Like many people I know, I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest. I LOVE having a visual reference tool at my fingertips. I HATE when I follow the directions to a T and the project fails miserably! Remember this pin?
I tried this with my daughter last year. I’m a little embarrassed to share this, but here’s what happened:
On the bright side, my daughter didn’t know any better, so she still thought they were beautiful and amazing.
Getting Back on Track….
Since I’m home with my kids, I like to put a fresh spin on our daily routine now and then. When my baby naps, my 4-year-old and I have some quality time together. While some days are filled with dollhouses, dress-up, obstacle courses, and dance parties, other days I like to plan a special craft or baking activity. Pinterest has been a helpful resource when I’m in a creative rut. Here are some of the crafts we’ve been working on for spring (some of which could easily be taken back to the classroom):
Rainbows
Pinterest inspiration on the left side {source}
Tape Resist
Pinterest inspiration in upper left corner {source}:
I had a back-up plan. We just kept the paper as a rectangle, taped off, and used washable paints. My daughter thought it was magic when the tape was removed and white lines showed up. Oh, to be young again!
Easter Egg
Pinterest inspiration in upper left corner {source}
Pinterest inspiration in upper left corner {source}
Since we already had the washable paints out, this one was a no-brainer. I cut the egg template out freehand and drew four wavy lines on the egg where my daughter pointed. She used a variety of paintbrushes rather than poms & clothespins. This project was her favorite!
Cotton Ball Easter Bunny
Easter Chick Fork Painting
Pinterest inspiration in upper left corner {source}:
Before we started this project, I gave my daughter time to work with a fork as a paintbrush. She found she needed to raise the end of the fork up to get the lines to show in the paint. She had fun spreading the paint into a big yellow blob. Then she begged to do it again so there would be a mama chick AND a baby chick. When the paint dried, she got to add the googly eyes, beak, and legs (I cut out the beak and legs for her). The only thing my daughter didn’t like was that her paper wrinkled pretty badly when we tried to mount the artwork onto cardstock. The paper was not super thick to begin with and once we added paint and googly eyes, it was super flimsy. I think next time we’d start with much sturdier paper.
Cookies
OK, so this one was inspired by hunger, not Pinterest. Little ones (and grown-ups) love cookies. For the holidays, we’ve baked some sugar cookies and my daughter got to decorate them with frosting and sprinkles.
PS – The green for St. Patrick’s Day was not visually appealing, but the cookies were still delicious!
Happy Teaching!

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