Hand and Foot Print Flowers for Spring!

Hand and Foot Print Flowers for Spring!

Finished Project

Spring will be pretty.

Just give it a week, When flowers are blooming down by the creek.

Bees will be buzzing as trees start to bud,

But for the moment I'm covered with mud.

Snow has been melting, since winter is through,

Replacing the whiteness with puddles of goo.

I stepped off the sidewalk and into the ooze.

Next thing I knew, I stepped out of my shoes!

Mud on my ankles and mud on my clothes.

I stumbled face-first and got mud up my nose.

Spring will be pretty, but I must confess,

The first days of spring are a muckety mess!

Let's get messy! 

Bring your kids over to our house and dip their

feet and hands in paint to make a keepsake for Spring!

RSVP as usual - only plus 1 if your bringing 2 kids and so on.  Please list any allergies in your rsvp.  Directions will be emailed the night before to all Yes rsvp's.

Craft Directions:

These are super easy to do, I was even able to get both of my 3 year olds hands and feet onto the SAME piece of paper! Granted it was a large piece of construction paper, but they fit none the less. I had to settle for a new piece of paper to get my 11month olds flowers done but that eased my fears of her turning her flowers into a finger painting project which would "ruin" the twins prints.

8-Oz. Color Splash! Washable Tempera Paint (Pack of 12) Using Washable Tempura Paints make this project an easy one to clean up after.

Supplies:

Washable Tempura Paints

Paint brushes

Wipes or a wet hand towel

Paper to apply prints onto

Step 1: Choose your colors for the flowers, my girls actually chose different colors! I thought we'd have our usual purple and pink but they surprised me and I think they turned out great! Place your hand and foot prints as shown. I use regular baby wipes to clean off the paint but a wash rag would be far more economical.

 

Step 2: Draw in your stems. I used a regular foam paint brush. I buy mine at Michaels but have seen them at Target and Walmart. Make sure to wash these out ASAP, even just soaking them will make them last longer. They may be cheap to buy but having to run to the store Just to buy paint brushes aren't in my plans for the day.

11month old's project

Step 3: Paint on leaves and add the name and date to either a stem or on an empty part of the paper.

Pine Cone Bird Feeders

SPRING is Here!  Time to feed the birds!  Gather up your kids and playgroup friend to make this super easy and very tasty bird treat!

Feed the Birds (tune of Row Row)

Feed, feed, feed the birds

In the wintertime

When the days are dark and cold

Food is hard to find

Feed, feed, feed the birds

Till the spring has come

Scatter birdseed on the snow

Feeding birds is fun.

Living in Las Vegas makes finding pine cones a little harder then when I lived in Seattle! All three girls and I set out to find some regardless. We found tons of neat nature things to put in the bottom of Little Misses stroller. By the time we got back to the house I had 12 pine cones, a small bucket full of dandelions, several rocks, and a couple cherry blossoms.

They were happy to take a nap after we got home so I set all the goodies out in our backyard in hopes in bugs would wonder out and off our nature findings. I don't want to trap some poor spider in his home with peanut butter!

Once the ladies all awoke from slumber we started our craft:

How to make a Pinecone Bird FeederHave all your supplies ready:

Pinecone

Birdseed *I bought ours at the Dollar Store

Yarn

Scissors

Creamy Peanut Butter

Shallow Bowl

Cookie Sheet

I set out a cookie sheet so both my girls could cover the pinecone with peanutbutter easily. We did this outside on the grass which would have made a mess without the cookie sheet.

Using your shallow bowl, fill with bird seeds. Let your child(ren) roll the pine cone in the seeds. GG thought she's lick some peanut butter of her fingers and was very upset with the amount of bird seeds now stuck in her teeth! It took a couple flushings before she was satisfied they were all gone.

*I used a fresh jar of peanutbutter only to realize half way through: Eew, they are dipping a spoon several times into a fresh jar of peanut butter and smearing it onto a dirty pinecone. Not the best plan. Next time I'll put some in a tupperware container for them!




Cut off some string, I made ours 2 feet long to give me plenty of string to tie. Wrap the string around the top of the pinecone, then to a tree branch. All done! This took us from start to finish 15 minutes.