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Month: June 2014

Styrofoam Building Shapes

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Styrofoam isn’t just for packaging!  We saved a few sheets of these packaging sheets before they went into the trash and created a learning and play activity a while back. 

Styrofoam building shapes

I cut a couple of sheets into different shapes and showed the kids how we could make pictures on the table.  We made houses, buildings, and cars with our DIY tangrams.  We talked about shapes with Baby Girl and Little Guy.  This was a fun beginning math activity for both of them.

After a while with 2 dimensional play, I pulled out the tooth picks and we began building.  Things got fun at this point!

We made trees, houses, furniture, and more with these shapes.  Little Guy LOVED this!  He built challenges for his cars to jump and drive around. 

What a fun way to create and imagine! 

NOTE:  This should definitely be a supervised activity.  Those tooth picks are sharp, for sure.  With adult supervision, this is a great building activity and lots of fun for the imagination. 

You also might like: 
DIY Shape Stamps
Styrofoam Fish Math Activity

Teaching Math Through Play

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Math is such a fun subject for kids to learn.  They begin at such a small age with sorting, patterns, and then grow in their skills during each step of development.  It’s been really cool to watch Big Sister this past school year as she started to learn Kindergarten math skills and then become confident with those abilities.  She even said at her end of the school year Kindergarten graduation that her favorite memory of the year was “math”! 

There is so much talk about the “summer slide” that happens with kids during their summer break.  These ideas from the Share It Saturday link up are a great way to prevent the slide…or just have fun with math!  I love that these activities promote math skills in a fun way.  And, they don’t need to be done during the summer, they are perfect for year-round math fun!

We’re keeping the linky party live all month so be sure to stop back each week and link up your posts!

Playful ways to teach math
 

Playful Math Activities for Kids


LEGO Math Games from JDaniel4’s Mom

Montessori Math Trays from Racheous

Teach Multiplication the Easy Way from True Aim Education

Rubber Duck Math from Fantastic Fun and Learning

Patterns with gems from Dabbling Mama

Composing and Decomposing Numbers from Sugar Aunts

Nature Math from Sugar Aunts

Shape sorting and patterns from Sugar Aunts

Feel free to grab our button:

 

Check out who the other hosts are featuring today:
 Life & Lessons From a Country Road 

The Share It Saturday Pinterest board has loads of fun ideas for play and learning.
 
Grab the Share It Saturday party button:
Grab button for Sugar-Aunts

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You may like more math activities on our Playful Math Pinterest board:

Fireworks Art

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Summer brings cookouts, backyard parties, swimming pools, and fireworks!  We were in the mood for some summer fun and creating these fireworks painting art did the job.  A little bit of sparkle made the artwork really pop.  And what art isn’t better without a little glitter, right??



Stamped fireworks art! This is perfect for fourth of july, memorial day, and any day with fireworks!

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.  Your purchases through these links help to support our blog.  As always, thank you for your support!


Fireworks Artwork Craft

We started with blobs of red paint
and blue paint on a Styrofoam tray.  Add a handful of
cotton swabs
and we were ready to go.

We used the cotton swabs to stamp the red and blue paint onto white paper into our fireworks shapes.  Stamping the paint covered cotton swabs was a super messy and sensory painting experience.  We mixed the colors for some of the fireworks to get a nice red and blue mixture into purple.  This was a great time to talk about the colors and how they mix to make purple.

The fireworks painting needed a little something.

GLITTER!

Fine Motor Fireworks Activity

We used clear glitter
and sprinkled it on while the paint was still wet.  It stuck right onto the paint and made our fireworks really pop. 
Pinching the glitter was such a good way to work on fine motor strength during a fun craft activity.  Using the index, middle finger, and thumb to grab up the glitter and sprinkle it around is a great tripod grasp task.  Using those three fingers to manipulate a material like glitter in a controlled manner strengthens the intrinsic muscles of the hand.  Intrinsic muscles are those little muscles within the hand that are essential for controlled pencil manipulation and many other fine motor tasks.
This fireworks painting craft was just right for some easy sensory summer fun.  Celebrate the season with fireworks art! 
If you decide to make this craft, stop over to our facebook page and let us know. We’d love to see your craft and chat!
You may be interested in more patriotic crafts and activities.  Try these:
red, white, and blue goopy dough
 red, white, and blue easel art | fine motor auditory fireworks activity

Sparkle Collage Art Painting

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Do you have a little one who LOVES all things art and painting?  Baby Girl is all about painting and will get messy with paints every day.  In fact, she asks almost every day to paint (and so we do, almost every day!) This is a great fine motor creative painting tool to support fine motor development skills.
This Sparkle Collage Art painting was very fun for Baby Girl (and me!)  We sat for a long time and just painted away, with loads of sparkly texture added.  What isn’t better with sparkle and sequins???


Sparkle Collage Art

{Note: This post contains affiliate links.  In other words, this blog will receive monetary compensation when any purchases are made through the links in this post.  Our opinions and ideas are in no way affected.  You can read our full disclosure policy here.  As always, we thank you for your support and community here at Sugar Aunts.}
We recieved the spangles free from www.craftprojectideas.com and they really made our paintings shine.  The sparkly shapes were the perfect touch to this multi-textural painting.
Other supplies needed for this activity are Markers, paints,
Spill Proof Paint Cups,
glue, and paint brushes.

We poured paint into the spill proof cups and dumped in a handful of the spangle mix.  Add a bit of glue and mix it all together.

I drew a few pictures and doodles on with the markers and let Baby Girl start painting.  She started out just using the paint to color in the pictures, but once I showed her how to paint on the sparkles and sequins, she got in on the sparkly fun.

These spill proof cups are big hits in our house.  For this painting activity, we didn’t use the sloped part so we could get at the sequins with the paint brushes.

Painting on those sequins required a little bit of dexterity, but Baby Girl did a pretty good job of it!  It was fun to paint on the sparkly shapes.

How pretty is this??

Older children could draw the pictures themselves and then paint on the sparkles and sequins.
You could also add glitter into your paint.  What a gorgeous work of art this is!

Baby girl was very proud of her painting.  These turned out to be so pretty.

Let us know if you try this painting activity.  We would love to see your works of art!
Looking for more ways to paint in a creative way?  Stop by and follow along on our Creative Painting Pinterest board.  I’m loving all of the creative ideas over there!

Circus Preschool Toddler Theme Summer Camp at Home

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We’re joining up with the awesome bloggers in the All Things Kids community to bring your creative and fun ideas to get your summer off to a great start.  So, the kids are out of school and ready for some fun.  The running around in the sprinkler and riding bikes are perfect to start off a summer of freedom.  But, what happens when the first “I’m bored” starts?  We’ve got you covered on ideas to keep the kids moving, learning, and creating this summer.  Each of us All Things Kids bloggers are bringing you ideas for themed activities.  These would be perfect too in place of a summer camp or vacation bible school and just do an at-home summer camp with the kids.  Why not invite a few friends over and start your own backyard summer camp for the kids? 

Backyard Summer Camp

It’s that simple to create a neighborhood summer camp!  Pull up the ideas from the all things kids bloggers and you’ve got 7 weeks of themes covered for a summer of camp fun.  We’ve found the best crafts, activities, snacks, and more all based on each week’s theme.  I’m ready for a backyard summer!
Check out all of the summer camp ideas: Robots, Bugs  Around the World , Animals, Ocean and Beach, Nature, and today’s post by us…Circus!

We’re scouring the net for the best and most creative ways to make your own Circus themed Summer Camp for preschoolers and toddlers.  We’ve got circus crafts, circus snacks, circus fine motor and gross motor activities to get the summer off to great start. 


Circus Theme Crafts

The kids will love a few circus crafts.  These lion, tiger, and monkey masks (Danya Banya) will keep the kids occupied and pretending. Or try this elephant mask craft (East Coast Mommy) for more pretend play.  For more circus animal crafts, try this activity from Inspired Treehouse.  

Kids will love making a craft a day at your backyard camp.  Make this elephant mask (Mamas Like Me) and they can wear it throughout the week. Children can work on so many important developmental areas while developing their scissor skills.  If painting is more your thing, this lion craft (Sassy Dealz) is a super cute circus animal to make.   Need a few more crafts to keep the kids busy with your circus theme?  I love these circus clown costumes (KangarooBoo blog) made with party hats and paper plates.

We loved making our circus tent craft.  This trapeze artist craft (Boy Mama Teacher Mama) is equally cute! A handprint zoo (House of Burke) would be a great memento to remember your week of circus fun.


Circus Theme Snacks

A backyard summer camp or themed learning unit definitely needs snacks to keep little ones going and energy levels high.  Here’s a few circus themed ideas for snack time:
  • Goldfish in a bag (You won goldfish!)
  • animal crackers
  • popcorn
  • Sandwiches cut into fun circus shapes with circus cookie cutters (and then reuse those cookie cutters for stamp art painting later in the week!)


    • A    dd these things to a little peanut butter (or other nut butter) for some protein.


Circus Theme Gross Motor Backyard Activities

I know a few little ones who would LOVE this water gun game (Driven By Décor).  Use a few ping pong balls and a squirt gun for an easy (and summer-ific) carnival game. Inspired Treehouse put together put together three gross motor circus activities.  A ball toss game would be easy to set up with a few bins and some bean bags or balls. 


Circus Theme Sensory Activities

The kids (and moms) will get a kick out of a fun circus sensory activity.  How cool is this popcorn painting activity (Mess for Less)? We put together a few fun ideas for circus sensory bins in our circus party essentials post

 


Circus Theme Learning

Any circus unit or backyard camp needs circus books!  These are some of our favorites.

Circus Tent Craft

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We’ve been on a little Circus theme around here lately.  You might have seen our roundup of favorite circus books or our ideas for a circus party.  This circus craft was easy to put together and the kids loved it.  They were itching for a painting craft and this one hit the mark. 


Circus tent craft for kids

This post contains affiliate links. 


Circus Craft Idea for a Circus Theme:

Start with a few supplies:
paint brush
orange paper
black marker
Glue

To begin your circus tents, cut the coffee filters as shown.  This is a great way for little scissor users to practice their scissor skills.  Cutting coffee filters is more difficult than regular paper and a great way to practice accuracy as they cut along the folded parts of the coffee filter.  Adults can make marks on the coffee filter where needed for the kiddos to cut along. 

Once cut, start the painting!  We painted our circus tents with red paint on every other folded section of the coffee filters.  Use your imagination on your circus tents.  Circus tents come in many different colors and designs!
Once the paint is dry, place the smaller section of coffee filter under the larger piece.  Glue onto a sheet of paper.  Cut a small slit on the smaller section, and fold the doors of the circus tent open.  The circus is open! 
Use the black marker to make flag poles and glue small triangles of orange (or any color) paper to make flags.  Done!  This would be a great craft to do before an outing to the circus or just for fun when you read a few circus books. 
You may also enjoy our Kids’ Crafts Pinterest Board. Stop by and follow along:

Books for a New Baby

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Looking for books for a new baby? This list of the best baby books are great for infants and babies, and some of the books are great for toddlers with a new baby sibling in the house. Add these baby book ideas to your list of baby play!

We’re so excited to have Erica from What Do We Do All Day here to guest post for us!  She’s put together a wonderful list of books for new babies.  Perfect timing for the new baby in our house!

Best Baby Books

I’m delighted to be here on The OT Toolbox while Colleen settles down with her new baby! One of the best starts a parent can give their child is to read to him or her from day 1. Reading aloud builds literacy, offers comfort and helps baby’s brain develop! On What Do We Do All Day? I offer parents a new book list every Monday and I’d love to share with readers five of my favorite books to read to a new baby.


Please note: this list contains affiliate links that support this blog and the new baby’s diaper habit!

A new parent can’t go wrong with any of Sandra Boynton’s books, but Tickle Time! is particularly fun. Babies love to hear rhymes and repetition and Boynton supplies all that and more.

Purchase the board book edition of the classic Goodnight Moon because you will be reading this one again and again. You may remember the “great green room” and the “red balloon” from your own childhood. Share them with your little one and you’ll soon be able to recite this one from memory.

Ten, Nine, Eight Board Book by Molly Bang is near the top of my list of all time favorite books for babies. It’s a gentle, rhyming lullaby about a girl getting ready for bed with her father. I love it so much, I’ve put it on several of my book lists, including a list of 15 multicultural books for babies and toddlers.

Babies love looking at faces and any of the Look! Baby books, such as Baby Faces makes a great addition to your new baby library. When reading the book, take your time and point to all the body parts on the faces and then touch the corresponding parts on your own baby’s face. This will help teach him a sense of self and how to read emotions.

Tana Hoban’s Black & White series of board books are perfect for little eyes which are attracted to contrast more than color. Pointing out familiar objects will increase babies vocabulary and their understanding of the world around them.

I hope these books encourage you to read everyday to your baby so matter how young he or she is. Here’s a tip from me: if you get bored of baby books, pick up your own reading and simply read aloud. It doesn’t matter that your child will not understand, Baby will simply love hearing your voice.

What are your favorite books for a new baby?

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Erica is a theater geek turned stay-at-home mom with an obsession with children’s books and easy indoor activities, which she chronicles on her blog, What Do We Do All Day?. She makes book lists, drinks chai, plays board games and explores New York City with her two boys. 

Circus Party Items for Games, Activities

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We’ve got a mini circus theme going on this week with play, crafts, and awesome-ness!  We thought it would be fun to put together a bunch of ideas for a circus party or circus themed event at school, vacation bible school, or summer camp.  Just a few clicks around Circus boards on Pinterest and you’ll find loads of creative circus-themed crafts, activities, games, and decorations.  These ideas are easy to put together and a great way to throw in a little learning, too!


Circus Party Favors

No circus is complete without the clowns.  While you may not have a clown at the party (or a loving uncle who is willing to dress up…), all you need is a bunch of clown noses.  These are great party favors and the perfect photo-opp for a bunch of cute (sugar rush-crazed) kiddos!  Use them in games too by having the kids toss the clown noses into buckets. Add a few baggies of popcorn and animal crackers and you are set on the party favors.


Circus Party Decorations:

Décor for a backyard circus requires only a few of these Red & White Striped Table Skirts thrown on  the tables.  If you’ve got a tree in the party area, a mini-circus tent would make a totally cute play area.  I love the simplicity and awesomeness of this no-sew circus tent.  Re-used, the tent is the perfect outdoor pretend play/reading area. Decorate the party area with a few strands of Pennant Banners and the scene is set!


Circus Party Games:

Circus Games and Activities are the hit of the real circus and the backyard themed party!  I love that these ideas can be re-used once the party is packed up and a memory.  One of our favorite toys that we use ALL the tme in learning activities, pretend play, sensory activities are our animal figures.  These circus animal figures and circus animal train will be perfect in a circus party sensory bin.  Throw the animals into a big bin filled with rainbow colored rice, a few scoops and funnels, and you’re set.  If the weather permits, these circus animals would be great in a baby pool with water. 
The circus and it’s carnival games make great memories!  This bean bag toss game and ring toss set
are a great way to get the kids moving.  Make it a learning opportunity by adding math into the game or working on colors as the kids play.  The younger kids (and hey, older ones too!) love the Duck Pond Pool at the circus.  Add a sticker to a few of the rubber ducks
and the party go-ers can win a prize.


Circus Party Essentials:

The red and white colors of the circus are classic and fun!  I love these red and white paper straws.  Grab up some red and white packs of paper plates and napkins from the dollar store and your food essentials are done.  We’re all about simple and it’s easy to eliminate costs on party supplies in the paper plate area.
When it comes to the snacks for kids, a popcorn buffet and bowls of animal crackers hit the mark.

Let us know if you plan a circus themed party. We would love to hear about your party details!  Stop on over to our facebook page and share the fun with us!

Get the essentials here:

Looking for more circus themed ideas?  Stop on over to our Circus Crafts and Activities board on Pinterest and check out all of the cuteness:

Circus Books for Kids

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We love heading off to the library and filling up our bag with a bunch of new (to us) books.  Many times we go with a theme when we grab up our books.  Lots of times, we don’t too and just grab whatever we see from the shelves.  With summer upon us and carnivals (and the circus) coming to many neighborhoods/cities, we thought it would be fun to explore the circus through books.  Even if you don’t get the chance to visit the circus, it’s fun to read about the animals, performers, sights, and more in so many great books.  Some of these we’ve read and others are on our must-read list.  Do you have any favorite circus-themed books?

This post contains affiliate ads. Any purchases made through these links support this blog. 


Circus Themed Books for Kids

Circus books for a circus theme camp or VBS for kids

If I Ran the Circus by Dr. Seuss is a classic Dr. Seuss book with wacky nonsense words based on a circus of the imagination.

Clifford At The Circus
by Norman Bridwell
We love all of the Clifford books and this circus themed book with our favorite big red dog is no exception!

See the Circus by H.A. Ray
A great Lift-The-Flap book quizzing the reader about things that can be found at the circus.

Olivia Saves the Circus by Ian Falconer Olivia the Pig saves the circus when all of the performers were out sick.  A favorite in our house, this is just one Olivia book that we love!

Circus by
Lois Ehlert This is one of those library books that we check out over and over again!  We love the bold colors of this circus book and eye-catching illustrations of our favorite circus feats!

You See a Circus, I See… by
Mike Downs Enjoy the circus through the eyes of a little boy whose family runs the circus!

Miss Bindergarten Plans a Circus With Kindergarten by Joseph Slate The Miss Bindergarten books are so much fun to read and this circus themed book is no exception!

Harold’s Circus by
Crockett Johnson Harold explores the circus and sparks the imagination.

Curious George Circus Act by
H.A. Ray George is back to his curious antics as he visits the circus and learns to walk the tightrope.

Paddington Bear at the Circus by
Michael Bond                   

The books we love:


You may also be interested in our Pinterest board dedicated to Books for Kids.  We love a great children’s books and a craft or activity to go along with it.  Check out this pin board for lots of inspiration:
hands-on activities to explore social emotional development through children's books.

Love exploring books with hands-on play?  

Grab our NEW book, Exploring Books Through Play: 50 Activities based on Books About Friendship, Acceptance, and Empathy, that explores friendship, acceptance, and empathy through popular (and amazing) children’s books!  It’s 50 hands-on activities that use math, fine motor skills, movement, art, crafts, and creativity to support social emotional development.
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