Category Archives: Giveaway

I have a dream handprints

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handprintsThis project is a great addition to a celebration of Martin Luther King Day, or any discussion on peace, friendship and diversity. This year Martin Luther King Day falls on January 16, 2012.

If you are celebrating MLK Day, you can talk to your child/children about Martin Luther King Jr. and explain that he was a very important man whose birthday we celebrate on the third Monday in January. You can talk about how Dr. King wanted to end “discrimination” (that’s a big concept for young children). You can explain that discrimination is treating someone differently because they are not like you. Explain that Dr. King wanted everyone to be treated fairly, no matter what color their skin is. Tell them that Dr. King “had a dream” that one day everyone would be treated fairly and have the same opportunities.

You can talk about the diversity in your classroom, how everyone has different hair, eye and skin color – and yet they are ONE community and that they are all friends. Ask them to think about a dream they have for their class, for their family or for the world.

Then, give each child a piece of white paper shaped as a heart, in the center write “I have a dream…”. Have the children write or dictate their dream and write it on the heart. Glue the white heart to a slightly larger red heart and then glue to the center of a rectangular sheet of construction paper.

Then, using multicultural skin tone paints – have the children dip a hand in one color paint and press onto one side of the paper. Then have the children dip their other hand in another color and press on the other side of their paper. Explain how this symbolizes our friendship with each other, and that we all have the same dreams for a better world!

You can hang these on a bulletin board, along with the following poem/song (author unknown):

(Sing to the tune of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.”)

Let’s all live in peace,

Let’s play in harmony.

Red, yellow, brown, or white,

We’re all one family.

Celebrating Martin Luther King Day in preschool

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Martin Luther King DayMonday, January 16, 2012 we will be celebrating the life of Martin Luther King Jr. in the US. It is a good opportunity to talk to our youngest students about fairness, equality, friendship and peace. Parents and preschool teachers can recognize this day with some age appropriate art and learning activities.

We are different and the same activity
You can talk with young children about how even though we are different in many ways (skin color, hair color, eye color, age, etc.) – that EVERYONE is special and we have many of the same hopes, dreams and feelings on the inside. A simple activity that highlights this concept uses brown and white eggs. Show the child/children how the eggs look different on the outside. Ask them what is different about the eggs? Then open them up and show them that even though they look different on the outside – they are the same on the inside, just like people. Afterwards, you can cook up the eggs for snack – compare how they taste!

Handprint wreath
An art project that you can also do on this day is to make a handprint wreath using multicultural skin tone paints. In a classroom setting, this is a beautiful way to reflect the diversity in your classroom … in a home setting, it is a wonderful way to explore all the lovely shades of skin colors that exist in the world. Paint children’s hands with the paints and have them make a print on a sheet of paper. Once dry, cut out handprints and arrange them in a circle on a bulletin board or large sheet on easel paper. Display with the heading “Love comes in many colors”!

Other MLK Day ideas from around the web
There are so many great resources available online to get more ideas to celebrate MLK Day. Here are just a few that I found, take a visit and get inspired!

“I have a dream” handprints The SEEDS Network

MLK Day ideas Our Pinterest MLK board

Teaching diversity to children PreK and K Sharing

Learning about Martin Luther King Jr in preschool Teach Preschool

Crafts for Martin Luther King Jr Day Frugal Family Fun

Martin Luther King Activities Twiggle Magazine

Martin Luther King Preschool Plan It

Crafty 4 Kids Giveaway: “I am Uniquely Made” paper dolls!

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Crafty 4 KidsCONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNER… Jennifer C.! Winner notification has been sent by email. Thanks so much to all who visited and participated!

We are excited to participate in the Crafty Kits 4 Kids Giveaway Event with 13 other crafty bloggers! The event will run from August 1st – 13th. (Winners will be drawn on August 14th). Hop around to each blog and enter in one or all of them to have a chance to win a crafty kit for your kids!

Here is our kit that my daughter was all too eager to test out for me! I had access to make some paper doll die cuts, so I started there, but I wanted to add another element to it. Since we have been doing a lot of “Tie Dyeing” this summer, I figured why not do that for our paper dolls! So, here is our “I am Uniquely Made” paper doll kit!

This is a two-part craft – but as I found out from doing this with my daughter – your child may have some of their own ideas to extend the activity (which is always great!).

PART 1: Mini tie-dye t-shirts

Using t-shirt patterns (which will be included in the kit), cut t-shirt shapes out of coffee filters. There will also be traceable “die cut clothes” for the paper dolls, so you can trace and cut out some doll shirts from the coffee filters as well.

Give your child the coffee filter t-shirts and let them use washable markers to color them in any design they wish. Once they are done designing, have them use a small spray bottle with water to spritz the shirts. You can do this outside, or on a piece of wax paper inside. Have them watch how the colors spread and blend. Set them aside to dry (they will dry in the sun very quickly, if doing this outside).

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My daughter was insisting on making one of her dolls shirts ALL pink (but of course, I wanted her to make a tie-dye). So, she did both – and it was fun to note how evenly the marker color spread when she colored the entire shirt pink (no need for spraying that one!) She added some cute sticker polka dots (see pic above) – so I threw some of those in the kit as well! 🙂

The larger t-shirts can be strung up with mini-clothespins on some cord or string (included). These can be hung up on the fridge or in their room.

The doll sized shirts will be used for their paper dolls … now onto Part 2!

PART 2: Paper dolls

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You can use paper doll shapes that come in the kit (there are plenty for multiple children in the kit) — but you can also save one or two to use as templates to cut more dolls out of cardstock. Give your child a paper doll, and have him/her make the facial features. They can draw them or use other embellishments that are included, such as googly eyes, pom pom noses and yarn for hair. When the shirts are dry, they can add glue and attach the shirt to their doll.

Now, I had planned to hang the dolls on the fridge to display – but my daughter, of course, had other plans. These dolls are also good for playing with, so have your child make a few!

The GIVEAWAY!

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We are giving away a kit of paper dolls with all the “trimmings” so your child/ren can make a plenty of paper dolls! In this kit, we are including: a set of 8 washable markers, over 10 paper doll die cuts (in two different sizes) , paper doll clothing die cuts, polka dot stickers, 2 sizes of googly eyes, mini-pom poms, mini-clothespins, coffee filters (some already cut into t-shirt shapes, yarn samples, 2 glue sticks and t-shirt templates and instructions.

How to enter (mandatory)

Leave us a comment below on what YOUR favorite “paper” craft was as a child (or a favorite “paper” craft that your child currently loves)!

Then send us an email with your contact information (via our form on the right, or directly atThe SEEDS Network) – so that we may contact you if you win. (Your email address will never be sold, and we will not put you on our email distribution list unless you specifically ask us to do so.)

Additional entries

Receive additional entries into the contest by doing any/all of the following:
• Follow us on Twitter
• Subscribe by email or follow us via RSS
• Make a comment on any non-giveaway post on The SEEDS Blog. You can do this for up to 5 posts but please note that the comment must be dated after the start date of the giveaway – not valid on previous comments. (1 entry per comment)

You can also receive updates on blog posts, events and new website features by following us on Facebook.

Open WORLDWIDE. Giveway ends August 13, 2011. Winner will be drawn by random.org and announced on this blog as well as emailed. Winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be drawn. Email address must be sent to us so we can contact you.