Pin it! Online Scavenger Hunt

Preschool Scavenger Hunt: Pin it!

~ Join us on Pinterest to Pin it! and Win it ~

Give Crafty Bloggers a Boost 

Have fun scavenging the internet, pin it @ Pinterest, and get to know more Crafty Bloggers. Your Mission, if you choose to accept it, is:

1. Type the words below into a Google Search. Find an image 
(Right click and copy url or save as the title below)


2. Pin it to Pinterest, follow our boards, and we'll add you to the contributor board where you can begin pinning away to your heart's content to win, learn, and make new friends.


3. Follow Kids Creative Chaos on FB or leave a comment for an extra entry.


Be sure to leave your two cents worth. You have exactly one week to complete the mission. Everyone who completes Scavenger Hunt tasks will be entered to win! There's a new list every Monday.  Let me know if you have an image you want included in the hunt. This week's prize is a kid's crafting essentials kit: everything a kid needs to get inspired ($20).

~Happy Hunting~

• Popcorn Hearts
• Tree of Love
• Heart Shaped Pizza
• Tube Crafts
• Superbowl Craft

Indy 500 activities for kids: It's that time of year again... Vroom Vroom! Let's go to the Races: Balloon Glow

What is a Balloon Glow Festival? Giant Hot Air Balloons with Fun Shapes at the Indianapolis 500 Track!

Benefits truly abound when living near a capital city. We live about 15 minutes from downtown Indy and a few minutes from the Indianapolis 500 Motor Speedway. When I saw a tweet inviting everyone to the Centennial Celebration at the track, I immediately 'Googled' it. Just in the nick of time!

The Indianapolis 500 Race Track Start/Finish Line.

In celebration of the Track Centennial and the first hot air balloon race held there, a special balloon glow was held in Indy in May. The balloons were on display and began 'glowing' at dusk, and the evening ended with fireworks! This was well worth the money :-) Totally Free! My kids woke up anxious to check the early morning sky for the balloon race. Memories were made. Way to go IMS, you made our day!

Energizer Bunny Balloon goes up slowly. He is over 60' tall and cannot participate in the race due to size. Here, he looks like he is doing push-ups!

Bunny and Balloon Coloring Sheet

A crowd pleaser, staff handed out Energizer bunny
balloon ears to all attendees.

Hot Air Balloon Glow at dusk in Indianapolis.

Hot Air Balloon Festival.

United Truck Hot Air Balloon.

Mayhem  disliked the fire. At first, Jake did too. He wanted to stay on the pavement and admire the balloons from a distance until he saw the truck. 

Daddy took him to touch the bumper and everything changed...

That's one happy face!  He got to make the fire.

Balloon #21 is the Breast Cancer Awareness Balloon. Special thanks to the crew! They were so nice and patient! Jake even got to light the balloon. His little body shook all over as he pulled on the mechanism to start the flame, but you can see from his face- it was worth it. He begged to take a ride!

In the morning, he awoke bright and early because he wanted to race his balloon. Unfortunately, he was only allowed to peek up into the sky in hopes of catching a glimpse of the balloons in flight.

These flames are not only noisy but fiercely hot.

Hot Air Balloon Glow and Go.

Recommended Reading:

Racecar Alphabet

Racecar Activities for Kids

SHAMROCKS Wand Rocks your Saint Patrick Day Parade Craft activity for kids

Easy craft activity for kids Shamrock HAT and WAND for your Saint Patrick Day Parade

Not feeling crafty? If you can fold paper in half and cut out a heart, you can make this easy St. Patrick's day shamrock craft. Yep, you can do it. Enjoy!

Wand shamrock craft for Saint Patrick Day.

Shamrocks are so easy to make; just fold a piece of paper in half and cut out a heart- three times. Paste these together, give them a stem, voila! Instant Shamrocks. Next, make a rainbow link chain to decorate your hat or wear as a boa. You can even hang them from the ceiling for a fun, festive room!

 Simple: 3 hearts glued together, taped to a straw with shiny ribbon =  instant magic leprechaun wand to carry and wave in your very own parade! We painted ours with glitter glue for added sparkle. Paint your straw green too!

Shamrock Hat with Rainbow Links for St. Patrick's Day.

Silly: The hat above was once a paper plate. We cut the center out but left a rectangle to use as a stem. Next, we painted it all with green paint mixed with glitter.

After it dries, add your shamrock hearts to top and bottom of the "stem".  The bottom shamrock make the bill of your hat and the top one makes a silly finial. We glued a rainbow linky around the back because every leprechaun loves a good rainbow.

Be careful... our paint was too watery and our plate went limp. You might want to use a styro-foam plate and paste your hearts to cardboard so your hat doesn't WILT like ours did. Above all, have fun....

Kids can't wait to begin the parade. They don't care how perfect the hat turns out! Now start marching around the house or classroom and have a scavenger hunt for a POT of GOLD. Happy St. Patrick's Day!


Recommended Reading:


Greening of Indy Canal

St. Paddy's Preschool Craft

The Night Before St. Patrick's Day*














ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Recycle Scrabble Games for Language Arts Literacy Centers

How to Recycle Scrabble into a Literacy Center for Sight Words and Language Arts 

Scrabble. Kids love it! Don't be a stickler for the rules. Let your preschoolers play by their own rules or follow these. You'll be amazed at their ability to sound out sight words or guess what the word will be when it's finished. Scroll down to see how we recycled Scrabble games into a literacy center for sight words. Enjoy!

How to Recycle Scrabble into a Literacy Center for 
Sight Words and Language Arts.

How to Use Scrabble as a Preschool Literacy Center

Things to do with Scrabble: Recycle, Repurpose, Reuse. We placed all of the letters right side up in the Scrabble box. We built sight words like Foot and made magic by switching the two o's for two e's to get Feet. See if you can think of more words. The kids were giggling as they realized what was about to happen.

Tree. Leaf. Leap. Roof. Reef. Wreath....

Think of patterns to keep your little reader on the right track. Let them guess. Guessing helps them learn new sight words.  For example, I built coal but my son said it was cola. His mind saw all of the letters for cola. Praise them on a great guess and awesome letter recognition. Then, show them how coal can magically become cola!

Then, Jake thought this was the coolest thing he had ever seen.  Don't force it. Don't make them read it if they'd rather build nonsense words on the letter rack. Whatever they choose to do they have tangible letters and they are visualizing them. Letter play reinforces letter recognition, and if it's fun they will keep coming back for more.

Help them spell their names or yours. Let them build words and have you guess what they are- even if they aren't real words. Keep encouraging them to use letters in a fun way. My son began reading at two and half without the "Your Baby Can Read" products.  I never did flash cards or forced it. It just happened with fun ideas.  Never underestimate the power of "WORD WORLD" and "BETWEEN THE LIONS".

You will need more letters to spell "PIZZA". Make your own from cardboard or collect old games at garage sales. Scrabble Letters are great for crafts:  personalize picture frames, Greek paddles, or toy bins.  Let your imagination run wild. SCRABBLE is more than just a game.

Each time your kids do a craft project with the letter, they are learning!  Just be careful, the tiles could pose a choking hazard for little ones.

Oh and a post note:  In kindergarten, Jake read at 12th grade level! Thanks to PBS and fun. Don't expect those results, just appreciate that your child is learning and enjoying it!


Recommended Reading:


100 Write-and-Learn Sight Word Practice Pages: Reproducible Activity Pages*

Homeschool Projects

Preschool Activities

















ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Turkey Footprint Art for Thanksgiving

Paper Footprint Art Turkey Thanksgiving: Easy, Cute Craft for Preschool

This turkey Footprint paper craft for Preschoolers is easy and fun for kids to make at home. Little ones will get a kick out of tracing their feet. Make it a sensory activity by tracing their feet for them- it tickles! Gobble Gobble. Enjoy!

This post contains affiliate links.

Paper Footprint Art Turkey Thanksgiving.

For the turkey above, use four feathers (footprints). The fourth
footprint becomes the turkey's body. Just attach feathers on the toes.

Paper footprint turkeys with handprint neck.

Paper Thanksgiving Turkey Footprint Craft.

You can also use four or more feet for feathers, and cut a body from brown paper. Don't forget to give your turkey feet.

Make a Footprint Turkey for Thanksgiving.

How to Make Footprint Turkey

Stand on construction paper and trace your feet. Bigger feet need two sheets, little feet only require one. Jake thought this was fun. He loved the idea of taking his shoes and socks off to do a craft project.

How to Make Footprint Turkey.

Make a fist and have someone trace it for you.

Trace your feet.

Trace your fist to make the turkey body and head.

 Cut the fist and the feet out.

Paper footprint craft.

Baby Feet.

Glue the feet together in a fan shape. The more feet you trace, the fuller your turkey feathers will turn out. Then, glue the fist cut-out into the middle of the feet-feathers.

The fist is the turkey's head and neck. Add feet, eyes, beak, and a gobbler. We added a body, because we thought he looked off balance. Additional feathers solve that problem.

When it's all done, cut up an old fridge magnet, and glue it to the back of the turkey with tacky glue. Pictured below is the head from Amanda's Turkey Snack Cup.

 

Magnet Turkey Craft.

  

Recommended Reading:

Eatable Edible Turkey Craft

All New Crafts for Thanksgiving (All-New Holiday Crafts for Kids)

Fall and Halloween Crafts for Children

Jake's Jokes for Kid: Waiter Joke? Ba Dump Dump

In this addition of Jake's Jokes, Jake is confused by the waiter and says the funniest thing. 

Jokes, jokes, jokes! Kids are full of funny things to say. Make sure you write them down. In this issue of Jake's Jokes: The perfect waiter joke. Ba Dump Dump. Click the tab above for more Jokes for Kids!

Jake's Jokes for Kids: Excuse me Waiter?

A family walked into a restaurant...

Waiter:  I'll be your server tonight.  Jimmy over there is helping out.

The Daddy was being difficult.  He didn't want to order until after he ate his appetizers.  Appetizers might be enough he just didn't know.  The waiter came back several times before and after the appetizers were served.  Everyone else ordered food.   Daddy waited.  The waiter didn't understand.

Waiter:  Are you ready to get some real food now?

Jake's jokes for kids. Waiter...

Daddy:  Nope.  I told you I'd let you know when or if I'm ready.

Waiter:  Can I take your menus.

Daddy:  Nope.

Mommy:  Are you sure you don't want to trade places with Jimmy now?

Waiter:  What? No way, I can take it.  Jimmy's a lightweight compared to me.

Jake looked at the stocky man behind the bar and then back at our waiter.

Jake:  Really?  How much do you weigh? (Insert Ba Dump Dump here)


Recommended Reading:

Circle Time Activities for Children


Laugh-Out-Loud Jokes for Kids


Knock-Knock Jokes for Kids

Thanksgiving Activities: Turkey Game and Craft for Children

Family Friendly Games for Thanksgiving

You've heard of Reindeer Games, so why not, Turkey games? This is an easy, fun activity for Thanksgiving get togethers. 

Family friendly crafts and games for Thanksgiving day party feasts.

Mayhem loved playing this turkey game.

Here are a few ideas to brighten up your Thanksgiving Family Feast:

• While you're preparing Thanksgiving Dinner, have your kids make turkeys out of paper plates and construction paper.

• They can create it anyway they choose or follow these instructions:

Cut two - 3" slits 2" apart in the bottom of the plate.

Lift and fold this flap out and fold it into a triangle or tent shape.

This is the turkey's head.

Turkey tutorial.

Add googly eyes or draw your own. 

Don't forget to draw his gobbler :-)

 
Cut feathers from colored construction paper.  Using a glue stick connect them to the top of your plate, or draw them directly onto the plate with brightly colored markers. You can go all out and use real feathers from a craft store too, it's all good. Or trace your foot onto paper for extra fun and a SENSORY ELEMENT. Now poke a 1/4'" hole in the center of your turkey (the plate).  Get yarn, kite string, Christmas ribbon, etc... remember, it's all good. 

My kids tried it with a shoe string. Cut the string about 6' in length. (Shorter or Longer depending on your spatial restrictions.)  Thread the string thru the hole and knot it in the back of the plate. 

Do this twice - that's two turkeys... 

Set up two chairs and tie one turkey to each chair. Stretch the string taut and lie it flat on the ground with the turkey opposite the chair. This is the starting line, divide into two teams and start the turkey races with kids standing at the opposite end of the chairs.

"Ready, Set, Fly!"

On the signal kids begin gobbling and lifting the string in the air trying to get the turkeys to fly to the chairs. (You are essentially shaking the plate down the string.) If your turkeys refuse to "fly" have the kids race by pulling their turkeys down the line as fast as they can while someone else holds the opposite end taut.

Last kid to reach the chair is a Turkey!

The latter methods works best with smaller children.

HAVE FUN and remember, it is what it is, so make it fun and don't fret.

Post variations and; pictures of your turkeys in action.

We got this idea from an old 1970's  party book that used bats.  You can change anything to fit the theme. 

Recommended Reading:

Thanksgiving Is for Giving Thanks (Reading Railroad)

Fun Thanksgiving Activities for Kids! 25 Fun & Educational Thanksgiving Activities for the Whole Family (Activity Books for Kids)

Holiday Games for Parties

Fall Funtastic! Fun October things to do for Halloween in Indianapolis Indiana

Fun Fall things to do in October for Halloween in Central Indiana

At last... In the Fall of 2009, my kids suffered with the launch of my "Fun Kids" business. For them it was more like torture. This year, we were determined to find and do all of the fun things in October for the Halloween season.

Mayhem on a preschool hayride at Beasley's Orchard.

We only visited "Waterman's Farm Market" in Greenwood, Indiana to watch the pumpkin eating dinosaur, race big trikes around a track, pet a few goats, get swallowed up inside a stack-of-hay maze, and follow the trail in a field of corn on a very cold day during Fall-Break.  Oh what fun!  Waterman's is great, don't get me wrong; the kids love it.

This year, determined to make it up to them, I scheduled fall-fun into every spare minute.It started with a trip to "Trader's Point Creamery" during Oktoberfest; although the event seemed well received by others my kids gave it six thumbs down. It was crowded, hot, and we walked a lot.


However, it is a lovely fund-raising event for adults. Vendors sell their wares in a cozy farmer's market.  The farmer's offer crafts, fruits, jellies, jams, and warm, seasonal specialties.  If you come hungry eat here first.  The restaurant is closed while they serve gourmet burgers and organic items in the barn.  While these items were healthy and delicious my hungry kiddos didn't find anything appetizing (hot dogs ran out early) and my significant other spent around $40 on himself alone walking away in need of "real food".  Luckily, the dairy had cheeses and organic milk.

The kids did not enjoy the hayride thru the farm's hilly landscape to see the non-existent cows. The cows had come home for milking.  Nor did they dance a jig to the happy, live Polka Band.

Calves cried at the door to see their Mamas who were standing on the other side in line for the milking machines. The real pitchfork my son used to grab the hay was a big hit as was the tour of Milking time.

Not a big hit $13-40 pumpkins that were grown elsewhere. These were our first pumpkins of the season so the kids were overjoyed at the sight, but I bribed them with mega pumpkins two for $6 at Meijer. While they were kicking and screaming on the way out, I did notice a farm vendor selling little pumpkins for $1 each. C'est la vie.

Awesome, educational corn maze at Jacob's Orchard in New Castle, Indiana.

Needless to say, I had some fall-fun making up to do! On the next outing, I took them to a tiny apple orchard in my hometown, New Castle, Indiana. Previously known as Anderson's, the new owners renamed it "Jacob's Orchard" which made for a nice photo op for my son (and the 90 million others) named Jacob.

Unfortunately, Jacob had no desire to attend the event. He complained profusely until he spotted the inflatable tunnel. Success! Goat's, fortune-telling corn-maze, cider doughnuts made while-you-wait, apple slushies in apple-shaped bottles, and if you feel like it, You-Pick apples, sealed the deal. The price is right too.

He got hurt the first time but went back for more.

The angry faces say, "Let me go play".

Hay tower at Jacob's Orchard in New Castle, Indiana.

On a "No Pre-school Friday", Mayhem and I visited "The Old Farm Market" in Avon to purchase old-fashioned pumpkins and giant gourds. Bummer, the have gone out of business!

Mayhem with Fall Pumpkins and Gourds for Halloween.

Mayhem with a Pirate, Arrgh!

Fall Break called for a trip to our local Zoo Boo and the world famous "Indianapolis Children's Museum" for trick-or-treating, pumpkin bowling, and a scare-free haunted house entitled, "Skeletown". My little one tired out after the first treat-post preferring to be carried and then tip-toed timidly thru the haunted house expecting a fright at every corner. It hadn't occurred to me that, at four, this was the first haunted house she would remember.

Vampires, Indians, Scouts, and Racecar Drivers oh my!

Class field trips took us to  "Country Pumpkins" in Zionsville and "Beasley's Orchard" in Danville for hayrides to pumpkin patches topped off with a free mini-pumpkin. You might want to start logging a pumpkin tally about now.

Preschoolers and pumpkins.

Finally, Halloween weekend arrived.  The kids enjoyed our trip to "Westside Retirement Village" for a safe treating experience. The residents were sitting in the lobbies handing out candy and we were pleasantly surprised by a haunted garden on the way to more candy-giving seniors, six thumbs up here.  


My teenager appreciated the duality of the elderly enjoying the children. Such a cute idea transforming a pathway into a spider garden- a giant spider waved happily at the end of the trail to lull visitors into a sense of well-being just before a friendly, smiling ghost popped out to say, "boo".  Unfortunately, the happy boo had my littlest jumping out of her skin.

Now, we aren't known to be a greedy family but while we were waiting for Daddy to complete his projects at work we needed to pass the time, so, we stopped off at "Church of the Master American Baptist" for trunk-or-treat before meeting up for "Ghoulish Garfield" . Forget about icing, Indy Park's Garfield Park, put the cherry on top of the cupcake. Picture perfect.   


The haunted conservatory is scary. My teenager let go of her six-year-old brother's hand  to grab her Daddy's! Daddy carried the shaking little one with one arm and held Sam with the other arm while I led the way with Jake. Seconds after telling a witch he wasn't scared at all some 'air' caused Jake to stick to the floor. The same 'air' that had Sam unglued (go figure, it was literally just air from a blower of some sort). Kudos to the spookmaster.  

The exit led directly to the hayride. "I'm never coming to this park again," exclaimed Jake!  "I know, I got worried when it said, 'not suitable for small children'," winced Sam. No one wanted to take a hayride but the clown taking our tickets (literally) assured us it was only a means of transport so off we went. Unfortunately, we were short on time. The ride leads to the Arts Center to decorate pumpkins and then to the Burello Family Center for refreshments and such. Time was running out so we opted to stay on the wagon.  Neither of us felt the need to walk back to our car toting frightened children through a dark park. An amazing ride thru the park with the full-moon and stars above made for the perfect ending to a fall-fun evening.

I question my sanity, as I remember my first haunted house at the age of six. My uncle was playing Frankenstein. It must have been a scare-free time for everything was well-lit. The coffin and vampire are burned into my psyche forever. Dracula chased us into the next room as my aunt shooed him away with her purse. I recognized my uncle right away - he's well over six feet tall - still I worried about Dracula.

Could Frankenstein stop him from sucking our blood? Could he pry the casket open if the venomous vampire tossed me inside? I have no idea what treasures the other rooms held.  While the smell of alcohol wreaked from the vampire's fangs the smell of fear drenched my aunt's persona. I could not be consoled by their trifling claims otherwise. Isn't it odd that Halloween is my favorite holiday?  

Thanks to that fateful day, I've never met a Creep I've liked since.  To be sure, we're going to have three kids who have an irrational fear of air.

Trick or Treating in Avon's Washington Township Park.

Trick or Treat.

Then, I took the kids to "Washington Park" in Avon for the non-scary, trick-or-treat trail. It's a nice hike thru the woods. Candy stations are sprinkled along the trails, cute, carnival-style games abound, and the kids enjoy a costume contest and $1 pumpkins all before dark.  This one is perfect for even the littlest tykes unless they discover an urgent need to potty. (Don't worry Jessica, we made it back to the public restroom, but I overheard one little boy who had to go behind a tree.)

Super easy Halloween Costumes: The kids were done with puppies, ladybugs, clones, hulks and pumpkins. So we went with comfortable costumes; that's a ghost puppy and a skeleton kid.

Halloween Party Activities: Bobbing for Rubber Duckies!

Tomorrow I present, "The Princess and Wanda Witch" at Garfield Park Arts Center, 2:30-4:30 p.m.

Wanda Witch, lead actress in our skit.

Join us but don't dawdle; I have to hurry home to take my kids trick-or-treating, hand out candy, and visit the festivities at "Spirit of Life Church" in Clermont. 

It's hard work making up for lost time. Mayhem has had several different costumes to celebrate the season.



Recommended Reading:

Five Little Pumpkins (A fun Halloween book for children)

A Ghost Went Trick or Treating