Looking for a fun way to challenge your little this season? A DIY Match the Egg Memory Game is an egg-ellent option!
When I saw the egg match printable from The Letter Vee, I knew I had to utilize it. Mila loves playing memory games, especially when they’re seasonal.
With a little work, it became such a cute and fun way for her to settle and use her brain.
This DIY Match the Egg Memory Game takes a little bit to make and set up. After the hard work though, it looks beautiful and my little loved it! She spent about 30 consecutive minutes playing with it.
First, you need to print out the sheet from The Letter Vee. Then cut each of the egg pieces out.
Next, use modge podge to glue the paper on to pieces of cardboard. I only used a thin layer between the paper and cardboard. It seemed to have stuck perfectly fine.
Once the glue is dry, cut the cardboard into the right sized pieces too.
You could easily be done with your Match the Egg Memory Game, but we wanted to make it extra cute. This is totally optional, but I think it made it extra special.
We reused pink tinsel to trim out the pieces. To do this, I just cut the tinsel to size and hot glued around the cardboard. Then you just stick the tinsel around the outside and let it cool. I decided to leave the tinsel off of the side where the eggs come together too.
You can use these pieces as a traditional memory game or make it a little more special by hiding them in eggs around the house. Either way, it’s full of Easter fun!
What Easter games do you play with your kiddos? Let me know in the comments.
Happy National Crayon Day, friends! To celebrate the day, Mila and I made these adorable DIY Melted Crayon Artwork eggs.
This was a fun and different way to utilize our broken crayons.
Mila and I like to color a lot and sometimes we can left with small ones that can’t color anymore. We’ve melted them to make other crayons, but we wanted to be more creative this time.
I’ve been so inspired by all the Easter content lately that I thought it’d be adorable to make Easter eggs.
Here’s what you’ll need to make yours…
Crayons
Grater
Iron
Wax Paper
Thick Paper
This activity is really simple, but there’s definitely a decent amount of prep and clean up for parents.
First, collect your broken crayons that are not useable. Then it’s time to start grating them.
Mila picked out a ton of different colors. Beware of this! They can all mix and melt together. She didn’t seem to mind so it all worked out for us!
Once everything’s grated, it’s time to design your Easter eggs. I’m sure older kids would be able to create different designs. You could even use washi tape to keep everything separated.
Mila had a fun time putting the crayon shreds on the paper and had even more fun watching the next part.
When the design is complete, lay wax paper over it. Then with a heated iron, lightly press on it to melt the crayons. Mila was not expecting it to melt so we got to talk about why and about color mixing too!
After it melted, we let the crayon melting dry and then cut out the eggs shape.
We will make these eggs into a cute garland with different textures of yarn… and maybe some glitter too. Glitter is always the answer in our house!
This is an inexpensive way to decorate for Easter while doing a fun craft and science experiment with littles.
Check out other ways Mila and I have utilized and upcycled old crayons:
What’s Mila’s favorite part about spring, minus the flowers and nice weather? All the baby animals! This Farm Clean Up Sensory Play idea is a perfect way to talk about new baby animals AND have fun being messy too.
This interactive play was easy to set up and let her play for a long time. The best part… it’s completely edible too.
First, I want to say a HUGE thank you to Terra by Battat for gifting Mila these animals to play with. They have these big Bucket Sets full of different types of animals that are amazing. Terra by Battat sent us farm animals, marine animals, and a few other goodies that we love.
Their toys are super realistic and come in their own world. Mila has spent hours with both the buckets. The marine animals have became her favorite bath tub toys. I’ll be posting different ways we’re playing with them. You should still totally check Terra by Battat out though. Would make perfect Easter presents!
Anyways…
When I saw the country world bucket, I instantly thought of this fun sensory play. To further create this world, here’s what you’ll need:
The hardest part of this sensory play is the set up. It just takes a little time, but it’s worth it.
To set the scene, all you need to do is spread chocolate pudding in one part of your sensory tray. I also added some crushed kix cereal to make it look more realistic.
I also made sure to make the animals ‘muddy’ too. Honestly, I didn’t know if Mila would want to do that so it just made it a little more fun for me.
Then, I set up the cleaning area. This just consisted of a wash cloth, cleaning brush, and soapy water. It was nice doing the water in a bowl because Mila instantly thought it was a bathtub! Which works for me.
The next little area was where the animals dried off. I just used shredded paper and tissue paper.
After it was all ready for her, I just let her do whatever. When we do sensory set ups like this, I try not to give her too much direction. She immediately started cleaning off the animals.
It was so cute to listen to her too. She pretended she was a zookeeper and it was cleaning day.
After the first clean up was done, she made the animals muddy again and kept the process going. I loved watching how creative she was through it all.
I think this activity would have been even better outside with more space, but it worked well inside too.
The clean up for this activity was really easy too. All I did was recycle the paper. Then I just used water to clean everything else off. It was quick and simple!
I have a feeling we’ll definitely be doing this set up again in the near future. Until then, I can’t wait to show you the other fun activities we have planned with the marine world bucket. It was another hit with Mila.
Make sure to check out Terra by Battat and order realistic play animals that your kids will love.
What edible sensory play do you do with your kids? I would love to hear ideas.
Are you looking for a little luck until next St. Patricks’s Day? Then it’s time to make a DIY Leprechaun Trap.
This fun trap was made out of items around the house and printables from Whimsically Wonderful. It also was fun to creatively collaborate with Mila and keep the magic of St. Patrick’s Day going.
If there was a classified ad for this DIY Leprechaun Trap, I think it would read something like this…
If you’re a weary leprechaun looking for a comfy place to rest for the night… or next year…You have to stay at The Rainbow Hotel!
Filled with a comfy bed, free gold, and magical decor, you’ll love your stay. You won’t miss The Rainbow Hotel because all you have to do is follow the rainbow exterior and the shamrock on the door.
Plus, it’ll only cost you a little luck.
Honestly, I’d want to stay in The Rainbow Hotel too. I just don’t have too much luck to give.
Anyways, here’s what we used for our DIY Leprechaun Trap:
Recycled Box and smiley face from Moravian Trail Co (seriously the best candles)
Putting this together was really easy, but took some time.
It was a lot of cutting, gluing, and making sure everything looked cute in the right place.
It took us about an hour to cut and glue everything on, but it looked so cute. The best part of making leprechaun traps is everyone’s is going to look different and unique. I think this one celebrates how Mila and I are and view life.
Now it’s time to catch our leprechaun. You can only catch them on St. Patrick’s Day, so make sure you have yours ready!
Do you ever make leprechaun traps? If you do let me know how you made the next day special in the comments.
The magic of St. Patrick’s Day keeps flowing, especially with this DIY Coloring Changing Shamrock Sign.
Littles will be amazed watching blue and yellow make green! You can also use this sign to help trap those pesky leprechauns. They’ll be attracted to the magic.
Mila has been super curious in two different things: leprechauns and how to make colors.
To be able to give her both in one day, we did a magical craft that we’ll use to bait leprechauns. It’s really been fun to hear all her ideas of how to catch a leprechaun. She had fun making magic like them!
Plus, we love an activity with a simple set up! This one gives you just that with some leprechaun magic too! Here’s what you’ll need:
Blue Paint
Yellow Paint
Black Paint
Gold Paint
Canvas
Plastic Wrap
All you need to do is pour some blue and yellow paint on a blank canvas. I actually had the canvas in a sensory bin to keep the mess at bay.
Then, I had Mila place plastic wrap on top and told her to mix all the colors.
For that part, I really had to tell her it was okay to get messy. She was really moving the plastic wrap around which mixed it up quicker. At first I think she was afraid of the messy paint!
Once it’s combined, take the plastic wrap off and let it dry.
To add a little more magic, I painted on a shamrock, ‘lucky,’ and splattered gold paint. I think it turned out as magical as a leprechaun would like.
What’s your favorite St. Patrick’s Day saying to put on signs?
Looking for ways to spread love and enjoy your local wildlife? Try making these Rainbow Heart Bird Feeders. They’re a great way to have fun with your child and show them the importance of the world around us.
Plus, they turn out really cute AND it doubles as a snack time for your little. A total win-win for every being involved!
This easy DIY Rainbow Heart Bird Feeders only need three items to make create. Here’s what they are:
Pipe Cleaners
Fruit Loops or Cheerios
Yarn
To begin making these, there’s just a simple prep that won’t take too much time at all. All you need to do is pour some fruit loops in a little bowl. Then, twist the pipe cleaners into v’s. Once you do this, your child will be ready to start threading.
Mila and I had talked about making bird feeders before we started this activity. So, she knew what she was supposed to do. We also have threaded with pipe cleaners before too.
If your toddler has never threaded with looped cereal before, I would suggest showing them, thread together, and then they’ll be able to pick it up by themselves. It’s such a good skill for them to have and tremendously helps with their fine motor development; which is beneficial for so many reasons.
Once they have threading down, you can challenge them to do different patterns too.
For Mila, I lined up the Fruit Loops in the order I wanted her to thread. We just did a simple rainbow patter for one of the hearts. This challenged her to find specific colors and to keep the pattern.
When the pipe cleaners are filled with cereal (or your child has snacked on the rest of it), all you need to do is twist the ends of the pipe cleaner together. Then, pinch where the two heart bumps would be at the top. I had to move the cereal around so I could do this and form it into the shape it needed.
After, we just tied yarn to the tops of the heart. We headed outside to find the most perfect tree that our birds fly too.
Mila was very proud to see her Rainbow Heart Bird Feeders on the tree. Then she played out in the snow afterwards too. We love connecting with nature and being outside as much as we can. Thank goodness spring will be here soon!
This bird feeder was a fun way to play and help the animals we love so much. We hope that you’d love to make one too for Valentine’s Day or spring.
Have you ever fed birds before? What’s your favorite way to do so? Let me know in the comments.
Is there anything more nostalgic than a school Valentine’s Day Party? The rush of having a cute card box and picking out the perfect Valentine’s Day card for your friends. They’re little reminders to show your friends that they are loved.
Since this is Mila’s first year at school for the big event, we decided to make a DIY Valentine’s Day Cards.
It’s been so much fun creating for Valentine’s Day. If we hadn’t had so many snow days, I’m unsure whether or not DIY cards would be in the picture, but I’m happy they are.
Mila and I talked about different Valentine’s Day cards and gifts. We decided we liked the phrase, “You Color My World.” Mostly because I pushed it really hard because I was already thinking about crayons
A lot of the elements in these Valentine’s Day cards should look familiar!
On the front of the cards, if you can remember to a few blog posts ago, Mila had already painted the tops of her cards. All I did was take the dry pages and cut them out into small rectangles. Then, I wrote “You Color My World” with glitter markers over it.
For the back, I cut the same size rectangle with white card stock and taped them together. If the back of the painted paper wasn’t messy, I would have skipped this step.
Next, I wrote “to” and the name of Mila’s classmate. Then, I had Mila write her name under the “from.” I think it’s important she keeps writing her name and actively participates in helping with these DIYs.
On the back of the card, I made space either on the side of their names or above for a little gift. Since we were doing “You Color My World,” we had to make personalized crayons.
Pinks, hearts, and love all around. Valentine’s Day is the perfect holiday to craft and create. To start off the fun, we played around with Valentine’s Day Painting Activities that will be helpful for our crafts all February long.
Even if you’re not ‘crafty,’ you’ll love these easy painting ideas and your kids will have fun with it too.
I think it’s a little obvious that Mila (and I) love painting and being creative. Usually Mila’s go-to colors are pinks and purples, so it just makes Valentine’s Day prep a little more fun.
Since we’ve had a lot of snow days lately, we’ve been experimenting with different ideas of how to express ourselves. All of these listed are simple, BUT they can get really messy. I just like to state that beforehand. I highly suggest putting something down underneath your painting area and putting old clothes on your kids.
That way everything stays safe and clean.
We used four different types of painting styles and I’m going to save our favorite for last. Here’s all the supplies we used for the entire day:
Stock paper
Paint
Bubble wrap
Cotton Balls
Toilet paper rolls
Shaving cream
Kraft paper
Tray
Bubble Wrap Painting
One fun way to add texture in painting is to use different supplies. Mila and I used bubble wrap last year for a heart garland, so we wanted to redo it again. I actually loved the little dots it creates. It sort of reminds me of honeycombs.
This year, we used WAY too much paint and didn’t get the honeycomb effect. I love the way it did turn out though.We also popped the bubbles too, which was fun for Mila. It made the paint explode out, so beware of that. I think it just looks like a big swirl, but we had the most fun using this method.
With the extra paint, I put it on another piece of craft paper. We’ll use that for wrapping paper.
It’s also a great way to reuse bubble wrap instead of just throwing it away. Always looking for ways to reuse, reduce, and recycle.
Cotton Ball Painting
With toddlers and preschoolers, using anything but paint brushes makes painting way more fun. Cotton balls are a perfect stepping stone for them. Although Mila just used her hands, you can easily add them on clips to make it less messy and easier for kids to grab.
This one seems a little typical to add, but I want to share the reasons I love using cotton balls for painting.
The circle shape is so cute and stays consistent. Mila talked the entire time how she was making circles and was very proud of them. It also holds the paint really neat. It soaks it up and if you mix colors, it gives a cool ombre pattern. Usually I don’t let Mila mix her paint to avoid making brown, but you can do it with cotton balls. You can tell which colors she mixed together.
Even though this is simple, kids activities do not have to be extravagant to get a cute outcome filled with fun.
Toilet Paper Roll Stamp
I promise I won’t go on and on about reusing things around the house, but here’s another example of it. Most people have empty rolls so they’re accessible to use for Valentine’s Day crafts.
The best part, you can easily shape them into little hearts. All you have to do is push down in the middle to get the indent in the top of the heart and press the sides in. It’s super simple to do! I think they’re the cutest little hearts as well.
This was definitely Mila’s favorite painting. She’s obsessed with hearts and draws them constantly. Being able to paint them just made it a little sweeter.
One issue that we ran into is the heart not being even when you press down. If you don’t get them just right, you have to show your child how to get the stamp fully down. For us this time, we just had to rock it from the bottom point then tilt it to the top arches. I only had to show Mila one time how to get a complete heart and then she was all over it.
We’ll 100% be using this technique for a future craft. I’ll make sure to share and link back here just in case you’d like to keep up and see.
Shaving Cream Marbling Art
Out of all of these methods, this is the only one we’ve done for the first time. I’ve been eyeing this technique for a long time, but didn’t think Mila was ready for it. Now we have peaked in our painting. The outcome of this is my favorite, but it was the messiest of the bunch.
For this, all you have to do is put shaving cream in a tray. I used Mila’s sensory one. Then, Mila poured acrylic paint on top of the shaving cream and mixed it around with a paint brush. She might have swirled it a little too much, but the pattern was perfect no matter how she did it. After you have it the way you like, you push the paper in it. Make sure all of it is covered or you’ll have blank spaces. Peel it off the top and use a popsicle stick or old card to scrape off the remaining shaving cream on top. After, let it dry.
We ended up using the same pattern for three sheets of paper and could have easily done more! It was the quickest way to paint and is so unique.
I personally got a ton of shaving cream and paint on my hands through this. Mila saw how messy it was and dipped pretty quick. I would just suggest having wipes close to you or doing this technique by the sink.
Painting with these different styles was a lot of fun and gives us so many opportunities for future projects too. I can’t wait for you all to see what we’re making with these sheets too! Try to guess in the comments what you think we’re making.
Also, I want to say I know I’ve been a little quiet on the blog this month. I’ve been posting more on Instagram and Facebook the last few weeks, but it’s been nice to have a little writing break. We have a ton of fun recipes, activities, and crafts for the rest of this month and February to bring you though! One of them is about our trip to Florida and DISNEY! Let’s just say Mila keeps asking to go back.
For now, I’d love to hear what your favorite crafts and activities you do for Valentine’s Day are in the comments… and again, let me know what you think we’re doing with these sheets too.
Looking for other fun Valentine’s Day activities? Check these out:
It’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day and we created a Hand and Heart Sign to celebrate this great man.
This MLK Day craft also gave Mila and me the time to sit and talk about the importance of MLK’s mission. We’re always in the lookout to talk about diversity, antiracism, and love.
With my parenting, I make it a point to talk about big issues with Mila. Civil rights for everyone no matter their race, gender, or socioeconomic standing is something I believe Mila should grow up understanding. Making sure I keep the conversation age appropriate is just as important too.
To begin our conversation this year about MLK, I had her watch MLK’s ‘I have a dream’ speech. She loved watching him talk and it gave her a sense of knowing him.
Then she did a MLK coloring page from The Letter Vee. She had a picture of him up while she colored it in.
Then, we talked about what word describes MLK’s message and overall feeling. Mila said, “LOVE!” I’m so glad she picked up on that while listening and talking about him.
“If you are seeking the highest good, I think you can find it through love.”
MLK
This year, I wanted to combine aspects from last years artwork and the word love. Here’s what we used to create this adorable piece.
Heart sign (from the dollar store!)
Skin toned paints
Yarn
Hot glue
With Mila’s help, I painted her hand with the skin toned paint and had her put her hand wherever she wanted to on the sign. We let the paint dry in between colors so it didn’t get muddled.
After it was all dry, I wrote ‘love’ in the middle. Next, I used my hot glue gun to trace the word and around the heart. Carefully, I tapped the yarn on the glue so it’d stick.
For the bow on top, I took different colored yarn and tied it on the top.
I actually love how it turned out. To me it says, we need everyone to work together and create love for humans to move forward.
It’s also one of those crafts that can stay in your house way beyond MLK Day too.
Again, I forgot to take pictures during the making of this piece, but I did video. I promise I’ll start doing better with this! The videos are cute, but I feel like pictures work better on here.
I hope you enjoyed Mila’s creation for MLK Day. I’d totally recommend showing your child some speeches by him or even talking about MLK. There’s so many beautiful quotes that are so meaningful too.
Here’s some other ways Mila and I have talked about MLK and antiracism.
There’s so much magic when a person gets to shake a snow globe. It’s a whole work in your hands. Snow Globe Sensory Bins are even more magical and fun to explore.
If your child loves snow globes, they’re going to love this play idea.
Mila has a slight obsession with snow globes.
On her first Christmas, she got multiple ones from different people. We still have all (but one), that are all set up in her room. My parents also get her snow globes from every place they visit. To say we have a mini snow globe collection is an understatement.
No matter the time of the year, she loves to shake and look at them. To continue that love, I thought this sensory bin would be a perfect fit.
I was right!
As with a lot of my sensory bins and play ideas, I used elements I had around the house or from past bins. Here’s what we used for this one:
Fake snow
Sensory bin
Rainbow bottle brush trees
Different sized jars
Extra accessories
Spoon or mini shovel
This sensory bin is full of fun activities. All I did was set it up like this and Mila made it her own.
She filled up the jars with snow and saw how many trees she could fit in each jar. I watched her make the snow globes pretty too.
We talked about the colors of the tree, had them count, and we did small to big comparisons with the jars. Learning has no boundaries. You can talk about whatever with your child. They’ll soak up all that information.
Even though I originally just set up the mini trees, Mila brought in mini toys to play with and put in the snow globes too.
I can easily see opening up play with her by making the snow globes more themed or adding different seasonal elements in the future. Again, the opportunities are endless when it comes to sensory bins!
Hopefully you and your child enjoy this sensory bin as much as we did. We want to make snow globes sometime this winter and need all the tips we can get! I’ll update when we make them.
Have you ever made a snow globe before? What liquid do you use for the inside?
Then… check out these other fun indoor winter activities too!
Grey Skies & Rainbow Highs 