News with Naylors

Starfish #1 (puffy paint) : We haven't painted with puffy paint yet, so I was so excited to see a Puffy Paint Starfish Tutorial  on I Heart Crafty Things. Easton had a blast with this activity. It looked so much fun, I had to give it a try as well. We followed the tutorial, other than we added about twice as much shaving cream as suggested. Starfish #2 (cheerios) : I found this idea on the  Letter S Crafts  list on the measured mom blog. I didn't take a picture of ours, so the one below is from her blog. I placed glue dots on our starfish and Easton placed cheerios on the glue. Star Stamping : I found this  star stamping  idea on Fun a Day. We stamped a star cookie cutter in yellow washable paint and Easton stamped it onto a piece of black construction paper. I love the yellow florescent stars on black paper. Sand Sensory Bin : This Mold & Play Sand Kit  from Lakeshore Learning was a huge hit! Easton played with the sand off and on ...

Sparkly Letter S Snakes : I used a black permanent marker to draw two Letter S's on a piece of white card stock. Then I mixed a small amount of water and glue together in a bowl to make a paste. I painted the inside of the first Letter S with the glue/water mixture and helped Easton pour blue sparkles over the Letter S. I shook the paper and poured the extra sprinkles back into our container. We did the same process with our silver sparkly snake. Once the glue mixture dried, we glued on our goggly eyes and a snake tongue. Paper Plate Lego Snake : We have stamped all sorts of things, and today we tried stamping legos! Of course, we had to do the color blue - Easton's favorite. I used both dark and light blue washable tempera paint. Easton dipped the lego in the paint and then stamped it onto a paper plate. After the paint dried I cut a swirl into the paper plate to make our snake. Easton glued on a snake tongue and goggly eyes. I saw a similar idea on Craft Morning making ...

Marbled Shark : We made Marbled Christmas Trees last month. I loved how our trees turned out, so I thought it would be fun to add a marbled craft onto our Letter of the Week series. You'll need a cookie sheet, shaving cream, acrylic paint (we used blue, washable liquid watercolors), a straw (we used a skewer stick), a popsicle stick and a piece of white card stock (I drew a shark image on ours beforehand) for this activity. After our marbled paper was dry, I cut the shark images out and glued them onto black card stock.  Click here for a tutorial. Shaving Cream/Shark Sensory Play : Once we were finished marbling our shark, we played with the colored shaving cream. We added our play sharks, a separate bin with water, and our play kitchen toys (measuring cups/spoons, spatula, whisk, etc). I'm glad we were in the bathtub for this activity! Shark Matching : I printed the remaining shark activities from a Shark Pack by 3 Dinosaurs. We started with a matching game. I pr...

Snail Craft #1 (sun catcher) : I love coffee filter/sun catcher crafts! We hadn't tried using washable markers to make one yet, so it was fun to try that technique today. I found a similar idea on no time for flashcards.  Here's what you need: Large, White Coffee Filter Washable Markers Spray Bottle with Water Green Construction Paper (snail body) 1. Put the coffee filter on an art table and let your child draw all over the coffee filter with washable markers (picture one). 2.  Spray the entire coffee filter with water, so the colors bleed together (picture two and three). 3. Let the coffee filter dry - I usually place mine in between two pieces of paper towels, so it dries quickly. 4. Cut out a snail body from green construction paper and glue the snail body onto the coffee filter (picture four).  5. Hang the snail up in the window and watch the sun shine through the coffee filter. Snail Craft #2 (finger painting) : My mother-in-law bough...

I found so many great S Activities, we spent over a week doing them. You can pick and choose which activities to do in five days, or do them all at your own pace like we did. Feed the Shark : To review the alphabet as a whole, we played "feed the shark". I printed a shark template  (scroll down to find) and glued it onto a piece of cardboard. I taped the piece of cardboard onto a plastic baby wipe container. I cut out 26 little fish from construction paper and wrote a letter of the alphabet on each one. I hid the fish around the room, Easton found one and identified the letter, and fed it to our shark. He really liked this activity! This idea is from Toddler Approved . Letter S Songs : I found and printed our Letter S Songs from the Measured Mom blog. We sing these songs all throughout the week - in the car, before naps, and randomly throughout the day. Normally there are more options, so we have more favorites. However, this week we had only one favorite: Skip to my ...

1) Jar Stamping  from The Measured Mom: Easton really loved this activity! Two baby food jars Washable Tempera Paint (colors of choice) White Paper 2) Bugs in a Jar  from the Measured Mom: Print bugs and jar printable (from link provided) Large Die - from the dollar store  Have your child roll the die and add the same amount of bugs into the jar. 3) Jar Manipulatives from Lakeshore Learning: My kids both love these! These are great to practice find motor skills, colors and sorting. The set comes with three jars - buttons, pegs and foam shapes.  4) Tornado in a Jar : I showed Easton a few pictures of tornados online and explained a tornado in very simple terms. Easton and Connor loved watching the "tornado" spin. My husband was so intrigued when he got home, he had to gave it a whirl. Here's what you need: Water Bottle - 3/4 full of water Dish Soap Add a squirt of dish soap (around 1 tsp.) into a water bottle that is 3/4 ful...

1) Egg Stamping : Draw a block letter E on a piece of paper. Have your child dip the top or bottom half of some plastic eggs in tempera paint and stamped it onto your letter E. 2) Oviparous Egg Hunt from Preschool Mom: Before reading "Chickens Aren't the Only Ones" from our Letter E Booklist ask your child if he/she knows any animals that lay eggs? Read the book and do the activity afterward. You'll need: Oviparous Animals Pictures 15 Plastic Easter Eggs A Large Egg (cut from construction paper) Glue Stick Place the animal cards inside the eggs (one per egg) and hide the eggs around the room. Have your child go on a hunt for the eggs. Once he/she finds an egg, open it up and glue the picture onto your large egg. Talk about the animal. Repeat until all the eggs are found. 3) Egg Wiggle Game from Preschool Alphabet: This is a spin on charades. You'll need: Oviparous Animals Pictures Eggs, cut from card stock (you could also use foam e...

My Inspiration :  I started doing a "Letter of the Week" with Easton when he turned 18 months old. I was looking for fun activities to do at home (especially in the long winter months ahead) when I came across the Measured Mom blog. Her blog inspired me to start a Letter of the Week with Easton. Each week, children learn a new letter through crafts, nursery rhymes, books, math connections (numbers and shapes), and sensory play. She shares a variety of free resources, and I chose which ones would be the best for Easton. I also found other ideas from various internet sites that I thought were relevant. At the end of each month, I would take some time to plan out what to buy and print for the following month. Eventually I will have a supplies list all ready for you, to save you the time. My purpose in blogging is to share ideas with other moms and to remember these ideas for my future children. Stay tuned as I update the remaining letters. I love these ideas on  how to start tea...