Egg carton crafts

Very easy to make!

Help your preschooler decorate an egg carton with paint and crayons.  Cut out and glue on rounds for wheels from coloured felt or cardboard.

Let your little one search through magazines for pictures of people to glue on, as passengers on the bus.

Sing along to The Wheels on the Bus go round and round.  Encourage your child to make up the moves as you go along ... the people on the bus go UP and DOWN, the driver on the bus says MOVE ALONG PLEASE, the mummies on the bus say Shhh! Shhh! Shhh! ... the babies on the bus go Waaah! Waaah! Waaah!  

'Little People' make great passengers on your bus or boat (below)  To make the boat - take a small egg carton, cut off the lid and paint the exterior (flip it upside down, and this becomes the bottom of the boat).  Fold a piece of paper into a triangle, to form the sail and colour with your preschooler's help. Slit the egg holders into a cross (to hold the sail in place). 

For our imaginary dinosaur or dragon we used an paper egg carton.

Plastic egg cartons make a great painting palette too - just squirt a small amount of paint into each hole!

Hand-made Musical Drums for Young Children

Welcome to our new Friends at Playgroup today!

We all had a great time running about to the beat of our tiny hand drums (also known as Mott's fruit cups), and later listening to Hands, Hands, Fingers, Thumbs  with Vivian.

If you're living in the province of Quebec then Coaticook's ice-cream containers (a yummy preservative free ice-cream) make great drums for 0 to 5 year olds.

Punch two holes near the top of the container (on either side to add ribbon after decorating).  Paint the container and lid with your favourite children's paints, or paper mache with odds and ends of scrap paper from home and finish off with a coat of 'Modge Podge' - a white glue like-substance that dries semi-matt.

Paper Bag Hand Puppets

Here's an easy craft to make at home, using a brown paper bag.

Cut out the ears, nose and feet of your favourite farm animal (using brightly coloured paper), then glue the pieces onto the paper bag.  Add a little detailing, and your hand puppet is ready in minutes!

Thanks again to Cindy who taught us how to sign and sing along to 'Old MacDonald had a Farm'.

Why not try a few of the signs that Cindy showed us - with a hint or two on the signing action  ... horse (use the 'H' sign with your thumbs extended, up at the top of your head, then flick your fingers as if the horse is flicking it's ears), cow (using a 'Y' sign, turn forward a few times, indicating the horns of a cow, at the top of your head, along with a mooing sound too!), dog (tap your thigh a few times, as if calling a dog to you, open hand in a 'B' sign, palm down), duck (open and close the bent '3' sign, with your fingers held just under your mouth, to indicate a duck opening its beak), sheep (probably the trickiest to learn ... use a 'K' shape with your right hand, toward body; left arm palm up, then use your right hand in a circular motion, as if clipping a sheep near the inner elbow of your left arm), pig (there are 2 signs ... form your right hand in a 'S' sign, fist like shape, at nose level, twisting back and forth indicating the snout of a pig, or use a 'B' sign under your chin, palm down and then swing your fingers up and down, it's a similar sign to 'dirty').  Have fun!

Click to sing along to Old MacDonald had a Farm