It’s been three years since my momma made these magnetic sock fishies for Kinley and I’m resharing them because not one week has passed since that we haven’t gone fishing! . She just found a pack of super-cutie socks, stuffed them with polyfil, twisted a tiny ponytail-holder rubber band around the end to make a tail and hot-glued on some eyeballs. She also hot-glued metal washers all over the fishies so Kinley could hook them with her handy-dandy magnetic fishing pole. . We NEVER get tired of this game & sometimes to take the learning fun up a notch, I stick a magnetic letter on one of each fish's washers and have Kinley holler the letter or letter sound as she catches them. . What’s your fave hands-on way to get your letter learn on? We are always looking for new #playtolearn ideas 🤓😁👊🏼 . . . #bigfun #kidsactivities #everydayplayhacks #earlychildhoodeducation #letthemplay #thekidsplay #funwithkids #homeschooling #homeschoolmom #preschoolteacher
Get your photo paper dusted off and your watercolors ready cause I’ve been working on a big giant photo paper art blog post round-up for my soul sister Shannon @ohcreativeday! That’s right, all of our favorite methods in one easy-to-find spot 😁👊🏼 . These blow-paint beauties are the newest in our collection and will be included for sure! Are there any other methods we’ve used that you would like me to include? Don’t wanna forget any of your faves! . . . #artwithkids #artteachersofinstagram #kidsactivities #getcreative #tagfromtheheart #vibrantcolors
@cassie_stephenz has done it again, y’all! Yesterday, Kinley and I tried her plastic bag sewing project and we are both TOTALLY obsessed 😍😍 . If you’ve got a big Ziplock baggie, some yarn and a couple of big-eyed sharp needles, you are all set to give it a try too. Go check out Cassie’s — she added pom-poms and they are RADDD! 🤩🤩 . . . #sewingproject #cassiestephens #artteacher #artteachersofinstagram #getcreativewith #artwithkids #kidart #needlecraft #kidscrafts101 #processart #homeschooling
Because it’s Dot Week over on the @steamkidschallenge and because @missegnatuk made us so dang happy when she shared her class full of unicorn wand waving cuties, I’m resharing our original make-your-own-mane unifriend 💕🦄🌈😁 . We used a little bit of everything to make her — bubblewrap-printed phonebook pages, popped pool floaty plastic, recycled art, sequins, you name it — and I left the link to the free printable in my bio so you can make your own, too! . Happy Friday!! . . . #🦄 #unicorn🦄 #mixedmediaart #collageartwork #artwithkids #collageartworks #tagfromtheheart #kidart #kidsactivities #freeprintable #steamkidschallenge
From color sticks to neon oil pastels, orizomegami to DIY batik fabric, my girl Kristian @friendsartlab has inspired days and weeks and months worth of fun at our house and I couldn’t wait another single week to shout about her awesomeness from the instarooftops! . Kristian is probably the most enthusiastic, inspiring teacher on the planet and the preschool she runs with her momma is like a dream. I had no idea places like Friends actually existed outside of movies 😱😍 They get messy and splash around in rainbow water and sing and dance and giggle all day long and K shares every bit of it — THE BEST!! Kinley is so crazy for Kristian & her friends, she‘s made watching their instastories part of our nightly bedtime routine 🤩😁 . Besides being one heck of a teacher, Kristian is an all-around amazing human. She just exudes rainbows and sunshine and she’s always there to fill a love bucket, encourage or answer a random question. She’s a complete and total rock star, y’all, and if you aren’t following her you DEF should be! . Love you K and so dang happy to call you my friend! 😘💕💕 . (Kristian JUST hit 20K a few days ago and she’s got a killer giveaway going on ATM, so if it’s been awhile since you’ve seen her in your feed, now might be a perfect time to head over and catch up 😉😁) Happy #InstaBudDay! . . . #followmyfriend #farawayfriends #followfriday #followfridays #instabuddy #instabuddies #artteacher #momentwithfriends #preschoolteacher #friendspreschoolrocklin #artteachersofinstagram #rainbowcolors #artwithkids #inspiringwomen
Mr. Mole has had an incredibly tough day waiting tables at Gordon Ratzy’s and to make matters worse, he’s lost his cute little red glasses just in time to make his way home. . Kinley and I have renewed this gem FOUR times in a row from the library and we still giggle all the way through — especially each time our extremely near-sighted friend pops up and announces “DADDY’S HOME!!” in a different house to a family that does NOT belong to him. The looks on their cute little illustrated faces are 👌🏼👌🏼😂 . It’s safe to say Mrs. Mole, I’m Home! is one of our ultimate top fave picture books of 2018 and it’s currently sitting in the number one spot on our Christmas list. (The day we finally have to turn this puppy in is gonna be a rough one at the library dropbox 😭💕📖😬🤪) If you wanna take a bigger peek inside, there’s a flip-through in my stories for ya 👊🏼😁 . Do you know and love Mr. Mole, too? . Mrs. Mole, I’m Home! by Jarvis || @booksbyjarvis published by Candlewick Press || @candlewickpress
A couple of months ago, I bought a ginormous vintage Disney puzzle at a garage sale & despite my crossed fingers, it was missing ONE dang piece 😒 I couldn’t just throw away all those other rainbowy pieces though, could I? Heck no! 🤪💕🌈 . Today, Kin and I heated up our glue guns and put that giant baggie full of old junk to good artful use. Behold our entry in the magnificent Sian’s (@teach.investigate.play) @get.creative.with Everyday Items Week: a ginormous gravity-defying sculpture! (This counts, right? Don’t we all have a missing piece puzzle or two lying around? 🤪👊🏼) . Even after ALL of that building, we’ve still got half a giant puzzles worth of pieces left. Any ideas for using some more of them, my creative genius buddies? 🤓😁💕
When September’s @wecraftbox happy mail arrived, Kin and I both squealed, beep-BOOPed and happy danced and then got right down to robo-crafting!! 💕🤖😁 . There was silver spray paint and sheets of rainbow robot parts and masks and washi tape and we didn’t even know where to begin, but in the end we had to start with the project that involved the washi because let’s face it, that stuff is irresistible to humans tiny AND big 🤩😂😉 . This box kept us busy for days just like the first flower/raincloud one! It’s so nice to have all of these rad projects all ready to go — no supply gathering, no brainstorming, just sit down and get down 😎👊🏼 This time we made: ▫️robot friendship slap bracelets ▫️design-your-own robots (my fave!) ▫️a sweet control panel ▫️robot masks (K’s fave!) . Betsy is all out of robo-boxes, but if you wanna try one of the others she has in stock (there’s a link in my bio to those choices) or get your own surprise box next month (better hurry cause those babies are going fast! 😍😁) I’ve got a couple of special codes for you: ▪️RAISINGK5 - $5 off your first order ▪️RAISINGKSPECIAL - receive a free mystery box shipped within 1-2 business days with an 3 month subscription or longer . Happy crafting, buddies! 📦💕
I’ve been wanting to try @friendsartlab’s ador-apple drawings with Kinley since LAST fall and they turned it even cuter than I hoped. . Who knew @sharpie & watercolors could be SO cute?! Hey Kristian — YOU ROCK!! 😁😘💕🍏🍎
When my parents took me to 2nd grade Meet Your Teacher night, I couldn’t hold back the tears because I knew that was the year I was gonna have to learn cursive and it was just gonna be tooooooooo hard 😭...fast-forward 25 years and my writing is pretty much all cursive, all the time! It’s just so fast and so much prettier than my normal sketchy printing (my husband refers to it as “illegible chicken scratch” when he’s grouchy and trying to read my grocery lists 😉😂😂) . Anyway, I know Kinley won’t have any of those same tears-over-too-pretty-to-be-doable-cursive issues because after combing through my good buddy Rachelle’s (@tinkerlab) new amazing book, she is already asking to learn “curse writing” so she can try ALLLLL of the super creative and insanely pretty projects in there with me 😁🙌🏼 . I gave R’s yarn-wrapped pipe cleaner writing idea a try first and now I wanna make EVERYTHING this way! How rad would a yarn-wrapped name or number birthday cake topper be? 😍🎂 & that gem of an idea is just the beginning — this book treasure is jam-packed with a bazillion more! If you are into cursive or have a kiddo who is, this beaut def deserves a spot at the top of your Christmas list 😁🎅🏼💕✍️ . . Creative Adventures in Cursive by Rachelle Doorley published by Quarto || @quartocreates
Happy International Dot Day, friends!! . We watched Peter H. Reynolds reading his famous brilliant perfect book on YouTube, then we watched and sang and moved along with Emily Arrow and her fabulous song that matches (The Dot Song, of course ☺️) and then we busted out the paper plates and watercolors to make some marks of our own 🎨🖌💕🌈 . This is the first Dot Day we’ve ever remembered to participate in, but I don’t think we will ever forget again — it’s been way too much fun 😍😁 . Did you get your dot on this year?! . . . @peterhreynolds @helloemilyarrow #dotday #internationaldotday #bookishplay #artwithkids #kidart #kidsactivities #funwithkids #getcreative #artforkids #artteachersofinstagram #artteacher
We made these mixed media styrofoam masterpieces special for our buddy Brea @wonder.and.awe who’s this week’s @get.creative.with judge 😁😁 . Her theme (styrofoam, of course) had us stumped so we just decided to use our @michaelsstores tempera sticks on a couple of pieces of old foam-core board and then bust out ALL the rainbowy things and go bananas! . We used stickers and pompoms and popsicle sticks and phonebook pages and some paint-sticked packing peanuts and then Kinley had the bright idea to stick pipe-cleaners in the cut-in-half styrofoam balls we’d stuck on earlier — best part right? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — kiddos are art GENIUSES! 😍😍😍 . Not too shabby for a seriously random aft-art-noon, eh? 😉😁🙌🏼 . Thanks for inspiring our fun, B!! 😘💕💕 . . . #letsplayatoz_a
I’ve tried lots and lots of ways to make writing practice fun, but dyed epsom salt + a paintbrush is Kinley’s hands-down ultimate favorite! . Dyeing the salt couldn’t be simpler: ▪️Pour it in a baggie. ▪️Squirt liquid watercolors or food coloring on top. ▪️Shake it up to mix. ▪️Dump it on a paper towel for a couple of minutes to dry. . Easy peasy! Fingers are fun for this stuff too, but the paintbrush just feels extra cool 😍😁 . Meghan from @new_trick_kids is looking for all of your best ABC ideas over on @tagfromtheheart this week, so if you’re looking for some more fun ways to get your alphabet on, I bet you’ll find some over on #tagfromtheheart 😁🙌🏼
Kinley and I checked out an old fave from the library a couple of days ago and three- #repeatreads -in-one-night later, we were inspired to get our artsy #bookishplay on! . Hello, Mr. Dodo! is the tale of a little bird-loving gal named Martha who discovers a feathered friend she’s never seen before on one of her nature walks. When she finally finds him in one of her bird books, she is shocked to learn he is supposed to be extinct! . Martha & Mr. Dodo spend the summer playing and laughing and eating lots and lots of donuts together, so we thought what better way to go #beyondthebook than to make some Mr. Do-donuts of our own?! 😉😉 . We grabbed our trusty salad spinner and @ikeausa Mala squirty paints (in the same colors as the bright and happy limited book palette 😉😁) and got our spin art on to make some neon pastries that could probably make any friend, feathered or human, drool 🤤😉😂 . If you like giggling or birdies or donuts or surprise endings, this book is for you! . . Hello, Mr. Dodo! by Nicholas John Frith published by Arthur A. Levine Books || @scholasticinc . . . #bookishlove #bookswelove #picturebookoftheday #picturebook #picturebooks #bookstagrammers #readingisfundamental #readingisfun #readingismagic #kindergartenteacher #homeschoolmom #alwaysreading #letsplayatoz_a #kidscrafts #artforkids
When I think of Arielle I think of her unending creativity and breathtaking artwork, her rainbow paint-chip bird, her ability to ALWAYS get a snort laugh out of me no matter what time it is, her perfect egg carton witches and the way you can just feel the intense love she has for her two little ladybugs in every photo and blog post and conversation. . You probably already know A, but if you don’t, you have seriously been missing out! Not only is she gorgeous on the inside and out, she’s just about one of the most creative people I’ve ever insta-met. Her feed was one of the first ones I fell in love with around here and the heart eyes have never even come close to stopping. . Arielle has always been next on my list of Instabuddies to recognize for #InstaBudDay because she‘s a flipping rock star, but it just so happens that this friend of all of ours could use a little extra sunshine right now. She and her girls have just suffered a huge loss. . @hellowonderful_co has set up a go fund me page for the girls to help them as they find their way through it all and I’ll put the link to that in my profile in case you’d like to contribute, but if you love Arielle too and aren’t able to, maybe consider just sharing one of her amazing posts and spreading the word about her next-level awesomeness. Let’s just send her all of the sunshine 💕☀️ . Love you, A. xo
My buddy Kay from @letsplaymama is getting started on a 26 week adventure through the alphabet today and she’s looking to round up all of your most fun Art, Adventure, & Animal learning ideas for Letter A Week! She asked us to help her kick it off — any guesses which of those she’d like us to focus on? 😉😂💕🎨 . We made these super fun peek-a-boo pictures for our first artish contribution 😁 Draw a secret picture or design on paper (we used photo paper) with a white oil pastel or crayon and then hand it over to your little to cover with watercolors. . Watching the picture pop through the paint never fails to get a gasp out of Kinley! We both like to draw pictures and then switch papers because watching your buddy be surprised by what you drew for them is pretty much the best part! 😁😁 . The rest of the A Week crew has been busy posting and tagging away! Head over and see what they are working on if you need some inspo: @letsplaymama @sierra_andthe_renas @ladybirdsadventure @littleseedsandpeterpan @kidsmakemess . If you have any art, adventure or animal learning ideas old or new that you’d like to contribute this week, just add the tag #letsplayatoz_a! . . . #playtolearn #earlychildhoodeducation #playislearning #artplay #kidsactivities #kidsactivity #artkid #preschoolactivities #artteacher #rainbowcolors #homeschoolmom #homeschooldays #watercolorresist #resistart #littleartist #letsplayatoz
