Turn a cardboard egg carton into a cute little ladybug craft! This egg carton ladybug craft requires minimal supplies, is low prep, and tons of fun to make.
To make an egg carton ladybug, an adult needs to cut one of the cups off your egg carton to be your ladybug (or cut off several and make a lot of ladybugs!).
Next, set out a paper plate (optional, but I like to have my child paint on top of a paper plate to help catch spills). Now its paint time! Grab a paintbrush and let your child paint the egg carton cup red. Let it dry. Once the red paint is dry, your preschooler can dip their finger into the black paint and add spots to the ladybug. My son loved adding the spots 🙂
While the spots are drying, cut a circle out of black construction paper. We traced a cup on a black paper to make out circle shape. Cut your circle in half — now your have 2 wings!
Glue your wings onto the back of the egg carton ladybug. We glued them slightly askew so that it looked like our bug was about to take flight. My son loves googly eyes, so he added two of those to the front of the egg carton cup. Our ladybug looked kind of grouchy, we used a black marker to draw on a smile to complete the ladybug craft.
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I love when I can reuse something materials that I have on hand, like cardboard boxes! My preschooler and I turned a piece of a cardboard box into something new — a carboard fuzzy bear craft! Not only did my son have fun, but this project is great way to incorporate different textures into his activities and help him develop fine motor skills!
Supplies Needed:
cardboard
brown yarn (or whatever color yarn you like)
pompom
googly eyes (we used size 1 inch)
scissors
pen
ribbon/cord for hanging
white glue
tape
How To:
1. Using a pen, I drew a basic bear head shape on part of a cardboard box and cut it out. It is a little more than 4 inches tall.
2. Next, I took some fuzzy brown yarn and cut off a piece that was about 36 inches long. I taped one end of the yarn to the back of the bear and my 3 year-old wound the yarn around the bear to give it “fur.” When he was finished wrapping, I taped the other end of the yarn to back of the bear’s head too.
3. My preschooler picked out yellow googly eyes and a yellow pompom for a nose. The googly eyes were stickers so they were easy to attach. We used white glue to stick on the pompom nose.
4. After the glue was dry, I used my pen to punch a hole in the top of the bear. My son picked out a blue cord and I tied it on so he could hang up his cute, fuzzy bear craft.
My son really wanted to give his bear to his grandfather, so his cardboard fuzzy bear craft ended up being a cute present.
Check out my Crafts Page for more things to make your child!
Penguins are so cute! Preschoolers are fascinated with these awesome birds so I rounded up books, crafts, a song, and some free worksheets so you can add a penguin theme to your preschool activities!
Everything You Need for Creating a Penguin Theme:
Books
Penguins — 10 books about these adorable birds! My son loves penguins and we have read so many penguin books together. We’ve gathered up a list of our favorites to share with you!
Crafts
–Basic Shapes Penguin: print off the free template, color your pieces, and glue them together to form a penguin!
–Toilet Paper Roll Penguin: turn an empty toilet paper roll into a cute penguin with paint, construction paper, and googly eyes. My son really liked this craft and we have a couple cute little toilet paper roll penguins around our house now!
–Egg Carton Penguins: turn an egg carton into a bunch of roly-poly penguins!
This paper chain reindeer craft was easy to make and turned out adorable! It is perfect for preschoolers who want to make Christmas decorations because it doesn’t make much of a mess (outside of glue) and it can be assembled pretty quickly so they don’t lose interest in the activity. For more Christmas crafts, check out my crafts page: https://imaginationsrunningwild.com/preschool-winter-crafts/
Supplies Needed:
1 piece of brown construction paper
scissors
glue ( we used both a glue stick and white glue)
ribbon/yarn
goggly eyes
small pompom
brown or black marker
How To:
Cut your construction paper into 6 equal-sized strips. Mine are 2″ wide x 9″ tall.
Begin by choosing one strip of paper to turn into your reindeer’s face. Make the face first so that the pompom nose can be drying while you assemble the chain. Using your brown or black marker, draw 2 antlers. Then attach your googly eyes. My son really wanted his reindeer to be Rudolph, so he chose a red pompom (size 1.2 cm) for the nose. We used white glue to attach our nose because the glue stick wasn’t sticky enough and our nose kept falling off.
Now it is time to make your chain our of the remaining 5 strips of paper. Fold your first strip of paper into a circle and glue the ends together. Next, take your second strip and stick it through your circle. Glue the ends of the second strip together forming a circle. Repeat this process with the remaining strips of paper until all 5 pieces are connected in a chain. Once your pompom nose is dry, you can add the last of piece of paper with the reindeer face to the top of your chain.
To finish our craft, I tied a red ribbon through the top chain so we hang the paper chain reindeer craft up in our home!
Enjoy a snowy winter scene without having to leave your warm home with this fingerprint winter tree craft! My 4 year old really like using his finger as the paint brush for this activity. We don’t get snow at our home in the winter so my kiddo has to be content with pretend snow until we can make a trip up to the mountains. I paired this craft with a snow-themed book, The Snowy Nap by Jan Brett. It was fun to read about snow and do a snow project together!
Supplies Needed:
I love low prep activities that I can quickly pull together without having to delay the fun or make a trip to the craft store! This project is quick and easy to get started with minimal supplies.
You Will Need:
construction paper (I used light blue)
black marker ( I used a Sharpie, but I think any black marker would work)
white washable paint
paper plate or paint pallet
How To:
First–draw an outline of a barren tree. I didn’t fill in my tree trunk, but feel free to color it in however you like. Maybe draw a hole and your child can pretend there’s an animal hibernating in there!
Second–pour a small amount of white paint onto a paper plate or a paint pallet. I like to use Crayola Washable Paints. They are easy to wash off which is fantastic since we somehow seem to get paint everywhere.
Third–have your child dip their finger into the paint and then make “snowy” fingerprints on the tree. Be creative with your snow placement!
Fourth–make a snowy ground by dripping some white paint at the bottom of the tree and letting your child smear it all around with their fingertip.
Fifth–let your project draw before showing it off!
Make a candy cane reindeer to give out to a friend, neighbor, or family member. This reindeer craft is pretty quick and easy, but turns out so cute. Both kids and adults will love receiving one of these little reindeers. My son enjoyed making them and had a blast handing them out 🙂
Candy Cane Reindeer
Supplies Needed:
candy cane
googly eyes
pompoms
pipe cleaner
glue dots
white school glue
How To:
Pick a candy cane to decorate. Leave the plastic on the candy cane!
Pick a pipe cleaner and a pompom to use on your candy cane. My son wanted to make a “Rudolph” candy cane reindeer so he picked a red pompom for the nose 🙂
Twist the pipe cleaner around the top of your candy cane to make the antlers. Now twist the 2 ends of the pipe cleaner around your little one’s finger to make them look kind of zig-zaggy.
For the eyes, we originally just peeled off the back of the sticker googly eyes and stuck them, but we found that they did not stay on very well. So Plan B — we glued the eyes onto the candy cane with white, school glue.
Last, we attached our pom pom nose with a glue dot. I think you could also use the white glue for the nose too, but then you have to wait a while for it to dry.
And now we have a cute (and yummy) candy cane reindeer! For more crafts ideas, check out my Winter Crafts page 🙂
Use construction paper and tissue paper to make a spouting whale craft! This was pretty easy to make and lots of fun. Plus good fine motor skills development involved with scrunching up the tissue paper!
Spouting Whale
Supplies Needed:
white and blue construction paper
pencil
scissors
blue tissue paper ( 1″ x 1″ squares)
glue stick
white school glue
googly eyes
How To:
1. I drew a whale shape on the blue construction paper and cut it out.
2. My son used a glue stick to glue the whale onto the white paper. He made sure to leave some room under the whale so he could add the tissue paper water. Then he rubbed the glue stick all over the bottom of the paper and glued on the blue tissue paper squares to make the ocean water.
3. Together, we wadded up the blue tissue paper squares to make the water spout.
4. Using the white school glue, I added glue dots in the pattern of the whale’s water spout and then my son added the scrunched-up the tissue paper.
5. To complete his craft, my son added the googly eyes. He loves googly eyes and, in his opinion, no craft is complete without them!
I really like making tissue paper crafts with my son. We’ve made a lot over the years and I’ve shared some on my TISSUE PAPER CRAFTS page if you are looking for more ideas 🙂
Hedgehogs are one my favorite animals, so I was excited to read hedgehog picture books with my son 🙂 Here is a list of 6 of our favorites. Some are older titles and others are more current, but we were able to find them all at our public library. Check your library for these and other great hedgehog picture books.
Jan Brett is a fantastic storyteller and illustrator! This is a funny hedgehog book featuring Hedgie, a reoccurring character in several of Jan Brett’s books. In this story, Hedgie’s friend Henny keeps getting her eggs stolen by a child. The child returns every morning to steal an egg and Henny needs help protecting her eggs. Hedgie replaces the eggs with other things to eat, such as a strawberry, a mushroom, and even a potato. Still the child keeps coming back! Finally Hedgie comes up with a great way to stop the egg thief — Hedgie hides in the chicken’s nest and gives the child a handful of prickles!
Are you ready to meet Horace and Hattie, two of the cutest hedgehogs ever!?! These two hedgehogs are best friends and love to do things together. In fact, they pretty much do everything together except hug. How are two spiky hedgehogs supposed to be able to hug each other? The two friends try all sorts of different ways (cue preschooler giggles), but nothing is working. Then, they stumble upon some laundry drying in the sun and get the best idea! Brace yourself for a super cute hug 🙂 Horace and Hattie have more adorable adventures, so be sure to check your library for the others in this series.
3. Ouch by Ragnhild Scamell (republished as Apple Trouble) —
In this story, an adorable hedgehog gets an apple stuck its back. Now hedgehog can’t fit into its den and winter is coming. The hedgehog’s animal friends try to help and get the apple off, but each attempt ends up with more things stuck to the poor hedgehog. After squeezing, and swimming, and rolling around, hedgehog and friends are running out of ideas. Fortunately, along comes a goat with a big appetite and eats all of the things that are stuck on hedgehog!
This book is perfect for fall! Friends, Hedgehog and Rabbit are enjoying the day when the wind comes through, sending leaves twirling in the air. Rabbit thinks he sees a monster! He yells and runs for safety in a hollow log. Hedgehog didn’t see anything scary, but hearing Rabbit yell, Hedgehog runs to the log too. Mistaken identities and silliness ensues as Rabbit and Hedgehog each try to scare away the monster! Despite being afraid, both Rabbit and Hedgehog muster up enough courage to help each other in acts of true friendship.
It’s time for hedgehog to hibernate, but hedgehog wants to stay awake and experience the beauty that winter brings. All of the other animals tell hedgehog about icicles and glistening snow and fun winter activities that happen while hedgehog is asleep. Determined not to miss out this year, hedgehog tries his best to stay awake with the help of a nice girl. Fortunately a snow storm comes and turns everything into a winter wonderland just before hedgehog falls asleep.
I love that this story is filled with factual information about hedgehogs! We learned that hedgehogs are nocturnal, like to eat bugs, and what they do to prepare for winter. The story itself, isn’t very long, but it is a fun read-aloud. Filled with cute pictures and lovely background colors, you and your child will definitely enjoy this book together.
Please check your public library for these books. If you choose to purchase them, please note that I joined Amazon’s Affiliate program to try and help cover the costs of my website. So if you buy something through one of my links, then I get a small percentage of the sale at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support! Happy reading 🙂
For more fall animal stories, check out my SQUIRREL BOOKS post.
Paper Plate Hedgehog Craft —
paper plate hedgehog craft
Make this cute hedgehog and let your little one and practice scissor skills!
Supplies needed are:
–1 paper plate
–water color paints
–scissors
–googly eyes
To Make:
-Cut a plate in half. Trim one of the halves to look like it has a hedgehog profile.
-Paint your hedgehog with water colors and let your project dry.
-Kids can practice scissors skills by cutting along the outer edge of the plate to make spikes. After cutting, gently push and pull spikes to separate them.
-Add googly eyes, and then you have a cute little hedgehog.
I’m obsessed with owls and crafts, so why not combine them into a cute pompom owl craft! This craft is fun and easy for little kids to make — all they have to do is color and glue. Print off the free owl template and then let your child’s creativity design a cute owl craft.
First print the free owl template. Color your owl completely as the background will show between the pompoms.
You can draw your own eyes or use googly eyes. Preschoolers tend to love googly eyes (my son does) and look for any excuse to use them! We found these orange-colored googly eyes at Michaels craft store.
Glue your pompoms all over the owl’s body. Mix and match colors and sizes, make patterns, and have fun using your creativity! Depending on how much glue you use, your pompom owl craft might take a while to dry.
More Owls!
I Spy Owls: count how many of each picture you see in this I Spy scene. Write the number in the box next to each picture.
Get creative with your paintbrushes and try cotton balls with a clothespin for painting a picture of an ice cream cone. Pinch a cotton ball in the clothespin and then dip it in paint to make a fun paintbrush! Cotton ball ice cream painting was a lot of fun! My son enjoyed using the cotton balls as a paintbrush and it remined him of his dot pens.
paper (preferably card stock or construction paper)
How To:
Painting the Cone
First, pinch a cotton ball in your clothespin. I knew we were going to use 3 different paint colors, so I had my son use 3 cotton ball clothespin brushes. If you only have 1 clothespin, it is easy to change out the cotton balls.
Pick a paint color for your ice cream cone. Pour a little paint on a paper plate. Pinch a cotton ball in a clothespin to use as a paintbrush. Gently dip the cotton ball into the paint and then stamp it onto the paper in a triangle-shape to make the cone. If your child is having trouble with this step, lightly draw a triangle shape for them to fill in with paint.
Next pick a color for your first scoop of ice cream. My son chose blue, which is also the color of the ice cream he usually picks! I poured a little blue paint onto the paper plate and he stamped his cotton ball into the paint and then onto the paper. He made his first scoop pretty big and we didn’t have much room for the second scoop.
For his second scoop, my kiddo chose purple paint. He had to squeeze his second scoop onto the top of the first scoop and quickly ran out of room on the paper. His cotton ball ice cream painting still turned out cute, even if his second scoop wasn’t very tall.
OPTIONAL: I think it would be fun to add fingerprint “sprinkles” onto your ice cream cone.
For more ice cream fun, check out my ICE CREAM post! It contains cute book recommendations and ice cream recipe so that you and your preschooler can make ice cream together at home.
