Simple Art Activity : Paper Monster/Alien

When you need a quick activity with your child and you do not have time for much preparation work.. This activity is really simple and easy! Minimal materials needed and minimal items to prepare too. :D

Materials :

• Coloured Paper (I am using origami paper from Daiso 24 colours/180 sheets)
• Glue
• Pom pom balls (optional)

Steps for Preparation and Activity :

1. Leave 2 pieces of the coloured paper as "base/body" and cut up the remaining coloured paper into different shapes and sizes.

2. After telling my little one that we are going to make monsters for activity, I got her to choose some poms poms for eyes. If you don't have poms poms you can use hold puncher to punch some holes on coloured paper to be used as eyes, or you can draw dots on paper to be used as eyes.

3. Starting with the eyes, slowly glue on features of the monster/alien.

As you do this activity together with your kid you will notice many things about him/her.

• He/She may get ideas from what you are doing, sometimes attempting to do exactly the same thing. 
• Sometimes he/she may get animated and starts telling you stories about the monster.
• Sometimes he/she may have certain ideas about his/her artwork but couldn't do it due to skill. 
• Sometimes you may notice he/she likes playing with glue more.
• Sometimes you may realise he/she is actually more arty (creative) than you are...

These are our monsters.

I'm not very creative but it looks cute right? *self praise*

The thing about Monster/Alien is that there's no "form" that you must comply with.. so you can just paste it anyway you like. It's your monster and only you can judge if it's done "right".

Any simple craft you've done with your kid this week? :)

Gross Motor Skill : Stacking Game + Knock Down Cup

Using the Beans Shaker Cups we made in the previous post, we did a few more fun activities.

Materials :

• Beans Shaker Cups
• Tennis Ball / Bean Bag

Steps for Stacking Game :
1. Stacking the beans shaker cups. This is not difficult but it the cups are on a table and the child have to reach to place the top few cups it's actually quite a challenge.

2. Try different ways to stack them.

3. You can every make it into a memory game for the older kids by stacking differently and get them to stack according to what you had done!

Steps for Knock Down Cup :
1. Stack cups into a triangle shape. E.g. from bottom to top (3:2:1).

2. Get toddler to roll a ball or throw a bean bag to knock them down.

3. It's not that easy to knock all of them down at 1 go actually. :P

Love it when a last min activity produces more activities.

Now I'm tempted to do a few more special shakers with my little one. :D

Items I may try next : Pom poms, sequins, straws (cut up), uncooked pasta?

Fine Motor Skill : Beans Sorting for Plastic Cup Shaker

I needed some time to clean up the house, finding some leftover party cups I decide to let my little one do a little activity, this also acts as a quiet time activity.

We did a few more actives with this Beans shaker. Details in the next post.

*If you have a toddler that still puts small objects in his/her mouth, do change the beans to edible stuffs like cereals?

Materials :

• 6 Plastic Cups
• 6 Different types of Beans
• Paper
• Scotch Tape

Steps :
1. Place handfuls of different type of beans into a small container. Just some beans will do as too many beans may put the kid off and he/she may not want to complete the task.

2. Demonstrate how to sort the beans.

3. Leave kid to sort the beans. Or if you are free you can have a mini "competition" to see who sorts faster? :D

4. After sorting, make a cover for the cup using paper and scotch tapes.

Looks a little like a caterpillar. :P

All beans sorted and cups covered !

Not very nicely done but the beans looks very cute in the cups no? haha

Take note! Doing this project will make your house really noisy for the next week days.. :P

Simple Homemade Toys : Banana and Cookie.

It's been a while since I last made toys for my little one. Just the other day she was feeding small toys to her elmo hand puppet and I decide that I should make more toys for her.

So.. I made a Banana for her monkey soft toy and Cookies for her cookie monster toy.

Sewn the banana, filled it with cotton and also made the skin "peel-able" by adding velcro.

Sewn "chocolate-chips" on both sides of the "cookie". Felt fabric, thread and needles are from my favourite shop (Daiso).


It's not perfect but that's the point, if I want perfect looking toys I would purchase it from shops, or maybe I wouldn't cause simple toys aren't that cheap nowadays.. :P


Have you made any toy for your little one recently? Share your ideas with me? :)

Fine Motor Skill : Egg Peeling

This activity is simple, fun and delicious. :P

Materials :

• 2 Hard Boil Eggs
• Bowl

Steps :

1. Remove hard boil eggs from pot, run it under tap water and leave it too cool for a while.

2. Once it's cooled (not so hot) you can hand it to your child.

3. You can use 1 egg to demonstrate and the other for your little one to try.

4. My favourite step of all! Consume the peeled egg! *om nom nom nom*

Fine Motor Skill : Pipe Cleaner Fishing Game

Recently joined a Facebook group where mothers shared ideas of activities for toddlers.

A mummy shared this activity and I thought it's very easy and would be fun for my little one.

Only 2-3 materials needed and it's very simple to put them together! :D

Materials : 

• Pipe Cleaners
• Clear container (Bottle/Jar)
• Straw (optional)

Steps : 

1. Twill pipe cleaners into cute "fishes".

2. Make a little hook on one end of the pipe cleaners. You can put it through a straw and it would be easier to hold. :)

3. Place the fishes in container and get your little one to hook them out.

Have fun!

Fine Motor Skill : Packing Toys and Using Chopsticks

Previous post I blogged about the new toys that I made for my little one.

This post is just some of the things you can do with them to practice their fine motor skills.

Packing Toys :

Materials :

• Small Objects
• Zip Lock Pouches

Steps :

1. Putting small objects into small zip lock pouches.

I made 14 small packs of toys for her and she has to keep whatever she takes out.

She also learn to sort the items by picking out the correct items to put into each pouch.

Using Chopsticks: Toddler's level

Materials :

• Small Objects
• Kid's Chopstick
• Bowl/Plates/Bags

Steps :

1. Mix up different objects and let him/her pick it up using chopsticks.

Have been teaching her how to use chopsticks for a while.

She is practising with the small toys and managed to do quite well so far.

She enjoys it and there's no stress that she would drop the food/waste food/dirty the place. :)

Do you have any special item that you use to train your child's chopstick holding skills? Share them with me? :)

Simple Homemade "Toys"

It's no secret that I love making little things for my toddler to pay with.

Just the other day, W was playing with her kitchen toys and I realise she needed some "groceries" and decide to make these for her.

Felt fabrics from Daiso/Popular Bookstore.

They are easy to make and you don't need much skills to make them.

Cherry Tomatoes (pom pom also brought from Daiso)

No need to anything to it at all. :P

Ice Cream / Ice Popsicle

Noodles

Egg (sunny side up)

Bacon

Watermelon (1 slice)

Green Peas

Fries

French Beans & Long Beans

Fishes

Carrots

Pizza

Broccolis and Cauliflowers

Have you made toys for your little one?

Share them with me? :D

Numbers / Fine Motor Skill : Stickers 1-40

Little one has learned to 1-29, so right now I'm helping her with numbers 30-40.

This week's project is matching numbers and pasting stickers.

Materials:

• Paper
• Printer or Pen/Pencil
• Plain Stickers
• Marker

Steps:
1. Design and print rows of circles with numbers in the middle, or you can also draw and fill in the numbers on your own if you do not own a printer.

2. Using a marker, write numbers on the stickers.

3. For something a little more difficult, try to jumble up the numbers for the next set, or use smaller size stickers. :)

It's a very simple task for toddlers but if you're going thru new numbers with little one do sit by his/her side and read out the new numbers to him/her. :)

Gave little one a jumbled up piece and she got confused after finding number 1.

Would probably keep the jumbled up piece for another day. :D

How do you teach your little one numbers? :)

Gross Motor Skills : Skipping Rope Play for Toddler

My little one have yet to learn how to skip using the skipping rope yet but she loves to play with it..

So I created a couple of little games to play with her using just a skipping rope. :)

Materials:

• Skipping Rope

Walking on Rope

Steps:

1. Put rope on the floor and straighten it as much as possible.

2. Demonstrate how to "walk on the rope".

She likes it but I personally find that my rope is a bit too hard so if possible get shipping rope that is softer. like the olden days rope type of skipping rope instead of those newer harder plastic rope type.

Jumping in and out (forward and backward jumps)

Steps:

1. Put rope on the floor and make it into a circle.

2. Demonstrate how to jump in (forward jump) and jump out (backward jump).

I like this but would recommend new "jumpers" to play on the mat instead in case they fall. :D

Hope you like my short little post. :)

Fine Motor Skill : Buttoning

Have been delaying this project because I'm not very good at sewing.

Materials:

• Felt Fabric (Actually i think any fabric?)
• Sewing kit
• Buttons

Steps:

1. Estimate the place where you want the buttons to be at.

(you can use a pen to make a mark where you want the buttons to be at.)

2. Sew the buttons on.

3. Fold and sew the sides so it kind of form a pouch.

4. Cut holds on the "cover" side to put the buttons through.

The hole expands after a few tries. Would probably need to find out how to make the hole area tougher, maybe some glue?

Overall quite a fun task for my little one and it's kinda a prelude? to get her to button her own clothes. Fabric and sewing kit bought from Daiso.

Once she is bored with it, I can still use it as pouch to store random stuffs! :)

Fine Motor Skill : Threading Practice

This "project" is inspired by a mummy in a mummies group.

Materials:

• Paper / Coloured paper
• Hole Puncher
• Stickers (tapes or recycle picture from magazines/used books)
• Shoelace
• (optional) Laminate machine & Laminate pouch

Steps:

1. Cut out the "base" shapes.

2. Stick stickers or glue any pictures on.

3. Laminate it to make it more durable. If you do not have the machine you can use thicker quality paper or you can also stick paper to a recycle tissue box.

4. Using hole puncher, punch holes all around the "base" shapes.

*Do not leave toddler alone with shoelace, supervise each play session and keep shoelace away from child whenever it's not in use*

My little one loves it.

She have had 2 sessions with it and it's quite fun seeing her tugging at the long shoelace.

I like that it's easy to make and doesn't cost much.

Short entry today.. can't wait to start on my next project/activity. :)

Fine Motor Skill : Homemade Paint for Toddlers

I love art but I'm terrible at it. If there's anything that I did as badly as history, it would be art (okay maybe and social studies too?)

My drawings always end up looking way different from what's in my mind and my projects always looks like I didn't put in effort on them. *You will get to see my artwork at the end of the post and you will know I am not lying. lol.

I remember that when I was young my mother hates it when I paint cause the paints are so expensive and I always makes a mess. She would line newspaper on the floor and I would work on  the newspaper, but somehow the paint will get on the floor, the walls and even on my face, hand, legs and hair. The newspaper would also give me dark patches on my hands and legs.

Oh don't get me started on the favourite paints always running out before the other colours. Or when you're painting and then you realise you run out of paint or the paint is so old that it has dried up..

~

Fast forward 18 years, today I'm preparing paint for my little one to explore and play!

Just like the play dough that I blog about recently, this recipe for non toxic paint idea came from the mummies online too!

Using simple kitchen ingredients to make non toxic paint !

Materials:

• Flour (plain/all purpose flour)
• Salt
• Water (Warm-hot water)
• Cup/Bowl/Palette
• Something to stir
• A Sieve
• Food Colouring (I use Yellow, Blue and Red)

Steps:

1. Mix approximately 1/2 cup Flour and approx. 5 spoonful of Salt together.

2. Slowly add in 1/2 cup of water (I prefer to use warm-hot water) while stirring with (spoon/chopstick/anything)

Stop when you feel that it's just right (thick liquid just like paint)

3. Using a sieve, pour the liquid through the sieve to the container for the paint.

This step ensure that there is no lumps of flour in the mixture that is not mixed well.

4. Drop a few drops of food colouring in the mixture and stir it till the colour is even. If the colour is too light just add more food colouring. You can also mix the colours to get another colour. :)

Here are some photos in case you're not too fond of words..

Flour + Salt + Water

Remember to sieve it if you want a smother paint.

I use 3 small containers to store the paint as each time I make the paint I can use it for about 2 sessions of art and craft with my cutie pie.

Food Colouring

I let my toddler help me with stirring in the food colouring.

If the colour is not to my liking I would add more drops of food colouring.

and carrying on stirring..

3 Primary Colours

If we are doing painting with paint brushes I would pour them onto a palette for us.

It's good for making more colours too.

If we are doing sponging art I would use old paper plates

(yeah still I keep paper plates leftover from buffet in 2012-2013)

*For sponge I purchase the cheap ones from Daiso just for her to play.

Usually she gets to work on her own, sometimes I do a "sample" and she would attempt to follow.

Once it's done, sun it or just let it dry on it's own..

Hers look very watered down because she kept cleaning her brush in the small bowl of water I placed there for her to wash her brush.

I try to let her do her art on her own because that's how she would get to practise using her hands.

By the way we are actually painting a happy cartoon SUN, in case you can't tell..

Yeah.. I wasn't joking when I say my art is not very good...

Would you try this with your little one? Let me know? :)