preschool

Five Senses Poetry for Kids

by Amy September 19, 2011

I’m thrilled to have Amy of Let’s Explore here as one of Make and Takes newest regular contributors. Amy will be here once a month sharing fabulous ideas for kids. Take it away, Amy… Since my girls were preschoolers, we have been writing poems together. I love seeing little snippets of their imaginations and thoughts [...]

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School Has Begun! How’s it Going?

by Marie September 12, 2011

School has begun! I have a 3rd grader, 1st grader, and my little 3 year old just started preschool. It was a big jump going from everyone at home for the summer to now the house is really really quiet. It’s a good quiet. I miss my kids, but it’s nice to have them in [...]

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Roar!! Dinosaur Pipe Cleaner Toys

by Heather September 14, 2009

I love pipe cleaners–there are a million things you can do with them! They come in tons of colors, are cheap and readily available at your local craft or dollar store. My three year-old son is just starting to discover dinosaurs (his favorite: the T-Rex. How do boys learn this stuff? Is it just part [...]

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Play While You Paint

by Heather August 17, 2009

You might have noticed by now that I am way into mixing art time with playtime. My boys loved this technique: using a (washable) toy to apply paint to paper. We used some old toy cars to roll in paint and then make a fun painting. Another bonus: using unusual paint brushes makes unique paintings. [...]

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Star Wars Felt Finger Puppets

by Heather August 10, 2009

Felt is one of the cheapest crafting materials around, and one of the easiest to work with. It’s also a great crafting material for kids of nearly any age. With a little help, even pre-schoolers (or even toddlers) can make finger puppets that will delight them for hours. I made simple Star Wars inspired puppets, [...]

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Dollar Store Tie Dyeing

by Heather July 13, 2009

Tie dyeing is a fun summer craft, but I have been trying to cut back on crafts that cost a lot to do so I can focus on using up the huge stash of supplies I already have. I had some colored tissue paper on hand and learned that you can use it to dye [...]

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Homemade Memory Game

by Heather July 6, 2009

What’s more fun than playing a game? Making your own game! One of our favorite preschool games is Memory, the matching card game. My son usually plays the official version at Grandma’s house, but we don’t have that game at home. The concept is so simple that we decided to make our own with readymade [...]

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Kid Art: Textured Paintings

by Heather June 29, 2009

I have always liked the look of chunky paint applied to canvas in swirls (a la Vincent Van Gogh), but most kiddie paints aren’t capable of making that kind of texture. Enter a secret household ingredient that you mix into your paint that takes it from runny to chunky in ten seconds! What is this [...]

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When Art Collides With Toast

by Heather June 22, 2009

Did you know you can paint bread and then toast it into a colorful, edible piece of art? Yep, it’s true. I learned it here. Combine bread cut out with cookie cutters with a bit of edible paint, and art time collides with snack time in a really fun way. Kids of all ages will [...]

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