Photo Scavenger Hunt for Kids {Free Printables}

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Ariana and I were thinking of something fun we could do one day and I came up with a nature scavenger hunt. Ariana loves any excuse to use her Fisher Price Kid-Tough See Yourself Camera so I added a bonus challenge for her by making it a photo nature hunt and she had to take photos of each item she found. It became a good way to document our findings. You can shop our favorite kid cameras on Amazon.

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This Nature Scavenger Hunt would be great for the backyard, local park, or a walk in the woods depending on what is around you.

 Print the Nature Scavenger Hunt

I whipped up the list one morning after breakfast and I printed it so that it was about half the size of my printer paper (about 5x7) and easy for her to carry in her bicycle basket.

We took her bike down to the local walking path and start our photo scavenger hunt. She was excited to start searching she hopped on her bike and off she went!

Some of the items were easy to find while others like the butterfly presented more of a challenge but it was fun to watch her and she enjoyed discovering nature around her and checking things off her list as she found them.

And for the city dwellers I've created a City Scavenger Hunt for you too. I tried to include things that I thought most cities would have and that would be easy for kids to find.

Print the City Scavenger Hunt

I included pictures and words to help with reading and word association that's perfect for preschool/kindergarten age but can also be used for older or younger kids too.

You can make your own version of scavenger hunt lists by just thinking about things you would see in your backyard or around your neighborhood! It's fun! Even I joined in on the fun!

Be sure to check out these other fun crafts for kids!

Constellation Craft For Kids

During our Spring Break road trip to Budapest, Vienna and Salzburg this year, we were in the car for a total of about 20 hours. That's a long time for a 4 year old to just sit.

I had to come different activities to keep her entertained. Of course I brought the busy book I made last year with a few updated pages and new coloring print offs.

But, my favorite little activity I created was this constellation craft that she could create in the car.

Constellation Craft

Supplies you need:

black construction paper

star stickers

white crayon

outlines of constellations (optional for older children)

I cut my black paper into 4 pieces to make them smaller and to stretch our black paper supply stash. 

With some of the papers I drew dots and let her connect them to make a constellation and then let her decorate her paper with the star stickers and drawings to make it a night sky picture.

With the others I drew a constellation outline (google was great for this before our trip) and she had to copy the constellation onto the black paper using stars and then draw lines with her white crayon to connect the star stickers.

The resulting constellations were these. We used fairly simple constellations: Leo, Pegasus, Orion, and the big and little dipper. She also practiced her handwriting at the bottom writing their names on each one. Then, we talked a little bit about space and stars and constellations in general. 

She loved this activity especially since she's told us numerous times that she wants to be an astronaut when she grows up. She loves anything learning and space related.

This is her in her Nasa outfit that Daddy brought back from the Space and Air Museum from his recent trip to Washington DC.

This constellation craft could be used for a car trip, plane ride, add to a busy book, space camp, preschool, or make them into cards for family and friends. Make it your own! Have fun!

Paper Plate Spiderwebs {Kid Craft}

Last week we had a Halloween Party for our squadron. Since I'm part of the spouses group, I signed up to help plan it. We had food, games, costumes, crafts, and fun decorations. Along with bringing food and decorating for the party I also signed up to do a craft with the kids. I came up with these paper plate spider webs and the kids loved them!

These are great for young kids, whether it's for a Halloween party, preschool craft, or just for fun this weekend with your kids.

Check out these other fun preschool crafts for kids!

Supplies needed:

paper plates (simple cheap ones work great)

scissors

hole punch

yarn

bobby pins

plastic spiders

tape

crayons and stickers for decoration

This is a simple but cute project that kids from age 2 to 9 enjoyed!

Prep your plates before hand by cutting a circle in the middle of the plate. I used a big stencil to trace my circle and then used scissors to cut out the middle. Around the inside circle punch 12-14 holes. 

To make the spiderweb tape a long piece of yarn to the back of the plate and tie a bobby pin to the other side. The bobby pin isn't necessary but it helps the kids be able to sew the yarn through the holes. Have the kids criss cross the yarn from one side of the plate to the other to create the spiderweb. 

When they are done cut the yarn and tape it to the back of the plate to finish. Let them color or decorate the plate. There weren't any halloween stickers on base this year so we just decorated ours with drawings with crayons. Lastly, glue (or in my case clip) your spiders onto your web and you're done. If you want you can punch a hole in the top and tie a piece of string through it to hang up the spiderwebs.

 Here are some of the kids at the party doing their spiderwebs.

 Ariana finishing up her spiderweb.

 Me and Ariana at the Halloween party. I was a witch (which the kids loved) and Ariana was Captain America's Daughter "American Dream".

I hope you enjoy making these spiderwebs with your kids!

Be sure to check out these other fun crafts for kids!

Colorful Hearts! {Valentine Craft with Ariana}

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

A few weeks ago Ariana and I made these cute and colorful "stained glass" hearts! It was a fun and easy Valentine craft for kids.

A few weeks ago Ariana and I made these cute and easy little "stained glass" hearts! It didn't start out being cute little hearts. Actually, it started from this project I found about melted crayons and watercolor. I was ironing pieces of crayon on paper and the crayon made pretty designs on the wax paper when I ironed it. So, I decided to iron 2 pieces of wax paper together with the pieces of crayon in between and see what happened. Low and behold, it actually worked and the wax paper melted together to hold in the crayons!

I loved the pretty colors that this made. I wasn't sure what to do with the pretty wax paper but loved the way it looked when I taped them up on the glass door to display them. That's when I decided they should be little stained glass hearts. I cut a heart shape out and glued it in between two pieces of construction paper to make the frame. Then I glued a bit of yarn to the back to hang it with.

I mailed these out to some family and friends, along with handmade cards from Ariana and a few pictures I took of Ariana from our photo shoot last week!

See how cute the hearts turned out!! 

Basically all Ariana did was design the crayon pattern. I grated the crayons with our cheese grater...probably not the best idea cause that was a MAJOR pain to clean afterward.

Then I put the grated crayons in separate bowls and let her do her thing. 

She watched me while I ironed and when I was putting it all together I gave her some of my valentine stamps and a red ink pad and let her stamp away on her cards she made! She loved that.

So anyways, this was a super fun craft. Probably would have been more fun with an older kid who can use scissors and that sort of thing, but I didn't think about that when I was coming up with the idea. Definitely something I'll do again when she's older!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO ALL MY FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND BLOG READERS!!

Lots of x's and o's today!!

Cat

Christmas Crackers DIY

Yay, a Christmas craft!!! 

This one is suitable for kids and grown-ups!

Are you having a Christmas party soon? 

Are you mailing packages to loved ones?

Have fun making these lovely Christmas crackers and add a fun touch to any party table or box of presents!

 Christmas Crackers DIY!

Supplies:

toilet paper rolls (or paper towel rolls cut in half)

candy or treats

tissue paper or wrapping paper

stamps, stickers, markers or other embellishments

ribbon or yarn

scissors 
tape (optional)

1. First measure out tissue paper or wrapping paper large enough to roll your tubes up in. Be sure to leave enough on the ends to gather and tie.

2. Let the kids use stamps, stickers or markers to decorate plain tissue paper. (This was a craft I had in my mind for a while, as you can see from all my toilet paper rolls I saved. I decided to pull this one out one day when we were snowed in. Next year I will be sure to have lots of fun stamps and stickers for her to use. This year I just went with what I had.)

3. Once your paper is decorated, roll it around your toilet paper roll.

4. Tie one of the ends off and let the kids fill them with candy.

5. Tie the other end closed and ta-da!

Now you have some pretty Christmas crackers to decorate your Christmas table with.
Or, do what I'm doing and add them to packages to mail to family and friends!
(Use tape to fasten any edges down in the middle of your cracker if you need to.)

Happy crafting!
I'm off to write my Christmas cards!

xo's

Cat