Mardi Gras Activities

Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday and we have a fun day planned!  We will be kicking off the day with some yummy doughnuts for breakfast.  Eva picked out a chocolate frosted one covered with sprinkles when we were grocery shopping today and she can't wait to give it a taste!  We'll also be having a New Orleans staple for dinner- jambalaya- yum!

Other fun Mardi Gras things to do:
*  Throw on some beads and grab your masks for a masquerade.  Add some fun music and you've got a dance party!
*  Use those beads for painting.  Dip a string of them in your favorite color paint and then drag them around on paper or toss them in a box top lined with paper and shake them up.
*  Grab some musical instruments (or make your own, like we did last year) and you can be your own rag-time band!
*  Many folks enjoy a king's cake on Mardi Gras and it's good luck to find the baby hiding in the cake.  Play hide and seek with a baby doll and bring on the luck!

July Fourth Fun

This week we will be preparing for the Fourth of July with a bunch of patriotic activities.

Small Motor Activities
Musical Instruments- we'll bring out the instruments we made for Memorial Day to play along with patriotic music

Pattern Stars- we'll use red, white and blue stars to create patterns

Large Motor Activities
Marching- left, right, left, we'll be marching around the yard in our own little parade

Sparkler Twirling- we'll put to use the fire-free sparklers we plan on making

Crafts
Sparklers- these sparklers won't ever burn out because they'll be made from pencils and patriotic garland

Glitter Fireworks- we'll loofah paint some glue and then add sparkling glitter to form these Fourth of July must-haves

Red, White and Blue Star Painting- we'll use star cookie cutters and star-shaped sponges to make an All-American collage

Condiment Finger Painting- nothing says the Fourth like hot dogs so we will honor that holiday tradition by finger painting with ketchup and mustard

Field Trip
Train Ride around America- okay we won't be going on a ride around the entire country but we will go on the train at the local children's museum and check out the giant postcards from around the U.S.A

Fourth of July Parade- an annual tradition!

Books

   

(Image source- http://www.goodreads.com/)

Tissue Box Guitar

This instrument I made quickly using some items from our recycling bin.  All you need is a rectangle tissue box, a paper towel roll, a few rubberbands and some tape.  Place the rubber bands around the tissue box so that they lay over the opening.  Cut one inch slits around one end of the paper towel roll and fold out.  Tape that end to one of the short sides of the tissue box.  Strum away!

You can even get fancy and play it with your teeth.

Or teach a buddy to play.

Jingle Flowers

This fun instrument is easy to make and, according to Eva, smells good too!  Gotta love toddler imagination.
To begin, Eva painted two tongue depressors her favorite color- turquoise.

When she was done, I spread the paint around a little so it would dry this week.  While they were drying Eva kept herself busy.

When the depressors were dry I used plastic strings (the kind you can use for boondoggle) to tie three jingle bells to each.  I guess they do look a bit like flowers.

Then we got to sing and jingle away!

Little Drummer Girl

Eva is a big fan of drums.  Daddy's Rock Band game probably has a lot to do with that!  She started young!

I saved one of Daddy's coffee cans to make into a drum and she has been playing it long before we even decorated it.  Yesterday we finally fancied it up.  To start, I cut a piece of paper from our big roll of paper to fit around the outside of the can and Eva decorated it with markers.

(That's our dog Woofer snoozing in the background.)
Then I cut a piece of clear contact paper to also fit the can and Eva placed red, silver and blue stars on it.

I used the contact paper to wrap the other paper around the can.  The contact paper was a little taller than the height of the can so it could fold under the lid and the bottom.  Pop the top back on and you've got a groovy drum.

Play away!

Shake It Baby

To kick off our parade of instruments we made a pie plate tambourine.  This is a super easy craft!  All you need is two foil pie plates, some beans and tape.  We embellished ours with some sparkly stickers and streamers too.   First Eva stuck the stickers on the plates.

Then she put in a few beans.

I cut a few lengths of curling ribbon and taped them to the inside of one of the plates then taped the plates together using packing tape.

Of course, Eva lost interest when I was taping it and didn't want to try it out.  Hopefully I'll get a picture of her using it at some point!

Toot Toot Strum Strum Bang Boom

In preparation for Memorial Day and the parades that come along with it, we will be learning about musical instruments this week.  Get ready for some noise!

Large Motor Activities
Parading- we can't talk about parades without marching, so we will be practicing our band moves

Small Motor Activities
Many of the instruments we will be making will require us to use our fine motor skills to create music.

Crafts
Coffee Can Drum- thankfully Daddy just finished a big can of coffee so we will be able to make a nice drum

Tissue Box Guitar- allergy season has left us with a few empty boxes that we will transform into strumming instruments

Pie Pan Tambourine- I remember making these fun shakers as a kid and I hope Eva enjoys them as much as I did

Jar Lid Castanets- these little instruments are easy to make but require some good fine motor skills to play

Patriotic Streamer- we'll be making a special decoration to honor those who have fought for our country
Books