Unwrap It

Toddler Activities from Familyeducation.com http://ift.tt/1qt4UVh Babies love to unwrap boxes. This activity will have your baby unwrapping boxes filled with surprises.

Who Knew an Egg would be SO much FUN!

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Have your kids joined *the craze* of Egg Unwrapping seriously, it’s crazy!  Kids are going bannanas for eggs!

The concept is really simple, give a gift – a tiny trinket, or even a coupon to a future event.  It’s the perfect gift for the kid who has everything, they will love unboxing their present!  Put your trinkets inside plastic eggs, and then wrap the egg up!

This is the perfect process gift!

So it’s easy.

Egg Unwrapping

You will need…

• Themed trinkets.  We are gifting the Lego Friends Set – lots of little pieces, and hours of creative fun!
• Play dough.  Multiple colors is fun for a mottled look.
• Plastic Wrap.
• Clean Egg Carton.

Put your trinkets inside the eggs, and then cover your eggs with playdough.  Wrap that with plastic wrap so the play dough does not spoil and set your gift eggs into an egg carton.

Egg UnBoxing

Trust us, your kids can’t wait to return the “gifting” and make a set of eggs for their friends!

The post Who Knew an Egg would be SO much FUN! appeared first on Kids Activities Blog.

10 Essential iPhone Photography Tips

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Do you love capturing your family’s memories on your phone?  Are you looking for iPhone photography tips? Having an iPhone in your purse or pocket makes capturing adorable pictures and videos of your kids so convenient.  My phone is constantly full of pictures and videos and I’m always looking for ways to up my iPhone photography game.  Here at Kids Activities Blog we’ve partnered with our sponsor SanDisk to bring you 10 essential photo tips that make capturing family memories on your iPhone even better.

10 Tips For Taking Awesome iPhone Photos and Video

1. Use a camera app.  Instead of the standard camera on your phone try taking photos with a camera app such as vsco cam or camera+.

2. Don’t get caught without memory.  The worst is to miss a special moment because you don’t have room on your phone.  SanDisk iXpand is the portable memory solution.  Pop this special little memory stick in your purse and never get caught without room to shoot again!  Be sure to use this awesome coupon when you get yours!

3. Get low.  Changing your angle is the easiest way to get a better picture.  Get down on your kid’s level and watch the magic happen.

4. Turn off the flash.  Pictures look best in natural light.  Try to avoid flash unless totally necessary.

5. Clean your lens.  Keep your phone’s camera lens clean for the best possible shots.

6. Get snap happy.  The more pictures you take the better chance you have of getting the perfect shot.  Don’t be afraid to take lots and lots of pictures.  And with the SanDisk iXpand you don’t have to worry about running out of memory.

7. Video the everyday moments.  One of the best things about having a video capable phone is that you can capture real life moments.  From swing at the park to singing in the car, this are moments and memories you will love having saved.

8. Get in the shot.  Don’t forget to get yourself in the picture as well.  Try using your phone’s timer or take a selfie with the kids.

9. Try an editing app.  Apps like Afterlight let you edit your photos after you’ve taken them, you can crop, adjust levels, and add filters to really make your pictures pop.

10. Get those pictures and videos off your phone.  Capturing special moments with your iPhone is great, but you need to get those memories off of your phone.  Use SanDisk iXpand to easily transfer those images and videos from your phone to your computer, iPad, or even take the flash drive directly to a photo printer.

SanDisk iXpand Makes iPhone Photography Extra Awesome

No more cords to fiddle with, no bothering with cloud storage; the SanDisk iXpand quickly, easily, and effectively backs up and stores your iPhone and iPad’s content.  You can even have your photos and videos automatically synch up when you plug in the device, and you can choose to automatically delete those images from your iPhone or iPad, freeing up tons of space.

Want to get your hands on a IXpand for yourself?!  Use this e-coupon for $50 off (over 45% off) your purchase!

*This is a limited offer

Not ready to purchase yet? Drop in your name here to get our latest offers.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of SanDisk. The opinions and text are all mine.

The post 10 Essential iPhone Photography Tips appeared first on Kids Activities Blog.

How to make Squishy Sensory Bags?

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Squishy bags are perfect for sensory play without the mess. They are cheap and easy to make and your child will enjoy manipulating and playing with them.

 

The squishy bag is perfect for practicing letters, numbers, name writing, drawing pictures, shapes and words. Your child can practice hand and finger movements for pre-writing development on the squishy bag.

 

There are so many different ways to make squishy bags, I have seen others use glue, paint, hair gel, baby oil and shaving cream. Today I am sharing with you how we made our Squishy Sensory Bags using flour, water and food colouring. 

 

What you will need?

For one sensory bag, you will need 1 cup of flour, 6 tablespoons of water and food colouring. You will also need zip-lock lunch bags (22cm x 22cm), sticky tape and a small mixing bowl. 

Adjust the flour and water amounts if you are using a smaller or larger zip-lock bag.

 

Step 1:

• Place flour into a small bowl.
• Add food colouring.

 

Step 2:

• Now add the water.

 

Step 3:

• Mix until all the ingredients are well blended.

 

Step 4:

• Scoop the flour mixture into the plastic zip-lock bag.

 

Step 5:

• Before fastening the end, place the squishy bag onto a flat surface.
• Gently push any excess air out to avoid air bubbles.

 

Step 6:

• Press the clips of the bag closed and ensure there are no holes.

 

Step 7:

• Place sticky tape along the opening to secure the opening. 

 

Play Ideas 

Some ideas:

• Place the squishy bag onto a light table/panel.
• Use your finger, soft paint brush or a cotton wool bud (Q-Tip) to write your name, letters, numbers and shapes.
• Explore the squishy bag for a sensory experience, watch what happens as you squeeze, squish, press, etc.  Cause and effect, one action creates a another reaction. 

 

Click here for more SENSORY activities & play ideas

 

Available in our online shop:

Please click on the product names to view product details.

Squash-EE Lower Case Letters Set of 26

Squash-EE Numbers Set of 10

 

 

The post How to make Squishy Sensory Bags? appeared first on Learning 4 Kids.

3 Sizzlin’ Beach Crafts for Kids to Make for Dinnerware

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I’ve got 3 sizzlin’ hot beach crafts for kids to make as their very own dinnerware set to share with you! These would be a perfect addition to our 30 classic (and easy) summer crafts for kids! Thanks to Amanda of Easy Crafts for Kids for creating and sharing these!

Summer is upon us and what better way to celebrate than getting together with family and friends. And nothing brings family and friends together like a BBQ!

Our Crafty Critters like to do things in style, but with a homemade touch, so we thought we would create some beach themed dinnerware to help decorate for your BBQ gathering.

Beach Crafts for Kids to Make

These plates, cups and napkin rings are a great way to bring the beach to the picnic table.

Let’s get the summertime crafting going!

Here’s what you will need to make these beach crafts with the kids:

• paper plate
• paper cup
• empty paper roll
• paint and paintbrush
• pencil
• pipe cleaner
• craft foam
• construction paper
• scissors
• glue

Beach Ball Paper Plates

Grab a pencil and do a quick outline of your beach ball onto your paper plate. This is simply a small circle in the center of your plate and lines diving the rest into 6 wedges. There is no exact, just have fun and make it look like a beach ball.

Grab your paints and paintbrush. Paint the center circle with a nice bright color (we chose red).

Now for the wedge areas, you will alternate between color and white. Paint in three wedges with fun beach ball colors – we chose blue, yellow and purple.

Now simply set your plate aside to dry.

You can repeat this process for however many plates you will need.

Sand Pail Cups

Pick the colors you would like for your pail. We chose to make a white, purple and yellow one. Paint a strip around the center of the cup with yellow paint.

Now, grab your second color, purple in our case, and paint the bottom section with purple paint.

As our third color is white we don’t need to paint the top – but if you chose a different color just paint the top area with that color. Now allow your cup to dry.

Pierce a hole on opposite sides of the brim of your cup – you can actually do this with the ends of the pipe cleaners as the metal center punches through.

Thread each end of a pipe cleaner through each hole you created. Twist the end back around the pipe cleaner on each side.

This will be the handle of your pail.

Make sure the bend the pipe cleaner to look like the handle.

Again, just repeat the process for however many you need.

Now we are done the cup and onto our last piece of dinnerware – the napkin rings.

Beach Themed Napkin Rings

Cut a one inch piece off your paper roll – cut as many as you will need.

Cut the same sized strip of construction paper. Make sure it is long enough to wrap around the paper roll. Glue this strip around each paper roll.

Grab your craft foam and its time to make your mini shovels. We are fairly adept at free cutting shapes, but feel free to trace a shovel shape onto the craft foam before cutting.

Decorate the shovel by adding a few details. Glue the mini shovel in the center of the paper roll.

Rinse and repeat again and you are all set for your BBQ! No one will have decorations like yours, it will surely be one of a kind!

If you enjoy these summer crafts for our Crafty Critters you will not be disappointed by the rest of our easy crafts for kids.

3 Sizzlin’ Beach Crafts for Kids to Make for Dinnerware on handsonaswegrow.com

3 Sizzlin’ Beach Crafts for Kids to Make for Dinnerware

hands on : as we grow http://ift.tt/1g5StvX

I’ve got 3 sizzlin’ hot beach crafts for kids to make as their very own dinnerware set to share with you! These would be a perfect addition to our 30 classic (and easy) summer crafts for kids! Thanks to Amanda of Easy Crafts for Kids for creating and sharing these!

Summer is upon us and what better way to celebrate than getting together with family and friends. And nothing brings family and friends together like a BBQ!

Our Crafty Critters like to do things in style, but with a homemade touch, so we thought we would create some beach themed dinnerware to help decorate for your BBQ gathering.

Beach Crafts for Kids to Make

These plates, cups and napkin rings are a great way to bring the beach to the picnic table.

Let’s get the summertime crafting going!

Here’s what you will need to make these beach crafts with the kids:

• paper plate
• paper cup
• empty paper roll
• paint and paintbrush
• pencil
• pipe cleaner
• craft foam
• construction paper
• scissors
• glue

Beach Ball Paper Plates

Grab a pencil and do a quick outline of your beach ball onto your paper plate. This is simply a small circle in the center of your plate and lines diving the rest into 6 wedges. There is no exact, just have fun and make it look like a beach ball.

Grab your paints and paintbrush. Paint the center circle with a nice bright color (we chose red).

Now for the wedge areas, you will alternate between color and white. Paint in three wedges with fun beach ball colors – we chose blue, yellow and purple.

Now simply set your plate aside to dry.

You can repeat this process for however many plates you will need.

Sand Pail Cups

Pick the colors you would like for your pail. We chose to make a white, purple and yellow one. Paint a strip around the center of the cup with yellow paint.

Now, grab your second color, purple in our case, and paint the bottom section with purple paint.

As our third color is white we don’t need to paint the top – but if you chose a different color just paint the top area with that color. Now allow your cup to dry.

Pierce a hole on opposite sides of the brim of your cup – you can actually do this with the ends of the pipe cleaners as the metal center punches through.

Thread each end of a pipe cleaner through each hole you created. Twist the end back around the pipe cleaner on each side.

This will be the handle of your pail.

Make sure the bend the pipe cleaner to look like the handle.

Again, just repeat the process for however many you need.

Now we are done the cup and onto our last piece of dinnerware – the napkin rings.

Beach Themed Napkin Rings

Cut a one inch piece off your paper roll – cut as many as you will need.

Cut the same sized strip of construction paper. Make sure it is long enough to wrap around the paper roll. Glue this strip around each paper roll.

Grab your craft foam and its time to make your mini shovels. We are fairly adept at free cutting shapes, but feel free to trace a shovel shape onto the craft foam before cutting.

Decorate the shovel by adding a few details. Glue the mini shovel in the center of the paper roll.

Rinse and repeat again and you are all set for your BBQ! No one will have decorations like yours, it will surely be one of a kind!

If you enjoy these summer crafts for our Crafty Critters you will not be disappointed by the rest of our easy crafts for kids.

3 Sizzlin’ Beach Crafts for Kids to Make for Dinnerware on handsonaswegrow.com