Fly a Kite

It has been so windy this week so on a whim, I decided to make kites with the kids this afternoon. I found a template online and drew something similar on construction paper for the kids (think Superman).

Next I let the twins cut out the shapes and decorate their kites. Since this was on a whim, I just grabbed whatever I had around the house so that meant we used Valentine's day ribbon for the tails, although crepe paper would be great too.

After we decorated and added our tail, I then folded the kite in half, then folded the flaps in too. You are just getting a good crease. Next I tied the corners with a string and then added our guide string (yarn would also work).

The kids LOVED making these and had a blast running around the yard with their kites. Of course today wasn't as windy as the past few days, but there was still enough to get those kites up.

A Visit from the Tooth Fairy

Okay - this is just about the greatest thing I have ever seen. I LOVE this and can't wait till the twins are at the age for this. We still have another year to go, but I'm printing my Michael's coupon and snagging one of these doors for this project now so I'll have everything ready to go when the time is right.

Free Form Art

So, last night while I was trying to make pizza dough, my trio came in from the beautiful outdoors and asked to do something with glue. Hmmm, my hands were sticky and I needed to knead the dough so I quickly pulled out some random art supplies and let the kids make collages. I don't plan too much with crafts, I'm more of a "go-with-it" mom, although I do try to plan out some seasonal crafts. They had a blast and you can teach so much with collages. You can do themes, colors, hard/soft, etc. This time around we did Free Art and I just put out some colored feathers, pipe cleaners, and tissue paper. Some of the pipe cleaners we twisted around our fingers to create little springs, giving our collages a 3D effect. J got really into the tissue paper and loved tearing it, A couldn't get enough of the glue, lol and L was just experimenting with the stickiness of the glue. The whole thing lasted maybe 20 minutes, but it was so worth it. My kids (and I think all kids really) love doing things with their hands so that 20 minute break to make collages did wonders for their moods. After it was done, they happily ran back outside and played till dinner. And we now have three original art pieces for Daddy to take to his office or we can save and turn into a birthday card for a friend.