4th Crafts and the last GIVEAWAY of the week

This fun week has just flown by!  I want to thank everyone for stopping by!  If you haven't entered to win there are still 4 giveaways to participate in! 

Today, I wanted to share some craft ideas with you!  C and I did some 4th of July inpired paintings and we wanted to share!

Painting with cookie cutters.  This was fun and easy!  The cookie cutters acted as stamps and made this beautiful collage.

Fork Painting.  C wasn't much into this, but I think with more spreading of the fork it can look like fireworks bursting in the sky.  What do you think?

Fireworks Finale Painting!  We used a sponge and lots of different colors.  Doesn't look like a fireworks show finale?!

I am very excited for the 4th to get here...these painting will be a fun festive way to decorate my fridge!

Do you take lots of pictures on the 4th of July?  Do you digital scrapbook?

Then, the giveaway I have today is for you!

Aren't these digi scrap papers adorable!  Think of all the layout possiblities!  Don't digit scrap?  Print them out and use them for various projects!

This 12 pack of 12x12 paper was created by JCG Designs on Etsy.  Janeen is the creator of JCG Designs.  She also has a shop full of adorable birth announcements!

Want to WIN your own 12 pack of digi papers?

MANDATORY: Go to JCG Designs.  Tell you favorite paper collection or suggest a new color scheme.

For extra entires:

-Follow Me & Marie Learning's blog

-Grab a button or list me in your blog links on your blog

-Fan Me & Marie Learning on Facebook

Giveaway ends June 29th @ 11:59 CST

One lucky winner will be chosen at random.  Winner will recieve digi paper pack through e-mail.

HAVE YOU ENTERED TO WIN...

Bow and Headband Set- Ends tonight

Star and Stripes Preschool Learning Pack

Sparkler Holders

Planning a Patriotic Preschoolers Playgroup (with GIVEAWAY)

I love to plan little playgroup parties for my daughter and her little friends.  They get some great social playtime and I and the other mommies get great social time as well!  I have planned several playgroups...Lil Punkin Playgroup for fall, Toddling Turkey Playgroup, where we made cute little turkey feather hats and the Naughty or Nice Holiday themed playgroup where we did a little book exchange.  Well, now I'm hosting a Patriotic Preschoolers Playgroup.  I thought I would share my plans before the playgroup occured in case any of the mommies reading wanted to plan thier own!

The playgroup itself is quite easy but FUN!  I always plan 2 crafts, a snack, sensory play and plenty of time for free play!  I usually think of something fun to give the kiddos to take home.  Sometimes, we as a group of moms bring different things to fill goodie bags.

For the Patriotic Preschoolers Playgroup here is plan... (please feel free to use some or all of these plans if you are planning a July 4th themed playgroup)

Snack: Patriotic Pudding.  I plan on making a large batch of vanilla pudding.  Each kiddo will get to choose to make red or blue.  I will add thier choice of food coloring while they get to stirring!  I will also have red, white and blue sprinkles on hand to make this pudding sparkle!

Crafts:

-Star Sun Catcher
Materials: clear contact paper, the star template, red, white and blue tissue paper
Using the star template (printed on cardstock) I will cut around the outside and the inside of the star.  I will add contact paper to the inside of the star.  I plan on doing all of this ahead of time.  When the kids are ready to craft, they will tear red, white and blue tissue paper with thier fingers (fine motor) and stick it to the contact paper.  I will encourage them to fill all the sticky side up with tissue paper.  When they are done it can be taped in a window as a festive 4th of July sun catcher.

-Star Studded Leis, from Family Fun
 I featured this craft idea during Red, White and Blue week on Tuesday.  If you missed it, here is the link to making the leis.  All you need is straws, some kind of string to use as the base of lei and craft foam sheets (but I might just use construction paper or card stock). 

Sensory Table
I am the kind of mom that allows her sensory table inside during the winter filled with beans, colored pasta and many other things (I will say rice does draw the line!).  If you are not comfortable with it, no worries... you don't want to be worrying about the mess all through the
playgroup and not enjoying your time with friends.  But, if it sounds like fun then first what you need is a sensory table or sand and water table.  If you don't have one you can easily use a large shallow plastic tub.  Or, create several sensory stations by putting the materials in cake pans.
 
For the Patriotic Preschoolers, some of the ideas I had 
- color pasta red and blue (use rubbing alchol + food coloring and submerge pasta)
- use plastic stars (like buttons from the craft store)
- confetti or pieces of red, white or blue curling ribbon
- tissue paper squares (left over from the craft)

For this playgroup I found adorable little red and blue necklaces in the dollar bin at Target.  The kiddos will be going home with these and also a set of their own sparklers (but these sparklers will not be the kind that can burn them!)  We will have dipped large pretzel rods into white chocolate (melted white chocolate chips) and added 4th of July sprinkles.  To store and give out these yummy 'sparklers' I will use these ADORABLE Sparkler Holders from Print your Party.

Print Your Party is owned and operated by a pair of sister in laws and they create the cutest party supplies that you can print right from your computer!  They have designs for weddings, birthdays, baby showers and so much more!  Need printable invites?  They have them and will customize!  Their graphics and designs are amazing!  These products will defiantly get noticed at your party as being sleek and adorable!

I got the chance to try out their Sparkler Holders for my party.  They are SO easy to create.  First, I downloaded the Sparkler Holders, very simple. Then, I printed (on cardstock), cut out the holders and add slits (a craft knife is needed). Done! You can print as many as you need.  There are three designs included.  Note: these Sparkler Holders were created for real sparklers, but for the age of the children at the playgroup we will be doing edible sparklers :)

Will these not be the cutest way to give out a fun party favor at your 4th of July bash?  It's all in presentation!

Want to WIN your own Sparkler Holders printable from Print Your Party?

You have 5 chances to win!

MANDATORY: Visit http://www.printyourparty.com/ and look around.  Come back and suggest a new printable to be added to thier site.

Extra Entries:

-Become a Fan of Print Your Party on Facebook

-Follow Print Your Party's blog

-Follow Me & Marie Learning's blog

-Grab a Me & Marie Learning button (or have me in your blog list)

::: Please leave a seperate comment for each entry :::

Giveaway will end June 28th @ 11:59 CST

One lucky winner will be chosen at random.

Have to entered to win...

4th of July wand -  Ends TODAY!

Bow and headband set

Stars & Stripes Learning Pack

 

Tot School- 28 months

Summer has certainly arrived here in the midwest! We are trying to stay cool!
Here is a couple of happenings from our week...

Sidewalk Chalk ABC's- C loves to sing her alphabet and can get all the way through without any mistakes.  So, I wrote the alphabet A-Z in sidewalk chalk and let her drive her car and musical toy down the ABC rode as we sang.  Sorry I don't have a pic (the rain washed away our alphabet last night!)

Pool Time - Fun with cousins in the pool.  C did a great job with floaties on!

Pottery Painting- We went to paint pottery for Daddy for Father's Day.  C really enjoyed this.  I can't wait until we go pick it up and see the finished product!

Pattern Block Play: Over at my mom's house we played with an old Discovery Toys pattern block set.  C names all the shapes (except the rhombus) and even worked on a couple of the cards that were with the set.  She matched up the shapes with it's designated colors.  It was neat to see how on her own she was matching up the shapes using 2 attributes (the shape and the color).

Tow Truck Puzzle:  C played with her tow truck puzzle again this week.  You might have seen this on the post, C's Favorite Things.  It is def. a favorite!

Star Sorting: I got a package of 4th of July star buttons (Hobby Lobby) and let C sort them in a muffin tin. We sorted by color and then I helped her sort by size.

Have you entered to WIN a Kindermat Cover Tutorial?

Have you joined the Crayon Pals group?  A penpal group for little ones.

For more info on Tot School please visit: http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com/

C's Top 10 Favorite Things

My little C is truly a crafty game girl!  She loves to sit and make projects and play games.  I love learning about new games or projects that my little one might love.  Therefore, today I am sharing the Top 10 things C likes best.

Starting with #10: Barnyard Bingo by Fisher Price

I am not aware of anywhere that you can buy this game new right now.  It is an older game and we found ours at a garage sale.  I have also seen them on e-bay.  It is great matching game for beginning game players.  There are two modes of play : matching color only or matching both color and animal.

#9 Window Crayons by Crayola

C loves these crayons.  They are great for writing or drawing on windows and mirrors.  The crayons themselves are smooth and soft to write with.  A new medium in the coloring world!  Also, after she is done clean up is pretty easy and my windows are sparkling!

#8 Moon Sand

I bought some Moon Sand on clearance after Easter last year at Target.  I put it with C's Easter basket stuff.  I wasn't quite sure what the difference between Moon Sand and regular sand was, but decided to give it a try.  Moon sand is very soft and moldable.  Our batch of sand came with a bunny mold.  You pressed the sand into the mold, turned it over and out came the bunny you have created.  It is easy to break the sand back up, but for a 2 year old it was defiantly a mess!  I recommend doing this outside.  But, she absolutely loved it and played for at least 45 minutes!

#7 Say Please Tea Set from Fisher Price

I got C this tea set for her first birthday, now at the age of 2 this set is still a hit!  I love how it doesn't have a huge amount of pieces.  Plus, the shape sorting 'treats' that come with it are great for kids just beginning to sort.  Also, the songs on the teapot are quite cute!

#6 Sand & Water Table by Step 2

C got this sand and water table for her 1st birthday also.  I found it at Target and instantly fell in love with the size and height of the table.  A year later it is still loved and still in good shape!  All through the winter months it comes inside and is filled with all kinds of goodies based on the seasons and holidays.  During the summer months it is outside filled with sand or water.  Last year I bought the Crayola colored sand (pink) from Walmart and LOVED the feel of it.  I love how this table is so opened ended.  I added some funnels, scoops, cups, plastic critters and the possibilities for play are only limited to her imagination.

#5 Dot Paint

Oh how we adore Dot Paint.  I knew about Dot Paint long before having C.  It was fun to get to introduce her to these fun and less messy paint markers.  My favorite is the Do-A-Dot markers.  But, have recently found a cheaper version that works good too.

#4 Shaving Cream

 

 The ooey gooey experience of shaving cream.  It is a sensory delight!  In the above picture C is just exploring shaving cream and seeing how it reacts.  Now, when we do this I focus part of our time making lines and shapes with our fingers.  Please excuse the crazy hair in this picture- we had just pulled our pigtails out!

# 3 Color Wonder Stamp Pad

I knew all about Crayola's Mess Free Color Wonder markers and paints, but this new product is very cool!  It is a stamp set that comes with Color Wonder stamp pad, rubber stamps and Color Wonder Markers.  What is great about this stamp pad is that it does not ooze and make a mess when pressed on hard by a 2 year old.  It is completely mess free and only shows up on the Color Wonder paper.  We got ours at Michael's with a 40% coupon :)

#2 Fishing Puzzles

C could do these puzzles ALL DAY!  They are both created by Melissa & Doug and are wonderful for fine motor hand eye coordination.  The object is to catch the fish or car by using the magnet pole/tow truck.  I recently saw the tow truck puzzle at Target under a different brand name for a cheaper price.  C has gotten quite good at these puzzles, but isn't bored of them yet!

Drum ROLL please.......

#1 ZINGO by ThinkFun

Saying the C loves this game is an understatement.  I found it at Target and it looked like a game that my almost 2 year old could play so I got it.  It is basically a matching game with a twist of competition thrown in.  There are two sides to play, one side has less objects in common on each board, making the competition element not as fierce.  The other side is the more competitive side (this is the side we can now play with C).  It is a great game for matching, picture recognition and vocabulary, paying attention to task and sharing the winner's spotlight (as it is mostly a game of luck of the draw).  We played this game every night the first week we got it.  My mom recently found the game at a garage sale and keep it at her house.  They played it 10 times the last time C visited!!!

Well... there we have it.  The top 10 loved items at our house!  Please feel free to list any items you and your little one love in the McLinky below!

Tot School- 27 months

I feel like it has been forever since sharing a piece of C's Tot School.  Things have not been in a good routine around here.  We had to take down and pack the majority of her Tot School room to put our house on the market.  So, we don't have all of the things out that I would like to have out (like our trays!).  But, we are staying busy.  Here are some of things we have been up to lately:

C has really been getting into using scissors and for the most part does a great job.  I found this book called 'Snip It!' in the clearance at Walmart last year.  It is made by Mead.  I believe they are still available for purchase.  This book is great because to begin with, snipping is all that is required to finish the project.

I cut the strips of brown and yellow for her.  Then she cut the strip into small snips.  After the small pieces of paper were ready, I peeled back part of the picture (which then revealed a sticky area) and she placed her small pieces of paper onto the tiger.  It is a great fine motor mosaic activity.

The book also contains more cutting activities for cutting around objects and gluing them down.

We also got into our Kumon books.  I bought this set of 4 books off of Amazon.  At that time they had the 4-for-3 promotion (getting 4 books for the price of 3) and free shipping on orders over 25 dollars.  I have been really pleased with this set of books.  We haven't worked much with the Let's Fold book, but LOVE the others.

This is C working on the Let's Color book.  I love how all the books progress from simple tasks to more complex tasks.

We also worked on our Giraffee floor puzzle from Lakeshore.  This thing is HUGE!  C wasn't able to do it herself as she is just beginning to put together 6 and 9 piece jigsaws.  But, it was fun to do together!

For more on Tot School please visit 1+1+1=1.