Toddler Sewing Kit

Something Ive been thinking about creating is a

Toddler/Preschooler Sewing Kit.

Sometimes I have sewing projects and my daughter wants to help so badly. Since there is no way I can trust her with a needle (even a totally blunt one), Ive been thinking of some alternatives.

This is what I plan to make a kit up of once I round up the supplies:

- Shoelaces (the ends work great for threading)
- Pipecleaners
- Strawberry Basket
- Postcards (that Ive put a line of holes in with my hole punch)
- Large Beads

Valentine's Day Activities for a Toddler

At a loss of ideas of what we could do today, I went in search of some fun activites to make the day seem special and keep our toddler occupied.

Of course, everything must be red, pink, or heart themed today!!!

Crafts:
We love crafts! Using the post below on Collages, we will do a few varieties today as well as any of the crafts we had mentioned previously but hadn't yet done. Even if it's just using red, pink, and white paints, crayons, markers, etc.

Great Printables at: http://www.dltk-holidays.com/valentines/index.htm


Balloon Fun:
Blow up some red and pink balloons. Perhaps give to the kids in a big gift bag and let them discover the contents. They'll have fun tossing and kicking around.

Snacks:
What can we do for our themed day?
* Sandwiches or Toast cut with heart cookie cutters
* Strawberries
* Apple Slices
* Raspberry Cheesecake stuffed French Toast (So Yummy! Mix some jam with cream cheese. Cut your bread slices in half and spread with cream cheese mixture. Dip in your French Toast egg mixture and cook as normal. Did I say how yummy it is??)
* Veggies & Dip (Mix a few drops of red food colouring into your ranch dip or homemade sour cream dip)
* Strawberry Milk
* Fruit Juice that's red
* Strawberry Cream Cheese on toast or bagels
* Tomato Soup
* Pasta with Marinara Sauce

* Smoothies

* Red Jello (could be made into jigglers, parfaits, etc)

Stained Glass Hearts - for cards or mobiles

Songs:

Skinamarinky

Skinna-marinky dinky dink, skinnamarinky doo, I love you (repeat three lines)
I love you in the morning and in the afternoon,
I love you in the evening,
and underneath the moon
Skinnamarinky, dinky dink skinnamarinky doo I love you!

10 Little Valentines (Tune: Ten Little Indians)

One little, two little, three little valentines.
Four little, five little, six little valentines.
Seven little, eight little, nine little valentines.
Ten litle valentines in a row!

(those bring back memories!!)

Valentine Craft: Collages

Collages are a great craft for toddlers as they don't need help and can glue/colour to their little hearts content.

For Valentine's Day, any craft items in red or pink will be perfect!

Items such as:
buttons, pom poms, stickers, ribbons, hearts cut from artwork or flyers, confetti, and then of course crayons, markers, paints, stamps, glitter glue, etc. are all a necessity!



The collages make great Valentine gifts for family members too!

*I cut out pictures from greeting cards after they've been kept for a few days and they can be used for future collages. For example, I will cut out some pictures from some of the cute Valentine's Cards she received and we'll use them!

Valentine's Day Holders - some from Recycled Items!

Decorated Enveolope:
Last year, my daughter was at her sitter's for Valentine's Day. She gave the kids each a red or pink envelope and the kids decorated with various stickers. Then the kids gave out their Valentine's and stuck in their envelopes. Great for a small group or those too young for any intense crafting! (I save envelopes that we receive cards in if they are not sealed shut - even if there is a name on the card it can easily be covered with a sticker! Great way to reuse)

Cereal Box Card or Treat Holder:
Cut a cereal box in half. Cut the front half a bit lower than the back so that the contents are partially shown. Cover in paper or paint. Decorate with anything! (glitter, ribbons, stickers) This holder would be one that stays home for the kids to store and look through their valentine's afterwards. (Other boxes that would work well would be from Instant Oatmeal, Bisquick, Crackers, etc - check out your pantry!)

(some blogs will show you the perfect finished craft -obviously done by Mom- I prefer to show my daughter's perfect work of art :-)

this one made from a crystal light box covered in paper with pipecleaner handle and decorated with stickers. It was a craft for our Valentine's lunch at a restaurant so it needed to be a clean craft with no glue, markers, etc. The stickers kept her and the other kids busy for a little while - they all loved it!

Felt Bag Necklace/Purse:
Create a felt bag that can hang around your childs neck or use as a purse. Cut out two rectangles of red or pink felt. Glue or Sew three edges - leaving top end open for the cards to go in. Cut out other heart shapes and let child glue onto bag. Could also be decorated with puff paint or glitter glue. Attach long piece of ribbon or yarn for the handle.

Heart Jar for Candies or Candles:
Cut out one or various sized hearts from contact paper. Stick to a clean jar, vase, or candle holder. Let child paint the jar in various shades of red or pink or white (use paints made for glass). Once dry, remove the contact paper! (could be done with a clean spaghetti, salsa or pickle jar! cover the lid in fabric to hide what it had previously been used for)

Paper Plate Card Holder:
Cut one paper plate in half. Glue or staple it facing to the bottom of another paper plate. Decorate with stickers, paints, markers, etc. An older child could lace the two plates together. With plates facing each other, punch holes with hole punch an inch apart along the plates. Use thick red or pink yarn (with end wrapped in masking tape) to lace together.

Recycled Candy or Card Holders:
Decorate any type of container to store the treats or cards. Items such as tall potato chip cans, hot chocolate containers, boxes from pastas/cereals/crackers etc., margarine tubs, cappucino tins, baby formula cans, etc! Earth friendly and crafty!

Toddler Valentine's Day Crafts

This Love Bug was made by my daughter at our local Toy Library - a very quick and easy craft for her. Have child colour a toilet paper tube red. Glue on two red hearts at back. Create a face. In this case they had one cut out for her to glue on but googly eyes and a pom pom would be cute too.

I drew up some quick and inexpensive Colouring Pages for my daughter to colour and provided her with some red, pink, and purple crayons. These sheets will hang on our art clothesline for a few days and then get mailed to some special relatives. (don't feel you aren't talented enough, a page with a few hearts and some phrases to colour are all that is required)

Heart Collage - Using flyers, magazines, scraps of my scrapbooking papers, and construction paper, I will cut various sized hearts and let her glue onto a large piece of paper.

I will cut out four large hearts and two small hearts for her to make a Heart Flower Picture. The four large will make the flower petals when glued with the points together. The two small will be leaves for the flower. A pipe cleaner, green construction paper strip, or ribbon will make the flower stem. The child can either colour the petals and leaves or use coloured paper. Glitter could also be added after its all glued down. (I wouldn't count on this one looking like a perfect flower but that's how everyone will know that she created it!)

Last year we made some cute Salt Dough Heart Ornaments. There were various sizes and became necklaces, key chains, and desk ornaments for friends and family.

Valentine's Day Cards will be made with folded construction paper (one sheet will make two or four cards) and then decorated with heart stickers and either markers or paint. Could also glue on hearts cut from felt or fabric or scrapbook paper scraps. You could also cut out hearts from the construction paper, decorate them, and give those out for the child's friends.

**Craft Decoration Idea:
Using one of your child's many works of art, draw hearts of different sizes on the back. Cut out the hearts and your child can now glue them onto whatever Valentine's craft they are creating!

(Great way to recycle some of the artwork that is piling up!)