It's a pillow, it's a... pillow.

This Idea Came From: My child is constantly prompted by Nick Jr to make these crafts... and I have to say they are exciting to see done. http://www.nickjr.com/crafts/tolee-heart-shape-pillow.jhtml?path=/crafts/ni-hao-kai-lan/all-themes/all-ages/index.jhtml We did Ho Ho... but there are loads of characters.


Our Experience: Watching this craft "with the guy and the two kids, Mom!!"on television prompted a mother daughter pow-wow at the computer to seek the templates on "Nick Jr dot com , Mom".  We printed them on paper, searched through felt scraps and yarn and cotton balls. One thing I do know from past experience.. is forget about the fabric glue.. just sew it.. Fabric glue is a real pain and it makes a mess. The face of Ho Ho- we used an iron on adhesive. These things make easy and fast happen... I am a fan of that.  Attention spans are super fast around here. Emma cut the templates with a little clean up help and ironed everything down with an extra hand shadowing her every move. Sewing the outer edge- me.. but she sat next to me and counted 40 cotton balls to put in the little hole on the side before I sewed it all the way up. She was thrilled. Wha Lah... a Nick Jr Pillow of Ho Ho.

The Lesson: Nearing 4 years old, Emma has her own ideas and wants to do everything.  These crafts make her feel like she is accomplishing huge feats. Soon she will be sewing by herself. The more she can do on her own means less meltdowns. This is good to teach asking for help, listening to instructions... and understanding there are boundaries to keep safe. Oye!

Macaroni... it's not just for dinner!

This Idea Came From: I totally followed these directions... http://www.makeandtakes.com/coloring-pasta-making-necklaces. Yes, I said I followed directions... but only because I tried this earlier this year and majorly made a huge mess. For this craft it pays not to be a pioneer in the coloring portion... go to town with your wagon wheels and your penne and your elbows... but do yourself a favor and consider yourself warned use the rubbing alcohol.

Our Experience: This has been a craft I have wanted to do with Emma for a while. The first time we attempted to make these necklaces... I skipped the rubbing alcohol step in the food coloring. Huge mistake! The food coloring never dried and oh dear what a mess. Had to scrap it and throw them all out.

 
This time... much, much easier. I just took little sandwich bags tossed the food coloring, macaroni in various shapes, and a little rubbing alcohol.  Emma squished all the bags around and they turned out way more vibrant than I expected! Success so far. We shook them onto a paper towel lined cookie sheet to let them dry.

"Are they ready yet?" Not yet "Are they ready now?" No, not yet "Are they ready now, Mom?" Grrrr.


Ok so eventually in under an hour they were ready to be strung.  This was great.  Emma was able to manipulate the taped end (like a shoelace) through the various sizes of macaroni.  I taped the bottom end flat so they stayed on, once done we tied them, and snipped the freyed ends off. Wha Lah! Really well done. Wish we would have had wagon wheels... oh well.. next time.  We will do this craft again.

The Lesson:  If at first you do not succeed, try try again.