Bear Wants More — Book Activities

By OneMommy on March 22, 2013

I have fallen in love with the Bear books by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman. With the start of spring this week, I wanted to have a little fun with Bear Wants More.

Not familiar with this one? In it Bear wakes up from hibernating and he is HUNGRY! His friends all find him things to eat, but “Bear wants more.” At the end of the book he is too big to fit inside his house for the party they planned, so they have the party outside.

What did we do?

I prepped ahead of time by cutting a small hole in a paper plate to be the entrance to Bear’s cave. Then we used one of the kid-sized sock puppets we made a few weeks ago and acted out the story. At the beginning, Bear had no problem getting through the cave’s entrance.

Then he ate. And ate. (My kids had fun stuffing our little Bear full of cotton balls while they named the foods he ate.)

When he got back to his house, he couldn’t fit through the door.

I originally planned to picnic outside, like Bear and his friends did. But the weather did not cooperate. (30 degrees is NOT picnic weather!) So we had an indoor picnic instead.

And then we made flower chains, like the animals did in the book.

We don’t have fresh daisies yet…but we do have plenty of construction paper. I had a variety of flowers waiting. I punched 2 holes in each of them ahead of time so they would be threaded onto green yarn and worn as a headband or necklace.

By the end, even the dog got decorated.

Now, if we could just get the spring weather!

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~OneMommy

Posted in Bringing Books Alive, Crafts and Games, Fun and Learning Activities Tagged craft, fun with kids, spring, teaching kids 27 Comments

Celebrating with a Giveaway

By OneMommy on March 18, 2013

Woo-hoo!

I’m so excited! The Facebook Fan Page for There’s Just One Mommy just hit 375 likes, and I’m celebrating with a little giveaway for my wonderful readers.

What’s up for grabs?

A pair of felt dolls, designed especially for the winner, complete with plenty of spare clothes, of course!

Here’s the ones we took to entertain the kids in the car while traveling.

How do you enter?

I’m so glad you asked!

Make sure you’ve liked There’s Just One Mommy on FB. Then leave me a comment here on the blog telling me who you would give the felt dolls to. Daughter? Son? Grandchild? Niece/Nephew? A friend’s child?

The winner will be chosen via Random Number Generator on Tuesday, March 26 at noon E.S.T.

I will contact the winner by email.

Super easy giveaway for some super awesome readers!

This giveaway is now over.

The winner was Karen Dawkins of Family Travels on a Budget.

~OneMommy

Posted in Reviews/Give Aways Tagged blogging, craft, giveaway 18 Comments

Puppets — A.K.A. a Use for Those Outgrown Socks

By OneMommy on February 19, 2013

Several years ago I made a puppet theater out of a large box the kids’ craft table and chair set had come in. If I had been blogging back then I would have taken before and after pics…

I love their little hand prints that decorate it!

Of course they had to have some puppets to go with it, so I made several sock puppets, carefully sewing on felt ears, using buttons for eyes. I even cut the feet off a pair of toddler jammies — the kind with the super cute animals on the feet…They make great puppets!

Over the years the kids have enjoyed playing with the puppets I had made.

The last time I was going through their clothes, taking out things they have outgrown, I came across several pairs of socks that had lost their matches. Without their mates they aren’t worth passing on to someone else, but they ARE the perfect size for preschoolers to make their own sock puppets!

So I gathered some scraps of felt, wiggly eyes, various colors of yarn, pom-poms, and permanent markers to use to decorate the puppets. Then we got to work.

I showed them how to put the sock on their hand while decorating it so they would know exactly where they wanted to put eyes, etc. They opted to skip the wiggly eyes, using the coveted permanent markers instead.

Once they were done with the permanent markers, I helped them hot glue ears, tails, and other items. To keep them from burning themselves, and to keep the glue from sticking the socks together, I stretched their puppets over small spice containers before we glued. (You have to pry them off gently once they dry, but it beats having a little one get burned!)

Peanut made a really cute butterfly!

Little guy and his kitty-cat sock puppets

By the end of our crafting we had a whole new cast of characters for our puppet shows!

Speaking of which, the show’s about to start and the audience (that’s me!) can’t be late!

Have you made puppets with your kids?

Shared on these great blogs: Ladybug Blessings, Reasons to Skip the Housework, Sew Much Ado, Milk and Cuddles, Kids Activities Blog, Katie’s Nesting Spot, Commercial Break Thursday, Naptime Crafters, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Cheerios and Lattes, Saturday Show and Tell, A Vision to Remember, No Time for Flashcards, Sundae Scoop Link Party, Delicate Construction, Sew Can Do

~OneMommy

Posted in Crafts and Games Tagged craft, fun with kids, preschooler, upcycled craft 6 Comments

Chocolate Kiss Mice

By OneMommy on February 8, 2013

Flipping through a parenting magazine, I came across this super cute Valentine’s Mouse:

I decided it was just the thing to do with the candy canes full of chocolate kisses that Mamaw had given the kids at Christmas time.

Seriously, we don’t need all this chocolate…

Before calling the kids over to craft, I made one up on my own.

It always helps to have a visual for them to look at. Plus, I wanted to make sure that Elmer’s glue would work since we didn’t have any craft glue handy…and I figured hot glue wasn’t a good idea when working with chocolate.

Once I was certain it would work, I got all the pieces for their mice ready. Using card stock I cut a heart for ears, little feet with a tab (see picture) and a slice of cheese for the mouse to sit on. I also cut yarn tails and made sure their were plenty of wiggly eyes and chocolate kisses (2 for each mouse and a few for eating). You need to remove the paper tag from each kiss; I just cut them off because trying to pull them out kept making the kisses unravel.

Working with one preschooler at a time, I helped them glue the heart ears to the tab of the mouse’s feet. Then we glued the tail to the cheese and glued the feet and ears on top of the tail. That made it much easier to glue a Hershey’s kiss to each side for the mouse’s body. And, of course, you had to have wiggly eyes!

Squeak! Squeak!

Now we have a small family of mice to give our Valentines on that special day. They are almost too cute to eat!

Got a few extra kisses around the house? This super cute craft is sure to please this Valentine’s Day! Or, for another cute Valentine’s craft and gift, check out our Love Bugs.

Have you crafted anything with chocolate kisses? (We have another candy cane full; I’d love some ideas!)

Shared on Fingerprints on the Fridge, Cheerios and Lattes, A Vision to Remember, Creative Jewish Mom, Delicate Construction, Sew Much Ado, Milk and Cuddles

~OneMommy

Posted in Crafts and Games Tagged craft, holiday, preschooler, Valentine's Day 12 Comments

Heart Crafts

By OneMommy on February 4, 2013

When you are stuck inside with little ones, crafting is one way to keep them occupied in a good way. With Valentine’s Day coming up, we’ve been doing a few fun heart crafts.

I decided our Heart Animals needed some friends, and so today we made these silly Heart Characters: (I have to give credit where credit is due, these are inspired by some silly heart people pictures I’ve seen a friend of mine draw; in fact, my daughter started drawing them, too!)

To start with I cut a bunch of hearts for bodies, hands, feet, eyes, and noses. I also cut strips of paper for arms and legs, folding them accordion-style to give them a little “spring.”

My daughter had fun designing her heart characters, asking me to cut some hair for them, using her markers to give them eye lashes and other fun details.

What’s with that serious face?

Each time she finished one she asked, “Can I make one more?”

I’d say they were a big hit, and they are going to look so cute on the doors!

Looking for something else to spruce up your home with a Valentine’s Day touch?

How about making some snowflakes full of hearts?To make it easier for little ones, just fold the paper 2 times and then use a pencil to draw where they should cut. Older children will have fun trying their hand at seeing just how many little hearts they can cut into their snowflakes.

Happy crafting with the kids!

Looking for a little something special to give with Valentine’s this year? Check out our Love Bugs!

Shared on Delicate Construction, Natural and Free, Reasons to Skip the Housework, Ladybug Blessings, Sew Much Ado, Milk and Cuddles, Kids Activities Blog, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Cheerios and Lattes

~OneMommy

Posted in Crafts and Games Tagged craft, holidays, preschooler, Valentine's Day 8 Comments

Organizing Hair Supplies with the Help of Cocoa

By OneMommy on January 14, 2013

Okay all you moms with daughters out there, ever notice how the hair supplies seem to multiply all on their own?

It starts out with a couple innocent bow clips for their little baby hair, then a few tangle-free mini rubber bands for those tiny little pony tails… And the next thing you know you can’t close the medicine cabinet because headbands and barrettes keep tumbling out faster than you can shut the door!

Until recently we had hair twisters in baggies in the medicine cabinet, headbands in the dress-up drawer of my daughter’s room, and barrettes probably in every room of the house. I really wanted to have all the supplies in one convenient place. I tried using some little storage containers to put them in the medicine cabinet, but the headbands did not want to cooperate, and the rest of it just took up too much room.

And then I found my answer in my morning cup of caffeine….

The large cocoa can was just the right size to slide those headbands on, and there was plenty of room for all the other goodies to go inside it.

So I grabbed some colorful gift bags and the glue gun and got to work!

After wiping the empty container down with a damp paper towel to get the last bits of cocoa out, I measured, cut, and glued the gift bag paper to the outside of the can.

Once I was finished, my daughter had a cute way to keep all her hair supplies together and easily accessible. (After all, you never know when you might need to change your look or add a bow!)And the best part?