Crafts with my favorite 4yr old!

I recently started making a weekly Monday craft with Jonner.  And decided we'd share on Tuesday when I have the time to sit down and type to my hearts desire while he's in school.  That didn't happen this morning because I was off getting beautiful, bodacious big hair!  But I am going to take advantage of NAP TIME!!  Yes, my big boy who just turned 4 on September 25th still needs and takes a nap.  I love nap time! 

So we started a Busy Binder/Bag.  Items that can fit in a binder or bag and come in handy while at the Dr.'s office, restaurants, travelling that type of thing. 

I'll start off with what I haven't finished....BUSY BINGO for travelling.  I made a bingo sheet and instead of using numbers I used clip art of things like a semi truck, train, stop sign.  Stuff we see while travelling.  I also made seasonal bingo pages to use as the season's change and we see different "looks" on the horizon.  Once I get a cartridge for my printer I plan on printing and laminating the sheets and putting them in a 3 ring binder.  When Jonner spots one of the items he can put an X over the picture with his dry erase crayon and get a little prize once all items on a sheet have been crossed off.  As he get's a little older I'll have him try to just get a straight line, 4 corners that sort of thing.  My goal with this activity is to have him tune into his surroundings rather than the dvd player. 

Now on to the fun stuff we've already completed!  BUSY LACE-UPS.  I took different colored foam board that we had in our craft bin and cut it into different shapes.  Taking a hole punch I punched holes around the entire shape and added a shoe string to lace in and out of the holes.  This activity works on hand/eye cordination, fine motor skills and helps teach colors and shapes.  In all honesty, Jonner has not shown any interest in this activity....it might be a bust.  Then again who knows with this kid of mine!

Next is BUSY BEADS.  This is a favorite of mommy and son!  Jonner and I have spent hours playing with this simple activity and it goes just about everywhere with us and it's SO simple!  I've taken a handful of plastic pony beads and put them in a bowl with lid (I tried loose in a ziploc bag and the beads went everywhere, I've found the bowl works like a charm) and a bunch of pipe cleaners.  We string beads and make braclets, form the pipe cleaners into animals and people....the ideas and possibilities are endless!  This activity can be used for making patterns, fine motor skills, color recognition and hand/eye cordination.

Here Jonner is making patterns.  This was fun to see how his little mind worked and making a game out of what color comes next.  Plus it's no easy task to thread a pipe cleaner through a bead with cute chubby fingers!

Jonner showing off his giraffe!

Our co-creation of the BUSY BEAD BODY. 
All this was done the 1st day we played with this activity.  We've since made a flamingo, and bracelets, a butterfly & flower. 

This last activity is COLOR MATCHING.  I haven't gotten it out yet to let Jonner play with to give feed-back.  It is another simple concept with basic items we had around the house and in our craft bin.  Clothes pins, glue & paint chip samples (these I picked up from the local paint store).  I got 2 of each paint sample, one to cut and glue a sample to the clothes pin and one to use as a guide to match the pin to.  Easy peasy!  This activity is great for fine motor skills, matching & color recognition. 

I wish I could claim genius for this activities, but have to give credit to someone on Pinterest for planting the seed in my brain.  But it was all me getting up and actually making these!  I really have enjoyed making these activities for Jonner and look forward to him getting them out and actually putting them to use.  Plus I have so many more ideas to keep him busy and still challenge and strengthen his abilities at completing different tasks.  But I'll still keep my lone hotwheel and 3 crayons in the bottom of my purse as emergency back-ups.  Those white table liners on the beds in Dr's offices make great coloring sheets! 

Oh and I didn't have to purchase anything to make these activities!  WooHoo and they all fit nicely into a quart sized ziploc bag! 
 
I think our first week of craft make & share was a success!  Let me know if you try any of these activities and how they go over with your wee ones!