Category: 3 years

Flower crafts

Published on by nonnativemommyLeave a comment

This post should have appeared in May the latest when we finished our flower projects. Well, there are tons of flowers around us during the summer time so it’s never too late to have a closer look at them.

Now I’d like to share  2 of our flower activities with you (later, in another post I’ll write about some science experiment involving flowers)

1. Bottle cap flowers 

I’ve been collecting bottle tops for a long time and I’ve only had one or two good ways to use them, like the bottle cap calculator or the colour matching and size sorting activities. (I know, I know there are a number of great ideas out there how to use bottle tops creatively)

What you need:

  • bottle caps of different colours
  • green straws
  • glue
  • cardboard
  • scissors (optional – not in the picture)

How to make it:

Show and explain your child the different (basic) parts of a flower. E. had already known these parts so she named them as I put together a flower.

we didn’t go under the ground so no roots

Then we both started to work on our flowers. We were talking about what colour petals we chose or if our stem was long or short, if the flower had leaves or not.

E. used the scissors herself to cut the stems.

E.’s pic

Although not in our pictures, we also mentioned that a seed (Can you see in E.’ picture the tiny seed on the ground on the left side? It was totally her idea) should go to the ground and with the help of water and sunshine it grows into a flower (hence the watering can on E.’s picture and the sun in mine)

Mommy’s pic

This is just the first step on parts of a flower. We’ll expand the topic later on. I’m planning to prepare some flashcards and worksheets on more detailed explanation on flower parts.

2. Paper plate flower – a goodbye present

E. has said goodbye to her crèche teachers and started kindergarten in July. We prepared these paper plate flowers as part of her goodbye presents. (You can find the original idea through the link)

What you need:

  • paper plates (we used 3 for 3 flowers)
  • crepe paper of different colours
  • Popsicle sticks
  • green paint
  • glue
  • cello-tape (optional)
  • markers
How to make it:
Cut out flower petal shapes of the plates. First, I drew the lines on the paper plate then I started cutting.
As I know E. has no patience to do long tasks I decided to direct her attention on coloured letters written on the paper plate. The letters showed her where to stick which colour. Her focus was much better in this way.
I also wrote Thank you! in the middle and letters of her name she could trace.
I cut up the colourful crepe paper into small pieces beforehand. We ran out of them on the way so she wanted to cut more crepe paper herself.
Cutting practice
This was a great way to relax a little bit as there’s lengthy gluing involved.
Pinching the crepe pieces
just a dab of glue
A goodbye flower for Ms B.

Finally, we painted the popsicle sticks and glued them on the back of the flowers. (I fixed them with cello-tape just to be on the safe side.)

We did this projects in two goes as it was tiring and long-winding.
E. was still enthusiastic, even at the second round.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of all the three flowers so here is what we made for Ms K.
Needless to say, they were all over the moon when they received their presents.
Have you done some flower crafts or projects lately? Do not hesitate to share it in the comments below.

To be continued…. with a flower science experiment. Stay tuned!

Journal for 3-year olds

Published on by nonnativemommyLeave a comment

E. got a journal for her name day in July. At first, she wasn’t very interested, but now she is getting the hang of it. I presented her with a journal because I want her to draw more, which she doesn’t like much. Secondly, we are a journal writing family, and I only hope she’ll join the club.

I got some journal ideas on pinterest, some of which I’ve collected in a new board.

So here it is what E.’s first journal look like:

the cover

I simply bought a cheap notepad with thicker sheets in it as I don’t want markers to leave a stain on several pages. I covered the top with blue cardboard and stuck felt letters on it. (Actually, her first task was to stick letter E in the front. As you see it’s a little crooked 🙂  )

Some ideas are taken from Teaching 2 & 3 year olds
There are some drawing, sticking and tracing pages.

I also added pages like “Draw your Mommy” or ” Draw a picture of you”. But she hasn’t had any intention to look at those pages.

She was much more interested in the numbers and letters.

I was also influenced by Mama.Papa.Bubba blog journaling idea.

Aaaand (beat of a drum) her first drawing of a lovely weekend memory:

I wrote next to the drawing what she said was memorable for her. (Mommy and Daddy were made by me). I would have been so happy if she’d drawn  a picture of her name day party, but she refused. (although it was a wonderful party with 2 of her friends from the nursery, anyway…)

I really hope this will be a successful project in the long run and she’ll embrace this sort of memory collection. Fingers crossed. I’ll come back with some more feedback on journal writing.

Blood sensory bin

Published on by nonnativemommyLeave a comment

E.’s new focus is on the human body, more precisely on BLOOD. She loves talking about it, seeing it, reading about it and experiencing it. That’s why the sensory bin idea has come up.

She started to be interested in blood when she first saw some blood vessels in the Usborne book titled: What makes you ill?

This book is about a lot of other things and not only blood: symptoms, germ types, allergies, cuts, lumps and bruises as well as a healthy lifestyle.

She’s been asking so many questions about our blood: Why is blood red? When does it come out of our body? What do white blood cells do? What are germs?

I remembered seeing a great activity on blood and after having searched for it for days I didn’t manage to find so I had to do with what I remembered.

What you need:

  1.  a big bin (IKEA)
  2. water (about 1 litre)
  3. water beads (red and white – you can buy them at the florist’s or order them online)
  4. plastic straws (of 3 different colours. I used purple, black and yellow)
  5. red foam sheet
What to do:

  1. Put the red and white water beads in two bowls and add half a litre of water each. Let them soak for 5-6 hours or overnight

  2. Cut up the straws into different shapes

    Antibodies (yellow straw pieces) help to kill germs (viruses and bacteria). They are the memory of the immune system.

    Viruses and bacteria (purple and black straw pieces) are tiny germs attacking your body and making you ill.

  3. Cut out rectangle shaped platelets (at first I forgot to make these, nevertheless, E. has been playing with this sensory bin for more than a week now so I had time to add them)

  4. Prepare the beads, the straws and foam rectangles, some measuring spoons or ladles, a let your child explore it.
    spooning the red blood cells

    Red blood cells (red water beads) carry food and oxygen to the cells in our body.

    Adding the antibodies
    Spooning the white ones

    White blood cells (white water beads) fight off germs (viruses, bacteria).

    Plasma (water) makes it possible for the blood to move around our body.

    Of course, before she started I explained what is what. While she was pouring in the “ingredients” I was commenting what she was adding what their functions are in the blood.

  5. Optional: Add some more bowls for more spooning

It was never ending fun and still is. The beads lasts for weeks if you don’t forget to add some more water every now and them.

Few days ago I found the site where I first saw this idea:  I can teach my child – What is blood made of? They use ping-pong balls for white blood cells… What a great idea!

Sooooo nice to touch the beads

Look, Mommy! A virus!

Antibodies are stuck on the bacteria and burst them

Throughout the week I added some other tools to fish out the germs: tongs and tweezers:

Platelets (red foam rectangles) help to block a hole in your blood vessels when you have a cut. They do not let your blood out of your body.

E. has been playing so much with the blood sensory bin that we’ve had enough time to cover the blood-related vocabulary both in English and Hungarian. So here is a word list to help you if you decide to prepare this fun activity for your kid. If I’m in a good mood, I might make some flashcards in this field.

A weak 4th July

Published on by nonnativemommyLeave a comment

On the 4th July (Saturday) we couldn’t really celebrate. There were several reasons for it, but in short: we had been ill. The week before E.’d had some stomach bug which I seemed to catch as well. I had no time to prepare anything for the US celebration whatsoever. Not to mention the busy Saturday we had at a friend’s place (luckily we both got better by Saturday).

So my plan was to do at least ONE 4th July related activity out of the tons of great crafts and fun ideas I’ve collected on my pinterest board.

On Sunday morning (5th July) E. woke up with a sore throat. She felt all right in the morning so I thought the afternoon would be dedicated to a US flag craft out of popsicle sticks. After her  nap time she was weak. I asked her if she felt like doing some crafts and she got excited.

the beginning

We did try it, however, E.’s temperature was quickly climbing high and she kept saying: – Mommy, you do it. during the activity… Poor thing 😦 (Every 15 minutes she got Schüssler salt tablets and her immune system reacted very quickly.)

Finally we (I) managed to finish the flag, but it wasn’t much fun.
Afterwards, I put her to bed, gave her tea and read her some stories. She felt very poorly with high temperature by the end of the day.

Maybe next year we’ll be luckier and do some more 4th July related activities.

the final result

Just for your information:

– What you need for the  popsicle stick US flag:

  • 6-8 popsicle sticks (we have wide ones so we used 6)
  • red and white paint + paint brush + a little water
  • a small piece of blue foam sheet (I used leftover foam)
  • 10 white beads (each represents 10 states)
  • glue
  • cellotape
– How to make it:
E. wanted some glitter glue on the red ones
  1. paint 5 of the 6 popsicle sticks (3 red, 2 white) and let them dry
  2. cut our a rectangle shaped blue foam and stick the beads on
  3. when the coloured popsicle sticks have dried, turn them upside down in the right order (red, white, red, white, red) then put little glue on the edges and stick them together. I added some cello-tape on the back to make sure they’ll stay together.
  4. After a few minutes turn them back and stick on the pole and the blue foam with the beads.
  5. Let it dry – FINISHED

If you have a younger child (around 2), you should do the cutting and the sticking while your child is painting, but if your child is older you can also give him or her more responsibility, like cutting out the blue foam, pushing glue dabs on it and adding the beads. Still, you’ll need to do the final touch, the assembling.

Colour changing flower experiment

Published on by nonnativemommyLeave a comment

As a part of our flower project in spring we also dealt with a little science. More precisely, how flowers absorb water through their stems reaching the petals. This colour changing carnation experiment gave me the idea, but there were some glitch in the matrix and we needed to do it twice. Let’s see how.

The flower experiment idea is great, however, we did something wrong or were just unlucky this time.

First of all, what you need to the project:

  • 4-5 white flowers of any kind (chrysanthemum didn’t work very well, carnations were better)
  • food colouring (4-5 colours, or you can mix them)
  • transparent glasses or viols
  • water
  • measuring cup
  • spoon
  • towel for spills
  • scissors
How to do it:
  • prepare everything on a tray for you child and she/he can do all the activities
  • add water to the glasses/viols
  • add the food colouring and mix them with a spoon
  • cut the stem of the flowers (10-15 cms long)
  • make the flowers stand in the glasses/vases

  • wait… minimum 1 or 2 days
In case of the carnations the colouring of the petals could have be seen the next day,
but in the first trial the chrysanthemum took 3 and a half days to show any signs of pigmentation.

While E was preparing (pouring water, cutting stems, mixing colours) the experiment I asked her what she thinks will happen. She didn’t have a clue.

– I don’t know Mommy, You say.

Then I explained what the coloured water will do:
– The stem will suck up the water, like you suck it up through a straw. (Then she imitated sucking 🙂 )
– The coloured water will be absorbed. (she was digesting the new word)
– The water will reach the petals and they will turn red (I pointed at the flower standing in red water), green (I pointed at the flower standing in green water), blue (I pointed at the flower standing in blue water) and yellow (I pointed at the flower standing in yellow water).

In the first round after a week the chrysanthemums started to wilt so we could not observe any more colours on the petals.

In the second round of the experiment, while I was cleaning, I put the carnations on the floor light-mindedly. Then E. accidentally kicked them over. So after 5 days our second flower experiment was over.  Anyways, we could see the pigmentation of the petals somehow.

She enjoyed preparing the experiment more than the result. Who could blame her after all…?

Let me know if you try this experiment and have better results, let’s say, after 10-12 days.