Beach - sorting shells in artful ways

Sorting shells is fun for little and big people!

We filled a basket with a bunch of different types and sizes of shells and had some fun learning.

What else did we use?

~ this sorting sheet from Playful Learning (page 14)

~ small baskets

~ a sheet of white poster board

 

We sorted according to shape, type of shell and size.

Then we arranged the shells in mandala type designs.

Simple learning fun!

~ joey ~

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Butterflies - link up

from:  made by joey

I have posted some photos of how we decorated our home for our butterfly theme.

We also made these toilet roll butterflies.
Super easy, inexpensive and fun!

~ joey ~

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Butterflies - origami butterflies

 Whenever possible, I try to introduce a new craft with a good story book.  An inspirational story that has nice pictures always gets the kids excited about trying something that is unfamiliar to them.

One book that I recently discovered and really enjoyed was Butterflies for Kiri.

The story is about a young girl named Kiri who likes to make things.  For her Birthday she received some origami papers from her Auntie Lu.  After a couple of failed attempts at folding the paper Kiri becomes disappointed about the beautiful paper tearing.  She continues to practice with regular paper and in the end makes a colourful picture that contains a perfectly folded butterfly!

We decided to give origami a try too.

 

The last page of the book has illustrated instructions on how to fold your own butterfly.  It's quite a simple pattern so it's a great way to successfully introduce origami to children.

I really like that the story illustrates that
"if at first you don't succeed try, try again ".
I highly recommend giving it a try with your kids!

~ joey ~ 

Linking up to:

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

Butterflies - wool butterfly craft

One of the crafts that we made to go with our butterfly theme are these gorgeous wool butterflies.

We followed MamaMoontime's tutorial and they take literally seconds to make!  They are simple enough for every age to try and turn out so pretty!

You just need a pipe cleaner and two different colours of wool roving. (and a bit of thread if you want to hang them)

We hung them in our new branch above the nature shelf but you could also:
~ tie them to a stick and let the kids fly them around the yard
~ mount one in a shadow box
~ tie one onto a gift
~ hang them in the window and let the light shine through them.

I'm sure your family will love making these as much as we did!

~ joey ~

Linking up to:
Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on} 

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Butterflies - link up

from: Mama Smiles

MaryAnne has shared this really neat 
caterpillar to butterfly craft that her son made at preschool.  I love that the kids can then use it to show a friend or a grown up how metamorphosis happens.  Great for building confidence!

Thank you for sharing this craft MaryAnne!

~ joey ~

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