Super Hero Squash

 

Before you cook up your pumpkins, let them save the day!  I actually did this to decorate our trunk for Trunk or Treat.  But it rained.  For a day and a half.  Almost non-stop.  So everything was canceled.

 

 

My 2.5-year-old thinks these are amazing.  He has had so much fun playing with them.  He even picked out some of the colors.  The whole project took less than 30 minutes and a handful of felt scraps.

 

 

Little Man actually has no idea who any of these heroes are, but he still loves the mas-a-kes, as he calls them. :)

 

Cost: free with scraps!

Time to make: less than half an hour

 

Counting Fun

Little Man is now interested in numbers.  Sometimes he even gets them in order, ha ha.  I guess that means it's time to find fun ways to reinforce the numbers and let him practice counting. 

This is a pretty basic craft: Paper plates, markers, fishing line, hole punch, tape and fish. I found a pack of foam fish complete with sticker stripes and spots at Hobby Lobby. They were not my favorite part. Decorating them was a pain. Previously, the little guy and I spent some time decorating them for fun and he didn't really dig it either. But I had them, so I used them.

The fish have been a hit so I decided to expand on our numbers exposure.  This is also super simple (my kind of craft!)  A printer, bag of buttons, and glue stick are all you need.  These are posted on either side of our hallway door frame.

We have letters in the hallway, on the refrigerator and in alphabet books, but until recently I hadn't put much effort into numbers.  Somehow the little sponge is picking them up anyway.  Here's to reading and counting cars!

I plan to do more but we are in the middle of a move and we have a newborn.  So yeah, maybe in a month or two.  :)

Hoop Wall Art

I've seen a lot of adorable fabric displayed as wall art in embroidery hoops.  A genius idea.  It is often super fun and feminine - two things I love.  But I live with 2 boys with another on the way.  Yay for little boys!  Instead of trying to find awesome boyish fabric - surprisingly difficult - I incorporated, you guessed it, dinosaurs!  My son's (soon-to-be sons') room is dinosaur themed. 

These hoops are incredibly simple and inexpensive and you can knock a couple out in about an hour depending on the complexity of your image.

Needs: An embroidery hoop, a square of fleece, a piece of white felt, hot glue gun and double-stick tape.

 

Divide your hoop.  Layer the inner hoop, fleece square and then outer hoop.

 

Assemble the hoops with the fleece between them:

 

Flip your hoop over and trim the fleece square to within an inch or two of the hoop.  The fleece just needs to extend far enough to fold down toward the inside of the hoop and attach to the plastic.

 

Apply hot glue to the inner plastic ring.  Fold down and press the fleece in place.

 

Now the front of the fleece is nice and smooth.

 

Find a clip art of your desired shape or draw one you like.  Cut it out and use double-stick tape to attach it to the felt, print side up.

 

Cut out the outline from the felt.

 

Use double-stick tape to attach it face down on your hoop.  Trim the paper edges, if needed, so they don't show outside the felt.  I leave the paper attached to make the white appear whiter.  Felt can be a little thin and see-through.

 

That's it.  Hang up your new art.  I love the way these add a pop of color to my son's wall!

 

 

Craft time: About 30 minutes each

Cost: A few dollars each

 

 

 

 

 

30-Min Changing Pad Covers

Changing Table Pads need cute covers and they are so quick to make! 

We used a nice thick pad when our son was small (until about 6 months).  When he became more active, I felt better about using the standard thin pad because the railing around the changing table would help keep him from falling off.  You could modify either method for just about any changing pad.

For the thick pad:
Mine is 32 x 15 x 3.5 inches.  Basically, I just made a fitted sheet for it.  I used anti-pill fleece because it is SUPER soft and will not fray.  I know minky is very popular right now but I also hear it is a pain to cut and work with and I wanted something fast.

Needs: 3/4 yard fleece and 40" of 1/4" elastic

For any size: determine the thickness of your pad multiply by 2 and add 5".  This is the amount you want to add to the length & width of your fabric.  My pad was 3.5" thick so I added 12" (3.5x2+5) to the length and width of my pad resulting in a 27" x 44" rectangle of fleece.  Cut your fleece to size.

Line up the four corners of the fleece and cut out a 6" square. (6" is half of the 12" we added.)

Unfold your fleece and taking one missing corner at a time, pin the the 2 sides right sides together.  This will form the corner.  Sew a half inch seam.  No need for French seams, fleece won't fray!

 

Once all 4 corners are done, fold down a half inch of fleece all the way around the cover and pin in place.  Be sure to fold toward the underside.  I did not use an iron, I was focused on speed and don't think it made a difference.  This will form a case for the elastic.  If you want to be very nice or aren't using fleece, you can fold under 1/4", iron, fold under 1/2", iron and pin.

 

Sew your hem in place leaving an inch gap on one of the short sides.  You want to leave an opening to later insert the elastic.

 

Now for the elastic.  Attach a safety pin to one end of the elastic and push it through the gap you left in the hem.  Work it all the way through the cover.  If you are using a different size pad, determine the perimeter of your rectangle (length+width)x2.  Your elastic should be about half or less of this amount.

 

Once the elastic is worked through, overlap the ends by about an inch and sew them firmly together.

 

Work the elastic fully into the casing.  Sew closed the open gap. And done!

 

We are getting ready for Baby Angell #2.

 

 

For the thin pad:

Mine is 32x18 inches.  I simply made an envelope closure for it.  Once again I used fleece so that I didn't have to worry about fraying and because it is soft and fast.

 

 

 

Needs: 1/2 yard each of 2 colors of fleece

 

Cut each color into 17" x 40" fleece.  Pin the the 2 pieces right sides together along one long side.  Sew a half inch seam.  You can iron open the seam if desired.

 

Turn the fabric right side up onto your work space.  Measure 18" (width of pad) in the middle of each long side. This is the amount that you want to stay on the table.  Fold in each side to overlap this 18" (the same way many pillow shams are made).  If this sounds confusing, lay the fabric right side up and place your pad in the middle of it.  Fold the extra fabric from the sides over the pad. 

Remove the pad.  Pin the edges together.  You want this to fit snuggly and not be wider than the width of the pad.  Fleece stretches so tighter is better.

 

Sew the edges with a half inch seam.  Flip right side out and done!

Underside: 

If you like, you can add velcro to the back flaps to help hold them snuggly together.

I made each of these in about half an hour.  They are fast and soft.  I like to have 2 covers on hand so that one can be in play while the other is, inevitably, in the wash.  Once LM is fully potty trained, we'll set up the thick changing pad for the new baby.  Exciting!

Time: ~30 minutes each
Cost: ~$5 each

Felt Name Book

 

These are popular and so much fun!  I really enjoyed picking out the animals to go with each letter of my son's name.  Each page took 2-4 hours but most of that was spent on 'design time' while I tried to decide what to do and how to do it.

Mine is not as elaborate as many versions out there.  I only used felt and embroidery thread.  Many books incorporate buttons, ribbons, rick rack, etc.  Then there is the 'Quiet Book' idea which involves creating amazing activity pages.  I chose to make a simple name book. 

I used free clip art to create patterns for 2 animals but mostly felt that making them myself was easier and much less time consuming.  I have no natural drawing skills, and they turned out alright.  My advice: just wing it!

Here is a picture of a page pre-stitching:

And post-stitching:  Adding decorative stitches made a big difference.  I used two threads for all of the stitching on the pages.

 

I used a little fabric glue to hold the shapes down while stitching or, in some cases, instead of stitching.  Just be aware that fabric glue dries stiff and is DIFFICULT to sew through.  I had to really force the needle through if I had let the glue set.  I learned to only use a little glue and to sew the felt the same day.  If you use a lot or let it dry overnight, you'll have to fight with it a bit.  It was useful for eyes or spots I didn't want to stitch down.

 

 

 

The pages:

 

When the pages were done, I put them in order and whip stitched (simplest stitch!) the backs of consecutive pages together.  I didn't want the backs of the pages with the thread and knots showing.  Originally, I had hoped to be lazy and simply glue the backs of the pages together but my husband saw them without my saying a word about it and said, "That would look really cool hand sewn together."  So I was stuck.  And of course, he was right, I tried gluing a few together, but they look much more finished with the stitching.  Whip stitching around the 4 edges is super fast and mindless and I had them done in the time it took to watch a movie.  (I used 4 threads for the edges.)

 

To create the binding, I put the pages in order and ran a needle with 4 threads through the stitches on the left hand side of each page.  I didn't sew through the pages again, I just ran through the stitches.  I went down all 6 pages and then up all 6 pages catching stitches with the needle. I did this about every half inch down the edge.

 

 

I think this is a fun book and my son likes paging through it looking at the animals.  Baby #2 is due in 3 months and hopefully I'll have his book done before he turns 2!  If the ultrasound tech. had been more confident that I'm having a boy, I'd get started now, but I'd hate to make the wrong name! 

Craft time:  I only worked on this intermittently and not at all while dealing with morning sickness.  I would guess 4 hours per page.
Cost:  Very inexpensive!  Felt pages are often on sale and you can buy thread by the pack.
Age:  Probably 6mths-3yrs

 

 

Easter with a 2-Year-Old

This is a tentative timeline we used to prepare for and celebrate Easter with a 2-year-old.  I wanted to share the most important holiday with our son.  Our Lord died, paying the price for all of our sins for all time, and rose again, conquering death and also granting us victory over death if we follow him.

This is the Sunday we celebrate the Lord's resurrection and our redemption.  As Christians, we are focused on the life of Christ.  As Americans, we want to join in our nation's cultural traditions so we also throw in silly activities like egg dyeing.  Take or leave whatever works for your family!

Saturday:

• Make a lion and a lamb out of pom poms. Jesus is the sacrificial lamb and the Lion of Judah!  I cut out shapes and covered them with glue, then my son sprinkled on pom poms or positioned the eyes and noses.  He wasn't interested in more than that.  But he likes to play with the finished product.
• Read a special Easter book such as: The First Easter, a board book with lots of peep holes and cut outs.

Palm Sunday:

• Palm walk – cut up construction paper to make palm leaves and tape them to the floor of the hallway (make ahead for a morning surprise).  This was a big hit!
• Practice color sorting with plastic eggs - start with 2-3 colors then add more. 
• As a family, read Matthew 21, v 1-11: The Triumphal Entry

Monday:

• Rich perfume – Jesus was anointed for his burial.  Find things that smell good.  Talk about the sense of smell.  Light candles, put yummy smelling lotion on his hands, etc.
• Let them help bake cupcakes - fun, messy and great smelling.  My little one LOVED helping mama bake!
• As a family read Mark 14: Jesus is Anointed

Tuesday:

• 30 Silver Pieces – Place silver coins in plastic eggs to make music
• Dye eggs.  We used brown eggs in a solution that was half vinegar, half water.  The dye tablets were from a kit at the store.  Brown eggs worked great.  Ours are a bit, ok, maybe a lot, beat up with all of the toddler attention, but he had fun.  He has also loved eating them this week.
• Read a special book: Easter Surprise has lots of fun flaps to lift and explore.

Shaking his 'silver pieces'

Dyed brown eggs

Wednesday:

• Last Supper - Color a coloring page of the last supper. Talk about what a disciple is (a student of Jesus).
• Take apart plastic eggs and have your toddler match the colored tops and bottoms
• As a family read Luke 22 v 7-30: The Last Supper

My son was able to match the colors but he had a hard time snapping the eggs together and soon lost interest.  I think this game may require more dexterity than a just-turned-2 toddler has.  (Update: a week or so later he was able to work these better so maybe practice makes perfect?)

Thursday: 

• Jesus was beaten and mocked.  We decided to make a sign like the one placed over the Christ.  It was placed in mockery but proclaimed truth.
• Glue pom poms (or buttons, confetti, glitter, etc.) to a cross outline on card stock
• Create a sign to place over the cross "Jesus:King of the Jews".  Print /write the sign and use a toothpick to attach it to the cross
• As a family read Matthew 27:11-31
• 
   LM Loved this project!  He got a kick out of placing the "small balls" on the cross.  He liked it so much we made something else with pom poms!
   

Friday:

• Good Friday.  As John Hart's 'B.C.' comic put it, "If you were going to be hanged that day and the Lord took your place, how would you feel?"  "Good." 
• Cross – make a cross from sticks in the yard.  This is a great 'Daddy project'.
• Brighten up your sidewalks by coloring with chalk.
• As a family read Matthew 27:32-55

Saturday:

• Tomb and rock: go to a park and collect a small bucket of rocks to play with - because rocks are just really fun at this age.
• Find a local egg hunt
• As a family read Matthew 27: 57-65
•  

Easter Sunday:

• Jesus’ gift to us!  He is risen!
• "And as He stands in victory
  Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
  For I am His and He is mine
  Bought with the precious blood of Christ" - 'In Christ Alone' lyrics by Stuart Townend
• Easter basket filled mostly with small toys, chalk, etc. 
• As a family read Matthew 28 v 1-10
   

These are activities that my toddler had fun with. Does he now understand the sacrifice of Christ? No, of course not. We are simply introducing elements that can be built on later and, in the meantime, having fun and enjoying the holiday season.