Yesterday I shared our many bird nests that we have been making. I showed you the start of our yarn nests, but they still had to dry before we could pop the balloons and see how they came out. We popped the balloons this morning and made some birds for them. We used Betsy from Tippytoe Crafts lovely Roly Poly Birdies tutorial.She shared these at Sharing Saturday a couple of weeks ago.
We didn't venture downstairs to get different paper colors, but we had the feathers upstairs so Hazel had fun making many with different colored feathers.
These are very easy birds to make. They are construction paper strips rolled and then glue on the feet and beak (also cut of construction paper) and googly eyes and then glue a feather or two on each side of the roll for the wings. Aren't they cute?
Last night we read another new library book, If I Never Forever Endeavor by Holly Meade. It is a great book about a bird deciding whether to take his first flight or to stay in his safe comfy nest. He weighs the pros and cons of both and then decides to give it a try and of course loves flying and meets a friend. Very cute book about taking major life steps.
Ok, I think we will move onto something besides birds and nests for a bit. Hope you are having a great day!!
This is where I link up...
Building a Bird Nest
Sparrow Nest on Our House |
Hazel loved making it and asked to make another, so we bought some supplies. While at Michaels and looking at birds we found this little pre-made nest. We bought the birds in it at The Dollar Tree and put in some faux eggs to make it realistic.
Then we bought a bigger grapevine wreath and a basket at the Dollar Tree to make another one to go with our bigger birds. I used the wool felted eggs I won around Easter. I figured Hazel could play with this one a bit more.
Oh and we changed the birds to the original to a cardinal and other bird Hazel picked out.
The mixture |
Then you let the cookies harden.
Hazel has already asked to make more of them though I don't think she tasted any of them. I have a different type of recipe to try so we might try them next week.
We also looked at some books on birds and nests. Here are a few of our favorites.
In the Nest by Anna Milbourne is a great book that simplifies the making of the nest and the life cycle of the eggs to baby birds to their first flight and leaving the nest.
Baby Bird's First Nest by Frank Asch is one of Hazel's favorites. It is a story about a baby bird who rolls over and tumbles out of his nest. His sleeping mother does not wake up to his cry for help, but a little frog who lives in the pond next to the tree comes to his rescue. Together they build their first nest and then a raccoon comes so they hide and then the frog helps the baby bird get back to its nest by hopping from branch to branch. It is a great story about helping another and making friends.
Bird Nests by Theresa Hopkins has pictures instead of some words so it is fun for the kids to read. It explains the use of the nest, etc.
Then we started some starched yarn nests. You will have to wait for the glue to dry to see the final product, but I also added raffia. I got the idea from La-La's Home Daycare. She has been doing a lot with birds and bird nests as well.
I also cut the supplies for Hazel to do two paper plate crafts mostly on her own. I painted one of the plates brown for her (more because she was doing something else). Then cut the strips of paper and the beak and wings and gave them to her with a plastic egg (well two tops of blue plastic eggs) and explained it to her. This idea came from Busy Bee Kids Crafts. Hers came out a lot messier,but isn't that how the art of a 3-year-old should be?
The even easier paper plate craft idea came from Arts and Crafts for Tots. I changed it a bit and started with a blue plate and cut the bird, beak and tree for her as well as gave her the yarn and raffia cut up. She did all the gluing herself though. We are happy with it.
So today, I had a bit of an epiphany. Hazel brought her brown paper plate craft to show me and the beaks and wings were glued to the plate and not the eggs. I went to fix them and Hazel apologized to me for doing it wrong. I tried to explain that she didn't do it wrong and realized that I really need to watch what I change and what my expectations are. I know I try not to change much on her things and do not look for perfection in either of our crafts, but I need to remember just how sensitive she is and that she is still trying to figure things out. Anyway, just thought I would share it with you.
The other bird nest in our tree--this one looks huge! |
This is where I link up....
Happy Family Times #5
Kelly at Happy Whimsical Hearts and I are doing a new link party called Happy Family Times. It is a place for us all to share some of the fun things we are doing with our quality family time. We are hoping it will help all of us to have more family time. So I will share one of my fun times and then you can link up yours and go to Happy Whimsical Hearts to read about Kelly's family time. (Your link will be at both places just by linking up at either one.)
Sunflowers, Seeds, and More
Sunflowers |
Watermelons |
Pumpkins |
Celery |
Then we got working on our Mother's Day gifts and added some pictures and I printed out the You Are My Sunshine with the specific names. Now I need to buy some magnetic strip for the back and attach the songs to the flowers. I got these ideas from DLTK.
For Me |
For Hazel's Godmother |
For Daddy |
Covered in clear contact paper and added two adhesive magnets |
A finished product |
We also had a visit from Mr. and Mrs. Mallard. While at the Cape I visited the Birdwatcher's General Store and asked for advice on what to feed the ducks. We bought some cracked corn and they seem to love it!
Hazel and I also played outside and she decided we were taking the train to the zoo. On the train she gave out diamonds. These are my two--a white one and a blue one. Love her imagination!!
This is where I link up...
A Walk on the Beach
This week was school vacation week in Massachusetts. The third Monday of April is a state holiday called Patriots Day. It also is the day the Boston Marathon is run and so many roads are closed down for parts of the day. Since we did not have any of our normal activities, Steve took the week off of work and we took a mini-vacation the second half of the week to visit my parents at Cape Cod. We packed up all three of us and the two cats to drive two hours to my parents. It wasn't a bad trip except Fluffy does not like the car and meowed a good part of the way there and most of the way home--though she wasn't as bad as I expected. She may be getting more comfortable with the car. Hopefully.
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