Have you ever seen those cute clothespin frige magnets and wondered how they are made? Here’s a great tutorial to show you how your preschooler can help you make a tulip clothespin magnet. You can use the project sheet as it is to color and cut out or you can use it as a template to cut out your own shapes from craft foam, fabric or cardstock.

The best part about clothespin magnets is that you can put them on the fridge and they’ll hold your important notes or fabulous other art pieces in place.

Cute tulip clothespin magnet is a post from: Projects for Preschoolers

We love Eric Carle books, and now Kohls is featuring a selection of his books as part of the Kohls Cares program. Each book or associate plush toy is only $5 and the proceeds goes to help kids health and education initiatives.

The books included in this program are: “Brown Bear Brown Bear, What do you See”, “The Very Busy Spider”, “Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother Too?”, and “10 Little Rubber Ducks”. Each book has a coordinating plush toy that you buy separately. We love these book collections. The kids love the stories and the plush is a fun addition for your preschooler as they act out the story while you read along.

Eric Carle Books featured in Kohls Cares

Check out the Kohls Cares program
to find out more and order your own books.

KohlS Cares Eric Carle Does A Kangaroo Have A Mother Too

KohlS Cares Bill Martin Jr. And Eric Carle Brown Bear, Brown Bear

KohlS Cares Eric Carle The Very Busy Spider Collection

KohlS Cares Eric Carle 10 Little Rubber Ducks Collection

Kohls Cares with Eric Carle books is a post from: Projects for Preschoolers

Not everything sticks to everything permanently. We make projects with glitter glue here all the time, however, if you put glitter glue on plastic, sometimes it peals right off when it dries. This is a fun and sparkly activity to explore for a little fun with science while playing with glitter. Your preschooler is sure to love the glittery fun and exploring with surfaces wet vs dry. So, grab some small plastic lids and your favorite glitter glue and experiment with sticking and non-sticking.

Mini glitter glue sun catcher

Apply glitter glue to plastic lid and let dry

We used glitter glue from the Dollar Tree, however, I think any glitter glue would work. Load it up on your plastic lid and let it dry thoroughly. Make sure the entire surface is covered and the thicker you layer the glue, the better chance there will be for it to peal right off your plastic. We used small beverage lids like you find on Gatorade or even smaller, on water bottles. Create your own fun patterns and designs and turn these little sparkly experiments into decorations or ornaments too!

Playing with glitter glue and plastic is a post from: Projects for Preschoolers

Make a pretty angel picture using your preschooler’s handprints as the wings. This art project would make a lovely holiday decor piece or an image to use on your family Christmas cards! We used a large 11×14 size piece of construction paper for the background to make sure there was enough room to create the handprints, however you could use a smaller piece of paper if you’d like.
Cut out the angel head, skirt, hair and feet from white construction paper and color or use colored construction paper. Accent the finished angel with glitter or other pretty embellishments.

Handprint Angel Art

Materials you need:

• Construction paper
• White paint
• Crayons
• Scissors
• Glue
• Extras such as glitter glue or yarn

Handprint angel parts

How to make your own handprint angel art:

1. Using paint, make handprints on a large piece of construction paper, let dry.
2. Cut out angel head, dress, feet and hair (you could use yarn for hair instead of a paper cut out). Color pieces as desired.
3. Assemble angel and glue in place.
4. Draw a halo above the angel’s head.
5. Add glitter or other accessories as desired.

Tip: when making the wings with handprints, make sure your preschooler’s hand is tight together and straight. You can make the wings with thumbs on top or the bottom, either way. It just depends on which look you prefer.

Extra creative fun: You could also cut out the finished angle and hang up to display.

You can personalize your handprint angel however you like. Use fabric instead of paper, paint instead of coloring with crayons… whatever you’d like. We like adding our hair separate so an adult can cut the style/shape and kids can easily color as they’d like. We added the extra touch of glitter on the wings and a sparkly glitter glue halo.

Handprint Angel Art is a post from: Projects for Preschoolers

Use plastic lids from all that holiday entertaining food to make ornaments and play with glitter glue. Plastic does not work well with washable markers, so be prepared to use a permanent marker set for this project. Definitely a project for older preschoolers. Make sure, if you use glitter glue, it isn’t layered on too thick, otherwise when it dries, the glitter might peal right off the plastic.

Plastic lid ornaments

Coloring a recycled plastic lid

Once the marker or paint, or whatever you use to decorate your plastic lids dries, add a ribbon to hang it up. Punch a hole in the top edge of the lid, tie on a ribbon and you’re all set. Plastic lid ornaments are an inexpensive activity that you can make to decorate or give as hand made gifts from your preschooler.

Plastic lid ornaments is a post from: Projects for Preschoolers

Tomorrow my family is heading out to see Toy Story 3 on ice and we couldn’t be more excited. Check out the Disney on Ice schedule for a show near you! If you’re in Denver, using the code FFA when purchasing tickets for the December 8th-11th shows and save $4 on select showtimes.

Toy Story 3 on Ice

Download a free Toy Story 3 on Ice coloring page too!

Toy Story 3 on Ice coloring page

Disney on Ice presents Toy Story 3 coloring page is a post from: Projects for Preschoolers

I received a Nomad Play paint brush for ipad to review and one to give to one of my readers. Keep reading to find out more.

If you have an iPad and a preschooler, you are going to love the Nomad Play paint brush. It’s an accessory to use with painting or drawing apps on your iPad that is designed specifically for little hands. There are hours of fun to be had being creative. There more fun for for mom when painting with this paint brush that doesn’t require water or a pile of paint!

Nomad Play kids paint brush for iPad

The main body of the brush is made of wood and comes engraved with about the same thickness as a jumbo sized crayon so preschool hands can easily grasp and hold the brush. There are real bristles so using the brush feels very similar to painting on real paper but without the mess or the need to pull out all the supplies. We tried the Nomad Play paint brush with a ton of different apps on our iPad and found two that we loved the most for preschoolers, Paint Sparkles and Rainbow Fun Pro. You can find more great painting app suggestions on the Nomad Play website.

Nomand Play iPad paint brush for kids

Enter to receive
1 Red Nomad Play paint brush for iPad worth $18.00, here’s how:

To be eligible to win you must:

• Be 18 years old or older
• Reside in the continental US
• Leave a comment below telling me what you and your preschooler love most about painting or the iPad.

Giveaway will close Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 9pm Eastern time. One winner will be selected at random using “And the Winner Is” wordpress plugin. Winner will be notified via e-mail and have 24 hours to respond with a US Mailing address or a new winner will be selected. I will then ship the Nomad Play brush directly to the winner.

Don’t Forget – You can follow Projects for Preschoolers on Facebook to hear about all the great projects we share, more giveaways and who the winner of this prize is.

Disclaimer: I was provided with 2 Nomad Play brushes for this review and giveaway. All opinions are 100% mine.

Nomad Play an ipad paint brush for little hands and giveaway is a post from: Projects for Preschoolers

We LOVE penguins in this house so naturally Happy Feet Two s on the MUST see list. We weren’t able to catch the show on opening day, but we did check it out shortly after.

Happy Feet Two movie poster

There’s all the dancing and singing we fell in love with in the first Happy Feet. The second movie has some new characters and an interesting new moral to share. My older kids enjoyed the show, my 8 year old especially. However, my preschooler fell asleep about 20 minutes in. We did see an evening show, so that could have played a small role, however the story line of Happy Feet 2 was a bit more serious than the first with some odd twists that didn’t necessarily seem to fit until the movie was near it’s end.

The messages we took away from this movie:

• Be honest and proud of who you are.
• Work together and great things can happen.
• Even the smallest action (or person) can make a difference.

From an adult perspective, this movie has some big stars, good clean messages and fantastic graphics. The voice overs were great and the movie was fun to watch. If your preschooler is a huge penguin fan, I think they will enjoy Happy Feet 2. If they are more into cute cartoons, this might be a bit old for them yet, all in all it’s a good family film to see together.

Happy Feet Two movie review is a post from: Projects for Preschoolers

Here’s a great opportunity to create a gift that is unique, handmade and fun for the whole family… make your own family cookbook and print it at a 61% discount. If you love cooking with your kids or your preschooler is a big kitchen helper, this is a great gift idea that not only will you love to give, but your family will love to create!

cooking with your preschooler

Compile a list of your family’s favorites treats, your preschooler’s favorite snacks or a mix of meals throughout the day and share them with your friends and family. We are always looking for more meal ideas, especially those our kids enjoy eating, so why not share it with others? I love this idea of making our own cookbook and with this special pricing, the project can be printed professional at a great rate – fantastic!

Family cookbook project is a post from: Projects for Preschoolers

Get out the construction paper, glue and piles of embellishments and make paper cone Christmas trees with your preschooler to decorate this holiday season. You can decorate these trees however you like and with whatever you like. Use green construction paper or get creative and use something completely different. These cute paper trees are fun relatively simple to create. Let the holiday crafting begin!

Paper cone Christmas Trees

Materials you need:

• Construction paper
• Embellishments such as buttons, glitter glue, paper scraps, gems, whatever you like
• Glue
• Paper clips while glue dries
• Scissors

Cut paper and decorate

Use whatever you'd like to decorate your paper Christmas tree

Wrap, glue and hold edges together

How to make a paper cone Christmas tree:

1. Cut construction paper into a 1/2 circle.
2. Decorate, covering the front side of the paper but leaving a little on each edge blank for gluing later. Let dry.
3. Wrap paper into a cone shape and glue edges. Place paper clip along bottom of glue edge to hold in place while it dries.
4. Enjoy!

Paper Cone Christmas Trees is a post from: Projects for Preschoolers