Caterpillars & Butterflies

butterflies on the mind...

to celebrate mexico at the library, we learned about the monarch's migration from the north all the way to mexico by fall....(in time for day of the dead)

that was a little complicated for the average toddler so we started by simply creating caterpillars with old paper egg crates....

another day...i cut old pieces of felt into circles for our clothes pin caterpillars.  

emmett loves to practice with his scissors!

and loves to use glue too!

our caterpillars came out great & now it was time to grow our wings....

inspired by this post...we colored coffee filters with washable marker...

and sprayed them with a water bottle...(perfect for a HOT day!)

the marker spreads and then dries super fast on a laundry line in the sun....

i love the tie dye effect!

don't have clothes pins?

pipe cleaners work just as easy!

we hung them up to fly...

i came across this template and decided to make sequence cards for emmett for the book, the very hungry caterpillar by eric carle.  this was one of his all time favorite board books as a baby.

i never tried any kind of flash cards with him or even anything that felt "intentionally" educational but this seemed like fun and he enjoyed helping me make the cards!

putting the cards in order according to the order of the book...

i then decided we needed a party...a very hungry caterpillar party!!

Inspired by this post, i began planning...

first we made the bean bags.  i cut everything the very hungry caterpillars eats in the book out of felt, sewed them & then stuffed them with mung beans.  

this turned more into a sensorial experience for emmett!

our bean bags...(my sewing is far from perfect...i challenged myself to let it go & get the game made!)

throw the bean bag!

i brought the party to the preschoolers at my library story time!  after we read books, played the game, made a coffee filter butterfly...we enjoyed a special snack!

my older kids at the library made these beautiful butterfly ornaments using origami paper.

for the full tutorial click here.  paper crafts are very popular fiesta ornaments too!

A Buggy Birthday Bash!

My little guy turned 3 this past week! We had a nature/bug theme birthday party for him....

The first thing I wanted to create were the favors!
We had about 7 kids coming.
I had been saving and collecting jars for a while and couldn't think of a better thing to to use them for...catching fireflies!

Using some of Meade's art work, I cut out big #3's. Luckily, I stumbled upon an old gift bag I received it had ladybugs all over it.

I cut out 3 lady bugs for each jar. Using the best stuff ever created...Mod Podge, I glued everything on. Last, we took a hammer and nail and poked holes in the lids so our buggy friends could breath.

Next, I wanted to make a shirt for his special day.
Using a plain t-shirt, embroidery floss and a sheet of felt.

Last year, I was inspired by Soule Mama to make a felt birthday crown.
Since I had my embroidery floss and felt out, I sewed on a third star...to mark this momentous occasion.

The day of the party we went to the tackle shop and purchased some worms.
We were fortunate to have a planter box filled with soil to put them in.
If you don't, a child size pool would work or even a clear spot in the garden.

The kids had fun digging for worms.
We encouraged them to go home and put them in their garden or compost pile. After a quick rinse the jars would be ready for collecting fireflies that night!

Another fun activity... a scavenger hunt for plastic bugs.

Simple brown lunch bags are great for collecting little treasures!

We had a rock painting station....
I decided to go with washable paint so the kids didn't ruin their clothes. After the paint dried, the parents went over the rocks with Mod Podge.



 It sealed in the paint to prevent it from washing off in the rain.

Lemonade disguised as bug juice....

Bug cookies for favors...( I wish I could take credit for the baked goods)

And at last...

Dirt and worm cake!

 signs of a good party....