DIY Binoculars for Kids

As I mentioned yesterday, we have been having a lot of fun exploring our new neighbourhood now that the weather is cooler. The boys love to get outside and go for walks on the trails around our place. The paths are paved, which is great for the trike Henry got for his birthday, and there is no traffic so Andrew can run around freely. It's the perfect activity for that crazy hour between naps and dinner prep!

For the past week or two, Andrew has been toting a set of homemade binoculars with him on our excursions. They consist of two toilet paper rolls held together with tape, then staples, then more tape (he accidentally rips them each day and then begs for a repair). This week I decided to try and make a more durable set of binoculars that would hopefully stand up to his vigorous play.

What better material to stand up to a three years old's antics than Duct Tape!? Andrew picked out a roll of camo duct tape and I went to work! It was super simple, I covered two toilet paper rolls, attached them with a band of tape and then created a strap by folding a long piece of tape into thirds. Andrew was super impressed with my efforts!

We set to the trails with the Fall Nature Hunt I shared yesterday and had a great time in the late afternoon sun!

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A Simple Art Display...

I recently set up a little work space for Andrew in our new home. It is a small are where he can complete a puzzle, colour a picture or play with some play dough without the threat of his little brother tearing everything apart! I wanted to incorporate a space where he could display some of his art, like he had in his old bedroom, and I came up with these super simple clipboards.

To make this art display I picked up three plain clipboards from the dollar store, chose some cute scrap booking paper from Michael's and went to work!

First, I cut the paper to the appropriate size. Then, I applied a thin coat of Mod Podge to the back of the paper and the clipboard. i carefully place the paper on the clipboard and then applied another thin coat of Mod Podge to the from of the paper.

The paper looked like it was bubbled and creased at first, 

but once it dried the wrinkles disappeared. 

I covered three clipboards with paper and hung them on the wall in a row. They add a nice splash of colour to an extremely white space and are perfect for showing off all of Andrew's little masterpieces!

I will be sharing the rest of Andrew's workspace soon, so be sure to come back and check it out!

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A Crabby Party!! {Henry turns 1!}

This weekend we celebrated the first birthday of our little man! I love birthday parties and can get a little carried away with all of the details, but having recently moved to a new home in a new country this party was a little more low key. We were happy to have Henry's Nana, Auntie and two cousins fly in for the event and coincidentally some other family friends were in the city so they stopped by to join the celebration!

We decided that "A Crabby Party" would be a fitting theme for Henry's first birthday, now that we live in Maryland. To get ready for the party I cut out some beachy shapes on my silhouette, hung some beach balls around the living room and placed some snacks in sand pails (including "Oh Henry" bars of course!).

The kids made some simple crab hand print art using red finger paint and googly eyes.

I baked white cupcakes with Cookie Butter frosting and graham cracker crumbs, to resemble the beach, and placed a few little crabs made from edible moulding dough. I also made a matching smash cake for Henry to tear apart!

We all laughed as Henry politely sampled cake. He needed some help from Daddy to really get the idea! 

A good time was had by all. We got some fantastic pictures and made some great memories. As it turns out, Henry doesn't really care if the water bottles are personalized and napkin rings match the goodie bags. He's just happy to have his family there to play!

p.s. I go crazy for personalized water bottles and matching napkin rings, 

so I am totally doing that for his second birthday!

Kid's Crafts ~ Instagram Watercolours

Today I am sharing a fun activity that combines two things I love... instagram and kid's crafts! This is a quick painting activity that is perfect for your preschooler. Andrew really enjoys painting, but his fine motor skills are developing and his paintings are usually just a jumble of colour. Preschool abstract art is great, but all starts to look the same after awhile!

To get started I printed a few of our favourite instagram photos with a sepia filter. I also tried a black and white effect but found sepia to be softer and more inviting to the colours of Andrew's choosing.

I mixed some watercolours by combining a few drops of acrylic craft paint and a small amount of water, handed Andrew a paint brush and stood back!

Once the paintings had dried, we stuck them to the fridge for all to enjoy! We sure do miss the cute faces of Andrew and Henry's best friends and having them smiling back at us is a nice reminder of home!

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Benedetti Buzz... {an adorable summer craft}

I have made quite a few "blogging friends" over the past year. It's always really fun to connect with people that have the same interests and interact with them using various forms of social media... but I am super excited to say that one of my "real life friends" has joined the blogging world! Jenn and I have been close friends for about 5 years now and we have always enjoyed many of the same interests (crafting, cooking, party planning). I am so happy that we can now add blogging to the list!!

Today I wanted to share one of her posts with you, an adorable homemade bug jar! Jenn and her two kiddos had a great time making this little home for the insects that they find on their daily excursions. It is a super simple craft and can be made from supplies you already have on hand.

Be sure to stop by Jenn's blog Bennedetti Buzz to check out her quick tutorial and some of her other posts (don't forget to cheer her on with a comment or two)!

Bennedetti Buzz

Patterning With Preschoolers

It is really hard for me to believe, but my little man will be old enough for school in September! As a December baby he will most likely be among the youngest in his class, and this along with his rambunctious personality has me concerned with his ability to focus in the classroom. We have been working on many of the literacy and numeracy skills that he will need for school, and it has been very important that they remain super engaging in order to maintain his interest. This summer, my goal is to continue learning in fun ways, but to begin including more activities that will improve his ability to complete a task.

Patterning is a great skill to work on with children of all ages. It lends itself easily to crafty activities that kids can get excited about. This morning, Andrew and I created a fun "Snack Necklace" that had him learning about patterns, counting and developing his fine motor skills. As an added bonus, he sat in a chair and focused on the project for almost ten minutes (more than you can expect for a three year old)!

For this patterning activity we used Fruity Cheerios. We started by identifying all of the colours that we had to work with and then Andrew selected three different colours to use in his Snack Necklace. I drew three cheerios in the appropriate colours to use as a planning guide.

Andrew placed one cheerio under each drawing and then we placed those cheerios on a bobby pin attached to a length of yarn. Andrew pulled the cheerios to the end of the piece of yarn and started again.

After repeating these steps a few times, I challenged Andrew to try two rows of his pattern. We practised counting the pieces of cereal as they were added to the necklace. 

Andrew was quite proud of his finished product and is really looking forward to wearing it to the park later today so that he can snack on the go!

Here are some other learning activities that your little ones might enjoy!

Chalkboard Table Games

Letter Sounds

Sidewalk Learning

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Guest Post: Bottle Cap Stamps

The next few weeks are going to be super busy and a little stressful in the Leeper house. My husband will be starting a fellowship in Baltimore next month and we will be pretty consumed with getting him packed up and shipped off! We have also planned a family vacation for the first few weeks of July, which means crafting and blogging will be taking a bit of a backseat for a little while. However, I do plan to check in once a week or so with a post. I am also happy to say that some of my blogging friends have offered to share some of their posts! Here is the first one! Thanks for sharing Chelsea!

Hello there! Chelsea with a bushel 'n' a peck here and it is my pleasure to be guest posting here at ...AND AWAY WE GO! Leanne was so gracious to invite me to share this fun, inexpensive kiddo activity that is a favorite in our house.

So for those that don't know my oldest daughter (3) doesn't attend day care. We are fortunate enough to have work schedules that allow us (my husband for the most part) to be home with our little ones. So in an effort to try and keep her engaged we try new little artsy things to do.

While trying new things is great it can also cost a lot of money. It takes little to no time at all to take a trip to Hobby Lobby or Michaels and spend a fortune. So thanks to many a Pinterest pinners I have been able to get ideas for our arts and crafts. This day was bottle cap stamps.

Gather your supplies. In our case it only cost us $1. We started to collect bottle caps, have plenty of paint and paper, only needed the foam stickers.

Start by sticking a variety of stickers onto the flat side of bottle caps.

To apply the paint you can either allow your kiddo to stamp into some paint or apply some paint with a paint brush. I applied for my little one (at the time 2) and allowed her to stamp.

My foam stickers were different forms of transportation so as we stamped we talked all about the modes of transportation and the color we were stamping. She loved it!

How easy was that? Well the little one doesn't know, all they know was they got to stamp to their heart's content. She didn't quite understand stamping and pressure but I think did pretty well for her age. This was a fun activity that we will do again.

What a fabulous idea!  Here are some other great posts from  a bushel 'n' a peck. 

Free printable

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Father's Day Craft

Hi Everyone! Today I am sharing a quick and easy Father's Day craft over at The Taylor House. This cute little keychain will keep Daddy smiling wherever he goes! Be sure to stop by and check out the full tutorial!