Confessions of a Not So Crafty Momma.

The toddler and preschool years are very important times in language development. We try to do activities on a regular bases with our toddler that encourage her to use words and small sentences. Yesterday, we read the book Dog in Boots by Greg Gormley. Afterwards, we did this activity. It can be done with or without the book, but the book does add context.

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Materials Needed

• Computer or Construction Paper
• Crayon/ Marker/ Colored Pencil
• Magazine Clippings (Clothing Items, Jewelry, etc. and a dog)
• Glue
• Dog in Boots by Greg Gormley (Option)

We started by writing “My Dog Wears” on the top of a piece of paper. We keep magazine clippings organized by type for crafts and activities, so we simply had to get out what we wanted to use. We gave her a variety of items so that she could pick what her “dog” would want to wear. If you have a dog, you could also cut out a picture of your own dog for this activity. If you are doing with activity with a child who has a basic concept of how to write letters, you can write the words on a separate piece of paper and let them copy the phrase onto their paper.

Next, we let our toddler glue on the dog. After that, we read “my dog wears..” a few times to try to get her to repeat it. If your child already says basic sentences, you can skip this and just let them say it when they place each item on the paper instead.

Lastly, we let our toddler pick what her dog would wear. With each item she picked, we would say “My dog wears..” then add in what it was. She did not repeat everything back, but the repetition helps with language development.

This activity was simple and could be done in a classroom or daycare setting as well as at home. It is great for toddlers and preschoolers. Our family and friends had a good laugh over our daughter’s choices. Her dog is a bit fancy and we can not wait to look back on it with her as she gets older.

Last week, we focused our learning activities and art around pets. This week, we will be continuing that theme. A few days ago we used a fork to paint a cat.

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Materials Needed

• Black Construction Paper
• Pink Construction Paper
• White Construction/ Computer Paper
• Paint (We used black and white mixed together)
• Scissors
• A Plastic Fork
• Googly Eyes

Start by cutting out two triangles and several thin rectangles from the black paper. These will be the whiskers and the ears. Next, cut out a smaller pink triangle. This will be the nose. Lastly, get your paint into a small dish or a paper plate. We mixed black and white paint together so that the cat would be a dark gray, but you can use whatever colors you’d like.

Have your child use the fork to paint a circle on the paper. You may get an oval, you may get a square, or you may actually get a circle. If your child is still learning shapes, try drawing a circle on the paper and having your child just paint inside of it. Our daughter has an excellent understanding of shapes for her age, so we did not have to offer much guidance, but it is always best to adapt crafts to your child.

After the painting is done, this will need awhile to dry. We let ours dry for about 8 hours and it was still a bit wet, but dry enough to finish. Let your child place the googly eyes, whiskers, ears and nose. We always try to offer minimal guidance so that our toddler creates something that is unique to her.

The finished art project will be a cute cat that can be used as part of a preschool/ home school lesson or just as something fun to do.

Book Suggestions

We have had a few requests to include books that our crafts can be paired with. Here are some perfect books to read before or after this craft!

We have been nominated for The Disability Blogger Award by Jennie from Failure to Thrive No More. We love these awards and think it is pretty amazing that there is an Award to Bloggers who blog about Special Needs, Chronic Illness, and Mental Health! These topics are not always easy to talk about, so we love reading what others share! Thank you Georgina from Chronillicles for creating this award.

Questions from Jennie

What is your ‘why’ for starting your blog?

We started this blog to share crafts and educational activities that we do with our toddler. We really enjoy coming up with ideas that can be adapted based on age and ability level. Over time, the blog has evolved and we have been able to share so much more than that.

What is your coping strategy?

We both have two different coping strategies. Mine is to ask myself “Can I change this?”, if the answer is no, then i choose to try my best to put it to the side and stop worrying about it. This relieves a lot of stress. Mr. Not So Crafty prefers to find a tiny bit of time to himself to play a video game or watch a movie.

What is your favorite movie? Why?

The Princess Bride is probably one of both of our all time favorite movies! It is just such a good movie.

What is your favorite social media channel? Why?

Pintrest. Nothing we make turns out Pintrest perfect, but there is so much fun to look through!

If you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?

For me, it would be “just keep swimming”. Things get rough, but you just have to keep going. Mr. Not So Crafty says he would tell his younger self that sometimes things have to get worse before they can get better.

My Nominees Are:

Amy at Treatably

Nyxie at Nyxie’s Nook

Ariana at Ariana Dagan

Angelina at Coffee with a Splash of Gratitude

Lorna at Gin & Lemonade

My Questions for the Nominees:

What is your guilty pleasure?

When it comes to blogging, what is your biggest fear?

What is the best thing that has happened to you this week?

What is your pet peeve?

What is your favorite topic to blog about?

Rules for The Disability Award:

• Thank your nominator
• Recognize Georgina from Chronillicles as the creator of the award and include her link https://www.chronillicles.com
• Use logo somewhere in the post
• Answer your nominator’s questions
• Write 5-15 of your own questions – they don’t have to be illness related!
• Nominate 5-15 other disability, chronic illness, mental illness or special needs bloggers Comment on each of your nominees’ latest posts to tell them they have been nominated.

Over the next week or so, we will be focused on art, activities, and books about pets. Our daughter loves animals, so we thought it would be a fun little learning theme!

**This post contains affiliate links. We may get a small commission, at no additional cost to you, for purchases made from our links. All opinions expressed are our own**

Today we read Is This a House for Hermit Crab? by Megan McDonald. After reading the book, we made a little hermit crab of our own!

Materials Needed

• Paper Plate
• Googly Eyes
• Red Construction Paper
• Tissue Paper
• Glue
• Scissors
• A Pen or Marker

We started by putting glue in a swirl like pattern on the paper plate and letting our toddler glue the tissue paper on one piece at a time. We already had small squares of tissue paper cut. If you do not keep cut up tissue paper, then you’d need to cut some up before you started.

After the plate was covered in tissue paper, we let it dry while we traced our toddlers hand. We cut out the hand print and then two little parts for the eyes of the crab. If your child is preschool age, try letting them do the cutting!

Next, we helped our little one glue the eyes onto the little pieces and then onto the top of the hand print.

Once the paper plate was dry, we flipped it over and taped the hand print onto the paper plate. You could also use a stapler instead of tape.

Once we flipped it over, we had a cute little hermit crab.

About three years ago, I found out through an elimination diet that I was allergic to wheat. We had to change the way we ate in our home, but it wasn’t challenging until our daughter started eating meals with us. Now, it can be difficult to find gluten free food ideas that are appealing to a toddler. Today, I want to share ten child friendly gluten free breakfast ideas!

1. Gluten Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal

2. Gluten Free Buckwheat Buttermilk Waffles

3. Crispy Vegan Waffles With Lentil Protein

4. Gluten Free and Paleo Beet Blueberry Muffins

5. Paleo Double Chocolate Banana Bread

6. Vegan Buckwheat Pancakes

7. Instant Pot Egg Bites

8. Banana Blueberry Fritters

9. Easy Keto Breakfast Bowl

10. Grain Free Pumpkin Spice Breakfast Cookies

I hope that you enjoy this list of breakfast ideas! We will be posting several more gluten free recipe posts in the next month or so.

Our toddler loves everything to do with fairy tales. Right now, we are exploring some fairy tale related art, books, and activities. Yesterday, we made a magic wand!

Materials Needed

• Construction Paper
• Gems, Stickers, ect.
• Glue
• Scissors
• Paper Towel Roll

We started by drawing a star on the construction paper and cutting it out. If you want a perfect star, but are bad at drawing, I’d suggest printing out a template of some sort. Our freehand star is a bit wonky, but our toddler didn’t mind. After that, we cut a strip from the paper towel roll. If you are doing this for a group of children, you can get about four “wands” per paper towel roll.

Next, we put glue all over the star and let our toddler glue on gems. You could also just put dots of glue all over the star as well. Glue sticks would likely not work well for this craft. If you are using stickers, you can skip the glue all together.

After our toddler was done, we used a paper towel to wipe away the excess glue then let it dry.

Once the star is dry, we helped our toddler glue it onto the piece we cut from the paper towel roll. We hung our toddler’s magic wand up on the fridge, but it would also make an excellent pretend play toy for children that are old enough not to eat parts of it!

We had so much rain this weekend! It was pretty gloomy out, so we decided to come up with a little paper craft to match.

Materials Needed

• Black, Blue, and White Construction Paper
• Glue
• Scissors

We started by cutting out a cloud like shape from the white paper and rain drops from the blue paper. If your little one is preschool or early elementary school age, you can draw the shapes and let them do the cutting!

Next, we helped our toddler use the glue stick and then let her glue on the cloud and the rain drops. We offered her total freedom to decide where she would place what. We always try to let her creativity shine when we are doing crafts. You could use a glue bottle for this craft as well if you do not want to use a glue stick.

This project took about 15 minutes and is great fine motor skill practice!