Fish Paper Plate Craft

This morning I took Kylie to the pet store to buy a fish. She picked out a blue Beta fish, a small fish bowl, and blue and green stones and shells for decoration!

We still need to name him... any suggestions?

Since we have fish on the brain, I thought we would do some fish crafts and read fish books today. Maybe Kylie would like fish sticks for dinner? Or maybe that's a bad idea! After we brought the fish home, Kylie asked me to eat. I asked her what she wanted for lunch and she said she wanted to eat her fish... errrr.... :/

I found this Paper Plate Fish Craft on the DLTK website.

MATERIALS

• White paper plate
• crayons/markers
• glue

ACTIVITY

1. Cut a small triangle out of the side of the plate. This will be the mouth of the fish. The triangle the fin.
2. Color the fish and fin.
3. Glue the fin to the back of the fish.

Reading Connection - Rainbow Fish

Shapes

Idea from 365 Days of Baby Love, by Sheila Ellison and Susan Ferdinandi.

MATERIALS

• Flat sponges
• Washable liquid paint
• Paper
• 3 flat pans or plates to put paint in

ACTIVITY

• Cut sponge into geometric shape(s) of different sizes.
• Pour paints into three flat containers and put a sponge in each.
• Help baby dip sponge in paint and press it to the paper to make any design you want.

Optional additional activity

• Once paint is dry, cut the sheet of paper into the shapes you used.
• Take a walk while holding up the shaped piece and find other things that are the same shape.
  

How I Feel

Idea from 365 Days of Baby Love, by Sheila Ellison and Susan Ferdinandi.

MATERIALS

• Large sheet of paper (butcher) long enough to fit the child's body outline
• Crayons or markers

ACTIVITY

• Have child lie on the sheet of paper and outline their body.
• Have each sibling talk about how they feel about the new baby, how baby has changed their lives for better or worse, what they like and dislike about the baby, and anything else you can think of.
• Write these things inside the outline of the baby. Be sure you let them know you understand all their feelings!
• Then ask the siblings how they think baby feels about them and write this inside their outline. It is important that everybody in the family believes their feelings matter. Talking about changes helps everyone.

other optional activity

• have child color in their own body outline after writing down their own feelings inside of it.
  

Watercolors

Idea from 365 Days of Baby Love, by Sheila Ellison and Susan Ferdinandi.

MATERIALS

• Watercolor paint, the kind in plastic case
• paper
• paintbrush
• crayons

ACTIVITY

• Get a dish full of water and show baby how to dip the brush into the water and then the paint.
• Let baby enjoy and create!
• You can also do a crayon drawing first, then paint over the top. The crayon still shows through.

This was a birthday card for my dad :)

Scribble Art

MATERIALS

• Large paper
• non-toxic markers and crayons

ACTIVITY

• Let child go to town scribbling and coloring as she pleases!
• Join in if child wants you to.
• Put artwork on display to give child a sense of pride and accomplishment and show them that their work is important.
  

Box Art

Idea from 365 Days of Baby Love, by Sheila Ellison and Susan Ferdinandi.

MATERIALS

• Any size box
• Liquid tempura paint
• Paintbrush or small sponge paint roller
• Newspapers or drop cloth

ACTIVITY

• Put drop cloth or newspaper on the floor to make clean-up easier. Make sure to dress accordingly!
  
• Put paint in sturdy plastic container or tray and paintbrush nearby.
• See what baby does with the brush before you put it in the paint.
• Help child (if you want or need to) paint the box.

Great for imagination! Box can become a mailbox, a cave, house, castle, boat, hat, whatever child wants it to be.

Collage Story

Idea from 365 Days of Baby Love, by Sheila Ellison and Susan Ferdinandi.

MATERIALS

• old magazine
• scissors
• glue
• paper

ACTIVITY

• Look through magazines together. If baby points to a picture or seems interested, cut it out.
• Glue the pictures onto paper (either one large sheets or make your own book)
• Once all the pictures are glued on, make up a story about them.
  
• Since child picked the pictures, she will feel a great sense of involvement and pride in her homemade story!
  

Bongo Drums

Idea from 365 Days of Baby Love, by Sheila Ellison and Susan Ferdinandi.

MATERIALS

• 3 different size oatmeal cylinders
• masking tape

ACTIVITY

• Tape the cylinders together to make a set of drums.
• Briefly demonstrate how to beat each drum with your fingers, palms, knuckles, and heels of the hand.
• Put on some music and tap to the beat!

** Can be made into an art activity: Cut construction paper to fit each individual drum (cylinder). Color and tape or glue onto drums.

Rhythm Sticks

Original idea from 365 Days of Baby Love, by Sheila Ellison and Susan Ferdinandi.

MATERIALS

• Rhythm sticks: can use anything you'd like.. toy drum sticks, sanded wood, wooden spoons, etc..

ACTIVITY

• Hum a melody while you tap the sticks together lightly
• Let baby hold one in each hand as you hold one in each hand. Do a made up patty cake type tapping
• Put on music and tap a pillow or the floor together.
• Play freeze-tap (like freeze-dance but with tapping!)

** You can also turn this into an art project by making and decorating you own rhythm sticks.
Using non-toxic paint, paint sanded down wood doweling. You could also paint or color paper towel rolls (first stuff them with tissue or paper and tape the ends shut).

Noise Maker (rain maker) - Fourth of July Craft

This idea was found on the Toddler Crafts blog: http://www.toddlercraft.net/toddler-craft/fourth-july-craft-noise-maker/

MATERIALS

• Paper towel Holder
• Saran Wrap
• Tape
• Rice/pasta
• Glue Stick
• Red/White or Blue Construction paper
• Red/white/Blue Paint
• Star Sponge (you can cut this out of a regular sponge if you don’t have one)

ACTIVITY

1. Stamp Blue and White stars on Red construction paper
2. Let it Dry
3. On bottom of papertowel roll hold saran wrap and tape around it to make a bottom to the Paper towel holder
4. Fill Paper Towel 1/4 way with rice/pasta
5. Put Saran Wrap on top, tape around to seal
6. Take Dried Star Print Construction paper, and tape end of it to Paper towel roll
7. Cut off Extra that goes above Paper Towel Roll
8. Glue Print construction paper to paper towel roll

Enjoy your fun music maker and noise maker for the Fourth of July!

* You can do this activity anytime, just decorate differently and enjoy :)