Silly Bird Puppets

Bird Crafts for Preschoolers

Are you looking for a mess free, quick and easy craft for preschoolers? Then you will love these simple Popsicle stick puppets. I am in love with their quirky colorful hair. These silly bird puppets totally brightened my day and the kiddos had a blast making them. We have made a number of different bird crafts for preschoolers. However, I think these are the cutest!

We love using tape in place of paint. It is quick, mess free and a fun way to work on fine motor skills. A few of our favorite tape projects include our little tape chicks and adorable Duct tape hobby horse. Love!

How to make your own Bird Puppet:

Cardboard circle
Colored tape ~ we used masking bright colored masking tape
Popsicle stick
Colored paper strips
Goggly eyes

I helped the younger kiddos by precutting strips of tape. However the older preschoolers loved the challenge of cutting the sticky tape on their own.

The kids used the tape strips to cover their cardboard circles. They then taped on the popsicle stick and crazy paper strip feathers.

Goggly eyes and a quirky paper beak are the finishing touches.

I showed the kids how to gently curl the ends of the paper. How cute!

Peek-a-boo!

Are you ready for a puppet show?

For more simple kids crafts, check out our:

Yarn Wrapped Bee Puppet

Simple Spring Chicks

Helicopter Seed Dragonfly

Paper Plate Lady Bug

Paper Plate Cow

Simple Animal Crafts for Preschoolers

We love transforming ordinary Paper Plates. I am always amazed by how adorable kids can make a humble paper plate. We have creating everything from ladybugs to hedgehogs. Today we are heading to the farm and creating a fun paper plate cow. This might be the easiest paper plate animal we have made so far. Simple farm animal crafts for preschoolers

The kids recently were able to try milking a cow. Such a fun experience! We then learned how easy it is to make butter. The kids were totally fascinated. I will share the whole process soon. However, until then here is an adorable cow craft that is so easy to make.

Paper Plate Cow Materials:

Paper Plate
Black Paper
Pink Paper
Googly Eyes
Scissors
Glue

Could it get any simpler?

Simple farm animal crafts for preschoolers

This is the perfect project to work on simple cutting skills.

No two spots are alike and they are meant to be a little irregular. Which translates to… the wonky the cutting, the cutter the cow! Perfect for little preschoolers learning to use scissors.

I drew a simple oval shape on the pink paper for the nose. Although as you can see, a few of the kids used it as a face. Love the little wiggly eyes glued on the nose! So sweet.

Favorite quote…”Of corse a cows smile, that is what makes them so cute!”

A slightly less happy cow, but totally adorable. I love all the tiny tiny spots. Can you tell this little sweet heart wants to cut all day! Scrap paper and a pair of scissors, and she is a happy camper!

We totally need to take another trip to the farm!

What is your favorite farm animal?

For more Paper Plate crafts, check out our:

Paper Plate Ladybugs

Paper Plate Hedgehogs

Shredded Paper Plate Sheep

Paper Plate Carrot

Over 65 of our favorite Paper Plate Crafts

Observing Ladybugs

Observing Ladybugs ~ The Ladybug Life Cycle.

There is something about Ladybugs that just make me smile. My daughter received a Ladybug Land for her birthday, and squealed with excitement. She ran to check the mail everyday until her little ladybug larvae arrived. Totally adorable. We couldn’t wait to observe the ladybug life cycle first hand.

Our little ladybug larvae arrived right to our doorstep. How cool is that! We couldn’t wait to get them all settled into their new home.

The kids were totally surprised by how the little ladybug larvae looked. I think they were expecting something a little more red and covered in black spots. Love it! They even asked if we were sure they shipped the right bugs to us. After a little Google searching, the kids discovered that these little guys were indeed ladybug larvae.

Bree carefully opened the shipping tube, and emptied the larvae and food into their new home.

The kids love the little magnifying glass at the top of the house. Perfect for a close up look of everything that happened. So cool!

The Ladybug Life Cycle

Egg Stage ~ Adult ladybug lay about 10-15 eggs on the underside of a leaf. The eggs are a yellowish color and shaped like tiny jellybeans.
Larvae Stage ~ As soon as the larvae hatch, they begin looking for food. They look similar to tiny little alligators. During this stage, they go through lots of change. They molt and shed their skin as they grow. You will find lots of tiny little skin sheds, that are really cool to examine.
Pupa Stage ~ The kids thought they looked like little shrimp during this stage. They look like they are sleeping, however lots of changes are happening that you can’t see. Soon they will emerge as adult ladybugs.
Adult Ladybug Stage ~ Ready for something really cool! The skin of the pupa will split open and out will emerge a full grown ladybug. Their shells will be a little soft and light colored for the first few hours. Soon their shells will harden and become the red color. Metamorphosis is complete!

We missed getting a picture of the pupa stage, but it was pretty cool to see.

After a few days of observing our little ladybugs, we let them go in our garden.

Cool Ladybug Facts:

The kids decided to research ladybugs and this is what they discovered…

Not all ladybugs are female
Female ladybugs can lay up to 1,000 eggs in their life time.
Ladybugs LOVE aphids, and can eat up to 1,000 in a year.
They go through metamorphosis like butterflies. After the pupa stage, they emerge into mature adult ladybugs.
Ladybugs can fly up to 15 miles per hours.
In the winter when the temp drops below 55 degrees, ladybugs hibernate. The can stay in this state for up to 9 months! When the weather warms up again, the ladybugs fly again. They go in search of food, because they are hungry after their long sleep!

Ladybugs are more than just cute!

For more Ladybug Crafts and Activities, check out our:

Paper Plate Lady bug

Recycled Ladybug Craft

Yarn Wrapped Bee Craft

Yarn Wrapped Bees ~ Simple Bug Crafts for Kids

Not that long ago we made adorable little Paper Plate Lady Bugs. The kids loved them, which lead us to explore other simple bug crafts for kids. We have been talking lots about spring flowers, so it seemed only fitting to create bees. Could these little yarn wrapped bees be any cuter?

To make a Bee Puppet, you will need:

Cardboard ~ cut into an oval
Yarn ~ black and yellow
Old Book ~ one that you don’t mind cutting up
Googly Eyes
White Glue
Popsicle stick
Tooth-pick ~ optional (for the stinger)

We were inspired by these little Wooly Sheep from Studio Jean. They are so cute, and I couldn’t wait to wrap yarn around something.

I precut little slits or grooves all the way around the cardboard oval. This made it super easy for the kids to wrap their yarn.

We started with yellow yarn, and moved onto the black.

We simply just tied the 2 colored ends together. No tape was needed.

Once the kids we satisfied with the amount of yarn, we tied another knot.

I love the addition of googly eyes and little stinger. However, I am in love with the book page wings. You could use wax paper, but there is just something about book pages.

We turned our little bees into puppets with the addition of a popsicle stick.

We couldn’t resist sharing a few of our favorite Bee Jokes:

What is a bees favorite food?

Bee-nut butter and honey sand-wiches.

What do bees use to do their hair?

A honeycomb!

What kind of bees drop things?

Fumble bees.

What did the bee say to the flower?

Hello Honey!

For more simple spring crafts, check out our:

Spring Lady Bug Craft

Stamping with Lettuce

Helicopter Seed Dragonfly

Paper Plate Lady Bug

Rain Painting

Earth Day Nails

Simple Earth Day Nails Your Kids will Love

I have 2 girls that love to paint their nails. If we had time, they would paint them a different color every day. We are always looking for new nail polish ideas, and fun color combinations. These simple Earth Day Nails are so easy and only requires 2 colors of nail polish. Love that.

We started out by painting the girls nails blue. Once they were dry, we added the green continents. You could look at an image for a more accurate representation. However, we chose the whimsical approach. AKA ~ the quick and simple. We just dabbed a little green here and there, until their nails looked like globes. So easy right!

The girls love how they turned out. It’s a fun and simple way for them to get excited about Earth Day.

For more fun Earth Day ideas, check out our:

Earth Day Globes ~ that actually light up!

Baked Cotton Balls ~ Simple Earth Day Sensory Play

20 Simple Earth Day Crafts ~ A collection of our favorite ideas!