Category: Kids

Bunnies from Upcycled Spools

Posted on by keepinthesunlightblog@gmail.com

I saw this idea years back and fell in love with it!  How darling are these bunnies!

The idea couldn’t be simpler:

–Use an empty spool (If you don’t sew, ask friends/neighbors/family/Freecycle, etc.  If you DO sew, you have PLENTY of these.)

–Wrap a small piece of decorative paper around.  (Scraps of paper, upcycled magazines or catalogs, old maps, damaged books, etc.)

–Draw a bunny face.

–Add ears (I don’t love the thought of people buying new pipe cleaners for these, but we had some on hand (I un-do old projects from the kids to reuse these).  You could also use paper clips, as seen in one bunny above.  Get creative!  I’m sure this is a great opportunity for reuse!

–We happened to have pom-poms on hand as well (from old projects, etc.), but you could also make bunny tails from crumpled scrap paper or any number of upcycled items.

 

I LOVE that these reuse spools!!

I LOVE that these are a homemade decoration instead of a store-bought one (New, store-bought items have transportation, manufacturing, packaging waste, financial cost, afterlife of the items, and more to consider.)

I LOVE that my kids can be involved in making these!  My daughter made a collection of these this year, and my 3-year old made at least a couple of them too! (see below)

Upcycled spool bunnies could make a super-cute gift as well!  Even a ‘kit’ to make these would be a fun little spring present!

 

April Fools

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I used to seriously dread April Fools’ Day, especially when I was a teacher.  I really don’t like when people just tell fibs on this day and call it an April Fools’ joke. I also really dislike pranks that are mean or a huge mess or environmentally-wasteful.  I do, however, appreciate punny/silly jokes like these:

–Google lets you put a 3D animal into a scene on your phone or for pictures.  The kids thoughts these were great fun last year.

–I cut up a bunch of “E”s from brown paper and told the kids I was bringing out a tray of “Brown E”s.  (Be sure to have the real thing after the joke. =)

–This year, the kids loved giving their Dada a mysterious packet labeled “bagel seeds” that instructed him to leave them in a tray by a window sill.  “No watering or soil necessary!” they wrote.  “Bagels will grow in 2 hours!”  The seeds were Cascadian Os cereal, and when Dada left the room, we quickly switched these out with hidden bagels I had purchased ahead of time.

(This one could also work with “doughnut seeds.”)

–I also love the good ol’ dessert dirt in a pot.  I make the cookie part only from these homemade Oreos, with a lot less bother on presentation, of course.  Then we blend them into crumbs and mix with homemade vanilla pudding.  Yum!  Gummy worms are fun too, but we couldn’t find any this year.

Instead, our daughter decided to include an instruction tag that said we could tell if the soil was still “good” by tasting it.

 

And here are some April Fools’ jokes I haven’t tried, but sounded cute:

–Switching your kids into one another’s beds, if they’re heavy sleepers.

–Writing “April Fools!” on the toilet paper that they will unwind.

–Stick googly eyes on fruit or lunchbox foods.

–Switch out morning cereal in box with another kind or with popcorn or Legos, etc.

 

Even our 3-year old got into making up his own pranks this year.  He insisted on hanging some long strands of yarn on the wall for Dada to see.  Then he instructed Dad to leave the room while he cut the strings to be very short.  Sneaky little guy.  ha

Anyway, I’m glad that now as a parent I’ve found an appreciation for this first day of April.  The kids get so excited to play these good-natured pranks.  Instead of seeing it as I used to, a day of feeling gullible or hearing about mean pranks, I see it as a day to be goofy and have fun.  That kind of foolishness for a day sounds pretty good to me.

Finger Plays

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I don’t know that I knew many of these growing up.  I knew the classic, “Here is the Church and Here is the Steeple,” but that was about the extent of it.  Since becoming a parent though, I realize how much I love these!  Kids are drawn to the movement of the hands and fingers, and I love watching them try to puzzle out how to do these.  There are so many finger plays out there.  Here are some of my favorites:

Here’s a Cup of Tea
Two Little Friends

 

 

See also:
Songs
Rhymes

The Greatest Gift

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When I became a mom, I quickly realized I would do ANYTHING for these kids.  I want to give them all the best, always. Not in a spoil them, Veruca Salt, sort of way, but in a -I would walk to Mordor for you- kind of way. And, like so many parents out there, holidays or birthdays approach, and I get excited to give them something really special. To see their faces light up, to watch their imaginations grow. But, I can never help thinking, that the greatest gift I can give my kids, really, is a healthy planet for their future and for their kids. I know that sounds corny as all heckarooni when I say it, but I believe it deep down in my core. And while I’m not going to sit my kids down on their birthdays and tell them that their gift is that we didn’t get them anything that would add to the crisis of overconsumption and instead Mama sat down and wrote this post in the small hopes it would make a difference, I still think that we can keep things in perspective. Maybe cut down on the over gifting. Be conscious about what products we’re buying and what their company’s practices are and which local shop we’d like to support, even if it means paying a little bit more. Or even making our own gifts. Maybe we can also realize that for a lot of people, gifts aren’t necessarily brown paper packages tied up with strings, but instead might be a special outing or spending time together. I want to give my kids a healthy, sustainable planet for their future, and so with every celebration, every gift, every birthday party, I keep that at the forefront of my mind. And then all I can do is my best.