A is for Alligator

Here is a fun craft that we are going to do for our alphabet comprehension.
We did the letter A yesterday.

Materials:
scissors
markers
card stock
cardboard
colored or scrapbooking paper
googly eye
gluestick
tape

When we craft I try to reuse materials so that my out-of-pocket expenses are minimal.

James' grandpaw sent him a book in the mail the other day and
the cardboard that he packaged it in was perfect for this idea.

First I drew an A about 5" high on bright yellow cardstock and cut it out. I asked James if he thought the alligator should be eating the A and he said yes and got very excited.

Next I free handed an alligator shape on the cardboard.


I let James go to town on the alligator with a glue stick.
Next, he placed little triangles that I had cut out of scrapbook paper all over the alligator.


Then he glued on a googley eye, and pasted the A in the alligator's mouth.


A few final artistic flourishes,


and VOILA!

Hmmm . . what shall the B be for?

Another Fun Spring Craft

I try to do a craft with James every day. It is special time for just he and I, and he really looks forward to it. I get great inspiration from around the web, but yesterday came up with an idea of my own.


I have wanted to put up a banner for Spring. I also have a ton of leftover scrapbooking paper that I need to use up. James loves to glue right now, and so I drew big letters on cardstock, and cut scraps of paper for him to glue. (I did the gluing this time and he did the sticking).


This was fun because we were able to have fun and learn at the same time--sounding out letters, spelling, and talking about what season it is.


After we finished gluing, I cut the letters out and hole punched them to hang. James inserted pipe cleaners to hang them from a ribbon we ran across the mantel in the livingroom.


How much fun is this? Tomorrow we are going to make some ducks and butterflies and flowers to hang in between the letters.

A Child's-Eye View

We have been enjoying birdwatching as a family here at the new house. We have several feeders set up, and have seen a number of birds, including Robins, Woodpeckers and Nuthatches. James has a great view of the feeders from his seat at the table in the kitchen, and he knows nearly every variety. His favorite is the "Chick-a-dee-dee-dee" as he says it.

A few weeks ago we did a little craft project with cut paper. I asked him body parts for birds (body, legs, wings, beak) and I cut them out. He then glued them on the paper. Here is a comparison of the real birds we have photographed, and James' versions.








Of course, being his Mom, I think these are pretty fantastic. Maybe I have a little John James Audubon on my hands!