Storytime & Craft: Are You a Horse?

Tyler wanted to read about horses, so I headed to the library and picked out some books which included, "Are You A Horse?" by Andy Rash.  We read through this book several times-- the ending is just too funny!  The story begins with cowboy Roy receiving a saddle for a birthday present.  However, he didn't understand its purpose, but luckily it came with instructions: 1. Find a Horse, 2. Enjoy the ride.  The cowboy then meets several things on his journey to find a horse, with each one saying "I am not a horse, a horse is/has....."  Finally, when he is about to give up a horse comes along....

Well, I won't spoil the last page for you but if you haven't read this, I highly recommend you check it out.  It'll give you and your child a good laugh!  

For a little craft, I found a cute and simple horse activity at BusyBee Kids Crafts.  We traced Tyler's foot for the head, 2 triangles for ears, and a rectangle-like shape for the neck.  I love giving Tyler the opportunity to cut paper-- he has always done well with scissors and it's always great to get more practice!

Next, we glued him onto some construction paper and added eyes and two lines for his nostrils.

Finally, we cut some yarn into small 1-2 inch pieces and glued them on for the mane.

4th of July Tie-Dye T-shirt

A memory that has stuck with me from my childhood has been spending time up north with my cousins over the Fourth of July-- watching fireworks, swimming in the lake, doing fun crafts, and decorating our "candy bags" for the parade.  Unfortunately Tyler won't get those memories, so one I've wanted to create with him is decorating his own 4th of July shirt every year. 

I thought it would be fun to tie-dye a shirt this year.  I picked up a white sleeveless shirt at Walmart for $3-4 and a few days later we walked to Hobby Lobby and picked up some S.E.I brand tie dye spray.  Though it's still a few weeks out, Tyler was SO excited about doing it that we've already made it.  He's worn his shirt several days in a row (and would keep doing so if I hadn't buried it in the dirty laundry!).   We also made a pillow case that turned out really cool, too.

Be prepared... tie-dye= big ol' MESS!  It was a lot of fun though!  I didn't buy gloves, so our hands were nice and colorful, too! 

The shirt is on the right side and the yellow, blue, and red tie dye is a pillowcase!  That turned out super cool, too!

What are some of your 4th of July traditions?

                         

Storytime & Craft: Playdough Monsters

Several blogs I follow announced a Summer Virtual Book Club a few weeks back (you can check out the post at Reading Confetti) and I thought we would join in the fun since I love books and crafts-- it was a win/win!  This month's author was Mo Willems, author of the famous "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!"  I've read Tyler hundreds... thousands.... of books and this was our first experience with his books.  Okay... okay, I've never kept track, but it sure seems like I have read "thousands" of books; it might be possible ; )

We checked out several books authored by Mo Willems and decided to do an activity based on the book, "Leonardo the Terrible Monster."  The book reminded me of the storyline of Monsters, Inc. in several ways; Leonardo was a monster who just couldn't scare anyone no matter how hard he tried.  One day he found the most "scaredy-cat" kid in the world and thought that he had made him cry, but to his dismay that wasn't the case.  Leonardo then made a decision to become a good friend, not a terrible monster.

 

 After reading the book, I pulled out the play dough and we made Play dough Monsters!  Yes, I made a couple too!  How could I resist when my sweetie asks, "Mommy, will you make one, too?"

I don't bring out play dough often as I find it is one of the messiest craft items we have!  I find pieces of play dough everywhere!  I also set out googly eyes, feathers, dried beans, and pipe cleaners.  We actually did  a similar activity for Halloween a couple years ago, and I am not sure where I found the idea; however, if you do a google search you will find many other blogs that have done the same activity.

Our first creation with a pig's tail-- isn't he scary?!

 My scary creation!

 Tyler's brother and sister monsters!

 Our Monsters on parade!

Scary, huh?!