Colored rice tubs

1. As a tie in to the crazy for pasta theme...I have been itching to try this with rice. A recent purchase of a 50 lb bag of rice and voila....we have colored rice. Now the how to.
   
   I took enough rice to cover a cookie sheet and poured rubbing alcohol on top just to get slightly wet. Then had my daughter place drops of color on the rice. Using a rubber spatula slowly stir together the rice to mix the coloring throughout. Towards the end we added a little more alcohol and set it out to dry. We did this 4 times for the different colors. When the rice is dry I took a small tupperware about 12 x 24 and filled it up with the rice. We will be rotating various goodies inside the rice for the kids to sift through the rice. Aside from being a great sensory tool, the kids have a blast. This week we have dinosaurs buried deep within and a few paintbrushes they become mini archeologists.

Chika Chika Boom Boom Craft...

My youngest are reading this adorable book, so naturally a craft had to come from it. So my gears were clanging thinking of what to do.

What you need..

Brown Paper Bag
Green construction paper
Brown construction paper
foam letter stickers
foam circles
fabric glue
stick glue
sand or sticks...
black crayon or marker

Using the bag is the foundation of your tree. On the non flap side paste a 2 inch wide piece of brown paper for the tree trunk. Then cut or rip out palm tree frawns about 5 per tree. Glue the leaves on top of the brown trunk and let dry. Mark xs from bottom to top of trunk to create palm tree look. Then have them decorate with foam letters going up the tree just like in the book. You can add enrichment by having them look for the letters in their name or sorting the letters by color, etc. As a final touch I wanted something that had a sensory feel so I took fabric glue and placed some on a foam circle and then glued some sand/use small twigs or even old grass to look like a coconut (I was considering using real coconut shreds died brown) then glue to their masterpiece. When dry, you can open the bag and the tree should stand up on its own.

Enjoy...my kids had a blast....

Easy Mini Flannel Boards.

I recently had bought some mini flannel blankets from the dollar store and didn't have any use for them. Then the bright idea began to flicker in this old, dusty, brain. I could use the flannel to make a flannel board.

4 things all you need.

flattened box
flannel blanket
Elmer's craft bond spray adhesive
and fabric remnant to cover the reverse side.

1. spray adhesive on top of box. Then carefully position blanket on top of the adhesive. Flatten smooth

2. Turn around and trim off edges of flannel blanket to not have overlapping sides when folded in.

3. Spray adhesive and fold sides in and top and bottom down.

4. Using a piece of fabric remnant cover the reverse seams for a more pleasing look.

Enjoy!