Keeping Baby Calm and Relaxed for Check Ups

Keeping Baby Calm and Relaxed for Check Ups

April 22nd, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

For a baby, a visit to the doctor can be a scary thing. There are new people, new sounds, and new surroundings, not to mention having to strip down and be poked and prodded! Make the process a little easier on your baby by following these easy tips for check up happiness.

Keep It Familiar

Your baby is used to being at home with you or other familiar caregivers, so this strange new place can be scary and overwhelming. Do your best to make sure that she sees the same doctor every time, at the same office. Although she may not recognize the place or people the first few times, it will eventually become more familiar. A small practice where there are only a few nurses and medical assistants and you regularly see the same doctor is a good choice for a pediatrician.

You can also bring familiarity along. Bring a blanket from home not only for comfort, but to wrap baby in during the process. Your doctor will want her clothes removed for her weigh-in as well as for the examination, and those rooms can be chilly, especially for a baby. A warm, cozy blanket that smells like home will keep the chill off while bringing a familiar object and smell along. If your baby has a plush toy or any other object she is attached to, bring that as well.

Schedule Wisely

If you want your baby’s check up to go as smoothly as possible, choose your appointment time carefully. Don’t choose a time too close to a regular nap, when baby will be getting tired and cranky. Don’t go when he is likely to be getting hungry – and make sure to have a something to fill his belly available just in case he does get hungry or the wait time is long. If baby is breastfeeding you will always have food with you, but remember that it might be difficult if the chair is uncomfortable or he is distracted by the new surroundings. Avoid mealtimes altogether if at all possible.

If you can, visit the doctor during quieter times of the day when they have less appointments scheduled. Weekday mornings are usually a good bet, but ask the receptionist when the best time is to be sure there won’t be a wait. The longer baby is at the office, the greater the chance he will run out of patience.

Stay Close and Stay Calm

While it might be hard to watch your baby having shots, remember that it’s harder on him. Stay nearby, with your hands on him and talk to him softly. He will take his cues from you; if you seem upset or nervous, he will likely pick up on it and be nervous as well. So try to keep your emotions in check, to help baby do the same. If he does have shots, it’s very likely that he will cry. But if you stay calm, and soothe him with rocking and soft words, the crying should be short-lived.

If you can, it’s a good idea to go to a check up with the other parent along. That way, one of you can focus on keeping baby relaxed while the other takes the job of listening to the doctor, answering questions, and asking any questions you might have.

As your baby grows, check ups will likely get easier because he is more curious and less afraid. The more you encourage him to see a visit to the doctor as nothing to fear, the quicker he will adapt.

Your Baby’s Immunizations

Your Baby’s Immunizations

April 21st, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

In recent years there has been a lot of controversy surrounding vaccines. However, at this time immunizations are the best method we have of protecting our children from potentially fatal childhood illnesses, many of which are no longer seen in the United States thanks to immunization programs. A recommended immunization schedule has been created to make sure your child gets the vaccinations they need at the appropriate times. Some vaccines have been combined into one shot so that your child needs fewer sticks with a needle.

The Standard Schedule of Immunizations

The CDC has a recommended schedule of vaccinations, which should be followed to maximize your child’s protection. If you are interested in an alternate schedule, discuss it with your child’s doctor to be sure you have all the information to weigh the pros and cons. The standard schedule for the first two years is as follows:

At Birth

Before your baby leaves the hospital, the first dose of the Hepatitis B vaccine will likely be administered. If it is not given in the hospital, your baby’s doctor will administer it at the first check up.

At 1-2 Months Old

If your baby had the first Hepatitis B vaccine at birth, the second one may be given at one month old, or your doctor may wait until two months old. At two months, your baby will also receive the following vaccines:

  • DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis, otherwise known as whooping cough)
  • Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b)
  • Polio, or IPV
  • RV (rotavirus)
  • PCV (pneumococcal disease)

At 4 Months Old

Your baby will receive another round of shots similar to the ones given at the 2 month visit. Many vaccines require two or more shots to be completely effective, so don’t be surprised if you see the same ones repeatedly. At four months your baby will once again receive:

  • DTaP
  • Hib
  • Polio, or IPV
  • RV
  • PCV

At 6 Months Old

At your baby’s 6 month visit, your baby will receive another round of the same vaccines you have seen before. In addition to these shots, you may be offered an influenza vaccine depending on the season during which baby’s 6 month visit is scheduled. At this visit, your baby will receive shots for:

  • DTaP
  • Hib
  • PCV

Also optional at this visit is the next round of Hepatitis B and Polio vaccines, which should be given between 6 and 18 months of age.

At 12 to 15 Months Old

At the 12 month visit, you will see some new vaccines as well as more of the ones your child has received previously. All of these vaccines can be given between 12 and 15 months old, so you can choose to do them all at once, or split them up. Again, influenza will be offered seasonally. The 12 to 15 month shots are:

  • PCV
  • Hib
  • Varicella (chicken pox)
  • MMR (measles, mumps and rubella)
  • Hepatitis A

At 15 to 18 Months Old

At the 15 month check up, your child will receive any vaccines you chose to put off from the 12 month visit. Baby will also be due for one more DTaP shot between 15-18 months. As with previous visits, influenza may be an option depending on the season.

Your doctor will help to make sure all of baby’s vaccinations are on schedule, and answer any questions you might have about the immunizations.

Helping your Baby Explore

Helping your Baby Explore

April 20th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

The more aware your baby becomes of his surroundings, the more his curiosity and desire to explore will grow. Exploring his world is an important part of learning and developing, so encourage your baby to check things out. Remember, he doesn’t know what is safe and what is not, so supervise his explorations closely to keep him safe!

Exploring the Senses

Your baby is busy making use of his senses to get to know the world around him. Things catch his attention either through sound or sight, and from there he wants to engage the rest of his senses to find out more. Encourage baby to touch the things he comes into contact with. Give him different textures to feel, such as soft blankets, a rough sponge, a smooth plastic ball.

Next, you will notice your baby putting all kinds of objects into his mouth. Don’t discourage him from doing this unless the object is dangerous to him! Let him put clean toys and other objects into his mouth, as long as there is no danger of small parts coming loose and choking him. Exploring things with the mouth is a normal part of your baby’s development. He is not only learning this way, he may also be showing the first signs of teething with his desire to chew!

Baby will do more through sight and hearing than just find things to touch. He is exploring the sights and sounds of his world all the time. Give him a mirror, and he will stare at himself for a long time, taking in this interesting new face. Sing to him, or play music to him. Try different types of music to see what he responds to most. Some babies may enjoy soothing classical music, while others enjoy bouncing pop music beats.

Baby on the Move

When your baby starts to crawl and make her way around the house, it’s really time to step up the safety patrol. While you want her to be able to practice her new skill and check out all the new sights, make sure she does it safely. Install gates, outlet covers and door latches to make sure she doesn’t get into anything. Then, set her free!

Help your baby get the most of her movements around the house by letting her check out some new things she hasn’t seen before. Keep one cupboard or drawer in the kitchen unlatched for her to open and dig through. Make sure it’s filled with safe items such as plastic bowls, storage containers and maybe a few measuring cups or wooden spoons. She will make a mess tearing everything out, but will have a great time with it.

Let baby follow you as you go through your daily routine, doing chores and preparing meals (use caution when preparing hot foods however), as she will be fascinated by what you have been up to! It might be tiring to have to re-fold all the laundry, but letting your baby check it out is helping her to learn about her environment.

Babies are little explorers, and they have a lot to learn, so encourage her inquisitiveness and engage her with new things as much as possible. Exploring doesn’t have to happen all at home either! Take your baby outside, and let her explore the yard or a park. There’s plenty to be learned out there as well.

With careful attention to safety precautions, your little one can satisfy her curiosity and learn more every day!

Rainy Day Activities for Preschoolers

Rainy Day Activities for Preschoolers

April 19th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Waking up to a rainy day can really put a damper on your plans, and the thought of the hours ahead stuck in the house with your preschooler might make you want to head back to bed! But with a little creativity, you can turn a rainy day into a fun day and keep your preschooler so busy he won’t even notice he’s stuck inside.

Start the Day Off Right

Since you’re stuck inside, there’s no point in rushing through breakfast. Pull out all the stops for a delicious meal and let your preschooler in on the fun. Make pancakes and create fun faces for him using toppings like fruit, whipped cream and chocolate chips. After breakfast get everyone involved in the clean up.

Classic Rainy Day Games

When breakfast is over, there are still a lot of hours in the day to fill. A few classic games will pass the day away with fun and imagination!

An indoor scavenger hunt will keep any kid occupied and entertained. Make a list of items for him to locate throughout the house and send him off on the hunt. Since preschoolers won’t be able to read the list, you can either send him in search of one thing at a time, or try this trick; make a color coded list. Draw circles of various colors on a sheet of paper and instruct him to find an item that matches each of the colors. You’ll be amazed at the creative items he will find to complete the list!

Rainy days were made for building indoor forts. Raid the linen closet, and help to create a fortress by draping sheets over furniture. Hide inside your living room palace with some good books and a snack. Inspire imagination by dreaming up all the different places your little fort could be; a boat on the ocean, an igloo in the frozen north, or perhaps a tree house in the jungle. Make up stories about who you are and why you are in such a remote location.

Crafty Kid Pleasers

If a surprise rainy day catches you without any craft supplies in the house, never fear. These simple crafts use only common items you likely have in the house anyway.

Gather up all your broken crayons, and heat up the oven to 200 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and press various metal cookie cutters into the foil. Remove all the paper from the crayons, and fill the cookie cutters with bits and pieces of crayon in different colors, then pop them in the oven until melted. Let them cool and then pop them out of the cookie cutters. Your little one won’t be able to wait to try out her new crayons in fun shapes! You can also melt the broken pieces into muffin tins lined with foil cups for chunky new crayons that work great for little hands.

Grab that box of photos you have been meaning to go through, and some construction paper and glue. Let your little one pull out pictures of her favorite people, glue them to a piece of construction paper, and decorate the new frame however she likes (perhaps with her cool new crayons!). You can also add the person’s name and perhaps some words that describe that person – let you preschooler help decide what words she thinks are perfect.

Get creative, and before you know it, your rainy day will be at an end, with an exhausted kid who is ready to crawl into bed for a good night’s sleep!

What is your Preschooler’s Favorite Type of Play?

What is your Preschooler’s Favorite Type of Play?

April 19th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

In the preschool years, play becomes more sophisticated, and so does the learning process behind it. What your preschooler enjoys most at playtime can tell you a lot about what is going with his development and learning. Children at this age engage in several different types of play, and each provides a different method for a preschooler to learn about his world and how to become a part of it.

Symbolic Play

Does your little one like to pretend his building blocks are a birthday cake, or his teddy bear is a baby? He’s engaging in symbolic play. This important stage in cognitive development is allowing your preschooler to place a symbolic value on an object, which is important for his understanding of how the world works. By pretending his teddy bear is a baby and imitating the same behaviors he has seen in you and other mothers, he developing an understanding of his place in the world, and the roles of others around him.

Parallel Play

You may notice that when you get your young preschooler together with other kids, he doesn’t really play with them so much as next to them. This doesn’t mean he isn’t aware of the presence of his friends, or that he doesn’t want to play with them. This type of side-by-side play is just the beginning of social play for children. While two children may sit next to each other playing with different toys, they are learning to share space with others and also the very first rules of interaction, which they will build upon later in the preschool years.

Watch for things like imitative play, verbal communications that may seem unrelated to the play at hand (but make perfect sense in your little one’s mind) and the important first steps towards sharing. When the little girl next to him suddenly develops an interest in the toy he is playing with, he will likely be defensive of it. But this reaction is an important starting point for learning about cooperation and sharing, so as much as you can, let the kids work it out amongst themselves. You might just catch the kid who took away your son’s truck offering him another toy in return!

Imaginary Play

Is the bathtub an ocean or the couch a space ship? Does your preschooler present you with invisible cookies to eat, or talk to someone who isn’t there? She is developing her imagination, an important tool for her social development. The ability to imagine herself in the shoes of another person is the beginning of developing empathy. Imagination will also help her to begin anticipating events and guessing (correctly!) at the outcome of her behaviors.

If your child has an imaginary friend, don’t worry about it at all. This natural phase of development is a mark of a very active imagination, which research shows is a positive sign for future social interaction.

Collaborative Play

As your child head further into her preschool years, you will start to see more direct interaction with other kids during play. As she plays more with other children, she will learn all about the rules of society. This play is crucial to helping your child learn how to have successful work and personal relationships.

She is learning things such as sharing, taking turns, how to work out differences through negotiation and compromise, and how to follow social norms and rules. Collaborative play will help her to learn to keep her impulses in check and delay gratification, all things which are difficult for children, who are naturally self-centered.

Every type of play is important to preschoolers, but if your child enjoys one type more than another, don’t worry. Remember that personality plays a role as well, and your little one might be focused on one area of learning right now, but will move on soon.

How Green Things Grow: Helping Your Preschooler to Learn

How Green Things Grow: Helping Your Preschooler to Learn

April 18th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Teach your preschooler to love and respect the natural world while introducing him to basics of science by spending some time learning how trees and plants grow. A great springtime activity and learning opportunity that you can pursue both indoors and out!

The Parts of a Plant

Start by sitting down with some paper and crayons and drawing pictures of plants. Ask your little one what types of plants there are, and point out some he may have missed. Explain how plants and trees are similar, no matter what their size, by pointing out the characteristics they have in common. Draw a diagram of a plant, showing all of the parts; the roots, the stem or trunk, branches, leaves and flowers.

Next break down the parts of the plant for your child, and explain what each does to help the whole to thrive.

  • Roots: draw water and nutrients up from the ground to help the plant to grow. Help children to understand this concept by comparing roots to straws through which the plant can suck up water and food.
  • Stem or trunk and branches: carry the water and food from the roots to the rest of the plant.
  • Leaves: Absorb sunlight and make food for the plant
  • Flowers: Make seeds or fruits so that new plants can grow

How Plants Grow from Seeds

When you reach the point of explaining how new seeds are created, it’s a great time to check out some seeds with your little one and plant a few together. A sunflower is a great choice because the seeds are large, they grow easily, and they will eventually produce new seeds that your little one can easily recognize, completing the cycle.

Explain how the seed needs the soil and water you pour over it to sprout those roots you discussed in your diagram, and that it will grow all of the plant parts if just given enough food, water and sunshine. Let him help you choose a sunny place to set your new plants, and give them time to grow. Every day, let him water the plant and watch for new growth.

When your little plant starts to get bigger, you can transplant it carefully to an outside garden or larger pot. This process will allow your child to see the roots and connect the plant before him with the pictures you drew. Ask him to point out all the parts of the plant from the diagram before you set your little sprout up in a new and bigger home.

How Plants Become Food

A visit to a farm or orchard is a great learning opportunity to help your preschooler understand how plants create food that we can consume. Examine various plants and see what sorts of fruits and vegetables grow from them. Pick some samples and cut them open to locate the seeds. This will help your child to connect the produce she eats with the same life cycle as the sunflower she grew.

Plant a small garden at home and let your child help to grow food for your table. Not only will she be learning about how things grow, but you’ll also find it easier to get her to eat vegetables she helped bring to life!

With simplified explanations and some hands-on learning, you can teach your preschooler all about how plants and trees grow, and have some fun along the way!

Connect to Your Heritage with a Family Tree

Connect to Your Heritage with a Family Tree

April 17th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Teaching your children about their family history helps them to understand who they are, where they came from and where they belong. A family tree is a great tool to bring family connections to life and encourage understanding of history, heritage and relations between family members.

What Is a Family Tree?

A family tree is another word for a family history chart, and it is a graphic representation of a person’s lineage. There are many types of family trees, but the most common is known as a pedigree. This type of family chart starts with one person, and traces back their lineage from parents to grandparents and on back as far as you are able to or wish to go. A pedigree traces only direct lineage – this means that it does not include aunts, uncles, siblings or anyone else who is not in the direct line of descent. This is the simplest type of family tree, and the easiest to create with a child.

If you want to go beyond direct lineage, a second type of chart you might want to consider is a family lineage chart, which includes siblings of those on the pedigree chart. This means your chart will include aunts and uncles, great-aunts and great-uncles and so on. This makes for a larger and more detailed family tree.

Gathering Information

Before you begin your family tree, you will need to gather all of the information on the family members you would like to include. Start with the names you already know, and then ask relatives to help with the rest. To help your children connect the names with the actual people, search family photo albums for pictures of the relatives you’re adding to the tree.

As you gather up the names of the people to be included in your tree, take the opportunity to talk with your children about the history of the family. You can discuss where ancestors came from, and learn a little bit about the countries of origin. Bringing family history to life with anecdotes about the relatives as well as a little bit about who they were and what they did for a living. All of this information goes beyond a name and makes the people in your family history more real to a child’s mind.

Putting the Family Tree Together

You can create your family tree in a number of ways, but the simplest method is to use a large piece of white paper. Start by drawing boxes for all of the names you will be adding. For a basic pedigree chart start with one box, then branch off to two boxes for the parents. From each of these boxes, branch off another two, and continue with this method until you have a box for each name on your list. You can connect the boxes with plain straight lines, or get creative. Draw fancier lines or even actual branches to make the chart look like a true family “tree”.

Next fill in the boxes with the names, and add basic information about the person including date of birth, date of death in applicable, and any other relevant information you would like to add. You can add photos as well, next to the names and also around the borders of the page to add life and color to your family tree.

Hanging a family tree on the wall will keep the names and faces of your ancestors in your minds as well as your hearts. Your children will learn more about their family history and the people who might otherwise have been forgotten. Display it in a prominent position to enjoy your work, and your heritage.

The Top Toys for Babies from 7 to 12 months

The Top Toys for Babies from 7 to 12 months

April 16th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

After your baby passes the half-year mark, he will really start to show major advances in motor skills and comprehension. During the next six months, he will start sitting on his own, pulling up on furniture, cruising around it and possibly even walking. His cognitive development will move along at a rapid pace as he begins to make more sense of the world around him.

During this stage, your baby will really begin to enjoy simple but educational toys that encourage development of both gross and fine motor skills, and also allow him to expand his growing knowledge of how things work, including cause and effect and object permanence. Towards his first birthday, more complex toys will grab and hold his attention.

Basic Blocks and Beyond

A good places to start, blocks are a toy that will grow with your child through the next six months of development and beyond. In addition to a very basic set of blocks which your child will learn to stack, sort and more, you might also want to pick up a set of nesting boxes. These boxes can be stacked but also nest within one another to encourage learning of sizes and spatial concepts. Towards baby’s first birthday, he will start to enjoy large interlocking blocks such as the Mega Bloks line.

During this time your baby will also benefit from the challenge of a shape sorter, which will help to develop manual dexterity as well as problem solving skills. Babies at this age will also have fun with stacking rings, which encourages hand-eye coordination.

Making Music

As your baby begins to understand the effect he can have on his environment, he will start to really get into making all kinds of noises. Look for simple noisemaking toys such as Leap Frog’s Learn N’ Groove series of electronic musical instruments that includes a piano, drum and more. Basic noisemakers such as rattles and maracas will be a huge hit at this age, and baby will happily make a drum out of just about anything.

Activity Tables

As your baby learns to pull herself up on the furniture, she will want to be on her feet as much as possible, practicing this new and exciting skill. An activity table is a perfect toy for this stage. Look for one that offers a number of interesting activities as well as sounds and lights. It should be stable enough to withstand baby pulling up and leaning on it as well.

Toys in Motion

During this developmental stage, your baby will start to enjoy pushing a toy along as she crawls or cruises along the furniture. Simple vehicles with moving wheels will encourage baby to get moving and follow along. Baby will also love balls that she can roll across the floor and chase after. Toys with pull strings will be a hit as well, following behind your little one as she makes her way around the house.

Watch for Choking Hazards!

At this age, your baby will want to put just about everything into her mouth. Between the natural developmental need to check things out with her mouth and the start of teething, everything will become a chew toy. Be cautious of any toys with small parts, and make sure there is nothing your baby can get fully into her mouth.

This is the perfect time to start building a collection of basic, versatile toys that will last well into the second year of life.

The Top Toys for Babies from Birth to 6 Months

The Top Toys for Babies from Birth to 6 Months

April 15th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

In the first six months of your baby’s life, the best toys will be ones that engage him visually and encourage him to reach out and touch. As his eyesight improves from birth, toys which promote hand-eye coordination are tops. Toys that make noise to draw his attention are also good choices.

From birth to six months there is a large improvement in your baby’s motor skills, most notably in his ability to hold up his head and even sit with or without support. Because of this vast difference in the abilities of a newborn and a six month old, toys that grow with baby are a good investment.

Infant Gyms

For the first few months of life, your baby will spend the majority of his time on his back, looking up. Infant gyms, in spite of a name that implies climbing, are designed for infants to lie beneath them and look up at a variety of different hanging toys. Many of the toys are removable so that baby can take a closer look at them once he develops to the point of handling toys. Look for toys with high contrast colors, especially black and white, which are the easiest for baby to see.

Some infant gyms convert from a lie-beneath toy to a toy that baby can sit in front of, to allow him to continue to enjoy the gym after he is able to sit up. There are also some which offer tummy-time entertainment as well, for when baby is lying on his tummy. Brightly colored mats with different textures are perfect for tummy time, such as the one accompanying the Fisher Price Miracles & Milestones Magical Mobile Gym, which features a panda bear with a high contrast black and white face.

Textures and Sounds

Many of the early toys for baby are small, handheld toys, which offer either interesting textures for baby to feel, or make sounds, or both. They should also be in high-contrast colors to allow baby to see them better. Rattles fall into this category, but the standard rattle has come a long way over the years. Today’s rattles come in soft and hard options, or with a combination of both. The best of these toys will have an easy to grasp handle, varied textures, and surfaces for baby to put in her mouth and chew on, as she will quickly learn to do.

Rattling isn’t the only sound that is great for baby. Look for toys such as those made by popular baby toy maker Sassy for crinkling, rustling and bell sounds as well. Rattles and bells that can be attached to baby’s ankles and wrists will turn his very own limbs into an entertaining toy.

Mirror, Mirror

As your baby’s eyesight improves, she will discover the fascination of seeing her own reflection. Although she won’t yet connect that baby in the mirror with her own self, she will love to watch. Look for toys with built in shatter-proof mirrors large enough for baby to see her whole face, such as the Leap Frog Rhyming Reflections Crib and Floor Mirror, which makes animal sounds and plays a cheerful song too.

In these early months of baby’s life, a great deal of development is going on. Stimulating baby visually, as well as with sounds and textures, will help her to grow and learn about the world around her.

Brighten a Rainy Day with an Indoor Rainbow

Brighten a Rainy Day with an Indoor Rainbow

April 14th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Stuck inside on a rainy day? Break through the gloom by creating cheerful rainbow crafts that will brighten everyone’s day. With these three easy and entertaining crafts, you will find something for kids of all ages to enjoy.

Rainbow Mobile

Hang rainbows from your ceiling or doorway with this bright and easy creation.

What you will need:

  • Paper plates
  • Streamers, tissue paper cut into strips, or thick ribbon in four rainbow colors
  • Paint to match the streamer colors
  • Scissors and glue

Cut a paper plate in half, and paint four strips of different colors following the curve of the plate to create your rainbow. Next, glue a strip of the streamer, tissue paper or ribbon to the edge of the plate, matching it to the color of the paint. Blue should hang from the blue paint, red from the line of red paint, and so on, to create the impression that the rainbow continues off the edge of the plate. Finally, punch a small hole in the top of the plate and string a piece of ribbon through it. Tie off the ends, and hang wherever you like!

Make your mobile even better by repeating the process to create two mobiles. Before attaching the streamers, cut carefully up the center of one of the plate halves, not quite to the top, and slide it down over the other plate. This will work best if you cut off any raised edge from the plate. Finish with your streamers for a three-dimensional mobile.

Fruity Cereal Rainbow

This quick craft is entertaining fun and a tasty snack all in one!

What you will need:

  • Colored fruit-flavored cereal such as Fruit Loops or Fruity Cheerios
  • Paper plate
  • Glue and scissors

As in the first craft, start by cutting your paper plate in half. Separate the cereal into piles of each available color. Then glue the cereal in rows following the curve of the plate, creating rows of different colors. When your rainbow is complete, sit back and admire it while you snack on the leftover cereal!

Rainbow with a Pot of Gold

You can all find the hidden treasure at the end of the rainbow with this craft!

What you will need:

  • A large piece of cardboard (from a box)
  • A large empty coffee tin
  • Paints
  • Construction paper, green and yellow
  • Chocolate coins
  • Glue and scissors

Start by painting your empty coffee tin black, and set it aside to dry. Measure the diameter of the opening of the coffee tin. Use this measurement to cut an arch out of the cardboard that is just a little narrower than the tin’s diameter. Paint four strips of rainbow colors along the arch on both sides. It might take more than one coat on both the tin and the cardboard to get good coverage.

Cut out green shamrocks and yellow circles from the construction paper, and glue them onto the dry coffee tin. When everything is dry, stand up your cardboard rainbow so that one end is inside the tin. Finally, fill your pot with chocolate coins to make it a true Pot of Gold!

Nothing brightens up a cloudy, rainy day like a rainbow. These easy crafts will help make your day a little more colorful and pass away those hours stuck inside until the sun comes out again!

Page 4 of 9« First...23456...Last »