The Mom I Want to Be

Make your art roll. If your child can’t put down his favorite car to pick up a brush, let him use the vehicle as a brush. Show him how to drive trucks and trains over puddles of wash-able paint on a cookie sheet, then roll off the paint in designs on paper taped to the floor.

 

Put wheels on anything. Buy wooden wheels at a hardware store for a dollar or two, then make your own vehicles by attaching them to objects with nails, wooden skewers, or golf tees. Turn a flat-bottomed potato into a spud-mobile. Transform a Styrofoam block into a car, or link three to make a train.

 

Create a transportation system. On the sidewalk, or on large pieces of paper that are taped to the floor, draw a town’s transportation system, including construction sites for trucks, a garbage dump, an airport, and a bus terminal. Then let your child get rolling, flying, and digging. You can even put “trash” or dirt in little piles for him to scoop up and deliver.

 

Watch transporting videos. When you need a break from all that motion in your house, slow down with a marathon of Bob the Builder ($10 and up DVD, $7 and up VHS, HIT Entertainment), which shows the functions of various equipment and gives lessons in teamwork and cooperation. I Dig Dirt ($15 DVD, $13 VHS, Dreams Come True Productions) offers a non-animated, realistic view of big equipment in action.

 

 

Traffic Lights. Cut a large rectangle of black paper. Cut 3 circles to fit on the rectangle. They should be green, yellow and red. Glue the circles in correct order (Red, yellow, green top to bottom) onto the rectangle to make a traffic light. Talk about what the light and each of it’s colors means.

 

Simple Car. Cut out simple car silhouette and two discs of card for wheels. Punch hole through wheels and main body of car and fasten with split pins (I think you call them Brads in America – they are called split pins in England!). Decorate car – can be used as a gift for Father’s Day!!! We did this craft at my Mother & Toddler Group and we had the children painting the car – what a mess they made – they loved it. ~ Submitted by Julie

 

Edible Traffic Lights. Spread peanut butter on a quarter section of a graham cracker. Use a red, yellow, and green M & M’s to make the lights.