stART ~ The Very Best Daddy of All

Welcome to stART! I hope that you will enjoy our story and art project and maybe even share your own too. All I ask is that you link back to A Mommy’s Adventures somewhere in your post by either adding my button or a text link, so that others can see all the other great projects that everyone shares too! The linky will be open all week.  Be sure to stop by and visit the different links…every week there are so many different and fun book and craft ideas!

Check out the  stART tab in my navigation bar where you can find our past stART projects.  All the books that we have read and did a stART project for are listed in alphabetical order.

We had a great time celebrating Father’s Day this week.  I got The Very Best Daddy of All , by Marion Dane Bauer for Emily to give to Daddy for his second Father’s Day.  This is a sweet story that tells how different animal daddies are special to their children.

After reading this book we made Daddy a special Father’s Day Card since we think he is the Very Best Daddy of All!!  I saw the idea for this card on Thrifty Fun and knew it would be the perfect card for Emily to make this year.

To make the card I folded a piece of green construction paper in half and then cut out a heart shape.  From the scraps I cut out 2 shapes for the collar and one for the pocket.  I also cut a tie shape out of a piece of white paper.

Emily colored in the tie however she wanted.  While I was getting the stuff together Emily finished coloring the tie so I didn’t get a chance to get any pictures.

She added a special message under her tie for Daddy.  She did this all by herself before it was glued on.  I was so excited that the letters were the right direction when you flipped the tie up!  I had planned on gluing the whole tie down, but I actually like this idea much better :0)

Inside I wrote the Message to Daddy and Emily helped write “To Daddy and Love”

Somehow her name ended up on the top instead of under the Love, but Daddy still understood who it was from!

Gingerbread Christmas Cards…

…almost good enough to eat!

This is the second year that we participated in the Kids Craft   Weekly Christmas Card Swap.  Emily enjoyed it so much last year I couldn’t wait for this years.  And while I was flipping through the latest issue of our Family Fun Magazine (December/January 2011) I saw these adorable gingerbread house cards and knew they were the perfect cards for Emily to make for the swap.

I printed the template from the Family Fun Website.  I traced the template onto brown construction paper and cut them out.

    Emily used green 3/4 inch dot stickers with hole punched centers for wreaths, white reinforcements cut in half for icing and 1/4 inch dot stickers for added decoration.

She also used a name badge label cut in half for the door and foam Christmas Stickers (gingerbread men, bows, and candy canes) for decorations inside the card too.  I printed a message on paper and cut it out with a decorative edge scissor to glue on the inside.

Love Bugs

When I saw this craft  on the PreKinders website I knew we had to make it!  Emily loves her little Love Bug.  Her favorite part is the movable wings. 

I am planning on using these for some very special Valentine’s Day cards this year.

Emily used our new heart punch to make the little purple hearts for the wings.  After a couple she told me I could help too :0)

 

I traced a large circle and a smaller circle onto a piece of red construction paper and another large circle onto a piece of pink construction paper.  Emily cut them all out all by herself!!

Emily glued the two red circles together to make the body of the bug.

Next she glued on the wiggly eyes.

I cut the pink circle in half and punched a whole through the top of the two pieces and the center of the body.  Emily put the brad through the holes to attach the wings.  Finally Emily glued the little purple hearts onto the wings of the bug.

I wrote “I LOVE YOU” and the date on the middle.

Grandma, I Love You a Bunch!

Emily's Finger Print Grapes

I was searching for a cute card idea for Emily to make for her Grandmas for Mother's Day and found this great one at Danielle's Place of Crafts and Activities. (Visit the site for a printable outline and complete directions.) Since Emily loves finger painting I figured we would give it a try!

Emily enjoyed dipping her fingers in the purple paint to make the grapes!!

I helped her place her fingers in the right shape so that they looked like grapes.

When we were done with the cards I let her go to town fingerprinting purple anywhere she wanted to on another piece of paper.

Emily glued on a leaf and I drew the stem.


I asked Emily something that she liked doing with each Grandma and then wrote it on the inside of each card.

Unplugged Project ~ Books

Greeting Card Book

This weeks Unplugged Project was "Books." Emily really enjoys getting cards in the mail and I feel bad about throwing them away when the special occasion or holiday is over. I have been saving them to use for craft projects, but when I saw the theme for this weeks Unplugged Project I knew what we were going to do with them! I made a Greeting Card Book with all of Emily's Special Cards.

To make the book all I did was find a large binder ring and hole punch a hole in the top left corner of each card. I put them on the ring closed it up and the book was ready for Emily to read!

Emily likes looking at all of the pictures and naming the things she sees. I can add new cards as she gets them too!