Leaf Tree Craft


You can either "make like a tree and leaf", or make a leaf-like tree. 
I prefer the latter. :)

Supplies:
  • White paper
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • Brown paper sack
  • Leaves

Here's what you do:
  • Go outside with a brown paper sack and pick leaves off of a tree.
  • Come inside and draw a tree shape on a piece of paper. (You can cut out a brown tree trunk or just draw one)
  • Put glue all over the tree and put the leaves on.




Rock Color Matching


My energetic boys sat still & quiet for a good solid half hour just coloring rocks. Might need to make this part of our daily routine! :)

Supplies:
  • Rocks
  • Markers
  • Construction paper

Here's what you do:
  • Go outside with a bucket or bag and collect some rocks.
  • Come inside and color them!
  • After you're done coloring, sort them into cups, bowls, bags by color---marking each one with a small piece of colored paper.


Grass Picture Frame


There are so many fun things to do in & with grass. This easy craft combines them both!


Supplies:
  • Cardstock
  • Marker
  • Glue
  • Brown paper sack
  • Grass
  • Scissors

Here's what you do:
  • Draw a rectangle on a piece of cardstock. Inside the rectangle, have your little ones draw themselves doing their favorite activity outside LM(5) drew himself playing baseball.
  • Go outside with a brown paper sack and pick some grass.
  • Come back inside and put glue on the outside of the rectangle. Place the grass all over the glue.
  • If the grass gets a little unruly, you can use a pair of scissors to trim the grass frame a bit. :)



Leaf Matching Game


This is gotta be one of the easiest matching games known to man. The supplies are right out your back door!


Supplies:
  • 2 Brown paper sacks
  • Leaves


Here's what you do:
  • Go out your back door, or around your neighborhood, or a park and pick 2 leaves off each different tree you see. 
  • Put one of them in one sack, and one in the other.
  • Go back inside and dump out one of the sacks on the floor or the table.
  • Hold the other sack and pull out one leaf at a time--then find the leaf on the floor/table that matches it! Then set them both aside.
  • Do this until all the leaves are matched.




Nature Names Craft


This is one of our favorite nature activities! We actually first made these a couple years ago when we went camping with our cousins. All 10 of us each created our own, and it was so much fun to see how unique they all were!

Supplies:
  • Cardstock
  • Glue
  • Nature items


Here's what you do:
  • Hand each person a brown paper lunch-sack.
  • Go out in nature (your backyard, a park, campground, the beach, anywhere!) and find things that you can use to create the letters of your name:
    • sticks
    • rocks
    • leaves
    • grass
    • pine-needles
    • flowers
    • berries
    • plants
    • shells
    • clovers
    • bark
    • dirt
    • sand
    • etc.....
  • On a piece of cardstock, write your name (or have them all prewritten).
  • Use glue to get your nature items to stick to each letter to spell your name!

**You can ALSO make cards using the same method! Below is a picture of some sweet cards my boys made for Mother's Day when they were camping with Daddy!


5 ABC Games using Paper Circles


 Here are 5 easy ABC Games you can play with your kids.

First, you'll need to make a set of ABC circles:
  • Trace circles on construction paper using a small cup (mine are about 2 1/2" big)
  • Cut them out
  • Write all the Letters on the circles. (I made a set of Upper-case Letters, and a set of Lower-case Letters.)
Once you've made the letters, you can then use them in 5 different Games!


Click on a picture below to get details on that game. 
Or click HERE to see all these games!






Alphabet Ice Cream Game



Eating ice cream is good. But learning letters with ice cream is even better!



First, you'll need to make a set of ABC circles:
  • Trace circles on construction paper using a small cup (mine are about 2 1/2" big)
  • Cut them out
  • Write all the Letters on the circles. (I made a set of Upper-case Letters, and a set of Lower-case Letters.)


Second, make a set of ABC cones:
  • Using brown paper, cut out 26 cone shapes.
  • On one side of the cones write the alphabet in upper-case letters. On the other side write the lower-case letters.


Third, you PLAY!
  • Lay out all the letter circles on the floor or table.
  • Lay out all the cones, OR one cone at a time and have the kids make "ice cream cones" by matching up the letters.
  • They can match upper-case to upper-case, or lower-case to lower case:



  • OR you can have them match lower-case to upper-case:




So many fun possibilities!



Click the picture below to see more fun ways to use these paper Alphabet circles!




ABC Caterpillar Game



Have you ever seen the world's longest caterpillar? This just might be it! Use all the letters in the alphabet to create a little caterpillar friend!


First, you'll need to make a set of ABC circles:
  • Trace circles on construction paper using a small cup (mine are about 2 1/2" big)
  • Cut them out
  • Write all the Letters on the circles. (I made a set of Upper-case Letters, and a set of Lower-case Letters.)




  • Cut out a couple extra circles to draw smiley faces on.
Second, you PLAY!


  • Lay all the letters out on the floor or table.
  • Place a smiley face on the floor and add all the letters in order.




Click the picture below to see more fun ways to use these paper Alphabet circles!



Spelling Balloon Game




This simple and fun game has recently become one of LM's (5) favorite quiet-time activities! 

First, you'll need to make a set of ABC circles:
  • Trace circles on construction paper using a small cup (mine are about 2 1/2" big)
  • Cut them out
  • Write all the Letters on the circles. (I made a set of Upper-case Letters, and a set of Lower-case Letters.)

Second, make the Balloons & Words:
  • Trace 3 circles on a piece of paper
  • Draw the ends of the balloon on each and a ribbon.
  • Cut out strips of paper and write as many 3 letter words as you want (I made about 25).




Third, you PLAY!

  • Turn the word strips over and have the child pick one at a time and place it above the balloons.
  • Have them sound it out, so they know what the word is and then find the letters they need to spell it.



  • Instead of using word strips, you could just SAY the word, and have them find the letters to spell it.
  • You could also use lower-case letters:




Click the picture below to see more fun ways to use these paper Alphabet circles!



Alphabet Car Game

You can make super easy and fun educational games (that also help kids LEARN) with nothing more than paper, scissors, glue & a marker. Here's one the boys (5 & 2) really loved!


First, you'll need to make a set of ABC circles:
  • Trace circles on construction paper using a small cup (mine are about 2 1/2" big) Check out our recommended craft supplies for a great price!
  • Cut them out
  • Write all the Letters on the circles. (I made a set of Upper-case Letters, and a set of Lower-case Letters.)

Second, you'll need to create a CAR:
  • Cut a simple car shape out of construction paper and glue it onto another piece of paper.
  • Add whatever other elements to the scene you want: road, sun, cloud, etc.
  • With a marker, draw the circles where the tires should be. This is where the kids will place the letter circles!


Third, you PLAY!

  • Set out all the letters on the floor or tables.
  • Say a letter and have the kids find it in upper-case and lower-case and place them on the car for wheels! (like in the picture up on top) When we played, I had LB(2) look for the upper-case letters and LM(5) look for the lower-case letters.
  • You could also say 2 different letters and have them find 2 at a time....
....in upper-case:


....or lower-case:


Click the picture below to see more fun ways to use these paper Alphabet circles!


And I love finding high quality educational tools. 
Check out these super cute ideas for more alphabet learning!



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