Activities Category
Kid Friendly Picnic
Summer may be nearing its end, but there is still time to have a fun picnic with your kids! We have a few ideas for packing a family-friendly picnic that everyone can enjoy.
Picnic Tips and Ideas:
- Helping Hands – Have everyone in charge of at least one thing such as packing the blanket or napkins. This way even the smallest child can feel part of the picnic planing.
- Themes – Choose a theme such as a color, or shape, or animal. For example if you choose yellow as your theme, you can include foods that are yellow (lemonade, cheese and crackers, etc.), play games that include yellow toys (frisbees, a yellow ball, etc.), dress in yellow or have yellow plates & napkins, etc.
- Games - Pick games that everyone can play whether that be hide and seek, a scavenger hunt, catch, potato sack races or I’m going on a picnic ABC game. (First person says “I’m going on a picnic & I’m bringing _____ and they mention something starting with A. The next person says I’m going on a picnic & they have to repeat the A item that is being brought and add an item that starts with B. The next person has to Repeat the phrase with the A & B items & then add an item that begins with C. See how far you can get through the alphabet doing this.)
- Relax – Allow some time to just rest and talk or for your children to play on their own minus portable electronics. There are many health benefits to being outside unplugged.
Do you have any fun picnic ideas to share?
Melt Crayons to Teach Your Child Recycling
If you have a petite Picasso on your hands, you probably also have a plethora of broken crayons! Turn those scraps into a brand new, multi-colored crayon. Today’s craft will not only let your children’s imaginations soar, but it will also help teach them the importance of reusing and recycling. It is time to melt crayons!
What you will need:
How to make recycled crayons:
1. Let the kids peel the paper off of their broken crayons and break them into smaller pieces if needed.
2. Spray the muffin with vegetable oil.
3. Put the crayons in each cup of the muffin tin. The kids can help decide what fun colors they want to combine.
4. Have the adult place the muffin tin into a 275° oven for 7-8 minutes, or until the crayons are melted.
5. Once the crayons have cooled completely, pop them out of the muffin tin
The kids will love to color with their cool new recycled crayons! If you want to take recycling one step further, create a holder for their new crayons out of an old glass jar or metal can. Let the kids decorate their containers with scraps of fabric or old magazines.
What fun Going Green crafts do you do with your children? We’d love to hear about them!
Kid’s Easy To Make Bird Feeder
By now you know how much we support wildlife and how many benefits there are for children to be outdoors. We love this easy-to-do bird feeder that helps your kids be creative and gives them more opportunities to get close to nature.
What you need:
- Pine cones
- Peanut butter
- Spoon
- Newspaper
- Birdseed
- String
What to do:
- Put down newspaper so you don’t get your table all full of peanut butter.
- Tie a string on the top of the pine cone.
- Take a spoon and spread peanut butter on the pine cone. (You can also use a butter knife if your child is old enough)
- Roll pine cone in the birdseed.
- Hang up pine cones in trees or near windows.
Keep a little notebook by the window to use as bird log. Whenever someone sees a bird eating out of the “feeder” they can record it and share their sightings with the family.
Fun Peach Party for Children to Celebrate National Peach Month
August is National Peach Month and what better way to celebrate this yummy fruit than to have a fun-filled Peach Party with your kids. You can even invite over their friends for a real peachy event!
What you will need for the party:
- Peaches
- A copy of James and the Giant Peach
What you will need for the craft:
- Tissue paper in orange, yellow and pink
- Non-toxic glue
- Paper plate
- Scraps of brown and green paper
- Scissors (adult use only unless child is able to use safely)
What to do:
Set up an area outside if possible for your peach party. Have a big bowel of washed peaches in the middle of the area where you will hold the peach party. If you want to be really creative you can have several peach dishes for the kids to eat such as:
Read James and the Giant Peach while the children enjoy their peach snacks. Have everyone clean up from eating their juicy peaches and begin the peach craft.
- Tear or cut tissue paper into squares.
- Put glue on a portion of the plate (you don’t want to put it on the whole plate because it may dry by the time your child gets to decorating that side of the plate).
- Put the colored tissue all over the paper plate that has glue on it. Once finished, put more glue on plate & then put down more tissue paper.
- Cut out a small rectangle of brown paper for peach stem.
- Cut out leaves with the green paper.
- Attach stem and leaves to top of peach.
- Leave to dry.
- When the plate is dry trim any rough edges.
Fun Facts about peaches to share with kids:
- Peaches are a fruit that grow on trees.
- Georgia is known as the peach state.
- California, however, provides half the world’s supply of peaches.
- Peaches are believed to be native to China.
- Peaches are a good source of fiber and vitamin C.
Enjoy!
Spending the Night Under the Stars with Your Family
As the summer months are coming to a close, it’s not too late squeeze in one last staycation this weekend! Camping in the backyard is a fun way to explore the many wonders of outer space with the whole family. So pack up your sleeping bags, tents and flashlights and head out to the backyard with your future Galileo or mini Neil Armstrong for a fun-filled night of discovery! Here are a few ideas to make your backyard adventure a night to remember:
Happy camping!
Wonderbug Watermelon Craft for Kids
Today is National Watermelon Day and to celebrate this tasty treat, Wally Wonderbug has shared his easy-to-make watermelon craft for children.
What you will need:
- White, pink/red and green construction paper
- Scissors (adult use only unless child can safely use them)
- Non-toxic glue
- Non-toxic black marker
How to make watermelon craft:
- Cut the green construction paper into a half circle (we used a big bowl to help draw the lines before cutting).
- Cut pink or red construction paper into a smaller half circle (about 1/2 to 1 inch smaller in diameter).
- Glue the pink or red half circle on the green one to make the watermelon body.
- Cut two small circles out of white construction paper to make the eyes.
- Glue to top of watermelon.
- Draw in small black circles to complete the eyes.
- Using the green construction paper, cut a small half circle in a smile and place on the red/pink part of the watermelon under the eyes.
- Cut four 1 inch strips of green construction paper lengthwise.
- Fold stripes into an accordion by alternating folds back & forth. Once strip is completely folded, let it go & you will get the bouncy accordion effect for the arms & legs. Glue onto the back of the watermelon body.
- Draw in little circles on the pink/red part for the watermelon seeds.
After you are done making the craft, enjoy a slice of nutritious watermelon with your children!
Pirate Pool Party for Kids
Wally WonderBug is ready for a pirate pool party! ARGH
By now the dog days of summer may be trying your patience a little so we thought a fun water activity for your kids would help spice up your summer. This easy Pirate Pool Party (you can also do this at the beach or with a sprinkler) is sure to be a fun diversion for your children.
How to have a pirate party:
- Tell your children you are having a high seas adventure.
- Make pirate hats and then head out to the water.
- Play pirate games in the pool, at the beach or in the sprinkler.
- Go for a treasure hunt. You can make these pirate maps ahead of time & have little dollar store treasures planted around the pool, beach or yard.
- Eat pirate treats
Have fun with these easy activities, crafts and recipes for turning a regular day into a Pirate fun-filled day!
Free Activity for Kids To Beat the Heat
All across the country temperatures are soaring. It’s not the time to run around outside, but you can beat the heat without breaking your bank account! From now until Labor Day your kids can bowl free every day at over 850 bowling alleys nationwide (in Canada too!). It’s a perfect way to escape the heat!
Visit Kids Bowl Free for more information!
Win A Baby Activity Center During our Summer Bug Contest!
Toby Turtle – The WonderBugs' New Friend!
Many of you have met Wally WonderBug & have fallen in love with his little adventures with Wanda WonderBug & Wilbur WonderWorm. Well, they have a new friend to introduce to you – Toby Turtle! He is their newest friend and an activity center just like them! To celebrate the arrival of their new friend, the WonderBugs are throwing a Summer Bug Party complete with fun recipes and activities for you to do with your children! And what party is complete without presents? The WonderBugs are even giving away prizes during their Summer Bug Party. All the details are below!
Summer Bug Cupcakes
Summer Bug cupcakes made by our Kolcraft Kids
What you will need:
- Cupcakes
- Frosting
- Oreo cookies
- Twizzlers
- Butter knife to frost cupcakes (adult use only)
What to do:
- Bake cupcakes.
- Frost cupcakes in bug colors. Our Kolcraft Kids frosted them like the Wonderbugs, WonderWorm & Toby Turtle.
- Cut an Oreo cookie in half to use for the head.
- Frost over over cookie for the head.
- Make eyes out of frosting.
- Separate a Twizzler to make antenna and turtle’s “spots”.
- Crush the top of an Oreo cookie to fill in the spots on turtle’s shell
- Enjoy!
Summer Bug Activities
- If it’s too hot to be outside, we love these indoor crafts from DLTK
- Ranger Rick’s Geocaching is the ultimate adventure! See how many bugs you meet along the way!
- Bug nightlife – once it is dark outside, grab a white sheet & flashlight. Hang the sheet from a clothesline, fence, tree or some other tall object. Watch as bugs cover the sheet. How many different bugs can you and your kids identify?
Summer Bug Contest!
TurtleTot Activity Center
There is a lot of buzz over the WonderBug’s new friend, Toby Turtle. We know you will love him for your baby!
Some of our favorite features of the Toby TurtleTot Activity Center:
- WonderWorm sings, talks, and lights up to engage your baby
- 8 Colorful toys have different sizes, shapes, movements and sounds
- Toys have been tailored to help your babies development
- Seat spins 360 degrees for full access to all toys
- Height adjusts on seat to grow with your baby
- Easy-to-clean toy tray
- Machine-washable seat pad
The Toby TurtleTot is only available at Babies R Us, but you can win one during our Summer Bug Party! All you have to do is enter a photo of your child who is Cute As A Bug on Kolcraft’s Facebook page. For an extra entry check out the WonderBug website & include a comment along with your baby’s photo on Facebook of something you like about the WonderBugs. The baby with the most votes will win a choice of the Toby TurtleTot, Wally WonderBug or Wanda WonderBug baby Activity Center. Contest ends at midnight CST on July 25th. Voting ends at 10 am CST on July 29th.
The first 25 people to enter the Cute As A Bug Summer Bug Contest will receive a plush Wally WonderBug toy!
Wally WonderBug plush toy
Go on A Bird Picnic with Your Kids
We love that summer is the perfect time for picnics, skipping stones, going on hikes and so many other opportunities to connect with your children through nature. Even if you can’t get out to a national park, you can have nature fun in your own backyard with a Bird Picnic! It’s easy to do! Our friends at the National Wildlife Federation have put together all that you need for fun bird themed recipes and activities for your Bird Picnic.
Enjoy!
