Preschool Ideas: Pin it! Preschool Scavenger Hunt on Pinterest. March 2013 Giveaway = Free Usborne Book and More

The first month of the renovated  Pin it! Preschool Scavenger Hunt on Pinterest for preschool ideas is ending. On April 1, 2013, I will declare and announce a giveaway winner! We implemented new rules and the keywords are themed to last the entire month. You can pin up to 35 pins. Don't worry if you go over, we don't want to flood the boards, but one or two won't put you in jeopardy. However, if you do pin more than 35, the pins over the limit will not be eligible to win. How to play Pin it! Preschool Scavenger Hunt.

Fun Usborne Book you could choose for Pinterest Preschool Scavenger Hunt Giveaway.

Nicole Kiska from Usborne Books has generously offered to donate this month's giveaway item. The winner will get a voucher number to contact Nicole. You can visit her site and choose an item within a certain price point (Nicole will provide the info on Monday). She'll ship the book directly to you. This month's winner will also receive 2 Free McDonald's Wrap coupons and a link to free coloring and activity pages for your preschoolers.

Learn to draw Art Pack is a great choice too;

Not familiar with Usborne books? I love them. They are educational, beautifully illustrated in bright, appealing colors, and so much fun! Don't wait to find out if you are the winner; visit Nicole's site and get one today. They are affordably priced and make great gifts for kids. Most books are priced $10-20. The best part is you don't even have to buy one. That's right, you can host a party and earn free products! You can arrange for a virtual party, or if you are in the Chicago area have a fun, friendly get-together.

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7 How to Preschool Easter Crafts for Kids: Plastic Easter Egg Decorating

Are you looking for Preschool things to do for Easter? 

These Crafts are the Bunny's Hop!

Let your preschooler make an Easter Bunny basket from a milk jug.


This post contains Amazon affiliate links, if you click and make a purchase, 
I may get a small commission.

These 7 preschool Easter crafts for kids using plastic eggs are fun for a kid's birthday or toddler Easter party. Make it a play date and have fun crafting these easy egg decorating projects. Don't worry, you can do all of these project in about fifteen minutes. Enjoy!

How to Make a Unique Easter Basket Craft 

Grab a glue gun, a pair of scissors, and gather all those mismatched plastic Easter eggs. This is an easy Easter basket craft the kids will love. Mine were fighting over who got the plastic egg basket, until I made the bunny basket. When they saw the rooster Easter basket my son said, "Wow, Mommy you are a genius!"  Aww... thanks, I like to think so!  ;)

Check out these Easter Basket Stuffers on Amazon.

Make a Rooster Easter Basket with a milk jug.

This rooster art makes a nice basket or sculpture.

Edible Easter Crafts for Kids

How to Make an Easter Basket from a Milk Jug:

Decide where to cut the opening. See the images below. Try to cut so the milk jug's handle can also be the basket's handle. You could also glue one end of a brightly colored string to the base of the handle, and wrap it until the handle is completely covered to give your basket a more finished design. Glue the end down once wrap is complete.

Decorate a milk jug with plastic Easter eggs.

Back of Milk Jug.

Aerial View of interior.

For the rooster, follow the center-line of the jug at an angle to make your cuts. We added two short egg ends as feet, and then cut out orange chicken feet bases attaching with hot glue.

Back of Bunny Easter Basket.

Bunny Easter Basket Milk Jug.

Make your own Action Figures from Plastic Eggs

That's right, Easter action figures. Make a cute egg soldier army man, a funny bunny, or a feisty flying duck. These guys are durable when you use hot glue. How to make plastic egg animal crafts and characters is self-explanatory if you look at our pictures of Easter eggs. The duck and bunny are just two large ends of the eggs glued together and laid sideways on two short egg ends.

Easter Army Egg Men, Funny Bunny, and Duckling action figures.

Bunny Art Lesson: Primary Colors

Bunny and Duck Plastic Egg Action Figures.

Egg Captain.

Army Egg Soldier.

Plastic Easter Eggs: How to make a duck action figure.

So, I was off to get ready to run errands, and the littles were so engrossed playing with their new Easter action figures they didn't want to stop. They played for a good thirty minutes and wanted me to create more creatures.

Chicken Craft for Kids

How to make Bunny Whiskers Tutorial

The bunny whiskers pictured are made from construction paper. Fold a piece of white paper in half (you determine the size needed), start at the OPEN end and cut down toward the fold. Our whiskers are about 1/4" wide. Leave about 1/4" uncut near the fold. Now, fold them over in half lengthwise to give thickness. At the folded end of each whisker, hold and push to open the whisker in a bowed shape. Glue folded ends together and glue to your bunny. This is a great technique for a kids's bunny mask too.

I started with a simple idea: Glue plastic eggs to a milk jug to recycle, renew, and reuse. I ended up with an afternoon of family fun and some of the most original Easter baskets I've ever seen. I'm sweet on the rooster. I'm gonna enter him into the Hen Craft Challenge.

What's your favorite creature? Tell us about it in the comments.

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Recommended Reading:

EASTER BUNNY  BASKET SKIT

The Biggest Easter Basket Ever

Easy Unique Egg Carton Crafts 

Amazing Crafty Artist: Meet Debra Davis and her Handmade Gemstone Necklaces. Did you know gemstones have meanings?

Handmade Gemstone Necklaces and Safety Pin Lapel Pins: What does it mean?

Each week, we feature an amazing crafty artist or blogger. This week, I'd like to introduce you to Debra Davis. Debra is a local artisan from my home state of Indiana. She's been handcrafting beaded necklaces, lapel pins, and other jewelry for fifteen years. If you live near Michigan City, you can contact her to design something special just for you. 219-879-1429 Did you know gemstones have special meanings?

Safety Pin Lapel Pins with precious gems.

Handmade Beaded Necklace with Real Gemstones.

Gemstone Meanings

Amethyst:  Aids in calming the mind and obtaining wisdom. It is said to ease obsessive compulsive behavior.

Aquamarine: Gives courage and aids in mental clarity.

Emerald:  Aids in fertility, gives psychic powers, believed to lift insomnia and depression.

Jade:  Serenity and prosperity.

Garnet:  Passion and devotion. Good Luck in business ventures.

Sapphire:  Peace and happiness. May help in predicting the future.

Beautiful turquoise and cobalt gemstone handmade bracelet.

If you are looking for a unique, thoughtful gift for a special occasion, Debra's handmade jewelry is a perfect choice for a one-of-a-kind original. Most necklaces are priced at $14.99! Although she's been crafting and selling for years, she's only recently introduced her work to the online community. She'd be tickled if you popped over to take a look.

Handmade Macrame Bracelets.

Debra handcrafts every jewelry item, so you'll be sure you've 

got a one-of-a-kind. 


Each piece is crafted with love in honor of her late son, Jasyn. 

I especially like the macrame bracelets.  

What's your favorite piece?

You might also like Fair Trade Jewelry.

Recommended Reading:

10 Ways to Make and Sell Hand Made Jewelry: Quick and Easy Methods Anyone Can Use Today!

Felt Snowman Lapel Pins Buttons

Call of Duty Medal Pin

Earth Day Multi-cultural Button Lapel Pins

Child Development Psychology: Sensory Play Aids in the Learning Process

Early Childhood Development: Learn with Sensory Play

The psychology behind a child's ability to focus academically or follow rules can be positively influenced by the environment. Parents and caregivers can help children with sensory processing disorders or developmental issues ease into everyday activities with simple games and activities.

How to Make Snow Cones or Sno Cones or Ice Cones or Shaved Ice Slushy Slush Puppy

Make a Snow Cone with Shaved Ice

So how do you make an Ice Cone? I mean it's just ice and syrup, right? Isn't a slushy the same thing?  What is a Sno-cone; is it really made out of snow?  Well, we made one from real snow.  It's springtime in Indiana, so anything goes.  Here's a list of everything you never wanted to know about the tasty shaved ice treat.

Rainbow Slushy Popsicle Ice.

Wikipedia defines snow cones as a North American variation of shaved ice commonly served in paper cups. Shaved ice is finely crushed ice. Hawaiian's call it Shave Ice. Baltimorians call them Snowballs.

Slushies are all about freezing water. Snow is frozen water, right?

Authentic Snow Cones.

We cheated. We scooped up some Indiana snow and added the Hawaiian Punch syrup we found on clearance at Walmart. They put it on clearance when snow is in season, go figure. This was the easiest snow cone recipe ever. Start with clean snow. 

Mayhem leaves out collecting bowls whenever they are predicting snow. Was it good? Um... yes. It is softer than shaved ice, and oh so perfect for a snow cone. Just like the real thing, if you live in Baltimore.

Snow cone syrup: Get this, the first flavor of syrup for shaved ice was EGG CUSTARD. Apparently, during the American Industrial Revolution  New York ice houses started selling ice to Florida. When the truck passed through Baltimore, kids started asking for free samples. Each time the truck came through they got their wish. The mothers decided to flavor the ice. Since eggs, butter, and sugar were readily on hand, they made egg custard flavor shaved ice. Of course they did. Yep, Baltimorians invented this tasty treat. Later during the Great Depression, it was an inexpensive snack earning the Baltimore Snowball the name "Hard Times Sundae".

The Hawaiian's added a scoop of ice cream at the bottom of a cup and poured a little milk on top. Thank Hawaii for the rainbow colors too. Thank India for Salt and Pepper flavored shaved ice popsicles known as Kala Khatta. Hmm... I'll just stick to the colored, sugary syrup.

Sensory Play with Fake DIY Snow

When I was a kid, growing up in Indiana the Slush Puppie was the cat's meow. What a treat to get a $1.00 from Grandpa and head into the corner store for a Slush Puppie.

Slush Puppies.

Snow Cone Syrup Recipes (How to Make)

You need Sugar, lots of it, for a healthier alternative you could try Clear Corn Syrup or Light Maple Syrup. That's funny right there. For a healthy alternative how about ice and food coloring.

2 C. Sugar, 1 packet Kool-aid Drink Mix, 1 C. Water

Stir sugar and water together in a saucepan (or substitute one of the syrups above). Bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in Kool-aid. Cool and store in a recycled glass bottle. Wait for a snow storm or use one of those nifty ice shaving contraptions or use the crushed ice from your fridge dispenser. Now pour the syrup over the ice. Tada! You should start your own snow cone biz 'cause you are officially a pro.

Recommended Reading:


Snowmen at Night*

Maple Doughnut Glaze

Kids Creative Chaos Cooks: Kitchen Kids Series: Holiday Recipes*

3 Easter theme Physical Education Activities for Elementary Kids using Eggs

Want to add an Easter theme to homeschool physical education activities for elementary school age kids? 

Use plastic eggs and egg cartons in the games. To make a fun preschool activity or silly Easter party game add some bunny ears. These 3 games work for a kid's birthday party  and are fun to play in Sunday School at church. We also have a fun pe game for Easter. Enjoy!

More PE Games

Plastic Easter Egg Games and Activities for PE/Gym.

Easter Egg Pockets Game                                                   
You need:  egg carton, markers, plastic Easter eggs, and 1 or more players.

How to play game: Any size egg carton will do, but cardboard egg cartons are easier to color with markers than styrofoam ones.

Cut lid off carton. Color each pocket a different color. Write a point value in each pocket. The points should be in increments of 10. So, if you want to use an egg carton with 8 pockets, the point values would be 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80. The larger point values should be in the pockets around the outside edges, since these are harder to get the ping pong ball into.

Place the your egg carton on the floor. Stand about four feet back from the carton. To make it harder you can stand even further back.

Now, try to toss a plastic Easter egg into one of the pockets. Where the egg lands is the number of points you get. Then, the next player takes a turn. The first one to reach a score of 100 is the winner!

How to decorate Easter eggs and make homemade dye

Easter Egg Pass Game
You need: Plastic Eggs, Large Spoons, and an Easter Basket.

How to play game: Each player needs a large ladle or spoon. Each group of two players needs a plastic Easter egg. Player one starts with the egg balanced on his spoon. He tosses it to the other player, who in turn catches the egg in his spoon. The object of this game is to pass the ball back and forth without dropping it off the spoons. 

With a larger group of children, at a kid's birthday party, you can play a variation of this game by dividing in half and lining everyone up into a single file line and asking them to pass the egg down. 

When a whistle blows or you say, "On your mark, get set, go" the race begins and the egg is passed from spoon to spoon until it gets to the person at the end of the line. If the egg is dropped the team must start over. 

The last person drops the egg into an Easter basket at the end of the line to win. Or, try this variation: The fastest team wins or give each team an equal number of eggs and a time limit. When you blow the whistle, everyone must freeze. The team with the most eggs in their Easter basket wins.

In My Easter Bonnet Game
You need: Plastic Eggs, Easter Basket, 1 Easter Bonnet (Make one here) and enough bunny ears for all players.

How to play game: Before the game begins mark one of the plastic eggs with a tiny bunny face. For a preschool or Sunday school class let the kids make their own ears and bonnets beforehand.

Everyone sits in a circle like Duck, Duck, Goose only everyone is wearing bunny ears (Don't worry it is fun for older kids too). Place the basket of eggs with the bonnet in the center of the circle. One player is chosen to hop around the circle like a bunny. He chooses another player by tapping him on the shoulder. The second player, places his hands on the firsts shoulder (like a train) and they continue to hop around the circle adding to their bunny hop. The last player sitting grabs the basket and the bonnet. 

The bunny train circles him and then sits down. The player with the basket passes 1 egg to each of the other players. The player with the bunny egg must trade his ears for the bonnet. 

Now, the eggs are placed back into the basket, and everyone wearing bunny ears forms a new circle around the basket of eggs. The player in the Easter bonnet is now "it". This player must twirl around the circle and tap another player on the shoulder to twirl with him until all but one player remains again.

Play continues as before, and the person who gets the bunny eggs must trade his ears for the bonnet. Play continues until everyone has a chance to be "it".

If you can find the music for the Bunny Hop and Easter Bonnet songs, play them during the game to make it more festive :)


Recommended Reading:

Holiday Recipes and Games for Kids*

Egg Hunt Game for Physical Education

The Ultimate Homeschool Physical Education Game Book: Fun and Easy-To-Use Games and Activities To Help You Teach Your Children Fitness, Movement and Sport Skills*


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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! :)

Meet MaryAnne from Mamasmiles, her Crafty Patchwork Doll Quilt, and Fairy Princess Costume.

Are you looking for a thoughtful, intelligent, fun blogger? Meet MaryAnne from Mama Smiles (Joyful Parenting) blog. MaryAnne studied at the University of Scotland and she has a sweet story about the birth of her first child. 

Isn't it fun how life chooses your path for you? I don't know all of the details, but she attended medical school while there. Now, Mama Smiles is a respected Kid Blogger. Life is full of surprises much like the treasures you can find while exploring Mama Smiles Blog.  

Meet MaryAnne from Mama Smiles.

  

MaryAnne is a member of The Kid Blogger Network on Pinterest. Its how I first discovered her! We also co-host a monthly linky party for Sensory Play Based Learning.  Recently, I spent some time exploring her blog. She has so many fun, educational ideas. I especially like her World Culture for Kids series. 

I chose two crafty posts to feature here. I love this little quilt for a doll. I think we all have things stashed away to make a quilt some day! Do you have a little princess? Mama Smiles Princess Dress tutorial is almost as easy as magic. In all my years of making quick costumes for kids, I've never tried this way. What a fabulous idea- you can bet I'm trying that one as soon as possible!

Patchwork Doll Quilt

Doll quilt from Mama Smiles.

Easy Instant Fairy Princess Dress Costume (Nearly)

How to make a Princess Costume.

Facts about Mama Smiles.

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What are Carrots good for? Here are Simple Carrot Snack Recipes and Edible Crafts perfect for Easter

Easter: Things to do with Carrots for Snacks

Carrots. Bunnies eat them. They are rumored good for eyesight. What else are carrots good for? Here are some simple, easy, snack carrot recipes your kids will enjoy- just in time for Easter.

Yummy, Easy Carrot Recipes: No Bunnies Allowed.

Carrots are good in lots of recipes, not just carrot cake. We found Carrot Pancakes from Iowa Girl Eats blog, adorable Bird's Nest Carrot Cupcakes from How Sweet Treats blog, and an Apple Carrot Smoothie from Akers of Love blog. Click the links below to visit their pages.

• Carrot Classroom Snacks
• Healthy Carrot Sloppy Joes
• Plastic Easter Egg Carrot Craft
• Apple Carrot Smoothie with Greek Yogurt
• Easter Nest Carrot Cupcakes
• Carrot Pancake Recipe

Recommended Reading:

Easter Knock Knock Jokes

Holiday Edible Art and Snack Crafts

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8 Fun and Easy Unique Plastic Easter Egg Crafts including Nesting Birds

Love Easter Crafts for Kids? How about Recycling those Plastic Eggs.

Me too! We've got a cute Easter basket in the hopper, but for now check out these 8 easy and unique plastic egg crafts from around the net. Enjoy!

Cute Peeps Easter Recipe

8 Fun and Easy Unique Plastic Easter Egg Crafts including Nesting Birds.

This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience.

Tweet! Tweet! Aren't these little Easter Chicks sweet? With buttons and cottonballs this cheery garland is perfect for a spring celebration. Kids can help make the chicks and stringing the buttons is perfect for fine motor skills. How about that basket of berries. So cute! Just grab a Sharpie and some felt. Easy Egg Decorating Kit


Plastic Animal Easter Garland (Parents.com)

Photo by Doug Merriam for Parents.com Plastic egg garland.

Photo by Ed Judice for Parent.com Plastic Egg Strawberries.

Look closely, and you'll see tiny beads embedded on these plastic eggs with a glue gun. This gives me an idea. I'll be glue gunning eggs later this week!


Glue Gun Sparkly Beaded Eggs (Perfect is Boring)

Glue gun beaded Easter egg craft by Perfectisboring.com

Easter Egg Spiders (Craft, Interrupted)

Wouldn't these little guys be fun filled with candy? 
Unique egg decorations.

Baby Birds in Nest (Busy Bee Kids Crafts)

This Easter egg decorating is perfect for preschoolers: 
Blue Baby Birds in Nest Paper Craft.

Easy Easter Bunny (Reader's Digest)

Do up a plastic Easter egg like a cute bunny. 
Simple. Easy. Adorable.

Plastic Carrot Egg (A Bird in the Hand Art)

A Bird in the Hand blog hits a home-run with this easy plastic Easter egg carrot craft.

More Easter (y) things to do with carrots

Perry the Platypus Plastic Easter Egg Craft 
from Saturday Disney TV

You know we love Perry!


More Perry Crafts

Recommended Reading:

Things to do with Plastic Eggs

Easter Peeps Dirt Pudding Cups

Egg Story for Kids*

Get Moving with these Easter Egg Games

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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! :)

Homeschool Folk Art Lesson: Paper Craft Quilt Squares (Jake's Journey)

Make a Chicken or Rooster quilt square pattern with construction paper

We are officially chicken farmers! So, in this edition of Jake's Journey in Art we incorporated our Silver Wyandotte Chicks into the homeschool art project. 

This paper craft is a pattern for an 8 x 8 quilt square. The assignment was to design a quilting pattern with shapes, colors, and a nice layout picturing a favorite activity. These squares depict egg collecting. You can cut simple shapes like these for your preschoolers or early elementary students and see what they create. Cartoon Chicken

Construction paper quilt square patterns.

When a bunch of people get together to make a quilt it is called a quilting bee. Quilts have been an important part of history. One of my favorite books is by Faith Ringgold, "Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky". The illustrations in the book are picture perfect for quilting. Quilts were sometimes used as welcome flags for runaway slaves. Many quilts depict important events. 

History of the Underground Railroad in Indiana

Books about quilting.

So, finally getting chicks is a very important event in our family. Each of us chose a different color for the background and then coordinated the other background colors into our design. If the daddy had made one, we'd have a perfectly symmetrical mini paper quilt to hang on the wall. Since he didn't, we're going to put our quilt squares in frames and hang them vertically near our front door.

Gold and Silver Laced Wyandotte Chicks at  6 days old.

Paper folkart quilt square ideas.

Jake's quilt square is pictured above. He loves our chicks, but he is not a fan of art. However, he sat down with us and happily arranged the pieces on his background. Mommy cut out all of the shapes before we got started. This helped to set Jake's mind at ease. Of course, as usual, he complained everyone else's project was much better than his. I quickly explained American Folk Art was done by regular people without any training or even skill in some cases. Even so, it is sought after today and often sold for thousands of dollars. Probably, because it depicts their heart and home.

Jake's Journey in Art starts here

I like how his chicken is laying a pile of eggs, it has two visible feet, and the basket is full of eggs. I love that he enjoyed making this project, and he was happy to know they'll be on display in our dining room.

Crafty First Grade Art Project: Make your own quilt square paper craft.

Mayhem got creative. She cut out a yolk, sunshine, brown eggs, and was the first to include hay in her basket. She even drew baby chicks inside the eggs (in case you couldn't recognize her efforts).

More Farm Fun Crafts

Making quilt squares with your kids is a fun way to discuss history, teach layout and design, and share a special moment in time. What's on your quilting square?


Recommended Reading:

7 Fun and Easy Projects Quilts for Kids by Kids Tips for Quilting with Children

Why did the Turkey cross the street?

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