Beaded Spiders

This is a great fine motor activity for Halloween with plenty of room for creative input from your children.

You will need:

pipe cleaners 

large and small beads

scissors

puffy fabric paint- optional

For each spider you will need 3 pipe cleaners, 2 large beads and a variety of small beads .

Cut two of the three pipe cleaners in half. You will only need 3 of the 4 halves. 

Thread the long pipe cleaner through both beads and wrap downward and twist into place. 

Thread each of the three halves through the loop between the large bead and the pipe cleaner loop. 

Be sure to place the short pipe cleaner evenly on either side of the loop. 

Twist each half into place after each one is threaded. 

Spread the legs out with 4 on each side. 

Bead each leg leaving space near the end to bend the pipe cleaner up to keep the beads in place. 

Squeeze 8 dots for eyes on one of the large beads for eyes.

You can also use the looped area where you threaded the legs to loop a long clear string and hang your spiders in a doorway or window for Halloween. 

You will find this activity has a place year round by pairing this activity with the nursery rhyme "Little Miss Muffet" or the books "The Very Busy Spider", "Anansi the Spider" or "Charlotte's Web". 

Down on the Farm Crafts

During the month of July, Amy with the Alpine County Wellness Center, hosted a Summer Reading Program session themed "Down on the Farm"
She read a brief history on how humans changed from nomads to farmers. Books selected were "Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type" by Doreen Cronin, "Bob" by Tracey Campbell Pearson and "The Cow Who Wouldn't Come Down" by Paul Brett Johnson.

Most children started with the pig painting.
Pigs don't have sweat glands and roll in the mud to cool off.

You will need:
Pink card stock OR pink paper taped to cardboard or paperboard
A printer to copy the pig image onto the paper OR draw your own pig :)
Shaving cream
School glue
Brown Paint
Paint brushes (optional)

We printed a pig from clip art we found on the web onto various colors of pink card stock. The paint medium works best on a stiff surface so if you don't have card stock just tape your paper onto a stiff piece of paperboard or cardboard. You could also have kids draw their own pig.

Mix equal parts of shaving cream and glue in a bowl. Actually "fold" the two ingredients together. Mixing too much releases the air in the shaving cream and will leave the mix flat. Add brown paint until you get a mud worthy hue.

Kids can use paint brushes, spoons, their fingers, etc. to spread the mud on their pig. We had some pink pipe cleaners on hand and the kids added curly tails by piercing the tails through the paper and bending on the other side to hook it on. One child even tied a bell on her pig.
Mixed properly, the paint mix dries like puffy paint with a 3-D effect.

Then the children moved on to "Cow Bells". Never fear! They aren't really cow bells so the sound is much more appealing and won't leave you rattled after 5 minutes.

You will need:
3 ounce plastic cups or empty yogurt containers or other similar type of cup
awl
pipe cleaners
bells
liquid starch
paint brushes
tissue paper pieces, magazine clipping, fabric scraps or permanent markers

For this project we worked a hole in the bottom of the cup with an awl.

The children then threaded the bell on their pipe cleaner. We tied a knot a inch or so above the bell. However, it might be easier to take a small segment of pipe cleaner (1") and wrap a "knot" in the same location. This keeps the bell from moving to the top of the cup when you hold it from the other side.

Next, poke the ends of your pipe cleaner from the inside of the cup through the hole and form a handle with the pipe cleaner sticking through the top of the overturned cup.

The last part is to decorate the cow bell. We used tissue paper and liquid starch but thought magazine clippings or fabric scraps with liquid starch would look great too. Permanent markers would also be a good option- with a bit more supervision.

Why do cows need bells?
Because their horns don't work!