Getting Ready for Father's Day With Crafts!

I haven't posted any "how to's" in a while. So I figured that since Father's Day is right around the corner, I could post about what my kids are doing for their dad!

Isabella settled on a doctor bag card! It seemed fitting, since DH is a doctor, and it's very easy to do. On the inside she put her "Happy Father's Day" message.




Marco wanted to do something different, so we searched until we found this fun, spinning card from Martha Stewart. It's super cute and not to hard to do. He also added some paper cups in which he stuffed with tissue paper and some candy. Tutorial for that is on this post.


Anthony wanted something totally different from the other kids. It was hard to come up with something because he didn't want a printable to color in. Finally we found this cool measuring tape card from Family Fun (in their current issue). I had to help him along the way, but he is very proud of how it turned out!!




Lastly, I wanted to give my husband something I knew he would treasure. In our home, he is the story teller. He loves telling the kids stories, and he is so good at it too! There is one story in particular that the kids love to hear, all about a special rock. So I got the grand idea of altering his story to send a father's day message to him.

I started out making a bound book (see below). Then I printed out the story lines and cut them with decorative scissors. Each of the kids illustrated a page and it was then all glued into the book.

The back of the book has the father's day message. I thought it turned out really cute and I love the fact that all the kids worked on it together!






To Make the Book: you need paper, scissors, and a ruler.

1. You take two sheets of paper and fold them in half.



2. Measure 1 inch from each side of the folds and mark with a pencil.



3. On one of the sheets, cut up from the bottom to your mark from both sides.



4. On the other sheet, you want to cut a sliver out between both of your pencil marks.



5. Go back to the first sheet you cut from the bottoms and fold it lengthwise. Slide it through the 2nd sheet's sliver opening and open it up. Fold the pages and you have a book!





If my directions for this are confusing...you might want to check out the Big Book of Books and Activities by Dinah Zike.

If you are still searching for more ideas, check out these links!

• Crafty Crow Father's Day Cards To Make

• Catholic Icing (we'll be doing something for our priests this year as well, thanks to the great idea from Lacy!)

Celebrating Mardi Gras and Lent.

This year is the first in a looooong time that we have failed to make it to Mass on Ash Wednesday. Having a daughter with a broken arm that hurts, a child with croup, and another with a stomach ache didn't help our situation. So I decided to skip it and tend to my children at home instead.

But we are off to a great start this Lent season, nonetheless! On Tuesday, we celebrated Mardi Gras with some fun crafts that our friends from co-op dropped off. The kids spent much of the afternoon coloring, decorating masks, and making crowns. We then topped off the night with breakfast for dinner...purple, green, and gold pancakes and all!! It was a big treat for everyone!



On Ash Wednesday, we also colored our path to Easter Sunday. You can find this download at Catholic Icing. Each day the kids will be putting a star on the day mark it off. We will also be doing other crafts and activities about every other day to celebrate Lent. These are scheduled into our school days so that I make it a priority to actually do them!



Here are a list of activities to help you do things at home.

• Lent Lapbook (we did this last year and learned a lot!) My link can help with ideas, as I have not created a file for it.
• Sacrifice Beads (we have these made already, but I like to stress their use during this time)
  
• Prayer Jar
• Pretzels
• Way of the Cross (Stations of the Cross) candle craft
• Stations of the Cross coloring book
• Family Chart
• Crown of Thorns
• Sacrifice Jar
• Merciful Cross

I might add to this, so keep checking for updates!

Hanging with the 12 Apostles.

This summer while at the IHM Conference, I purchased a really cute activity set with the 12 apostles from Jody's Hands-On Learning. I knew it was an activity that the kids would love, especially Isabella!



So I set out to get the activity kit all ready for assembly. If you are working with younger kids, this means cutting out the paper dolls and clothes ahead of time. The kit comes with everything you need...paper dolls, fabric for clothes, googly eyes, templates, etc.



It was a bit time consuming to prepare everything for the kids. I am not a fan of doing everything for them, but I knew that it would be too difficult and time consuming for them to do all the cutting necessary to complete the project. I was extremely happy once I was done getting this step out of the way, however.

We worked on this project on a Sunday and it was a nice way to spend part of the afternoon. We got to talk about the apostles and how important they were. The most gruesome part was, of course, the hanging of Judas Iscariot. But I reminded the kids that his betrayal was an important part that led to our salvation. In all, they were reminded of the importance of friendship, loyalty, and faithfulness.

Isabella loved putting the paper dolls together.

The 12 Apostles all done and lined up on our wall. Notice Judas Iscariot hanging on the side. A bit morbid, but an important part of history nonetheless.

Rainy Day.

It's been a bit rainy and I usually send the kids out anyways. But today I didn't feel like cleaning muddy boots or shaking off wet rain coats, so I kept the kids inside and made them some home-made play dough. Since Christian would not want to be left behind in shaping and playing with dough, I made a kid friendly (as in it's ok if they eat it!!) dough. And yes...Christian DID eat a bunch of it!

Here is the recipe:

Oatmeal Clay
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup water
1 cup oatmeal

Mix everything together. It the dough is too sticky, keep adding flour. I tripled this "recipe" to make enough for all the kids. You can also add food coloring into the mixture to make it more fun!

Mixing, patting, and playing.

Isabella makes a taco.

Marco making pizza and tossing it up in the air.

This is before the eating of the dough.

Anthony worked hard at making it nice and flat.

Celebrating St. Joseph with Color.

This week was a week to watercolor. It was our arts & crafts activity for co-op (although I was unable to actually make it!), I also planned it for my faith formation students, and today we're doing watercolor at home!

In celebration of St. Joseph's feast day, I printed out a stain-glass coloring page for the kids as well as an Easter Lily (taken from the book "Lent and Easter in the Domestic Church"). We did wax watercolor resist and it was a big hit. Of course, anything dealing with painting is always a big hit around here. It was nice that even Christian got to participate in painting and actually did such a great job sitting at his chair and painting right on the paper!

I always enjoy reading stories about the saints as the kids color or paint. It's a nice quiet activity that everyone always seems to enjoy and their retention on whatever is being read to them is greater than I always think it is.

So I hope everyone out there is enjoying the feast day of St. Joseph!!

Prayer to St. Joseph

O blessed Joseph, faithful guardian of my Redeemer, Jesus Christ, protector of thy chaste spouse, the virgin Mother of God, I choose thee this day to be my special patron and advocate and I firmly resolve to honor thee all the days of my life. Therefore I humbly beseech thee to receive me as thy client, to instruct me in every doubt, to comfort me in every affliction, to obtain for me and for all the knowledge and love of the Heart of Jesus, and finally to defend and protect me at the hour of my death.

Amen.

Making Nature Crafts.

It's nice to be getting things back to normal around here. My morning sickness has subsided and now I have most of the day free from nausea until it hits me around dinner time. Although I am still getting sick, I'm thankful that I can function all morning and early afternoon without feeling so bad.

Yesterday the kids had their Valentine's Day party at co-op. I was upset that I forgot to take my camera and therefore can't share some of the happy events of the day. Today, however, with the beautiful weather outside. I sent the kids out for a nature scavenger hunt. We saw signs of spring everywhere! I was glad that we have been back to starting school at 8:30am.

After we finished our core lessons this morning, I decided to make the kids some paper cups so that they could collect their scavenger hunt findings. These cups are a neat little thing that I think all moms and dads should know how to do as the kids think they are the coolest thing! You can even use them as drinking cups. Need some instructions? Just follow along.

Drinking Cup/Paper Pockets

Begin with a regular sized piece of paper. I like using cardstock for sturdiness. Fold a corner of the paper over so that it forms a large triangle. You will have a rectangle shape left over on the side.

Cut the piece of rectangle. This will leave you with a large folded triangle.

Fold the right side of the triangle over.

Next, fold the left side of the triangle. The two sides will overlap.

Fold down one side of the top.

Fold down the other side of the top.

Open your cup and fill it with goodies!!

Once I did a paper cup for each of the kids, I gave them a list of things they were to find. Marco read the list to everyone and they headed out to the backyard in search of nature's treasure!

Isabella looking for acorns.

Anthony examining some wood chips from a cut-down walnut tree.

A small glimpse that spring is on it's way!

After our little hunt and running around outside, the kids brought their items inside. The paper cups were perfect for holding the small things we found outside. Not wanting to just talk about what we found, we decided to make a picture frame using the found items. Here are the results!

The kids decided to frame their favorite Valentine cards. It was a fun craft and I had fun taking pictures (as is obvious from this picture filled post!!).

Update on our Fun School.

It has been fun to see the kids looking forward to fun school again. The NWF Green Hour activity was a perfect way to get them out of the house with a purpose. It had been chilly outside, but as long as they are dressed for the weather, I don't think they care if it's cold, raining, hot, or windy!

As always, I love when my kids come together and help each other out without being asked. This is a great way for them to build unity among themselves and work as a family team. It also makes me think, "My kids are awesome!"

Painting is always a favorite activity around here, so the NWF activity was a perfect way to lift their spirits and make them get away from the usual core subject lessons. Since the completion of their project, the kids have made a point of prominently displaying their rock garden in the school room. They are very proud of their work! My next step? Secretly move their rock box to a less disturbing location!

Anthony loves green!

Marco concentrating on his rock design.

Isabella is always drawing happy faces.

Brothers working together on their rock box!

Isabella getting creative.

Finished products!