Preschool Crafts - Bugs!

"I am an artist" SchmoopyBoy tells me. Indeed. We literally have bags full of sheets of paper and posterboard with his drawings, paintings, and miscellaneous crafts that he has brought home from preschool. I finally figured out what to do with all of this artwork - recycle it into craft supplies for home crafts! Here are a couple things SchmoopyBoy has made recently.

Butterfly Valentine

This is what we made to give to Daddy for Valentine's Day. I got the idea here, and just adapted it to the supplies I had on hand. SchmoopyBoy picked out the color of tissue paper he wanted for the body, as well as which of his paintings from school he wanted to use for the wings. I created a heart shaped template from an empty cereal box. At first I had him draw the face with a sharpie, but then I remembered we had googly eyes and offered those. What 3 year old can resist googly eyes? I think they add a fun touch. I wrote a valentine message ("You make my heart flutter", in case you can't read it) and SchmoopyBoy added his own message (on the right it says "I love my butterfly" and on the left it says "Happy Valentines Day" in case you were wondering). It was a big hit.

"Three-Eye'd Butterfly-Bee" Box

This does not look the way I had originally envisioned it. I found this craft here (scroll down to the Cereal Box Valentine Card Holder Craft). I had intended it to look more like the original pictured. But SchmoopyBoy is "an artist" and far be it for me to stand between an artist and his vision. I picked out a smaller box and figured he could put toys or knick knacks in it. At first SchmoopyBoy said he wanted it to be a bee. He found a school craft that was a piece of orange construction paper covered in glitter and chose that as the body and head. When we were looking for another sheet to use for wings we found another piece of orange construction paper, this time covered with stickers. He insisted the wings be square and I commented on how the wings make it look kind of like a butterfly. He agreed and declared his creation a Butterfly-Bee. Eyes - there had to be three. Had to. Then, two arms and two legs. Of course.

I love how he took ownership of this craft and made it his own true creation. I tell you, I wish I had a fraction of the imagination of this kid. I was the kid who always was trying to make my stuff look "right". SchmoopyBoy currently doesn't have such boundaries on his creativity. I hope I can nurture this as he gets older.

Fun, easy to do, easy to clean up - my kind of crafts.