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emmy chick

Filed Under: Crafting with Kids, Creative Kids, Creative Solutions, Freebie, Gift Ideas

Trojan Horse Printable Craft

2013

FREE Trojan Horse Printable Craft by Keeping Life Creative

It’s almost like a law that my girls have to craft everyday–either they’re begging for projects, or making up their own.

Some days (like when I’m laundering paint from a new shirt, or vacuuming the paper snippings from school room again) I beg for less mess. But most days I enjoy the creative process with them and smile that they want to be “artists” when they grow up.

coloring

On the flip side, getting Ryan to cooperatively craft has become more difficult now that he’s seven and his interests are changing. He’s never really been one to sit and color like the girls, but to his mommy’s disappointment is beginning to reject our afternoon art time, “drawing the line” at Lego structures and pencil-sketched stick figures.

We’re working on compromise though, and a project like this paper-pieced Trojan Horse had enough action-adventure appeal that he briefly joined our crafting party (albeit the insistence that a brown horse is too boring so the Greeks probably painted their giant wooden horse).

Trojan Horse craft

I created this printable cut-and-paste project to go with our ancient history and Greek mythology studies, but the story is a classic, and kids love the hide-and-seek adventure. If not already familiar with the historical tale, you may want to tell the story before coloring or painting the wooden horse. Starfall has a colorful recollection, or this is a kid-friendly read-aloud version.

Trojan Horse craft2

download Trojan Horse printable craft

(I’m linking to Trivium Tuesdays)

Filed Under: Crafting with Kids, Creative Kids, Freebie, Homeschool

Three Little Kittens Lost Their Mittens {Storytime Activities}

2013

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One of my curriculum goals this year has been to expose the kids to more classics–nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and Aesop’s fables. So when our grammar text referred to the poem of “The Three Little Kittens” and my kids weren’t familiar, I “felt” it was time to make a new story set about those three little kittens who lost their mittens, wanted pie, and smelled a mouse nearby!

{1 | 2 | 3 | 4}

First we reviewed the poem–a few times–acting it out with the laminated story pieces.

Serity (pre-K) played “match the mittens” and “lost and found” games with printed mitten cards. . .

. . . and cut and pasted rhyming words.

Then we made some “text-to-self” connections talking about times when we’ve lost something–a concept they’re quite familiar with! My older kids did some writing about it.

They also completed a story map (different levels, different expectations) . . .

. . . and sorted words from the poem into nouns, verbs, and pronouns.

And pie for dessert was a must!

Do you think your kids would like these storytime activities too? Enter your e-mail below and the link to the FREE printables will be sent to you.

I’m linking to: Tot School, Homegrown Learners, Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers What book or story-related activities have you done lately? Please share! Link directly to your story-related blog post, and then link your post back here so your readers can easily find this resource.

Filed Under: Creative Kids, Freebie, Homeschool, Reading Fun

We Go Together Like. . .

2013

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When I was a kid, we made our own Valentines. My mom would get out a big box of construction paper and scissors, glitter, paper doilies, and glue, and we’d sit at the kitchen table and assemble heart-shaped cards for my classmates. I loved the creative project and the time with my mom. But as I got a bit older (2nd or 3rd grade?) I started to be embarrassed by my homemade Valentines when I realized my friends were all giving the “cool” store-bought tear-at-the-perforation Looney Tunes, Transformers, and Smurfs cards.

I know I’m beginning to creap on that possibly too-cool-for-homemade-Valentines-and-crafting-with-mom stage. But this one includes a little treat, so I think we might be good for at least one more year.

I have a little treat for YOU too! To make these Valentines, you’ll need:

We Go Together {FREE} printable
cookies
red cardstock
paper CD sleeves
twine
paper doilies
scissors
tape

Download and print the {FREE} We Go Together printable. (This is my favorite project printing paper, but card stock works too.)
Trim the printable using scissors or a paper cutter.
Cut or punch hearts from the red cardstock.
Write a message on the back of each CD sleeve, if desired.

Place a cookie or two inside each paper CD sleeve. Depending on your cookies, you may want to line the CD sleeve with an additional doily to absorb any oil.
Seal the CD sleeve with a kiss (or washi tape or a sticker!)

Tie everything together with twine, or use a gluestick to attach the doily, cardstock heart, and We Go Together card to the cookie-filled sleeve.

Give to friends or neighbors, tuck in a lunchbox or briefcase, etc.

Like it?

LOVE it? (Want some more of it?)

These additional cards can be found as a digital download in my store.

Originally posted February 2, 2012.

Filed Under: Crafting with Kids, Creative Kids, Freebie, Gift Ideas

Painted Polar Bear Art Project

2013

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Christmas break is over, and life has resumed to “normal,” with Jared back to work–about to start a new semester, and the kids and I once again busy, busy with our schooling adventures.

We have no snow here, but it’s been too cold out for us to want to do anything but stay in where it’s cozy, so we’ve spent a lot of time indoors, reading and doing projects. And since it seems winter begs for a study of arctic animals, this polar bear art project was perfect for a cold day.

Supplies Needed:

Printable Bear Template
gray or white card stock
navy or blue card stock
white and black washable tempera paint
paintbrush
Q-tip
scissors
black pen or marker

Print

Begin by downloading and printing the bear template. I printed ours on gray textured card stock to give a bit more depth to the project, but white would work well too.

Paint

With a paintbrush, paint all the body parts–except the nose–white. Paint the nose black. Allow painted pieces to dry several hours or overnight.

To create the background, use the paintbrush to paint a “line” of white “snow” on the bottom of the navy or blue card stock. Dip the end of a Q-tip in the white paint, and dab all over paper to create falling snow. Allow background to dry.

Cut

When dry, cut out each body part. I encouraged the kids to cut just inside the black lines, if possible.

Assemble

Glue together pieces of the polar bear. My kids needed a little direction when gluing the legs on (two in front, two in back). Same with the ears (glue behind the head).

Draw

Use the black pen or marker to draw eyes on the polar bear. My kids (who think it’s weird that my characters usually don’t have mouths) all insisted on drawing a mouth on their bears as well.