Green Lantern Ring

So one of Declan's favorite superheroes from the Justice League is Green Lantern. He likes to go up to Dan and I and point to our rings and say we have "power rings".  Haha!

I kept trying to think of a way to make him a Green Lantern ring, but I was struggling. I didn't want it to be too girly so i couldn't use the Dollar Tree rings that I found. But then I got to thinking that simple is usually the best so I decided to make one with him out of two main materials: cardboard and a pipe cleaner. That's it. I decided my favorite materials to do most of my crafts are cardboard and contact paper - more on that later.

So with these materials I set about drawing a Green Lantern symbol on the back side of a piece of cardboard. I cut it out and had Declan paint it green. He LOVED making his own Green Lantern ring. He could hardly wait for it to dry!

After waiting about a half hour for the paint to dry, I lined it up with a pipe cleaner and stapled the two together. It was a pretty tight hold. I then wrapped it around Declan's finger and cut off the excess. I took it off and made sure the sharp edges were pounded down.

For the final step, I cut out a small white circle and had Declan glue it on the front of the ring. This served two purposes; to hide the staple and to add detail to the ring.

Ta-da!!! Green Lantern Power Ring!

Superhero Bowling

Going with our superhero theme that we are currently in, I decided to make a simple superhero bowling set for FREE!

The materials I used were: 6 toilet paper tubes, Elmer's glue, and superhero symbols that I printed out.

I cut the symbols out to match the size of the toilet paper tubes. Then I glued them on using liquid Elmer's glue. The benefit of this type of glue is that it will provide a strong hold. The negative, is that it might cause the colors on your superhero symbols to bleed a little bit.

After letting them dry for about an hour, it was time to start bowling! My toddler, Declan, has all different types of balls, so I figured we could make this game into a math and science activity. I gathered three balls that were all different sizes. Then I asked him to guess which ball would knock over the most bowling pins. We rolled each ball into the pins and counted how many pins each ball knocked over. We then reviewed which ball knocked over the most and if it was the one that we had chosen at the beginning.

This is just a simple game that you can make quickly for any child and can help them learn to make predictions (science) and count (math)! Have fun making this your own!

Superhero Cookies

I am not a cook! I usually hate it and try to find the simpliest recipes I can to try to get dinner done as soon as possible. But I do like to bake on occasion and challenge myself to be a little creative with my baking.

This week Dan's grandmother turns 80! We enjoy baking cookies and sending them out to her all the way in Wyoming along with some pictures of the kiddos. For this birthday batch of cookies, I decided to try to do something special and different. Declan is SO into his superheroes right now so I thought about maybe making some superhero sugar cookies, but I didn't have any superhero cookie cutters. I looked through my box of Wilton 100 piece cookie cutter set( I got it unopened at a yard sale for $3!!!!), but I didn't see anything I could really use. I looked on Amazon, but I didn't feel like spending $5 per cookie cutter on something I probably wasn't going to use that often - so I decided to be creative!

I cut out and wiped down four pieces of cardboard off of box we had. Next I drew the symbols of Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, and the Flash. I did this freehand because we have been doing a lot with superheroes lately and I could probably do it in my sleep, but you could also print them out and trace them on the cardboard.

I followed the sugar cookie recipe that I found here and rolled out the dough. Then I placed my cardboard tracers on top of the dough and used a paring knife to cut around the shapes. 

This whole process took me about 15 minutes from start to finish - so it was easily done during naptime. I did use the circle and "s" cookie cutters from my Wilton set to add to the Superman and Green Lantern cookies. Then I laid them out on the cookie sheet and cooked them for 6 minutes. I decided to cook them on the lower end of the recommended time because I didn't want the small points on the Flash and Batman cookies to get burned. 

They came out looking great and after they cooled, it was time to decorate!!! Once again, I am on a budget and didn't want to run out to get tons of expensive cake and cookie decorating tubes of icing so I worked with what I had. I had a can of generic vanilla cake frosting and some food coloring so I quickly separated the frosting into four bowls and made my blue, green, and yellow frosting. I also found a tube of black Wilton icing that I had forgotten that I had for the Batman cookies. I used this mostly as food coloring and mixed a little bit of it in with the vanilla frosting to make black. 

To keep everything from getting too messy I decided to use sprinkles instead of frosting for the details on the Green Lantern and Superman cookies. I used my circle and "s" cookie cutters for a place holder and used some white and red sprinkles I had from my Christmas sprinkle batch to add the details.

And Done! I am super happy with how they turned out and my toddler was thrilled (when he woke up from nap haha!) ! These were super easy and cheap to do. I can't wait to try out some more designs soon!

Superheroes

Songs

Flash
(Tune: Bingo)

There was a hero

Who ran really fast

And Flash was his name-o

F-L-A-S-H, F-L-A-S-H, F-L-A-S-H

And Flash was his name-o

I'm a Big Superhero

(Tune: I'm a Little Teapot)

I’m a big super hero

Strong and brave

Here is my mask

And here is my cape

When you are in trouble

Just say my name

And i will come to save the day

Batman's Here to Save the Day

(Tune: Mary Had a Little Lamb)

Batman wears a dark black suit,
dark black suit, dark black suit
Batman wears a dark black suit
with a black cape too

Batman drives the Batmobile,
Batmobile, Batmobile
Batman drives the Batmobile
Around the city streets

Batman's here to save the day, 

save the day, save the day

Batman's here to save the day 

to make sure Gotham's safe

Math

Batman Sizes

• Print out three sizes of the Batman symbol
• Provide the children with a blank piece of paper, glue and, the Batman symbols and encourage your child to arrange the symbols from smallest to largest

Superman Capes

• Cut red capes out of construction paper and number 1-10
• Print and cut out Superman symbols and encourage your child to match the correct number of Superman symbols to the numeral on the cape

Captain America Star

• Cut a star shape out of cardboard
• Review the shape with your child and be sure ot point out the five parts and five points on a star
• Encourage your child to trace the cardboard star on a piece of white paper to make Captain America's star

Art

Monster Art

• Let the children pick a paint a color to make their monster
• Encourage the children to use the paint to paint a monster on their paper for the superheroes to defeat
• When the children are done painting the monster, encourage the children to use googly eyes, pom-poms, and pipecleaners to add to their monsters

Superhero Wristbands

• Cut a toilet paper tube lengthwise so there is one cut going down the entire length of the tube
• Then cut the tube into 1 inch thick stripes to make a wristband that can easily be put on or taken off
• Encourage your child to decorate the wristband in the colors of their favorite superhero or creatively to make their own superhero wristband

Spiderman Webs

• Mix red or blue paint with water to thin the paint
• Then spoon a little bit of the water and paint mixture onto a piece of white paper
• Using a straw, encourage your child to blow the paint on the paper to make the paint move in different directions and create a web

Science

Superman Strength Test

• Gather as many types of balls as you have in your house and take them outside
• Encourage your child to try to predict which ball he thinks will go the farthest
• Then encourage your child to pretend to be Superman and throw the balls as far as he can
• After throwing the balls, check to see if your child's prediction was correct - discuss why or why not

Green Lantern Goo

• In a large bucket mix 1 cup of Borax, 1 cup of Elmer's glue, and 1 cup of water
• After mixing the ingredients together, mix a few drops of green food coloring to make Green Lantern Goo for your little one to explore!

Movement and Games

Superman Freeze

• Choose one child to be "Superman" during this game
• Play music for the children to dance to 
• When the child playing "Superman" yells out "freeze" the other children have to "freeze" in place
• Play so every child has the chance to be "Superman"

Just for Fun...

Superhero Cookies

Check out my post on these yummy cookies here!

A Little About Me...

I am a wife, mother of two, and a former preschool teacher. I love all things homemade and creative and even though I don't teach anymore, I can't seem to get the preschool bug out of me! Currently I am a stay-at-home mom and I started this blog to be a creative outlet for me and the ideas swirling around in my head. I love to come up with fun themes based on my son's interests at the time and really run with it.

My son Declan is a rambunctious toddler who is full of life! His current interest involve superheroes, Paw Patrol, and cars. He is smart as a whip and keeps me on my toes at all times! This little guy taught himself the alphabet (proud mommy moment)!

Little Miss Madeleine is all smiles most of the day! She is a fiesty redhead who holds her own with her brother. She is 9 months old and loves to play with any of her brother's toys - no baby toys for this one!

My purpose for this blog is help preschool teachers come up with ideas for their lesson plans, help mommies come up with fun ideas to do with their preschoolers, and to help me express myself creatively. I hope you enjoy what you find and thanks for stopping by!

Theresa