We made coffee filter hearts recently for an early learning craft project. They are really easy to make and turn out very colorful and look beautiful hung in windows.

You will need to have coffee filters ... paint daubers or markers ... and a spray bottle filled with water. We just used a small individual size bottle.

Children can free cut the hearts but I have also included a heart pattern that can be used as a cutting guide. The pattern can be printed on cardstock paper ... I printed it on color cardstock to make it easier to see. I folder the heart in half and also the coffee filter and then put the coffee filter inside the heart and cut around the heart pattern.

You will need to put something under the coffee filter before painting is started as the paint will soak through the filter. Children dab paint daubers  on the filter and then spray water over the paint. The paint will spread and blend. Let hearts dry before hanging. You can grab the patterns here and see a video of this project below.

I made a pumpkin activity to work on early math skills as well as fine motor development. I printed out the pattern on cardstock paper. If you are not going to be using glue with this activity I recommend laminating the pumpkin mats for durability. 

The patterns come in both black and white as well as color and also with or without dots. The color patterns come with a blue sky or just a white background so you have a variety of patterns to work with to suit the needs of how you will be doing the activities.

Besides the pumpkin mat you will need to have pumpkin seeds and dice for the children to roll. We also use school glue that we put in a small container with q-tips. I also do the activity with no glue so the mat is re-usable. 

In this activity children roll the dice and put a pumpkin seed on the same number of dots on the mat. Play continues until all dots have been covered. We also work in pairs with each child having their own mat ... dice ... and pumpkin seeds. They take turns rolling the dice and covering the dots on the mat.

Children can also do a pumpkin craft by simply gluing the seeds on the pumpkin. This can be done with or without dots. The children can color in the black and white pattern first before gluing the seeds on. You can see a video of this activity and download the patterns below.

pumpkin fine motor math patterns

We made tissue paper scrunch eggs for our fine motor project this week.  I printed the pattern on cardstock and cut the egg out.  I cut various colors of tissue paper into long strips and the children cut them into small squares.

The children applied glue drops to the egg and then scrunched up pieces of tissue paper and pressed them on to the egg.

This project is wonderful for fine motor development because the children have to separate the tissue paper squares ... scrunch them ... and then press them on to the glue drops.  You can download the egg pattern for this project below:

tissue paper scrunch egg pattern

We made tissue paper hearts which is a really great craft project for working on fine motor and scissor skills.  You will need the heart pattern ... tissue paper ... scissors ... glue ... and sequins.

The first step is to print the pattern on cardstock paper and cut it out. Next cut or tear tissue paper into small squares.  Apply glue drops to the inside of the heart and press on the tissue paper squares.

If some of the tissue paper hangs over the heart you can cut off the extra. The last part is to apply glue drops on the tissue paper and press on the sequins. You do not have to add sequins but they are wonderful for fine motor development and also add a nice sparkle to the hearts.
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I am always trying to make new paint recipes to add to the variety of art materials that we use.  This week I made pudding paint and it was so easy and turned out wonderful!!

You only need to have vanilla pudding and food color.  I used the regular jell-o brand vanilla pudding but different brands will work just as well.

I put half a pudding cup in each paint cup and then added 4-6 drops of food color and mixed them together with craft sticks.  The paint can be used for both
regular paint with brushes and finger painting.  You can see a video by clicking below.
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We made jello paint and the children really loved it.  It was super easy to do and it smelled so good!! 

You will need:

jello (any brand)
warm water
containers or muffin tin
something to stir with (we used craft sticks)

I started by putting about a third of the package of jello into small container.  I then put in enough warm water just to cover the top of the jello. Next I stirred the water and jello together and repeated with the other colors.

The paint mixture will be granular which will add a nice texture to the painting. It will take a few hours to dry but when it does it has a really nice shine to it. I used regular jello and not the sugar-free kind.

The mixture does thicken over time (hours) but you can always add more warm water or even make a new batch. You can see a video of how I made my jello paint by clicking below: