Creative Mermaid Craft

A few weeks ago the free craft at Lakeshore Learning was this fun mermaid craft. We had seen one of the employees make the sample back in the beginning of May (or maybe the end of April) and could not wait for this fun craft and of course that was the weekend we visited my parents so we could not go to Lakeshore to do the craft. That Monday, I stopped by to see if there was a pattern for the tail and they happened to have the leftover pieces out and gave me the basic pieces. Hazel and I finally had time to make it and we made many and got rather creative. I splurged on a fun sparkly paper that I thought would be perfect for the tail. I was able to cut two tails from it. 

Sharing Saturday 14-24

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week and to all of you who took the time to check out what others shared! I know I had a very hard time choosing features (you will be able to tell by the number I am featuring). There were so many amazing ideas shared! There was not a most clicked this week, so I broke our features into three categories: Father's Day (it is on Sunday), Painting and Artwork, and a Few of My Favorites.

In case you are in need of a Father's Day Idea, here are a few of the ones shared last week. 

 

1) From Crystal's Tiny Treasures: Father's Day Poem Printable

2) From Planet Smarty Pants: A Father's Day Gift: a Lego Card Holder 

3) From Stella 123: Ten Ideas for Giving the Gift of Family Time This Father's Day

4)  From Lou Lou Girls: 20 Amazing Father's Day Gift Ideas

5) From Some of the Best Things In Life Are Mistakes: Last Minute Ideas for Father's Day

 Painting and Art Features

1) From Mini Monets and Mommies: DIY Metallic Paint

2) From Krafts and Kiddos: Picasso Flower Art

3) From Crystal and Co.: Homemade Watercolors for Kids 

4) From Rubberboots and Elf Shoes: Fingerprint Fireflies 

A Few of My Favorites

1) From Ruffles and Rainboots: FROZEN-Inspired Princess Anna Dress Up Apron 

2) From Enchanted Homeschooling Mom: Tape Line Obstacle Course Gross Motor Skill Activity 

3) From Let's Do Something Crafty: Cereal Box Crafts: Making a Cardboard Hat 

4) From Mommy in Sports: Cardio With the Kiddos! 

5) From Our Adventure Story: 7 Doughnuts from Around the World

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! I hope you will join us and share again!! If you are featured here, please feel free to grab a featured button to display proudly on your blog. 

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From Your Hostess: This week we shared a review of the Minnie Mouse decorations, Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle for Virtual Book Club for Kids and our seahorse mobile, the food and activities from our Minnie Mouse Party, a review of some fun summer craft kits from Oriental Trading, some books, crafts and activities to celebrate Flag Day and a review of the amazing new book 101 Kids Activities That Are the Bestest Funnest Ever! by Holly Homer and Rachel Miller from Kid Activities Blog.

Make sure you enter our giveaway for the $30 gift certificate to the Air Plant Shop!! They have such neat things and  fun easy craft ideas!

Our Air Plant Craft

Now for This Week's Party  
A Few Simple Guidelines:
1)  Please follow Crafty Moms Share via GFC (or one of the other ways that work for you).  

2)  Link any kid-friendly, child-centered post. Please no etsy shops or giveaways, etc.  Remember to link to your actual post. 

3) Post the Sharing Saturday button on your sidebar or somewhere on your blog to help spread the word.

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4) I would love it if you would follow me on Facebook,  Google+, and Pinterest 

5) If you do not have a blog, but want to share an idea you can leave it in the comments or e-mail it to me with a picture (if possible).

 

 Disclaimer: By sharing here, you are giving Crafty Moms Share permission to use your photos for features and to pin your craft at Pinterest.

101 Kids Activities --- New Book Review

Have you entered my current giveaway yet?

 Disclosure: I was sent this book to review free of charge from Page Street Publishing Company. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I added links to the particular products for your convenience, but not for any compensation. 

Hazel's last day of school is tomorrow. Her last day of Pre-K! Now I need to figure out how to entertain her for the summer. Are you in a similar position? Today I get the pleasure of reviewing a book that is full of so many great ideas I started bookmarking mine and realized I was just marking every activity as perfect to do this summer. The book is 101 Kids Activities That Are the Bestest Funnest Ever! by Holly Homer and Rachel Miller of Kids Activities Blog. It is now available at bookstores everywhere including Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

From 101 Kids Activities by Holly Homer and Rachel Miller,
printed with permission of Page Street Publishing June 2014

Now before I tell you about what we have already tried from the book, I have to share that this book is like having a hard copy of Kids Activities Blog. If you are not familiar with their blog, you should be. They are regular participants in our Sharing Saturday and have been featured many times.  It is one of my favorite places to go for ideas. So having a hard copy of their ideas is just wonderful to me. I can see Hazel and I doing many things from this book this summer. The book is divided into four parts: Boredom Busters, Crafts, Games and Simple Science. All four sections are full of amazing ideas that children will love.

The activity we tried is DIY Straw Building Set. It is rather simple and yet it is a brilliant idea. You need flexible straws, pipe cleaners and clear tape to make this building set. You could use other things besides tape, but I found that to be the easiest. I started making these triangle shaped builders (for lack of better word) and I started to put them together with the plan of building a cave for Hazel. She saw me making them and wanted to instantly put them together. She made a pyramid with four of them.

After I told her of my plan to make her a tent/cave with them so she could put one of her cloths over it, she decided hers would be a tent for Ducky. She put a small silk over it. We need to adjust the size and shape of the silk still, but Ducky has his own tent.

Then while I was busy cleaning up or doing something else, she decided to make her own triangles and shapes for me. She did not overlap the straws, but hers still held.

At this point let me to tell you about the way I found easiest to make these. After trying different orders of doing things, I found the easiest was to begin by sticking a pipe cleaner partially in a straw and then putting another straw over the rest of the pipe cleaner. Squeezing one of the ends of a straw (almost folding it over itself) I pushed it into the other straw. Then you stick another pipe cleaner in the newest straw and it will be sticking out. You add a straw and repeat the overlap. If you want a triangle, you bend the straws at the flexible bends and make the shape. Overlap your final straw ends and the shape is complete. You can add however many straws you want to make different shapes.

Then we taped the shapes together in the way we wanted them and got creative. I am still working on the cave, but I can only imagine what else Hazel will come up with. She absolutely loves them!

The Start of the Cave

This is just one activity from the book. It has so many great ideas in it and you can easily expand on them. Plus they all need things that for the most part you will already have around your house.  Many of them will build the imagination and then of course there is the whole science section. So if you are wondering what to do this summer with your kids, pick up a copy of this book. You will not be disappointed! This is definitely one of my favorite craft books for kids crafts and activities.

Kids Activities Blog is running some giveaways of the book. Here is a chance for you to win your own copy! You can also enter to win one here for the next couple of days.

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Flag Day Books, Activities and Crafts

Have you entered my current giveaway yet?

In the United States, June 14th is Flag Day. To many this is just a holiday that is written on the calendar. I really do not ever remember a celebration for it in my life, but I do remember learning a bit about it in school. Of course being mid-June when school is out or almost out makes it hard for even that to happen. It is the perfect time to start thinking about patriotic crafts with Independence Day coming up and focusing on the flag and its meaning as well as the Pledge of Allegiance. To do these things, I found some books at our local library. But before I share the books and activities with you, I want to share a bit of history. The date June 14th was picked because it is the day the Second Continental Congress adopted the flag. It is unknown who made the first flag and therefore who designed it. There are many legends and rumors about it. It is known that Betsy Ross made one of the earliest flags. (Source)

I Pledge Allegiance by Pat Mora and Libby Martinez is a story told in a girl's perspective. She and her family are excited because her great aunt is about to become a citizen of the United States. She helps her great aunt practice the Pledge of Allegiance and the girl's teacher has her lead the class in the Pledge of Allegiance the day before her aunt becomes a citizen to help celebrate. It is a wonderful book that explains why some people want to become citizens and a great book to start conversations about citizenship and what it means.

F Is for Flag by Wendy Cheyette Lewison is a book that talks about the flag and its meaning as well as a small amount about flag day. The history of the flag is also touched upon in this book.

The Flag We Love by Pam Munoz Ryan is another book about the flag. It goes into a bit of history of the flag, the Pledge of Allegiance as well as the national anthem.

An easy activity/craft for children is to make a flag from paper or felt. Or to have it as a felt "puzzle". It is also a great way to demonstrate how the flag has changed over the years with the number of stars. I cut the pieces out of felt (well the stars are paper and I got bored of cutting them). To get the dimensions somewhat correct I looked them up and used the ones at USFlag. I started with a white rectangle 9 inches by 17 inches. I made a pattern for the various pieces so you will not have to do the math.

We also did some activities on the Pledge of Allegiance and flag last September to go along with the book I Pledge Allegiance by Bill Martin, Jr. This was a wonderful book to teach children the meaning of the words in the Pledge of Allegiance.

We also made flag placemats and windsocks for a Fourth of July party a few years ago.

And a fun states craft with a flag frame.

For more ideas we are going to try some of the crafts and activities (educational) in Little Hands Celebrate America! by Jill Frankel Hauser.

For more patriotic ideas check out my Patriotic Round-Up and my Patriotic Pinterest Board.

Summer Craft Kits Product Reviews

 Disclosure: I was sent these craft lots to review free of charge from Oriental Trading. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I added links to the particular products for your convenience, but not for any compensation. 

Point I get them to for Hazel