Capital and Lowercase Letter Matching-- Fun & Educational Ways to Upcycle Plastic Easter Eggs

 

Another great way to use up those plastic Easter Eggs I picked up is to make a set of Capital and Lowercase Letter matching eggs. They are so quick and easy to make! On each egg, using a permanent marker, write the capital letter on the top half of the egg and the matching lowercase letter on the bottom half. To play with them, separate the eggs and mix them up. Have your child match the eggs and put them back together.

Number Snakes--Fun & Educational Ways to Upcylce Plastic Easter Eggs

Last week, I picked up a bunch of plastic Easter Eggs that were on sale for 25 cents. When I got home, I found some pipe cleaners, googley eyes, and a black Sharpie and got busy.

 

The eggs with the two holes on the top were perfect to make some counting caterpillars or snakes. I am participating in a Busy Bag Exchange with 12 other people, I figured the counting snakes would be perfect for this exchange. The snake is fun to play with and it allows the kids to practice number recognition and sequencing.

 

 

I used a permanent marker to number the bottom half of 10 eggs with the numbers 1-10.

 

 

I took a red pipe cleaner and tied a knot in it towards one end.

 

 

I glued a pair of googley eyes on the egg with the number 1 on it and laced the numbers in order onto the pipe cleaner. The knot in the pipe cleaner keeps the eggs from sliding off.

 

I trimmed the tongue down a bit...

 

 

I wrapped the end of the pipe cleaner around a paper clip to help keep the egg pieces together.

 

Pretty simple, huh?

 

When the kids want to play with it, all they have to do is take the paper clip off and slide the eggs off and put them back on in order.

 

 

I didn't want to waste all of the tops of the eggs, so, I used them to make a snake for play. I made it the same way, without the numbers and instead of using a paper clip to keep the eggs together, I glued the end on.

 

 

I decided to make my son a snake that goes up to 20. I also made him a set with the alphabet.

 

Make Hard Boiled Eggs in the Oven!

My kids and my husband love hard boiled eggs. My oldest and my husband pack their lunch everyday and the love when I throw in an egg or two for them. I don't mind the process of hard boiling eggs, but I cannot stand the smell! One of my biggest pet peeves is when my house smells like food-- you know what I mean, when you fry something and your house smells like grease for days or in this case when you hard boil eggs and the house smells like stinky eggs (stinky eggs is putting it politely ;-)). I tried hard boiling the eggs in the oven and I will never do it any other way again!! It is super easy and there is NO smell, which is huge for me! The eggs peel easy and the yolk stays bright yellow, not that greenish color you get when you hard boil them on the stove. All you need is your oven, a pan, and eggs.

Here's how I did it:

 

I put the eggs in a mini muffin tin, you could use a regular muffin tin or even a baking sheet. I prefer the mini muffin tin because the eggs fit perfectly.

 

Bake them at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

 

As soon as the 30 minutes is up, put the eggs in an ice bath to stop the cooking process.

 

They are that easy to make and look at how yellow the yolk is!

 

Melissa and Doug felt food Sandwich Set, Taco & Burrito Set, and Pizza Set Printable Menus

 

If you have the super cute Melissa and Doug felt food Sandwich Set, Taco & Burrito Set, and Pizza Set, here is an activity for you! Head on over to the Melissa and Doug Blog, using the link below to download and print matching menus! You can laminate them and give your child a dry erase marker to take your order again and again! My son is having a blast with these!

Download yours here.

 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Story Retelling Ziploc Activity

I am working on, creating a Book Tote for The Very Hungry Caterpillar , filled with activities and props that go along with the story. I am participating in a swap with 11 other woman to create this together. Last night, I finished up my final contribution, a Very Hungry Caterpillar Story Retelling Ziploc Bag Activity. This was so simple to make and my son had a ball with it this morning! All I did was download and print the free file from the Teaching Heart Blog, which can be found here.

 

 

 

I laminated the pieces to make them more durable, if you don't have access to a laminator, I'd recommend printing the file on cardstock. I cut out all of the pieces, including the holes for the mouth and the stomach.

I taped the caterpillar onto a sandwich sized Ziploc bag and cut an opening in onside of the bag for the mouth. Nice and simple and ready to play with! You can use this in conjunction with the book or on it's own to see if your child can retell the story. In order, slip each piece of food into the caterpillar's mouth and you will see it in his belly. Too cute!

 

Lorax Dotee

Today, I made a Lorax Dotee for a Dr. Seuss Dotee Swap I am participating in on Swap-bot.

A Dotee is a small stuffed doll, usually between 3-6 inches long, that has a face of some kind, a hanger (think ornament), and a "tail" of beads. I recently started making these and they are a lot of fun. I was so excited for the Dr. Seuss swap because there are so many fun characters.  I love the Lorax, he is so cute! I am very happy with the way he came out, isn't he adorable? I plan to make one for my son, but his I will make a stuffed animal instead of a dotee. 

 

 

If you are interested in making a Lorax Dotee or Stuffed Animal, below is the pattern I used from Fabric.com BLOG.

 

http://blog.fabric.com/tutorials/2012/03/

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty & Super Easy Felt Rose Tutorial

Seeing that I have two boys, I like to mix things up every once in awhile and make some girly stuff. The other day, I decided to try to make some felt roses. I could not believe how simple and fun they were to make. There are so many fun things you can do with them! I think I may make a wreath out of them, one is spring colors and eventually, a heart shaped wreath covered in red roses. They would be absolutely adorable additions to girls hair clips and headbands!

 

Before I start, let me apologize for the pictures, it is extremely difficult to take pictures while I am doing something! LOL I have yet to master that skill!

 

First, start with a square of felt. The larger the square, the larger the rose. As you can see, the square does not have to be perfect.

 

Cut the 4 corners of the square off to make it a rounded square.  

 

 

Start at any corner, it doesn't matter which one and cut a spiral pattern. My cutting is completely free hand and is far from even, believe it or not, it makes for a prettier rose. In the middle of your spiral, there will be a small square.

 

Start with the outside corner and tightly roll it up.

 

 

Roll it so that one side stays even and the other side will form the petals of the rose.

 

When you get to your little square, you are just about finished.

Glue the square to the bottom of the flower. I prefer hot glue, I think it is the best glue for felt, plus it dries in seconds. 

 

Trim any excess off the square and you are done!

 

A beautiful felt rose. Now to decide what to use it for!