Groundhog Puppet

Happy Groundhog Day everyone!  Although we enjoy the Winter season and playing in the snow, we were very excited to hear that Punxsutawney Phil did NOT see his shadow today, which means Spring is on its way!  In honor of our little furry friend, we made a groundhog puppet today with some simple supplies.

First we glued some scrap felt to a large craft stick.

Next, we added some googly eyes, a pom pom nose and some ears.

 

Then, we glued some green scrap felt around a toilet paper tube.  Be sure your scrap is long enough to have it hang over on one end.

 

Using scissors, cut a fringe on the overhanging felt to look like grass.

We also added some foam flower stickers (to remind us of Spring).  Then our little groundhog came peeking out of his hole.  My 4 year old daughter did this craft completely on her own, but younger kids could have fun with this too, with a little help.

Recycled Valentine Crayons

I bought these silicone heart shaped trays from the Target dollar bins a few years ago.  I'm pretty sure I've seen them at our Dollar Store too.  These were perfect for making heart shaped recycled crayons for Valentine's Day.

The first thing you need to do is set your oven to preheat to 200 degrees.  While the oven is preheating, choose the colors you want to use for your crayons.  The better quality of the crayon, the better it will melt and hold together.  Peel the paper from your crayons and break them into small pieces.

Place the broken crayons, into the tray.  You can group like colors together or mix them.

Place the silicone trays onto a cookie sheet and bake for about 15-20 minutes, keeping a careful eye on the melting process.  When the crayons look fully melted, remove them from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, then pop them out of the mold.

I used glue dots to attach them to small cardstock cards as Valentine's for my daughter's preschool class.  We also put some in a goodie bag, tied off with ribbon, to give to the teacher for the class to use.

Cheer Sticks

We are cheering on our hometown team, the Ravens, in the playoffs.  To help the kids cheer them on, we made some cheer sticks using some empty paper towel tubes and leftover party streamers.

 

We cut some strips and stapled them inside the ends of each tube.

Next, we applied some Mod Podge along the outside of the tube and

wrapped the party streamer around the tube.

Fun and simple!  Now it's time to cheer on the team!