Crafty Kits 4 Kids Giveaway Event: Paper Plate Zoo Animals Craft Pack

What is Crafty Kits 4 Kids Giveaway Event?

Michelle over at Best Toys for Kids is the heart, soul & brains behind this fun event.

She got 13 amazing bloggers together (including ME!) from all over the WORLD

to come up with some fun crafts for kids,

put it all together in a easy DIY kit &

offer a worldwide giveaway to all our readers/followers!

Below you will find our adorable Paper Plate Animal Crafts Giveaway
which includes all the materials you will need to make
your own paper plate lion, zebra & giraffe!! :)

After you are done entering our little giveaway -

be sure to check out the linky at the end of the post

to visit all the other blogs that are participating &

enter to win some more great craft kits for kids!

Happy Crafting!

Bern

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Paper Plate Zoo Animals

#1 Paper Plate Lion Craft:


What You Need:
paper plate
brown paint
orange felt
glue
brown pom pom
black foam
wiggly eyes

What To Do:

1. paint paper plate brown

2. allow drying time

(we let them dry overnight)

3. cut around the paper plate to create a mane

4. add orange circle felt for face
( I cut a circle the same size as the inner circle of the plate)

5. cut ears out of paper plate & cover w/orange felt
glue under face and onto plate

6. cut mouth and whiskers out of black foam & add onto face



7. add brown pom pom nose

8. add wiggly eyes & let lion dry!

#2 Paper Plate Giraffe

What You Need:

paper plate

yellow paint

brown felt

craft stick

glue

wiggly eyes

brown marker

What To Do:

1. paint paper plate yellow

2. allow drying time
(we let plate dry overnight)

3. cut small circle of light brown felt for nose

& add nostrils and smile

4. I basically told the girl to make a smiley face

5. Glue nose onto face & using brown paint add spots

6. add small circles to wooden sticks

7. add wiggly eyes

8.  glue ears & antlers onto back of paper plate

9. Allow to dry

#3 Paper Plate Zebra

What You Need:

paper plate

black construction paper

black foam

glue

wiggly eyes

white crayon

What To Do:

1. assemble pieces needed:

cut large black circle for nose/mouth

cut ears out of paper plate & inner ear out of black construction paper

cut 6 large triangle shapes

cut strands of hair out of foam

1. glue inner ears to large ear cut outs and glue onto back of paper plate

2. glue hair onto back of paper plate

(I added some tape as well)

3. using white marker add nostrils & mouth 

to mouth piece and glue onto front of paper plate

4. Add triangles to each side of paper plate

(see picture below)

5. add wiggly eyes and allow all pieces to dry

Once dry you can enjoy your adorable

paper plate animals!

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The Giveaway: (Open WORLDWIDE)

You will receive all the pieces needed to make each of the above 3 paper plate animals

(each animal is in a separate bag) & I will provide the instructions listed here.

Plus, you will receive a small washable paint set and two painting sponges.

All pieces have been cut & are ready to be painted, glued & assembled!



How to Enter:
Leave me a comment telling me which is your favorite zoo animal(s)!
(My fave zoo animals are the polar bear & giraffe)

Extra Entries:

Please leave a seperate comment for each entry &

please include your e-mail so I can contact you if you win! 

*If you are already a follower leave a comment that counts as an entry*

1. Follow Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas Publicly via Google Friend Connect  (+2) leave 2 comments 


2. Follow Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas on Twitter  (+2) leave 2 comments


3. Subscribe to Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas emails  (+2) leave 2 comments


4. Subscribe to Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas Newsletter  (+2) leave 2 comment


5. Make a comment on any non-giveaway post on Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas Blog and leave a link.  You can do this for up to 5 posts but please note that comment must be dated after the start date of this post - not valid on previous comments. (+2) leave 2 comments


6. Tweet about this giveaway and leave a link - can be done once a day
   
   Tweet: #Win a paper plate zoo animals craft pack w/@Momto2PoshDivas ends 8/13 http://goo.gl/fb/jud7n #craftykitsforkidsgiveaway #giveaway #crafts

Giveaway Rules: 
Open WORLDWIDE
Giveaway ends 8/13/2011 at 11:59 (PDT)
Winner will be chosen via random.org. 
& contacted via email if an email is given .
Winner will have 48 hours to claim their prize.

Please note any entries that can not be verified will be disqualified.


After entering our giveaway - 
be sure to visit the other amazing bloggers/giveaways listed below
& check out our other fabulous giveaways! :)

Preschool Learning: Tactile Alphabet Ideas - Touch & Feel the ABC's

I have been working on some preschool related posts that I am excited to share with you. Learning ABC's is a huge part of the preschool experience. It is also a fundamental foundation of later learning experiences (i.e. reading & writing).

Gone are the days of just drilling a child with flashcards and having them memorize letters. That was how my parents taught me.  It was boring & for me traumatic because it led to such frustration for both them and me when I didn't respond (memorize) as quickly as they would have liked. Thankfully, today we know there is a better way to learn! Children learn best when they are fully  immersed in the process.

For a full letter learning experience it would be ideal to let the child:

1. Hear the letter - share the sound, use easy repeateable songs as much as possible

2. Feel the letter - that's what I am going to share with you here (see below for ideas/details)

3. Taste the letter - try to incorporate a fun letter related snack (more on this coming up in another post!)

4. See the letter - expose the child to the letters in books, make a poster board, make an ABC book, etc

5. Write the letter - this is another fun post I have in the works! So many great ideas to make letter writing a fun and memorable hands-on experience (more on this later!)

I thought it would be fun to share with you an easy & handy list for tactile ABC ideas that you could use with your tots and preschoolers to give letter recognition a more hands-on and tactile experience.

**Activity - Touch & Feel ABC Book **
Get a large binder and create your own Touch & Feel ABC Book that your child can read, feel & touch over & over again!

It is my hope to add-in links as we continue to cover the letters throughout the coming year but for now I wanted to share with you my master "idea" list and a few links/photos of some of the things we used to form letters this past year!



Mom to 2 Posh Lil Diva's Tactile ABC Ideas
A - apple prints, aluminum foil, alphabet pasta, apple stickers or stamps, animal stickers or foam shapes
B - beans, beads, bubble wrap, buttons, foam bear stickers
C - cotton balls, corn kernels, cinnamon (ground), coffee (ground), car stickers, construction paper (torn)
D - dirt, dots (stickers or do-a-dot markers), daisy petals, foam dinosaur shapes
E - egg shells, foam egg shapes, envelope strips, eyes (wiggly), earth stickers
F - feathers, foam, puffy fingerpaint, flower petals, froot loops, flower stickers or stamps
G - glitter, grass, glue (dried out glue is raised), gems, ginger (ground)
H - hay, hair (doll hair available in craft stores), heart shaped stickers or stamps
I - ice cube prints, ivy, ice cream stickers
J - jelly beans, jewels
K - kool-aid, kleenex, old or plastic keys, kite stickers
L - leaves, lasagna noodles, lace
M - macaroni, m&m's, mini marshmallows, play money
N - noodles, netting fabric, number stickers/stamps, nickles (play money, stickers or stamps)
O - oatmeal, owl feathers (brown feathers will do) cheerios (o shape)
P - pasta, pom-pom balls, play-doh, popcorn, pipe cleaners, penguin stickers, paper (torn), pumpkin seeds, pennies (play money, stickers or stamps), paper clips, packing peanuts
Q - q-tips, quarters stamped in paint, quilted fabric
R - rainbow colored rice, ribbon
S - seeds, sand, sequins, sprinkles, stickers, stamps, shapes, snowballs (cotton), spaghetti (cooked), string, shells, sponge paint
T - tape, twigs, tissue paper
U - uniform (fabric pieces in a plaid design), umbrella stickers, unicorn stickers
V - vegetable prints, vegetable stickers, velcro, velvet, vehicle stickers
W - wagon wheel pasta, wooden sticks, watermelon seeds
X - x's from alphabet pasta, bones stamped in white paint (x-ray) dirt or tape (for x marks the spot)
Y - yellow yarn
Z - zeros (cheerios), zippers (fabric), zig zags (cut from paper) zebra stripes (paint, black construction paper or tape)

Other great tactile ABC ideas:
1. Have block letters for children to manipulate


2. Have magnetic letters readily available for play
  

3. Sand Paper Letters - these would be easy to cut out (use block letter templates) and attach to cardstock

4. ABC puzzles - I have made these with foam pieces and using block style letter templates that I colored, laminated and cut into puzzle peices. Plus, of course there are the actual wooden puzzles kids love playing with that you can purchase.


5. ABC floor mat (see our in photo above)


6. Alphabet lacing cards - you can easily make these using a laminated block letter template, a hole puncher & some shoe laces or string!


Do you have any other tactile items or learning ideas that I missed? Please share your ideas by commenting below.

Hope you enjoy our list! Be sure to let me know if you use any of these ideas - I'd love to hear how it went for you.

Bern

The Prizes Go To...?!

I was finally able to sit down & draw some winners via Random.org
for the last 2 giveaways that ended.

Bob Books Sights Words K & 1st Grade Boxed Sets

Our Two (2) winners are:

Comment # 208: Angela W. said I like Bob Books on FB.

&

Comment #35:
The Duchess on Portebello Road said I fallow mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas

Educational Insights Geo Safari Tuff Scope

Our winner is comment #45 -
Gwendolyn said also posted a comment on your Rainbow Fish activity!

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Congrats to all of our winners!

E-mails are being sent & you have 48 hrs to respond.

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Thank You to all my amazing followers

who take the time to enter our fabulous giveaways!

Don't forget to enter our current giveaways:

Kidorable Hand Painted Kids Wooden Hanger Set 

(ends 8/1/11)

Educational Insights Ring the Bell Electronic Goal Tracker

(ends 8/11/11)

The Sunday Showcase Child Centered Linky party 7/31/11

<a href="http://momto2poshlildivas.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Classified: Mom" src="http://classifiedmom.webs.com/sundayshowcase1.png"/></a>

Welcome to the Fabulous Sunday Showcase -
where we showcase YOU!

We feel confident in saying that this linky is always full of amazing ideas so be sure to check out what your fellow bloggers have linked-up.
You will be inspired, awed and ready to create!

If you are here for the first time please take a moment to read
our informational post for full details -
we like to think this is a pretty fun and flexible place but there are a few guidelines.

Anything kid friendly and/or child centered is welcome!

We do not accept links for giveaways, shops, or downloads for purchase, etc.

They will be deleted & we do monitor our links.

If you're linking up with us - please visit some of your fellow bloggers!

We ALL love comments, encouragement, feedback, etc.

One of your 2 Hostesses (Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas and/or Classified:Mom)

will be visiting & commenting on your shared link(s) -

we always appreciate your comment love too!

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Here are this week's Showcase Features
(chosen from last week's entries)

Mandi from Boredom Busting Mommy nearly escaped these Pom-Pom Monsters!

Julie from Fumbling Through Parenthood got moving and grooving

while learning the letters of the alphabet!

Dixie Delights shared her Kindergarten Countdown 

a fun alphabet based way to countdown the 26 days before the start of school!

Share & Remember showcased her fun Space Themed Sensory Box

If you have been featured, grab a button you deserve it!

<a href="http://www.classifiedmom.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Classified: Mom" src="http://classifiedmom.webs.com/hostedon.png"/></a>

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Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas
ABC Fun: W is for Whale Spouting Water

This week was all about water fun & the letter W.
What better way to cleebrate than with a Letter W whale and lots of hands-on fun activities.  

Classified: Mom
You are my Sunshine- A Craft about Feelings

You are my Sunshine- A Craft about Feelings

It's Summer- the sun is shinning, the days are longer- and, oh wait- kids are still kids. Long busy days, mixed in with heat can lead into the occasional (or if you're in my house it's x3) melt downs! We discussed feelings, what they may "look" like, we read a few stories and then put our research to work!


Thank you for linking up with Aimee (Classified:Mom) & Bernadette (Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas).