A Mom's Quest to Teach: August 2017

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Veggie Tales-Themed Birthday Party

This post contains affiliate links. For more information please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

Over the past year or so, our children have begun watching Veggie Tales. As the series has quickly become a favorite with our son, we celebrated his fourth birthday party with the Veggie Tales.

Food

Cheesy Chicken and Rice

I based my dish off of Mandy's Recipe Box's Slow Cooker Cheesy Rice and Chicken Casserole.

BBQ Ranch Drumsticks

I based my recipe off of The Frugal Girls' Crockpot BBQ Ranch Drumsticks Recipe.

Burgers and Hot dogs

We had to have Mr. Lunt's Cheeseburger at the party for guests.

Crackers and Cheese

My 4 year son and 2 year old daughter enjoyed the tray so much at her party in April, they requested it at my son's party.

Veggie Tray

Mr. Twisty's Twisted Cheese Curls

Goliath's Pickled Potato Salad

I usually like making potato salad for our family parties. This was a perfect chance to make a different version.

Bob the Tomato Cake

Games and Crafts

"Where is my hairbrush?"

The fantastic thing about this version of 'pin the tail' is that there really is no wrong place for the children to pin the hairbrush. (Especially since Larry doesn't have any hair.)

Pin the hairbrush on Larry

Decorations

In the past years our children have helped prepare the house for their parties and this year was no exception! They helped make decorations for the party.

Moe and the Big Exit Coloring Page

Various Coloring Pages

Coloring Pages of Junior, Larry, and King George and his Ducky

I decorated balloons as characters from the show to decorate both inside and outside the house.

Balloons

I painted paper towel and toilet paper rolls to create characters from the show to decorate the kitchen.

Veggie Tales Toilet Paper Rolls

I prepared materials for the guests to make their own Veggie Tales Stained Glass pictures to take home. Unfortunately, we did not have time to make the craft.

Veggie Tales Stained 'Glass' craft

Veggie Toss

I recycled the box I painted for my daughter's party as a hay bale and turned it into a basket. We purchased some cheap, plastic fruits and veggies for the children to toss into the basket.

I used my teen's Veggie Tales toys to decorate the dining room table and the living room. (My littles love being able to play with these figures.)

Resources

Veggie Toss Idea
Twintough's Instagram Photo of Larry, Bob, and Peas Desert
My Dirty Apron's Veggie Tales Party
Mom's Quest to Teach Veggie Tales Balloons
Mom's Quest to Teach Veggie Tales Toilet Paper Rolls
Mom's Quest to Teach Veggie Tales Stained Glass Craft

Our son received a Larry plush for his birthday. My daughter promptly decided she wanted it and my 4 year old son gave it to her. So sweet.

I linked up with the following blog(s):

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Crafts: Farm Animal Bottle Bowling

This post contains affiliate links. For more information please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

For my daughter's Farm Themed Birthday party, I created a set of Farm Animal Bottle Pins for bowling. They also worked great as decorations that the kids could play with during the party.

Materials

clean plastic bottles of various shapes and sizes (we used milk, vegetable juice, and soda bottles)
paint (that is appropriate for plastic)
markers
drop cloth
paint brushes

Steps

1. Gather all materials. (Before you start your project, clean the bottles to remove any liquids, tape, or glue.)

2. Paint your bottles the appropriate colors. I choose to make three cows (white), two pigs (pink), and one chicken (yellow).

3. After the bottles are dry, draw on the faces and other details.

For your chicken you will need to draw on eyes, beak, and feathers. For the cow, you will need o draw on eyes, a mouth, nose, ears, and spots (if you choose to make a Holstein). For your pig, you will need to draw on eyes, a mouth, nose, and tail on the back.

4. Complete the animals by painting (or using markers) to finish the details. I used a combination of painting the details and drawing them on with Sharpie markers. The markers had a tendency to pull the paint off the bottles.

Resources

Crafting by Holiday's Five Perfect Little Piggies makes for a different style of a Pig
Knock the Animals Down
My Pinterest Page for Farm Ideas

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Crafts: Father's Day Painting: Creating a Painting for Dad

This post contains affiliate links. For more information please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

For Father's Day this year, my children painted a picture for my husband. I had seen various versions of this on the Internet and Pinterest.

Materials

Steps

1. Gather all your materials.
2. Using the painter's tape, mark off on the paper a word or image you wish to remain white after the tape is removed.

Marking off the image.

3. After the tape is applied, paint the paper. Be sure to cover the entire paper so their is no visible white spot left.

My son painting very carefully.

4. After it is dry, remove the painter's tape to reveal your word or image.

Waiting for the painting to dry.

5. Display your child's art work.

My son's is on the top and my daughter's is on the bottom.

Resources

Life as Mama 8 Basic Art Projects Your Toddler Will Love
Adventures in Pinteresting Creative Easy Kids Painting
A Mom's Quest to Teach's Crafts for Father's Day Pinterest Board

Monday, August 7, 2017

Preschool: Fine Motor Skills

This post contains affiliate links. For more information please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

There are many ways to help young children develop fine motor skills. Some of the best ways are for them to practice moving objects of various sizes from one container to another. Here are a few activities we have done together.

Beans

We have a variety of different sized dry beans for the kids to use for crafts and activities. One day I took a couple of trays outside, some different size containers, and the beans for the kids to explore. They spent the majority of the time moving them from one place to the next.

Materials

dried beans
trays
funnel
containers
broom

Seasons Bottles

I had my toddlers help create our Seasons Bottles by putting appropriate items into each of the four bottles. My daughter really loved putting the items in the bottles but she couldn't figure out why she was unable to get them back out.