DIY Pizza Box Learning Game

With my oldest child in kindergarten and my middle child of preschool age, I wanted to come up with a fun, fast, all-in-one game that would encourage them to learn without realizing that they were. Tricky mama, I know. I figured a board game would be able to cover several different aspects of learning all at once so I came up with an easy to play (either alone or with me) board game that teaches sight words, rhyming, counting, patterns, and opposites. An easy play option would be to simply play by whatever color they spin on spinner. 

So here's a look at my ingenious creation:

The entire board game has 30 spaces from start to school house.

These are free rhyming cards I found at http://www.prekinders.com/2008/01/rhyming-cards/. I even colored them in myself (because I was out of ink and I made this game around midnight last night!)

I cut or punched shapes out of different colored card stock for the pattern part of the game. For the 'opposites' portion, I planned to call out adjectives and have the kids tell me their opposites. 

This picture shows the incomplete board game but it's the only one I have depicting the sight words. I bought these at the dollar store and cut them to be the same size then hole-punched them and stuck a  small book ring through them. Very handy for keeping the sight words together!

I used a lovely DiGiorno pizza box. It works great! I have two more pizzas in the freezer and I'm excited to see what I can come up with for those two boxes! =)

I used black construction paper for the background and it turned out very neat because the white crayon showed up on there like chalk on a black board! 

The die is great for helping kids to count. I may add another die later but felt they would move too fast through the board using two. Once we start playing, I'll figure it out!

The turtles are ready to roll!

To begin play, the spinner is spun first to see if they can pass the challenge of opposites, rhymes, sight words or pattern-making. If they do, they get to roll the die to move their game pieces forward.

Another simplified way to play, which would be great for 3-year olds and under, is to simply spin a color and move the game piece to that particular spot. Or just roll the die and move forward. I, personally, prefer all the learning challenges because that was the whole point of the game but depending on the age of your child, it can be played whichever way they like.

I used a spinner from an old game that the kids didn't play with anymore. I simply traced the circle onto card stock, folded it into four equal parts, cut along the folds, traced each slice onto the colored card stock, then pasted the pieces onto the spinner. 

Lastly, I used velcro to fasten the box closed when not in use. I will probably create a better cover for the game but this is just to illustrate what the game is all about: learning! I can't wait to play it with the kiddos when they get back from gramma's house! 

Enjoy!

Cute Love Bug Valentine's Day Cards

Aren't these Valentine cards adorable??? I got the free jar template here: http://www.dandee-designs.com/2012/02/love-bug-valentines.html. The gummy bugs are from Oriental Trading Company and I just used glue dots to adhere them to the card. 

I just think these are fantastic for my son's first Valentine's Day at school. These are perfect for boys to hand out- none of that girly, mushy, lovey-dovey stuff for my tough guy, nope. He's very much into disgusting little creepy crawly things, mostly snakes, but slimy bugs will do as well. =)

DIY Cocoon Party Favors for The Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Party

Apparently, I enjoy making more work for myself when it comes to planning my kids' birthday parties. For this next one, I thought it would be cooler than cool to make papier-mache cocoons filled with goodies for the kids. I thought to hang them on sturdy branches at the party and as the kids leave, they can pick one right off the branch. I'm estimating that there will be anywhere from 6-12 kiddie guests so I plan to make a dozen of these bad boys. Very ambitious for a stay at home mom of three kids, I know, but I do so enjoy staying up late at night and into the wee hours of the morning as everyone else sleeps all cozy and bundled up in their warm, comfy beds. NOT.

Despite the lack of sleep and walking around like the living dead for a month or two before the party, I still think this idea is pretty neat and so different from the usual goodie bag favors. So of course I'm gonna go for it! The theme is The Very Hungry Caterpillar after all and what better way to send the kids home than with their own cocoons filled with bug candy and a cute little butterfly?

So I decided to make an initial mockup of the cocoon to see how it'd work and it was easier than I had imagined and didn't take very long either. I'm just a really impatient person so I had a difficult time waiting for the papier-mache to dry overnight. What can I say, I prefer instant gratification- don't most people? But this project is well worth it so I will hang in there just because of the effect it will create at the party.

So here it is from start to finish:

I blew up a water balloon which was just the right size and shape that I had in mind for a cocoon and to papier-mache, all you need is a 50/50 mixture of water and glue, newspaper strips, and foam brushes. You can probably even use green tissue paper so you wouldn't have to paint it. I didn't have any on hand at the moment so I used some acrylic paint after the balloon was dry. I also felt that the newspaper would hold together better because of the things I was going to stuff them with for the kids.





I dipped the newspaper strips in the glue/water mixture first and then slapped it onto the balloon.
Once I had covered most of the balloon, I could just slap a dry strip on to help soak up the excess mixture. This added a second layer to the cocoon which is necessary if I'm going to stuff it with candy.







This is one messy job so make sure to layer newspapers underneath your project!

















                  







I left the bottom (or would you say the top?) open and this will be where the treats will go inside.

And finally, it's at least 24 hours later and I can paint it any color I want. I used a 'Palm Leaf' green on it and will probably paint the others in different shades of green so when they're hanging on the branches, it'll make for a very watercolor-esque effect.

I cut the opening just a bit wider so that I can fit in a feather butterfly later. Oriental Trading Company sells a dozen colorful feather butterflies for only $6.25. You can check them out here: http://www.orientaltrading.com/feather-butterflies-a2-26_646-12-1.fltr?Ntt=butterfly. That's also where I bought those awesome realistic gummy bugs! They were bought for my son's V-day cards for his classmates. I'll post a picture of that later to show you what they're going to look like! I'm just overly excited because it's his first school Valentines exchange and it gives me another excuse to be crafty. As if this party wasn't enough for me, huh? ;-)

I tried two different versions of the cocoon. One just as it is in the green paint and a second one wrapped in white cheesecloth. The one that was wrapped looked very realistic and I liked it a lot but it was not as colorful as I wanted it to be for the party. So I'm sticking with just the painted version! The cheesecloth version is very neat though and I'll keep that in mind for future educational projects with the kiddos.

Isn't it adorable? Hung from white branches, these will be amazing! Once we get closer to the party and I get it all assembled, I'll update this with a new picture of the entire thing. And just in case you were wondering, the leaf note was leftover watercolor-painted paper from the caterpillar project in the previous post. I also hole-punched three holes to the top of the cocoon for the string to go through. As party favors go, these are my all-time favorites from all the parties I've planned previously! Hope you enjoyed this idea as well!