Craft Time with The Dude: Making Sock Puppets

It is once again time for "Craft Time with The Dude". This is my second of such posts and I hope to have many more to come just like it. Most of you already know (if you are a regular reader of the blog) that Tuesday night here is Daddy/Kiddo night while The Wifey is at her weekly college classes. This week was one of the greatest nights we have had during Daddy/Kiddo night as we made sock puppets and a theater to perform in. It was uber fun and ultra awesome to play when everything was finished.

How to Make Sock Puppets and a Theater

The Requirements: You will need a toddler size sock for each child participating in the craft. Toddler sizes work best for little hands and probably a lot cleaner than using your own! Next you need markers. One red for drawing on the mouth and tongue, and another color of your choice for the nose and to dot where you will put the eyes. Fabric markers are probably the best choice. I didn't have any so I went with a good old Sharpie. *Note: Do NOT let children use a Sharpie. Fumes can be strong for such little noses and there is a reason it is called a PERMANENT marker!* Finally, you will need buttons for the eyes, and glue to glue them onto the socks. 

Next you will need to construct a "theater" for the puppets to perform in. A cardboard box broken down is your best option. In our case it was the box that my electric guitar came in. Break the box down and flatten it out. You will need to fold the flaps backwards to give the theater some balance to stand upright. Next draw a box for how large of a window you want to cut out. Obviously, placement of the window will depend on the height of your children, or if they know how to kneel down to do it. The Kiddos are hyper all of the time so getting them to kneel or sit is a job in itself! Next, cut out the window. Be sure to remove loose pieces of cardboard that may have the chance to be pulled off and pose a choking hazard if inserted into the mouth. 

Next it is time to decorate the theater! Get the crayons, the stickers and the glitter paint ready! The kids had a blast with this. I admit, I helped some. It was just too much fun not to get into! Let them go crazy and put whatever they want to on it. We drew with crayons and decorated it with letters and numbers since both of The Kiddos are really into counting and the ABC's. 

Once again, let them be creative, but be watchful when using glue, paint, markers, or anything that may require the supervision of an adult. It's cool to snap some pictures of the great time you are having but always keep that parental eye watching. 

Next it is time for the puppets! Find out where the mouth will fold on your child's hand to know where to draw the mouth and tongue. Next, make two dots where the eyes will go. Using just a little bit of glue, let the kids attach the button eyes to their puppets. The Kiddos enjoyed telling me about the eyes, nose, and mouth of their puppets and pointing them out while we let the glue dry. Make certain you do not lay anything on top of the puppets are let them fold over while the glue dries. Would hate to see a kid frown because the puppet's mouth is now glued shut!

Finally: IT'S SHOW TIME!!! Your puppets and theater are complete and it is time to put on a show! Encourage their imagination and explore all of the wonderful places the puppets can go and people they can meet. Be interactive as the puppets are sure to address you directly at some point. 

This was a great activity and one that hopefully will have a lasting effect as a playtime favorite. Great for dad, mom, son, daughter, niece, nephew, cousins, and so on. Everyone is sure to have a good time. 

 

And of course, make sure you make one for yourself! What fun would it be to just sit back and watch! Of course, you don't have to just take my word for it. Give it a try yourself. Create puppets with big eyes, small eyes, red mouth, blue mouth, clothes, hair, and the works. The room for creativity in this one is endless. Let their minds go free and let the energy go nuts.

Fun Activities with the Kiddos

Tuesday night, as most of you know now, is Daddy/Kiddo night in our house. The Wifey has a night class at the college and it is one night a week where it is just me and The Kiddos. Most of the time we have all kinds of fun. We play, we run, we ride bikes, and we eat junk food until I ears pop off. Okay, maybe not that much junk, but we live like, well, KIDS!

One thing I have enjoyed with this recently is coming up with different activities to do with the little ones. Making silly videos on the computer, making sock puppets, and making paper hats. There is always so much fun stuff to do with them and it can be done very easily.

Below I have just listed some fun activities you can do with your children at home. It is good fun, and a great way to spend quality time with them and be engaged. Arts and crafts are not only fun activities, but stimulating and helps them learn new skills. I hope you get a chance to try these someday in your own house!

• Sock puppets are the most play items in the world! Well, to me they are anyway. Simple to take one of your own socks, and one for the kids, draw eyes and a nose, and let the fun begin. Simple and exciting. Putting on a play is a bonus!
• Paper Towel Roll Binoculars – Need I say more? Tape to paper towel rolls to each other and have the children looking at everything in a different view. If you are like me and have more than one, cut the tubes in half and bingo! You now have two sets. Have the kids go on a hunt for different toys while looking through the binoculars and watch them learn to love exploring!
• Cup Phones – The old school classic. We don’t use a lot of tin cans so paper cups are the next best thing. You know what to do right? Poke a small hole in the bottom of each cup. Use a measurable amount of yarn between the two and slip the ends into the small holes in the cup. Tie a knot on the inside so the yarn doesn’t pull through and PRESTO! Phones! The children will enjoy “talking on the phone” from room to room or just across the couch. Have more cups and yarn? Tie them all together and enjoy a conference call with the kids!
• Paper Plate Masks – Now this takes a little bit of patience especially if your kids are crayon happy. Draw two circles for eyes and whatever shape for the mouth you wish. Let your children color the plates using crayons or markers if they are old enough. After they are done coloring, cut out the eyes and the mouth. Poke two small holes in each plate, one on each side. Using yarn, make a strap slipping the ends of the yarn through the plate. Use a piece of scotch tape to secure the ends to the mask. Then let the fun begin. Don’t forget to make yourself a mask so you can join in the fun as well!

What kind of activities do you like to do with your children at home? Share them in the comments and help spread the good ideas with different activities to do with your children!

A Table, Chair, and Two Blankets: The Greatest Time in the World

Those of you who follow me on Twitter know that every Tuesday night is Daddy/Kiddo night. For those who don't know, let me catch you up to speed really quick like. On Tuesday nights, The Wifey has class at the college. She usually leaves around 3 and gets home around 9:30 at night. These nights are dubbed "Daddy/Kiddo" nights. Some days are rough, the kids are grouchy and what not. Some nights we have the time of our lives playing and laughing. We sing, we dance, we run around like crazy monkeys until our legs give out. This past Tuesday was one of those nights that I wish never had to end.

To keep a long story short, let's fast forward through the beginning of "Daddy/Kiddo" night. It started out with The Kiddos being grouchy. It was post nap and after school. One of those times where all the cheesies in the world could not save my sanity. Bath time came early that afternoon as I knew it would be a good way to calm them down. After bath, and after they settled the fun really got started.

We played basketball, soccer, and catch. I got the crayons out and traced The Kiddos' hands so we could make turkeys. Daddy accidentally made one of the turkeys with 4 legs instead of two. See what having kids will do to your mind? After this an idea came to me: We have never built them a fort or clubhouse.  Into the living room we went! Using their Toy Story table, a saucer chair, and two blankets I quickly constructed their first ever clubhouse and it was a hit! Little Man ran around screaming "DADDY! I LOVE MY GOOD BOY HOUSE!!!" (I am not sure why he called it his good boy house) .. The two of them played in it for hours. It was a house, a school, a cave, an igloo. It was anything they wanted it to be.

I miss having such a free mind and the ability to make anything into anything I want it to be. I miss the joy that came with new adventures. Somewhere along the way I lost sight of what it meant to be free. In this moment, sharing this new ecitement with my children, I found it again. I remembered what it was like to watch ordinary things become extraordinary and amazing once again. I watched them laugh and play. I lived in their smiles and their kisses. I will forever have the images of that time ingrained in my mind, and I will never forget again. I will not forget to sometimes just let myself go. I will never forget to let the ordinary become extraordinary. And I will never forget that we were all children at once. Every now and then, we still can be. We can live it WITH our children, and not just sit back and observe. 

Wordless Wednesday: This is How They Roll