Tag Archives: craft

A Bounty of Bunnies!

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It’s a bounty of bunnies bunnies bunnies in a basket basket basket! This simple project is both a hide and seek AND pattern game! Plus…rainbow bunnies. Rainbow bunnies are just awesome.

We read The Runaway Bunny, written by Margaret Wise Brown, and illustrated by Clement Hurd (HarperCollins, 1942). A little bunny poses a series of runaway-from-home scenarios, thwarted each time by his equally imaginative mother!

You’ll need:

  • 1 large tissue box
  • White poster board or card stock
  • 6 toilet paper tubes
  • A selection of construction paper
  • Scissors, stapler and tape for construction
  • Markers for decorating

First, the bunny basket.Cut the top off a large tissue box, then add a poster board handle and some construction paper ears, eyes, nose, and tail. Your bunnies are toilet paper tubes wrapped with construction paper. Six bunnies, six rainbow colors!

To play the hide and seek game, have a grown up or older sibling hide the little bunnies around the house. Then, ask your story time kid to find them and tuck them into the big bunny basket. For a pattern game variation, cut color cards out of construction paper, then shuffle them and ask your child to find the bunnies in the order of the color cards!

The Runaway Bunny was selected by a little girl who aged out of our Tiger Tales story time. It’s a big favorite of hers, so Emmalyn…this project is for you!

Protecting Our Most Precious Companions

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protecting our companions

Today’s simple project is the result of a news photo I saw the other day…an exhausted-looking mother in NYC, pushing a heavily covered baby carriage. She was wearing a medical mask. Gripping tightly to her other hand was a little boy, also in a mask, toting a stuffed dog.

But the stuffed dog wasn’t wearing a mask. And my daughter has the exact same stuffed dog. Something in my heart just pulled.

So here’s how to use two common household items to make a mask for those most beloved companions. The ones your children reach to for comfort and reassurance. And hey, if you want to give Domino the Dog a quick cuddle yourself, you just go and do that.

You’ll need:

  • 1 flat bottom/basket style coffee filter
  • 2 rubber bands
  • Scissors

Apologies for the image quality…I’m shooting from my not-so-camera-ready home studio!

Stuffed animal heads, noses, and ears vary wildly, so you might have to cut the coffee filter down a bit. Same goes for the rubber bands! You can see how I shortened my rubber band below:

shorter rubber band

Flatten the coffee filter, then fold the top and bottom inwards like a burrito. The size of the folds will, of course, vary with the size of your stuffed animal’s head.

Now tightly bunch both ends of the folded coffee filter. Use scissors to snip a small hole in the bunching on each side (and aim a little ways in from the ends so the rubber bands don’t tear through). Finish by looping rubber bands through the holes.

Slide the mask over your stuffed animal’s nose and face, and the rubber bands behind its ears. Adjust as needed. Stay safe, little friend!

The Best Baguette Bakery

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the best bagette bakery

Bake a bounty of beautiful baguettes at this fantastic little bakery. Poofy baker’s hat optional, but it does add that professional touch, yes?

We read Nanette’s Baguette by Mo Willems (Hyperion, 2016). Little Nanette has a big job. She must journey to the bakery – all by herself – buy a baguette, and bring in home. Everything goes well, despite a few distractions (friends Suzette, Bret, and Mr. Barnett with his pet, Antoinette). But the baguette looks so tasty. It’s warm. It smells so good…Nanette takes a bite, then another, then another. Oh no! It’s gone! A tearful Nanette reports to her mother, but this problem is easily solved. They can go and buy another one, together. And eat it!

You’ll need:

  • 1 large box
  • A box cutter
  • A selection of construction paper
  • 1 bakery sign template, printed on 8.5″ x 11″ card stock
  • 1 paper or plastic sample cup
  • Modeling clay
  • Scissors, glue and tape for construction
  • Markers for decorating

side view of bakery

We used a 4.5” X 4.5” x 9” craft box for our bakery (but a large tissue box works too!). Trim and fold the box’s lid to form a peaked roof. Then use a box cutter to create a rectangular window for the bakery. If you’d like an awning, cut just three sides of the rectangular window, then bend the resulting flap upwards to create the awning.

Decorate the bakery with construction paper and markers. We offered color masking tape as well. Color and cut a bakery sign from the template, then attach to your roof. Finally, cut a rectangle out of the back of the bakery…

back of bakeryAnd use the resulting cardboard to make a countertop for your bakery. Hot glue it to a cut-down paper cup or plastic sample cup, then place the counter outside your bakery window. Use modeling clay (we used air dry Model Magic) to fashion some little baguettes.

baguette counterThe final touch is a baker’s hat, and you will find the supply list and instructions for it here!

bakers hat