Wowzer Wednesday - "sewing" with a two year old

My husband and mom share the same birthday (day, not year). Happy Birthday! Every year I have fun trying to come up with something special for both of them. This year was easy for my husband because our daughter was very interested in making her own special gift for him. Last week I asked her what she wanted to give her daddy for his birthday. She thought about it for a minute and then said, "a teddy bear for him to snuggle with." I had the perfect idea...to get one of those stuffed animals you color and let her decorate it for his gift. When we went to Joanne's with our 40% off coupon, I was disappointed because they didn't have any coloring stuffed animals. But we did find a great Build A Bear kit to make your own little bear. She picked out a "bear" that I think looks more like a monkey. It's okay...it was her gift, not mine.

We don't have any pictures of my daughter actually using the plastic needle and sewing the bear because I was helping her carefully stitch in the designated holes on the fabric. It took us a couple of hours but she was very focused and we eventually had the bear all sewn together.

My daughter had a lot of fun stuffing the bear and she wouldn't let me help.


I let her use fabric markers to "decorate" the bear's shirt. She was so proud of her finished bear and couldn't wait to give it to her daddy!

He loved the gift!! Mr. Bear is now sitting on top of the desk in his office.

Take note that the box suggested this project for ages six and up. I took a big risk allowing my two year old daughter to make this! Fortunately she was actually able to do everything...it just took us two hours longer than it should have!

 

Cold weather puppet theatre

We live in Arizona where it is warm 98% of the time.  It has been exceptionally cold this week.  We normally walk to the park and play outside a lot but we've had to stay busy inside because of the cold weather.  Today I made a little puppet theatre out of a cardboard box and some felt.  I'm sure you have plenty of boxes from holiday gifts that have not yet made it to recycling.  Go find one and make a puppet theatre for those cold rainy days! 

I found a narrow box and cut off the bottom and a window in the front.  Then I cut out felt grass, trees, sun, and clouds.  I attached them to the box with my hot glue gun.  I found a few other things in my craft room (dragonfly stickers, ladybug embellishment, felt bunnies and birds, and paper flowers).  They are also glued on with the glue gun.

I simply tacked it to the wall in my daughter's play room.  Then we had a puppet show.

She loved it!

This was a very quick project and I didn't purchase anything to make it!