Spinning Snake - Paper Collage Activity

For the next activity, I casually asked LO "what collage next?", while looking at the zebra collage he made previously, and he replied, 'Snake collage'!!😨I didn't expect this answer (!), and I thought, OK lets have a try. So I planned like, lets draw a snake and let LO glue some roughly cut pieces on it. But before starting, I just browsed and got to know about this awesome idea of spinning snake! This is so interesting to make and finally you can hang it to see the beautiful spiral spinning snake.😊

Supplies:

• Construction Sheets - colors of your choice
• Scissors
• Glue
• Stick and a thread
• Googly eyes (Optional)

How do we make it:

For a change this time we used a dark colored drawing sheet instead of white. Trace the outline of the snake roughly as seen in the picture. You can also take a print of this snake by clicking here.

I drew small segments along the entire length of the snake. Made square pieces of different colors and LO glued them to make a beautiful snake collage.

Once the collage is done use scissors to cut along the spiral line from the outside edge to the center. Stick the googly eyes to complete the snake's head.

 Lift the snake from the center to watch the beautiful spiral shape.

Poke a small hole into the center of the head. Pull a piece of thread through the hole from the top, and tie a big knot in it so the thread will not pull through (or attach a small weight to its end, like a bolt or screw). On the other end of the snake attach a stick, so that kids can make the snake dance by holding the stick.

Or just hang up the snake and watch it twirl around. 

Truly, I didn't expect the outcome to be this much fun and interesting when we decided to do this. Thanks to LO for the idea!😜

Happy Parenting!😊

Sensory Play with Alphabets

Sensory plays are almost always a no bungle activity. Kids love sensory plays because they can explore a material and it opens the door for free play. And most importantly it allows them to use their 5 senses. Like any other kid, LO loves messy play, but I don't (!), because of the clean-up😝! But this week I got bored up in doing collages back to back. So we did this sensory play, using rice and LO's most-liked alphabets. This activity combines sensory play with alphabet identification.

What you will need

• Alphabets - magnetic or foam or wooden pieces
• A filler - rice or sand or shredded paper
• A large container - an aluminium pan, a large tray or a tub 
• A board or sheet with alphabet written on it
• A mat - to clean up the mess easily

The alphabets what we have used here is a gift for LO from his dearest aunt!😊You can also use the magnetic or foam alphabets, and a sheet with alphabet printed or written on it. We didn't have any sensory bin, so I used an aluminium foil pan for the play.

Let's go for the hunt

Spread the mat and place the container on it. Drop the alphabets into it and fill the container with rice, so that it covers the alphas completely. 

My plan was like the above, and thought LO would hunt for the alphas using his hands. But that didn't happen! He introduced a new twist to the play😜. LO combined his construction vehicles with this play. He bought his excavator, loader and dump truck to hunt the alphas in the rice!😄

He used the excavator to look for the alphas.

The play was quite interesting, hunting for the alphas and placing them at the right place in the board, LO was busy. In the middle, LO forgot the task and went dumping the rice in the truck!😁

Don't mind about the mess that happens.😀 Finally it was hard for me to end the play. LO wasn't willing to let go off the sensory bin and his vehicles!

This play will help children learn to identify letters of the alphabet. Before children can learn to recognize and name the letters, they first have to learn how to visually discriminate the similarities and differences of each letter. Try this messy play for learning and I'm sure kids will love it. 

Happy Parenting!☺☺

Rainbow Collage

This is a great activity to teach colors for kids, indeed the Rainbow colors. I think in the past few weeks me and LO were more into collages! May be, its summer time, and we hardly spend time in doing activities indoor! And this summer, I have no patience to do messy activities and the following clean up! 😟...So we end up in doing collages, which are short, easy and enthralling!😁

Supplies: Rainbow colored construction papers, glue stick, scissors.

I drew the outline of rainbow roughly, I named it VIBGYOR, so that LO can identify the colors. Then cut small pieces of papers from each color using scissors, or you can even tear out the pieces. We started gluing with green color, with no particular reason. Then the orange color.

 Then the blue and yellow color.

 Followed by Indigo and violet.

And finally the red color.

And the rainbow collage is all done! LO enjoyed it so much😁

At the end of this activity,

• You can sing the rainbow song from 'Mother Goose Club'. I personally like this song because of its visual and the tune. 
• Further you can reinforce the rainbow colors by repeating the names of them in the order Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet. 
• If possible watch out for a rainbow thro' the window on a rainy day along with your kids! 
• Color a rainbow picture using crayons.
• Talk about the shape of the rainbow - semicircle.

Happy Parenting!😊

Zebra Collage

This one, again is LO's idea!😜 That day I was just asking him what collage shall we do next, and he immediately replied "Zebra Collage", since he was playing with animals by that time.😃 I thought, how the Zebra collage is possible, and if so, will LO be able to do it and an array of questions popped up... After three days again I asked him, what collage shall we do and I got the same answer from him ,"Zebra Collage"!😊😊. Then I decided to do it and started the preparatory work😛

                        

Initially I made the black stripes from the construction paper. Then traced the zebra outline on the white paper using dotted lines. And now all set to make the zebra collage.

LO got really excited, and started to glue the stripes on Zebra! I just placed my mobile with a Zebra picture on it nearby him, to show in which direction the stripes should be. He did a decent job indeed!

 After sometime I got bit confidence that this would turn into a good collage!😜So I traced the outline of Zebra with a black marker. Include the eyes, mouth and extra hairs.

Never agonize if the stripes go out of the Zebra. 

Carefully cut the Zebra so that the extra stripes gets rid off. And now glue the zebra on a green paper.

Lets try to make collages of other animals and have fun. Try this Zebra collage and please share your experience.

Happy Parenting!

Alphabet Insects and Bugs

When I'm in Library, my eyes involuntarily scans for ABC books! Only after holding the book, I realize that's an alphabet book! Am I too smitten with ABCs nowadays?! Crazy mom kiddo pair...😃 This post is yet another alphabet based one. Here you can find an alphabetical list of Insects and Bugs. With the book "The Icky Bug" as a reference I have organized this list and their pictures from Google! Hope you get introduced to some new tiny creatures.

A - Ant
B - Bumble bee
C - Cricket
D - Dragon fly
E - Earwig
F - Firefly
G - Grasshopper
H - Horsefly
I - Io Moth
J - Japanese beetle
K - Katydid
L - Ladybug
M - Monarch Butterfly
N - No-see-ums
O - Orb-weaver
P - Praying Mantis
Q- Queen Bee
R- Red Admiral
S - Scorpion 
T - Tarantula
U - Unicorn Beetle
V - Velvet Mite
W - Water Spider
X - Cotton Stainer
Y - Yellow paint Bug

Z - Zebra Butterfly

Ant

Bumble Bee

Cricket

Dragonfly

Earwig

Firefly

Grasshopper

Horsefly

Io Moth

Japanese Beetle

Katydid

Ladybug

Monarch Butterfly

Noseeums

Orb weaver

Praying Mantis

Queen Bee

Red Admiral

Scorpion

Tarantula

Unicorn Beetle

Velvet Mite

Water Spider

Cotton Stainer

Yellow Paint Bug

Zebra Butterfly

Happy Parenting!