Keep Them Busy With a Simple Rainbow Craft

 

This morning, Atticus told me he wanted to do a craft.  He wanted colors, glue and cotton balls.  He also wanted a squirrel and a giraffe, but I didn't have those things handy.  It dawned on me that he hadn't done much with rainbows in the past, and what a no brainier to set him up with a good old fashioned rainbow project.  He was thrilled.

We started by talking about colors and where rainbows come from and then he just went to town on creating his own.  This is a great way to practice colors, cutting skills for preschoolers (though, he gave up on the scissors and helped me rip pieces of paper instead) and let them use their creativity with how they want the rainbow to look.  I found myself close to correcting him on the color order, but where's the fun in having someone telling you how to make your artwork?

Caterpillar Craft (thanks, Pinterest!)

It's freezing out here in upstate NY, so we have been looking for fun things to keep us (him) busy in the house.  This caterpillar project, found from this Pin was just the thing for my three year old.  We have been working on learning numbers and letters, and how to spell his name, so this was a great way to practice these things, while having fun.  

Here's what you'll need:

-construction paper

-pipe cleaners

-a marker

-scissors

-glue stick

We started out by writing his name and having him spell it out to me.  He has a hard time physically writing it, so we worked together on the letters.  He counted how many circles he would need (one for each letter of the name, plus the head) and he chose the colors he wanted.  Once I cut them out, he got to glue, which is basically the coolest thing ever to him.

Next, he drew the face and we worked together to add the legs and antennas.  When it was all assembled, we wrote out his name together, spelling it aloud with each letter and then turned it over, counted the circles and numbered them.

He was thrilled with his colorful little friend:

*To see more projects, follow on Pinterest!