Activities Category
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!
Summer Tea Party for Kids
“Mom, I’m bored…” usually starts to sneak up around this point in summer, so we thought to share with you some fun ideas for a summer kid’s tea party Alice in Wonderland style!
Tea parties can be so fun for kids because it helps unlock imagination as they dress up, eat “petite” cakes and sandwiches, get to play games and just be with friends. Several of us at Kolcraft love Alive in Wonderland and have had Alice themed tea parties. Some activities and recipes our kids loved from our summer tea party:
Decorations & Activities:
- You can find cheap light up lanterns at the dollar store or party city. They add festivity to your backyard especially if you plan on having the party a little later and you can plug them in.
- Remember the daisies who sang to Alice? These fantastical felt flowers make great decorations or you can have them as a tea party activity.
- Who can resist the cute little card suitors? This craft is not only great for Valentine’s day, but also for your tea party decor!
Recipes:
- Tea can be bitter for children so select special children’s tea or use apple juice which looks like tea. These edible teacups are a big hit!
- Make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cut them out with cookie cutters into cute little shapes.
- Our absolute favorite are these Cheshire Cat cupcakes. Of course you can do any theme of cupcakes.
Have fun & don’t forget to dress up for the tea party!
Unlocking Your Child’s Imagination Through Fun Books
There are many benefits of reading to your children and teaching them to read – one of which is unlocking their imaginations. We love the book Press Here by Herve Tullet. This fun book starts with a yellow dot, but as your child follows the instructions (press the dot, rub the dot, clap) the dot begins to change colors, multiply, move around the page, etc. It’s a wonderful concept that blends a book and iPhone app games only more fun!
We give the book 5 stars! Check it out for yourself by watching the video and then order it on Amazon!
What is your child’s favorite book for unlocking his imagination?
4th of July Activities and Recipes for Kids of All Ages
Whether your child is a toddler or a tween, the 4th of July can be a time of family, fun and festivities. We rounded up some of our favorite picnic and party recipes, activities and crafts to make your 4th of July celebration fun for your whole family.
4th of July recipes:
- Pack a healthy, easy snack the kids will love at a picnic or BBQ. These Nut Butter-flys are sure to be a a crowd pleaser.
- Everyone will feel patriotic with this yummy fruit flag cake recipe!
- Veggies never tasted so good and healthy as they do with this grilled corn with Chilpotle-lime butter - mmmmm.
4th of July crafts & activities:
- Why wait for nightfall to see fireworks when you can make your own confetti launcher?
- Sometimes little ones can’t stay up to watch the fireworks, but you can have your own firework fun by having a picnic then going inside, closing the shades & giving the kids glow sticks to celebrate their own fireworks show.
- Patriotic Pinwheels can spruce up any 4th of July celebration!
What will you be doing to celebrate the 4th of July?
