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Poetry Reading and Craft Challenge for Kids: Week 4

Hello Friends!

Apologies for the late post, but I had a fun-filled weekend and didn’t manage to update the blog until now.

Hooray!  We made it to week #4 of our poetry reading and craft challenge!  For the last two weeks I decided to choose longer poems and projects geared towards older kids.  Of course I still expect you to read the poems to the smaller children and work on memorization 🙂

Below is the poem we’ll be working on memorizing this week.  In honor of Earth Day coming up on Wednesday I chose a poem about planting trees.  I hope it resonates with you and your little ones.

Click here for a larger version of the poem.

This week’s craft was so simple and fun to work on!  The kids assisted by handing me the scraps of the ribbon.  I did everything else.
It’s a “tree” made from a stick I found outside, scrap ribbon I had at home, and a piece of twine. Pinterest inspired, of course!

For this project you’ll need:

  • 1 stick
  • scrap ribbon (I used brown and green scraps)
  • twine
  • glue gun and glue sticks
  • scissors
  • lighter (to prevent the ends of the ribbon from fraying)
First, decide which ribbon you’re going to use and cut it if necessary.  (Note: in order to prevent the ends of the ribbon from fraying use a lighter to burn them.)  Next, start tying the ribbon onto the stick working from the bottom to the top.  Finally, attach a piece of twine to the top for hanging up your tree.  Easy peasy!  These trees would also be cute for Christmas tree ornaments!
~ Until next time!

 

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Poetry Reading and Craft Challenge for Kids: Week 2

Happy Easter!

This week we’ll be memorizing a poem about raindrops and flowers growing.  Please note the original author of the poem I selected is unknown in case you’re wondering.

Here is the poem:

 

You can either choose one of the two crafts we did or create your own.  The raindrops and umbrella craft should be pretty straightforward.  To do this you’ll need:

  • Cupcake liners (we used 2)
  • Scissors (or a sharp object to poke a hole through the top of the cupcake liner)
  • Pipecleaners (we used 1 and cut it in half)
  • Sharpie marker
  • 1 piece of construction paper (we used blue, but you could also use white or another color)
  • blue paint and paintbrushes (or a blue marker/crayon for the raindrops)
  • gluestick or glue gun
If you and your kids want to tackle the paper plate flower craft you’ll need:
  • 1 white paper plate
  • 1 piece of green construction paper (for the flower stem and leaves)
  • 1 piece of white paper (for the flower petals)
  • scissors
  • paint and paintbrushes (we used purple, pink and yellow)
  • glue gun
Here is a pictoral tutorial for both craft projects:
Again, I’m not going to include step-by-step written instructions as I think these should be easy to figure out on your own.  As always, please ask questions if you need to.  I’m willing to help!I hope you and your little ones enjoy this week’s poem and craft project(s)!

 

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Poetry Reading and Craft Challenge Week 1

Since Spring has finally sprung (well, sort of if you live in the Northeast like me) and Easter is right around the corner, I thought we’d kick off the first week of this challenge with an Easter themed poem and activity.

This poem — like all the ones I’ve chosen is short and should be pretty easy to memorize in one week.  The craft activity idea was inspired by my beloved Pinterest website.  I added my own personal touches just to spice it up a bit.

Remember, the goal of this challenge is two-fold: to memorize the poems with your kids and work on the craft activity together at some point during the week.  That’s it!  Also, you don’t have to be crafty to work on the projects.  The main thing is for you and the kids to have fun and to have the experience together.  We’re not going for perfection here.

Here is the first poem we’ll be memorizing:

 

Click here if you’d like to print this poem.
Here is the craft project: Peek-a-boo bunny!

Click here to open this tutorial in a separate window.

Craft Project Notes

For this project you’ll need:

  • 2 white paper plates
  • green felt or construction paper
  • pink felt or construction paper (optional – for the inside of the bunny ears and nose)
  • pink fabric (optional – for the inside of the bunny ears nose – this is what I used)
  • green ribbon (optional – if you want to add a bow)
  • 1 black Sharpie marker
  • glue
  • scissors
  • stapler
I think the pictoral tutorial is easy to follow so I won’t include step-by-step instructions.Don’t forget to recite the poem daily with your child(ren) and most importantly don’t forget to pull down the hands covering the bunny’s face when you say ‘peek-a-boo’ at the end of the poem.  So fun!

I’d love to see your bunny craft projects or hear from you.  Feel free to drop me a line at hereweeread {at} gmail {dot} com or leave a comment in the comments section below.

~Until next time!

hereweeread