Very Hungry Caterpillar Baby Shower

My mom, sister, and I recently threw a baby shower for my sister-in-law who is expecting a baby girl in a few weeks.  One of her favorite kid's book is The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  So we made that our theme.  The butterfly crackers came from Target as did the snail canvas (on clearance!)

I made the mobile, the onesies, and the baby blanket under the gifts.

For games, we wrote on diapers (my favorite contribution was "I like clean butts and I cannot lie").

We played two children's book games: Alternative Titles, and Name the Book.

The food labels came from this site.

We were really inspired by all the different ideas and pictures we found on Pinterest and thought that these pictures might help/inspire someone else in their planning!

5 Pigs So Squeaky Clean Quiet Book Page

I LOVE this flannel board story and decided it would make a super fun quiet book page!  My youngest son and I will often lay in bed at night and sing songs together and he is quite fond of "the pig song".

Here is my interpretation:

On the left side is the bathtub (full of pigs) with vinyl and sequin bubbles to count.

On the right side is the pig pen with muddy pockets for the pigs to squish around in.

The pigs are clean on one side and dirty (with brown acrylic paint) on the other.

After the pigs get dirty, they can be soaped off in the tub and turn around to the clean side again!

I am hoping to have the pattern for this page up very soon!  Keep checking back!

Sparks Tic Tac Toe

I really like having easy games that my Sparks can pull out after they are done with verses or while they are waiting for their parents to pick them up. This is a super simple little Spark's themed tic tac toe that I made.

Here is the link for the printable document.

Rocket and UFO Space Pages

I revamped my space page a little bit to make it bigger and add a rocket ship, astronaut, and stars to count to the basic UFO/alien page.  I really love how it turned out!  These are actually the second batch of aliens I made because my three year old absconded with the first set :)

I finished the pages in black satin with a star overlay.  Such a simple but super fun space set!

(Now available at my Etsy shop)

Itsy Bitsy Spider & Miss Muffet Quiet Book Pages

So I recently finished a Little Miss Muffet & the Itsy Bitsy Spider 2 page spread.  I am really happy with how it turned out!

 I finished the pages in this sweet butterfly and flower print I have left over from my wedding!  It just goes perfectly with the theme.

Sparks Key Verse Easter Egg Hunt

I wanted to do a fun Easter egg type hunt with my Sparks, but I knew the weather wouldn't cooperate for an outdoor hunt and my space indoors was limited to our meeting room which doesn't have a whole lot of hiding spots.  I also didn't really want to stuff a whole bunch of eggs.  So here is my creative solution!

There were 28 eggs for each team, printed on colored cardstock so it was clear whose eggs belonged to whom.  You could only search for YOUR team's color.  I taped the eggs all over the room; on the ceiling, under tables, on the wall, on the trashcan, etc.  After each team found all 28 eggs they had to assemble them into the verse and tape it on a posterboard.  Then they could decorate the poster with stickers.  It was a great challenge for this age and some of the teams were quite competitive!

Here is the link for the egg/verse template to print onto colored paper/cardstock.  I might laminate the eggs this year so I can use them again year after year.

Cub Scout Astronomy Belt Loop

This week in Cub Scouts we are going to do the Astronomy Belt Loop.  I am SO excited because there are such FUN things you can do to learn about space!
There are three requirements in order to achieve this Belt Loop:

Demonstrate how to focus a simple telescope or binoculars. (A local astronomy club may be a resource for this activity.)

Draw a diagram of our solar system—identify the planets and other objects.

Explain the following terms: planet, star, solar system, galaxy, the Milky Way, black hole, red giant, white dwarf, comet, meteor, moon, asteroid, star map and universe.

The biggest hang up I had was the last requirement. That sounded hard for second graders.  Plus, what boy likes vocabulary?  So, in an effort to make it more fun, I used this AWESOME site to make a crossword puzzle for the boys to solve.  WAY more fun and hopefully memorable too!

Cub Scout Astronomy Belt Loop Crossword Puzzle

For the second requirement, I found the most amazing looking Illuminated Solar System Craft that they can each do with contact and tissue paper on a black posterboard.  I will cut out all the holes beforehand so they can focus on which planet goes where and what each one looks like.  I really like that this craft is BIG, shiny, and gives them an idea of each planet's color.  While they are working on this craft will be a perfect time to read some space books to them from the library :)

It's going to be a really fun night!

Looking for Love Valentine Scavenger Hunt

I wanted something fun for Sparks that related to Valentine's Day - after all, as Christians we have the BEST love of all to celebrate!  So I came up with this scavenger hunt.  The basic idea is that I will hide the twelve pictures and give each kid a hunting page.  They will try to find the pictures and check off the appropriate box on their sheet.  Then when they have found them all, they will get together with their Sparks team to try and guess the verses that go with each picture - and HOPEFULLY they will have a better picture of God's love for us, the qualities of love, and loving others.

Looking for Love Scavenger Hunt

The beauty of this scavenger hunt is that it can be used in a variety of locations and situations but the main focus and purpose is to point back to Scripture and a tiny bit of what the Bible says about love.  I'm really excited about using it with my Awana Sparks!  Hope it inspires or helps you too!