafts we've done so far:

Click HERE.

And stay-tuned for MORE to come! :)

Backyard Flower Egg

Paper Egg Craft #2

Supplies:

• 1 Egg cut out of white cardstock
• Dandelions and other flowers found in your yard or nearby parks
• Glue or tape

Here's what you do:

1. Go out and find small flowers to pick (Note: make sure your kids don't pick from your neighbors' gardens! yikes!)
2. Trim off the stems.
3. Tape or glue them to your white egg. We placed them around the outside of the egg, but you can put them all over, or in rows, or anything your heart desires!

Check out ALL the other Paper Egg Crafts:

Click HERE.

Paper Roll Egg

Paper Egg Craft #1

Supplies:

• 1 Egg cut out of white cardstock
• Strips of construction paper (any colors)
• Pipe-cleaner
• Glue

Here's what you do:

1. Roll the strips of construction paper a pipe-cleaner. (The tighter you wind it, the smaller the curl will be.) We even rolled up to 6 at a time.
2. Put glue all over the white egg.
3. Place the paper rolls on the glue. Place rolls all around the edges first, then squish the rest on the inside depending on how big your rolls are. :)

Check out all the other Paper Egg Crafts we've done: Click HERE.

10 Paper Egg Crafts!

Do you lay awake at night tossing and turning, trying to come up with ideas for Easter crafts that will be fun for kids and be easier than making pop-tarts?

If you answer "no" to this question then, Congratulations!!

You are normal.

As for me, my abnormal self, and I, the answer is "yes." (Which, ironically, led to my family and I consuming pop-tarts for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner the following day due to my exhaustion). 

And so I bring you not one, nor 9, nor anywhere in between....but 10 easy and fun paper egg crafts you can make with your kids! Straight from my weary mind to yours.

Over the next couple weeks, I will be posting all 10 ideas, so come on back y'all and check 'em out!

You may find 1 or 2 of these you like and want to try with your kids. 

Or you could even do all 10, (maybe as a countdown!) crafting one egg each day until Easter! 

(Easter is April 8, so you would want to start the countdown March 29th or 30th, depending on what day you want it to end. Or choose 7-8 eggs and start April 1st.)

The first thing I did, was use a piece of 8.5x11" white paper to cut the egg template. I just folded it in half and tried to cut an egg shape as best I could.....(like an oval, but bigger on the bottom, smaller at the top.)

Then I traced it onto 10 pieces of white cardstock and cut them out. Now we're ready to go!

Let the Egg-crafting begin!

(Well, starting tomorrow, that is. I need some sleep.)

Easter Crafts & Activities

Click HERE to see our Easter crafts & activities!

(We're doing more so check back again!)

Easter Pack Giveaway WINNER!!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered the Easter Activity Pack Giveaway! Counting everyone's entries, we had a total of 182! 

I just ran the numbers through random.org
and the winner is........


Megan G!

Megan G said...

I follow you on Pinterest.

March 21, 2012 4:41 PM

Congratulations Megan!! 

Please email me your address, and the Easter Pack will be swiftly on its way to you!

littlefamilyfun@gmail.com

Thank you again for everyone entering!

Easter Egg Memory

Play Memory by putting things inside Easter Eggs!
More info HERE.

Energetic Easter Game!

Here is a fun way to get the wiggles out of your little bunnies!

This activity includes:

• 1 felt basket
• appx. 24 paper strips with pictures of the following: bunny, egg, flower, chick.
• 1 activity key (cardstock with directions on each paper) Here's what the key says:
• Bunny - Hop like a bunny
• Egg - Roll like an Egg: Do a somersault
• Flower - Pretend to pick a flower and smell it
• Chick - Tweet & flap your arms like a bird

Here's how you play:

• Fold up all the paper strips and place them in the basket.
• Take turns choosing a paper out of the basket. Look at the activity key to see what movement it says to make.
• Play until all the papers are chosen and everyone is wiggled out!

Easter Number Hunt

This is a fun activity to practice numbers, and can be played with one child or many.

It includes:

• 10 Bunny-shaped sticky notes with numbers 1-10 on each.
• 10 Egg-shaped sticky notes with numbers 1-10 on each.
• Cardstock number chart with 2 rows of boxes with numbers 1-10 in each row.

Here's what you do:

• Place the sticky notes throughout your house, or just in one room, and the number chart in a central location.
• Say "Go!", and let the child run around to find the sticky notes. Once they find one have them run it back to the number chart and match it up with the right number.
• Play until all numbers are found and matched-up correctly.

Here are a few other variations:

1. Go in order. Have the child find the number 1 Bunny and the number 1 Egg first and bring them back to the number chart. Then go look for the 2's and so on.
2. Hop like a bunny. Have the child hop like a bunny as they hop back to the number chart with their sticky note. :)
3. Play in teams: the Bunny team, and the Egg team. Have a race to see who can find their sticky notes and match them up first! They have to first match up the number before they can go find the next one.
4. Sit & Match. Instead of running all over the house, just stick the notes to one a table or wall and have the child get one and match it to the chart.

(*Note: You don't even need Easter-shaped sticky notes for this! Just use plain post-it notes and have the same amount of fun!)

Easter Egg Garland

This Easter Egg Garland is a fun craft for 1 child or 2-4 children or a family.

Included is:

• 4 foam eggs each with 2 holes on top
• 1 long ribbon 
• 13-14 ribbon pieces

What you will need:

• Glue

Here's how to make it:

1. Glue 3-4 ribbon pieces on each egg and let dry.
2. Thread the long ribbon in on hole and out the other of each egg.
3. Hang up by tying the ends of the ribbon around something in your home.

Simple & sweet, just how I like it! :)

Easter Egg Match-up

The cards are made with scrapbook paper & cardstock and will be "laminated" using contact paper.

This is a fun activity for children to play independently, or as a game with others.

Here a few fun ideas of how you could use these cards:

1. Leave the cards face-up and have the child match the top and bottom portions of each egg together.
2. Place together tops & bottoms that don't match. Have the child rearrange the eggs so they match.
3. Turn the cards face down and play Memory by taking turns flipping over 2 cards at a time to see if you get a match.
4. Place the cards with the bottoms of the eggs on the floor in one room and the tops in another room. Have the child choose a bottom egg then run into the other room to find the matching top!
5. Write 5 sight words on pieces of paper. Cover them up with a matching top & bottom egg. Have the child "break" the egg open by removing both top & bottom from the paper to read what the hidden word is inside!

Easter Activity Pack GIVEAWAY!!

**This Giveaway is now Closed. Thanks to all who entered! 

Winner announced HERE.**

I think the biggest obstacle to doing fun crafts & activities with kids 

is the prep-work. 

Which is why I want to give away a NO-prep, already-made Easter Pack I created!!---Including 5 different activities that are all ready to go!

Now that's what I'm talkin' about. :)

"So, what are these wonderous activities?" you may ask.
click HERE to see!

The giveaway will be open all this week and each day I will post about 1 of the 5 activities included in the pack so you can see the oodles-o-fun that await.

Here's how it goes:

You enter the drawing by leaving comments below THIS post. 

• Enter the drawing by doing any or ALL of the following:
1. PIN up to 10 of your favorite posts from my blog. (you will need a Pinterest account for this one.) Look around and find some things you like, PIN them, and leave a comment below THIS post telling me how many things you pinned! You will be entered that many times (up to 10). You can check out my sidebars to find some of our favorite activities, or click on a topic you want to see. :)
2. Be a Follower -- Enter by leaving a comment below THIS post telling me you are a follower.
3. Like us on Facebook -- Enter by leaving a comment below THIS post telling me you "Like" us.
4. Follow me on Pinterest -- Enter by leaving a comment below THIS post telling me you follow me on Pinterest.
5. Subscribe -- Enter by leaving a comment below THIS post telling me you've subscribed. (to subscribe, enter your email address over on the right sidebar.)

If you do ALL of these you can have 14 chances to win!!! Woah mama.

The giveaway will close SATURDAY, March 24th @ 8:00pm (central time) and the winner will be chosen using random.org. 

The WINNER will have 48 hours to respond. If no response, a new winner will be chosen.

Good Luck!

General Conference Activities

"General conference is a semiannual gathering of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. During general conference weekend, Church members and others who are interested gather worldwide in a series of two-hour sessions to receive inspiration and instruction from Church leaders."

from: lds.org

General Conference is coming up (March 31-April 1) and I am very excited! 

It can be difficult for little ones to sit still for so long. Here are some ideas that can help:

General Conference Train!

(For details, click HERE!)

And:

General Conference Activity Bags!

(For details, click HERE!)

Shamrock Man

Here's a fun and simple St. Patrick's Day craft you can whip up faster than a Leprechaun can count his doubloons!

What you need:

• Green and White construction paper
• Scissors
• Glue or Tape
• Marker

Here's what you do!:

1. Using the green paper, draw and cut out a shamrock shape. (I had an shamrock shape that I traced, but you could just draw one. It's kind of like drawing a heart shape for each leaf.)
2. Cut out strips of the white paper: 2 long, and 2 short.
3. Cut out 4 circles from the green paper.
4. Have the child fold the strips of paper accordion style. 
5. Glue or tape them onto the shamrock.
6. Glue or tape the green circles onto the ends of the strips for hands & feet.
7. Draw a face.

I made the one shown above. I took this craft to a fun little St. Patrick's Day party my friend threw for our wee little ones. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

St. Patrick's Day: Bean Bag Toss

My awesome friend is throwing a St. Patrick's Day party for our wee little ones today and I'm helping out with a game.

This one should be fun, easy, and get plenty of wiggles out of our little Leprechauns!

I found one of those Toss-Across Tic-Tac-Toe games at my local thrift store for a buck 50 a couple months ago. I remember I used to love this game as a kid! You toss a bean bag and the squares flip when you hit them and you try to get 3 X's or 3 O's in a row to win.

Our game is similar, but with a simpler & more energetic twist for our kiddies.

First, I used markers to draw shapes conducive to St. Patty's Day on card stock: Shamrocks & Rainbows. I wrote numbers 1-9 on each set and then used double-stick tape to put them on the game squares, covering up the X's and O's.

Each child will get a chance to toss a bean bag and see what comes up.

If a SHAMROCK is turned over, then all the kids will touch their toes--like they're picking a clover.

If a RAINBOW is turned over, then all the kids will put their hands up and jump--like they're reaching for a rainbow!

And the NUMBER tells them how many times they do each one.

If you want to do something similar but don't own a Toss-across game, you could draw the same cards as shown above and just put them in a hat or bowl. Have the kids sit in a circle and take turns picking a card!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Shape Pizzas!

Here's an easy way to make mini pizzas into different shapes for a fun dinner!

Step 1: Make (or buy) your pizza dough.

Step 2: Lay out the dough on a cutting board.

Step 3: Use a pizza cutter (or knife) to quickly trim your dough into whatever shape you desire! (We made a square, triangle, star & hexagon.)

Step 4: Put on sauce, cheese & toppings.

Step 5: Bake

Step 6: EAT!

This was really fun and the boys loved eating their own little shapes! And so did I, actually.

Then again, I love to eat food of any shape and size! :)

Photo Treasure Hunt

I love Treasure Hunts!
A couple years ago, I made this PHOTO Treasure Hunt since my boys couldn't read.

And it's so easy!!

Here's what you do:

1. Go around your house and take pictures of things or places where you will place the clues.
2. Copy & Paste them into a document that you can print, in black & white or in color, and however big or small you'd like (I think I fit 4 on a page). OR you can just print them out as photos.
3. Glue each picture onto a piece of cardstock. 
4. Then hide the clues. Each clue will lead to the next clue, and so on. The final clue will lead to where you hid the treasure!

I'm going to use these again this St. Patrick's Day leading to a special treasure of green candy and green toy cars.

Happy Hunting!

Book & Craft

Click HERE to see which books we've read and the craft that went along with it!

(We'll be adding more soon so check back for more ideas!)

Attitude

I don't know about you, but there are just some moments of motherhood that bring out the grumpy in me. And in these moments (or days, or weeks, or months) I want to crawl into the nearest garbage can where no one can bother me. I often grow green hair, an unsightly uni-brow, and go by the name: 'Mama the Grouch.'

I don't like those moments (days, weeks, months). Honestly, I hate being a grouch.
So, what's a poor weary mama to do?

I recently read an awesome article by President Thomas S. Monson called "Living the Abundant Life." In it he quoted 

William James, a psychologist and philosopher: 

"The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives."

President Monson goes on to say:

"We can't direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails."

I can't change all that's unpleasant about being a mother to small children. There are just always going to be messes, whines, spills, tantrums, etc., etc., etc.!!! I can't change that. But I can change my perspective & reaction to these things. I can change my attitude to one that is more positive and encouraging.
Because while there are always going to be unpleasant things in our lives, I suppose they are only as unpleasant as we choose them to be.
:)

St. Patrick's Day

Click HERE to see our St. Patrick's Day crafts & activities!