Uncategorized – Page 3 – Cecelia's Spot

Yummy Yogurt Drops

I don’t know about you, but we always have extra yogurt around the house. When Madison was younger, she would gobble it down. Not so much anymore. One thing to do with extra yogurt is freeze it. I make them into drops and now she can’t get enough of them! It’s not only delicious but nutritious.

First, you get a baking sheet and put parchment paper on it. You can use any kind of yogurt, greek, whole milk, whatever you choose.

Next, you put the yogurt in a ziploc bag and cut the bottom corner so you can make perfect circles of yogurt on your parchment. Who am I kidding here? Madison doesn’t care if they are perfect shapes or not, so I used a spoon. It was quicker.

Next, you get to decorate. Your child can help you with this!

You can add all kinds of things to make them extra yummy if you like or leave them plain. Sprinkles, fruit, and anything else you think might be delicious you can add on top of your yogurt bites. I happened to have a giant bag of frozen fruit, so we added some of that.

Finally, put the whole baking sheet in the freezer for at least 4 hours. Remove and put in airtight container in freezer. I just popped mine into a freezer bag for a quick snack!

Other variations include blending the fruits or veggies into the bites, almost like a smoothie and then piping it or spooning it onto the baking sheet. Good for toddler, kids, and adults alike! They will be saying, “More, more more!”

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DIY Felt Height Chart

Years ago I made my sister a felt hot balloon height chart for her baby shower and I’ve meant to make my own baby (more of a toddler now) a height chart. So, I headed out to the local craft store.

I knew I wanted to make a height chart with her favorite things, a panda and a moon. Her first birthday was twinkle twinkle theme, so stars would be perfect.

For this project I used:

1 yard white felt
Pink Embroidery Floss
Sewing needle
Black Fabric marker
assorted sheets of felt in different colors
Hot glue gun
Measuring tape
ruler

First, I cut the yard of white felt into 2 pieces. Next, I lined them up so they were about 6 feet high back to back and hot glued them together.

I cut out the star shapes using a cookie cutter. I traced the stars onto the white and yellow felt and then cut them out. You could also print a star out to trace, or free hand it. I drew the moon, panda, and bamboo freehand and cut out the felt pieces. If you are making different shapes and animals, just do the same. Trace or freehand and cut them out!

Next, I used a measuring tape and ruler to draw the lines for each inch. I made each foot line a bit longer, and the 1/2 foot a little longer too. For the numbers, I decided to use stencils. Again, you could free hand or trace. I used the stencils on the pink felt fabric squares and cut them out.

I used embroidery floss since I was doing this all by hand. If you have a sewing machine you would approach this differently, and it certainly wouldn’t take as long. I decided to work on it while I was watching television in the evening or when my girl was napping.

I simply put the embroidery floss through the needle and did a double knot. I brought the floss through the back first, and looped it in and out of the the numbers, along the outside. I did this for each number. I placed the moon next, and did the same thing, when finished I cut the floss and knotted it off (make sure you do this on the back of the felt so you don’t see the knots). I did this for all of the shapes and animals on the height chart.

The scene with the panda on the bottom of the height chart took more time due to the detailed sewing. I had to hot glue the eyes because the layers made it too thick to get through. I sewed an x on his belly button. I had a lot of extra thread and wanted to do a border, so I sewed the border all the way around. This is definitely a keepsake.

This can be used for many different designs. You could sew on your child’s name, different animals, shapes, and so on.

Here is a pic of the hot air balloon height chart I made for my sister:

As for recording their height, you can write the date and age for each child right on the chart, or you could use tags like these with safety pins. This will allow you to use this again, or use for more than one child.

This is a great gift for a baby shower, birthday, or to make your own child.

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Valentine’s Heart Suncatcher (SO EASY)!

I’ve had contact paper sitting around for quite a while and decided it was time to use it! I had a snow (ice) day today and wanted a fun valentine’s craft for my toddler.

You will need:

-tissue paper in different colors

-contact paper

-tape

-glitter

-construction paper

I used pink construction paper to cut out the heart. I simply folded the paper in half and cut out the heart shape.

Next, I cut out a smaller heart from the middle of the heart. This made a nice border.

I cut out contact paper and put the heart on top of it. To get the contact paper to stay still and smooth, I put tape on the edges to keep it down.

Here comes the fun part! Decorate! The heart is on the sticky contact paper, so anything will stick to it. My little girl used glitter and cut up pieces of tissue paper.

I underestimated how much she would love using glitter!

If she had a choice she would’ve just used glitter…all of it!

She LOVED this activity, so much that we made a few suncatchers! They make great presents for family 🙂

When your child is done decorating (or they’ve used all of the glitter), put another sheet of contact paper (sticky side down) on top of the heart. Cut out the extra contact paper around your heart.

Then you are done! Hang it in a window that gets sunlight! You can hole punch and put a string on it or use contact paper to put it on the window. We will definitely make this again as she loved it soooo much! It’s a great craft idea for any age!

Since tomorrow is Valentine’s day and it’s currently snowing outside, the sky is cloudy. I couldn’t get a great picture of the finished product, but will post the pictures anyways. Keep in mind that the glitter is colored and will shine brightly when the sun is out but today it is cloudy!

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Homemade Hot Chocolate, Told by a Toddler

Mmmmm…this is the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had! It definitely doesn’t taste like that stuff from a packet!

Mommy used these ingredients:

2 cups of whole milk
4 oz ( almost 1 cup of bittersweet chocolate chips)
optional: 2 tbsp. of sugar

Mommy made it from scratch and here is what she did:

First, she put 2 cups of whole milk in a saucepan and heated it up on medium on the stove.

She didn’t let it boil, she waited until the little bubbles showed up around the outer circle of the milk in the pan.

While this was going on she poured the bittersweet chocolate chips, 1 cup into a bowl and microwaved it in 30 second intervals (oh I know a fancy word). She mixed it in between each time until it was all melted.

Next she turned off the stove when the little bubbles formed around the outside of the milk and mixed in the chocolate with a whisk.

Yumm….

This is so good and chocolatey. Very rich and thick! More! More I say! How about some whipped cream or marshmallows? Pleasssse?

When we were done I wanted more but mommy put the rest in a large mug in the refrigerator for tomorrow.

I can’t wait!

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A Family of Superheroes

Does your child like to play make believe? Ours is just getting into it at almost 2 years old. How do I know? We went to story time at the library last week and one of the songs, “The Ants Go Marching” includes pretending to pick up sticks. She was great at pretending to pick them up and continues to do it at home! She loves playing with tea and pretending to have picnics and play in the “sand” inside.

We’ve been stuck inside for a few days and the dreaded day I am to return to work from my child rearing leave keeps getting delayed due to snow days (hey, I’m okay with that). So what do we do? We pretend we are a family of superheroes!

My husband and I used blankets, but knew they were too long and wouldn’t stay on our little girl. I did a quick google search and found out how to make a t-shirt no sew cape for Madison. All you need to do is take an old adult t-shirt (that you don’t want anymore) and cut it a few inches under the collar in the front. Continue cutting around to the back a few inches from the collar and down the back (the sleeves get cut off). Do the same on both sides and you will have a cape that simply slips over your child’s head.

If you want to be fancy you can add a design on the back with fabric markers, iron on images and so on. We happened to have an image on the shirt already.

We pretended that the snow was piling up in her room and we had to save all of her stuffed animals by putting them on the couch in the living room. She loved racing down the hall while we shouted, “Fly to the room, save the stuffies! Super Maddy saves the day!” Singing also helps and humming superhero ballads. She loved this so much we did it multiple times today and putting that cape together took about one minute (as you an tell by my hasty cutting).

It’s definitely priceless to see your toddler stretch her arms out in front of her in the flying pose while yelling, “Save the stuffies!” Start a family of superheroes today!

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Felt Snowman Fun!

What’s that? A foot in the corner of the picture? Yes! Madison couldn’t wait to get her hands on the felt snowman and decorate him!

My pile of felt was stacking up after doing a few projects and Christmas was over…what to do with it? I took down the amazing felt tree my sister made after the holidays and felt a bit depressed. Noooo Christmas can’t be over! Winter isn’t over, so why not make a felt snowman similar to the felt tree Madison loved so much?

The project is very simple & super cheap!

You need:

Felt in various colors: white, orange, black and a few other colors for the hat, buttons, and mouth.
Velcro
scissors

First, I cut out the 3 circles for the snowman out of white felt purchased at a local craft store (you can also get cheap felt at Walmart). I didn’t use any patterns, but just cut everything free hand. You could also use a marker to draw the shapes first, then cut them out.

I went with simple features, a carrot nose, 2 arms, and a scarf. You can choose whatever colors suit you. I made 4 buttons, a mouth, rosy cheeks, eyes, and 4 hats.

Why 4 hats you ask? Madison likes to dress up different dolls and I thought she would like to make the snowman not only something she puts together, but gets to switch the different features. Plus, I had lots of extra fabric and time. After cutting everything out I hot glued the 3 white circles that make up the snowman together.

Another option would be to put velcro on the bottom of the top 2 white circles and your child could put the snowman together that way. I know my toddler, and she likes to pull on things, so gluing it together was the best option for us.

I bought velcro with sticky back so I wouldn’t have to glue it. I simply used the hook side of the velcro. Yes, I had to look that up, the hook side aka the rough side. I cut each piece depending on what I was using the velcro on. For example, the scarf is long so I used at least 5 inches of the hook side of the velcro.

For the buttons I used about an inch each. You don’t need the soft side, the loop. If you use felt then the rough side of the velcro will stick to the velcro. After you cut the hook velcro just peel off the sticky side and put it on your snowman accessory. Do this for each accessory. When you are all done putting velcro on, you can have your child decorate!

If you wish you can put dots on the buttons and lines on the carrot nose with a sharpie marker! You can lay this on the floor or hang it up for your little one to decorate. It also makes a great present!

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How to Make an Owl Costume, It’s a Hoot!

What a hoot! I made this owl costume for my toddler girl for Halloween. This costume can be adapted for any age! Not only is it soooo cute, but it’s also soft, comfortable, and easy to make!

Let’s start with the materials. If you are making this for a larger toddler, child, or adult, you will need more material. You will need:

Felt, 3 or 4 colors or more, I ordered half a yard of each and it was more than enough
Hot glue and hot glue gun (I got a cheaper version at Michaels and it worked great!)
Scissors
A piece of cardstock or thicker paper

Let’s start with the cape (aka wings).

I didn’t have cardstock so I used a flier in the mail for my pattern. I simply drew a teardrop design and cut it out. To make all of the feathers for the owl, you must trace the teardrop design over and over.

I ended up tracing over 80 feathers in each color. I did this because I wanted to do wings (the cape) and put feathers on the front of the sweatshirt (optional). Trace the feathers in each color and cut them out.

I used 3 colors, but I recommend 4. If you have 4 feathers it will be easier to vary the pattern the feathers are glued in, so that there is no repetitions. 3 colors definitely works though.

Next, measure the wingspan of your toddler (or adult). You can use a measuring tape or eyeball it with the fabric like I did. I held up the white felt with my daughter’s arms outstretched and make a mark from fingertip to fingertip. You can also adjust and cut the cape when you are finished, so if you are unsure make it a little larger.

Next, warm up your glue gun and choose a pattern for your feathers and glue them on. I put glue on the top half of the feather, so that when I did the next row I could snuggle a feather underneath the bottom of the feather. Check out the picture to see what I’m talking about.

The feathers overlap so don’t put glue on the bottom half of your feathers. You’ll notice the first row I did very straight, as I was working I realized I wanted to tilt feathers a bit to the side so they looked more natural. Continue gluing until you have filled up the wings!

Beautiful! Now it’s time to add a tie to the top sides. You want the wings to be able to tie around your toddler’s neck. I wanted something that wasn’t tight, would hang down, and very comfy, so I used felt. I cut some extra pieces of felt. I simply used my scissors and in the upper right and left hand corner of the large piece of white felt (that the feathers are glued to), I made a hole with the scissor. I tied the shoelace type felt piece on each and wallah! Then I could tie the cape together.

The cape is done. I happened to have an owl hat. If you don’t have a hat, you can make one. If you like to crochet, then simply google and find a video and pattern. If you want to make the hat from felt (which is easier), then simply google “diy toddler owl felt hat.”

Here is where options come into place. You can do the wings and hat and leave it at that. I bought a pink sweatshirt and pants at walmart for $10 for the costume, but you can use any clothes you like.

This is a picture without doing the feathers on the front of the sweatshirt. This is very cute and if it’s cold weather in your area, will work great with a winter coat.

I went ahead and did the front of the sweatshirt, but as you can see in the picture below, ended up covering it anyway because of the cold weather. The cape (wings) can easily go over a large winter coat.

If you want to cover the front of a shirt, then simply cut out more feathers. I wanted to reuse my sweatshirt, so I didn’t glue the feathers to the sweatshirt. I measured the front of the shirt, used a large piece of white felt and glued feathers to the felt (just like the cape). Next, I put it on top of the shirt and sewed it on in the corners. This way I can simply cut the thread and take the felt off and use the sweatshirt again. If you don’t want to use the shirt again, gluing is easier.

Happy Halloween! I hope you have a hoot of a time!!!

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You’ve Been Booed!

Have you ever been booed? If not, now’s the time to start the booing in your neighborhood!

Am I talking about hanging outside your neighbor’s house and jumping out in a ghost costume the minute they get out the door? No! I’m talking about the contagious spread of joy! Whether you are a little kid or an older adult, this is so much fun! I love sneaking up to neighbors’ houses and dropping off the treats. The key is to make sure no one sees you!

Here’s how it works. Find a free printable online, you can search “you’ve been booed” and countless links come up. Here is the one we used: https://www.happinessishomemade.net/free-youve-been-booed-printables/

You can use paper lunch bags, or any containers you like to hold treats for 2 houses. Madison and I had fun going to target and getting green pumpkins for $1!

Include the printables so people know they have been booed. Make sure you check the doors of your neighbors to confirm they haven’t been booed yet! You can include any kind of treats you want. We decided to include Halloween goodies we already had for trick or treaters: pretzel bags, reese’s, kit kats, and pencils.

Your little one, or you will enjoy filling a treat bag or pumpkin knowing it’s going to surprise a neighbor!

If they have already been booed, you will see the “We’ve Been Booed” signs on their door. Now here is the fun part, make sure they don’t see you! You can do this when it’s dark, or when you notice they aren’t home. I’m home during work hours, so it wasn’t hard to see who wasn’t home. We got to deliver in the daylight!

Sneak up to their door and place the treats outside their door. Then run away! Kids and adults will be wondering who placed the unexpected treats at their door! Then it’s their turn. They will read the paper in the treat bag and boo 2 more people!
It’s so much fun to watch the we’ve been booed signs go up in the neighborhood, knowing you started a fun game of giving!

If you don’t live in a neighborhood, but still have houses in sight, you can still do this! Give it a try, it’s even more fun to give than to receive!

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Easy Peasy Paint Present

If you have a special occasion coming up and are looking for a gift from your baby, toddler, or child, I have an easy peasy present idea!

Paint…UGH PAINT! The word can invoke fear in any parent, except this is mess free! Okay, almost mess free.

My mom’s birthday was coming up and I wanted to give her something from her granddaughter. I searched online and found this simple craft. I will admit I improvised because I was missing some of the items and I will mention what worked & what didn’t as I go through the steps.

First, gather your materials. You will need:

-Paint in various colors (I used finger paint)

-cardstock (I used regular paper but it didn’t work so well)

-gallon ziplock bag

-picture frame (if you choose to use it as a gift)

-Heart stencil (or you could just draw it yourself)

-scissor

Next, put your choice of colors on your cardstock paper. Note: I didn’t use cardstock and it ripped easily and you could see through some of it. SO USE CARDSTOCK paper or thicker paper. If you are in a pinch you can use regular paper but you will have to be very gentle with it.

YES, I USED WAYYYYY TOO MUCH PAINT!!! My paint came jumping out of the bottle super fast, I’m really not sure how that happened (haha). It takes longer to dry with all that paint. It took days for it to dry when it should’ve taken overnight.

Take your cardstock paper and put it in a gallon sized ziplock. This insures your project will be mostly mess free! If you need to cut down the paper a little, go for it.

Now it’s time for fun!!! Let your child smear the paint!

Your child will love smearing the paint and you will love that it’s mess free!

When you like the smeared look your child has made, carefully take it out of the bag and leave it in a safe place to dry.

Look at all of that paint!!! TOOO MUCH! If you put way too much on like me, you can either dab it off with a paper towel or give it days to dry.

Here’s where you can vary the project. I drew a heart on a new piece of paper (use cardstock) and cut it out. You can pick any shape you like! If you are super crafty you could even cut out a name or shape of an animal. Cut down the paper to whatever size you would like it to fit. I cut it down to fit a frame. However, you could also make this into wall art, a card, or anything you can imagine!

Place the cut out on top of your painted paper. I moved mine around to find which colors I wanted to show. Cut the back painted piece to fit the frame. If you would like to write a message on the paper, go for it! Put in it a frame or glue and fold for a card!

Easy Peasy Paint Present! Note: I used regular paper and you can see that there are places you can see through the top paper. I highly recommend cardstock or thicker paper.

This project is perfect for any occasion!!! This could be done for birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays.

I’m thinking green colors with a Christmas tree or wreath cutout for Christmas! You could also use the paint bag trick for ornaments. Instead of using a top layer, just let the painted paper dry, cut out a tree shape, hole punch and use a ribbon and wallah!

box celebrate celebration christmas — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

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Adventures with chalk

We recently had our driveway paved after years of dealing with rain washing the end of it out.

I was afraid my kids would miss the giant puddles carved out by the rainwater, but, to my chagrin, they love playing on the driveway!

With a paved driveway comes CHALK, and lots of it! Who doesn’t love chalk?

Here are some games we like to play with chalk for toddlers, and who knew there were so many?!?

1) You can simply use chalk and make a line for your little one to walk, follow on bike, or any other transport you have! I also sometimes make stop signs or spaces between the lines for her to jump to the next line. You can include roundabouts twirls and other excitement if it doesn’t overwhelm your toddler. You can get even more creative with hopscotches included or follow the alphabet or numbers.

2) Alphabet or number jump is a new game I really enjoy using for my 3 year old. I use numbers or the alphabet and write the letter or number in one color and then circle it (or square) in a different color. I put a couple letters next to each other so she has to stop and decide which one she needs to jump to next. It helps the toddler learn their numbers and alphabet visually and also they get physical activity.

3) bullseye! Make a circle or multiple circles and put numbers in them. Draw a line and have your toddler stand behind it and throw a ball (or small pebbles or what not), and try and get it in the circles. Or you can do this and make it shapes, and tell your toddler to get it in the square, rectangle or whatever shape you like.

4) hopscotch-extended. You can make a really long hopscotch perhaps circling a car or just a very long one. Kids love hopscotch!

5) Colors! For my son who is learning his colors and shapes and counting, I draw shapes in different main colors and he loves to come over and color all over whatever I am drawing. Then I repeat the color and he says it back to me. Then you can count how many circles so on and so forth.

6) Tracing, Stenciling! Chalk stencils are sold almost everywhere now, so you little one can color in the holes and be amazed at the picture she/he has created! My daughter also loves tracing people laying down, or mommy tracing her and then coloring in the face and hair!

7) drawing dots game! If your toddler is approaching preschool age, draw big dots and have him connect the dots by drawing a line (starting left to right-like how they will read).

Have fun and be creative! Your kids can play and learn at the same time!

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