The Summer Crafts

Karla and I spent our whole summer preparing arts and crafts for our kiddos. We even came to a point when we ran out of supplies so we had to be more resourceful. Instead of rushing to a nearby National Bookstore, we chose to have a "scavenger hunt" in our school's stock room or study rooms in our respective homes to save time and money. With our limited resources, I'm proud to say that we were able to make some fun, colorful, and age-appropriate arts and crafts activities for our kiddos.

lettuce, bacon, and cheese cut-outs

sandwich bags

sandwich! :)

 For our lesson about picnic, one of our subtopics is the food we eat when we go on a picnic so we thought of sandwiches. It was really challenging to think of an arts and crafts activity about sandwiches! Karla was the one who made these and I was so happy upon seeing these cut-outs on our table the next day. She's so resourceful! She also drew the details on each piece of the lettuce and bacon cut-outs. Sipag! ;) 

   

I wouldn't forget the day I drew the coloring page for our class. It was my first time to be early in school. Hahaha! I asked one of the teacher-aides to photocopy my drawing because she knows how to operate the machine.

bathing suits and board shorts

For our lesson on swimming, we decided to make small bathing suits for the girls and board shorts for the boys. Karla did these cut-outs. I remember telling her that she's so matiyaga and masipag because drawing the details of these cut-outs (more than 10) is not an easy task!

snorkels!

 What's more? These snorkels were also Karla's masterpiece. ;) Super hands-down talaga ako noong pinakita niya sa akin ang mga ito. I'm beyond amazed! 

These are our kiddos' finished product. They all enjoyed decorating their snorkels!

This is the activity on our second to the last day. The kiddos decorated the sprinklers with the flower cut-outs and soft and colored popsicle sticks. If you noticed, the flowers were not proportional because I cut these at around 4am. Medyo inaantok pa ako habang naggugupit. :)) I was running out of ideas the night before so I chose to sleep it off and wake up early instead. :)) Nevertheless, Pinterest will always be my life-saver! ;)

You don't need expensive materials to be able to make fun arts and crafts activities for the kids. As long as you have the markers, colored papers, scissors, glue, PLUS passion, dedication, creativity, resourcefulness, and Pinterest (hahaha!) on your side, you're good to go. Good luck! :)

Going Back to Basics

Top: Bench | Pants: HerBench | Necklace, bracelet, and watch: Bazaar

You know how much I love sales and discounts. Imagine how happy I was upon seeing the sign that says "2 for 449php" at Bench while walking around the mall some weeks ago. I bought navy blue, pink, brown, and dark blue. I didn't have any second thoughts as I pay at the cashier because I know that these would be very, very useful. 

Last Sunday, I chose to wear my navy blue basic tee and paired it with pants. It was a laid back outfit but I liked it. It's a perfect choice of outfit for a hot summer day. I think that it made me look a little bit slimmer as well. My dark colored top was able to hide my big tummy. HAHA. Kidding aside, nothing goes wrong with a basic tee and pants combo. It never goes out of style. Classic, indeed.

To keep my outfit interesting, I wore some quirky accessories which I all got from a bazaar. I fell in love with the mustache watch the first time I laid eyes on it so I bought it immediately. My aunt was surprised to know that I got it for as low as 300php! I'd like to think that it's also a mere case of serendipity; I found something useful by accident. Anyway, on another note, the bracelet brought a pop of color to the outfit. I like it's edgy appearance and it really stands out. I feel like a rockstar whenever I wear it. ;) The elephant necklace, on the other hand, goes well with my watch and bracelet that's why I used it.

Sandals: Jelly Nelly

I did some color blocking when I used my sandals from Jelly Nelly. This pair goes well with the outfit too. I can wear this the whole day without worrying about my feet because they're sooo comfortable and stylish. This has to be my favorite sandals! 

Have a good day everyone! :)

The Thursday Playlist

 22 by Taylor Swift

Clarity by Zedd feat. Foxes

 

Just Give Me a Reason by Pink feat. Nate Ruess

 

The Summer Flip-Flops

I am a professional crammer. The elders do not approve because cramming or procrastination leads to a "half-baked-half-cooked" outcome, but it doesn't happen all the time. Just like in my case. For some weird reason, I get ideas on the last minute! Whenever I'm under time pressure, I have the tendency to think beyond the box and I usually surprise myself when I finish a particular task. As Hazel puts it, it's called "productive procrastination". However, I'm trying to overcome this habit because I always end up sleeping late and that alone is not good for my health. Lola vibes right here. :p

My summer has never been this busy. I never expected that I would spend my summer cutting, pasting, and drawing in the wee hours of the morning! Nevertheless, I'm having fun whenever I create something out of ordinary, and it indeed feels so good when people get to appreciate what you've done. Sleeping late has become worth it. ;)

These are the summer flip-flops that I was talking about in my previous post. Believe it or not, I slept at around 4am, after a couple of tries. It took me some time to finally create eleven flip-flops that it almost similar to the pair of Havaianas infront of me. My pair was the inspiration to this activity. :))

I used cutter in making the three holes of my mini flip-flops. You may also use scissors but I highly recommend cutter because it can produce finer and smaller holes. On the other hand, I used a hard specialty paper to keep the flip-flops sturdy. I made a sample so that our kiddos would have an idea about what they should do.

I got my colored papers and shape punchers and started punching. These cut-outs made our kiddos' works colorful and unique. Some of them also used markers and stamps. Teacher Karla and I have proven that our toddlers this summer enjoy doodling more than playing with musical instruments, connectors, puzzles, and the like.

After singing the good-bye song and receiving their stars, the kiddos proudly showed their work to their parents/guardians. The parents were also happy upon seeing the mini flip-flops decorated by their little angels. That moment is truly priceless. :)
    

The Parking Lot

I'm beginning to be a little bit O.C. when it comes to making arts and crafts activities for our summer class. It all started when I made small flip-flops in lieu of our lesson about the things we wear during summer. It was a big hit to our kids as well as to their parents. From then on, I got inspired and more motivated to create nice and interesting arts and crafts activities for our kiddos.

One Sunday night, I decided to make paper popsicles at Starbucks. It was my first time to do school stuff on a coffee shop. I got odd stares from the baristas and I noticed that they were wondering what on earth I was doing. I was drawing, cutting, and pasting on small corner for about thirty minutes until my friend from gradeschool, Thesa, arrived from work.

I can't believe I finished nine paper popsicle sticks in an hour! Well, Thesa helped me make one. :)) I'm glad with how it turned out because it somehow looked "real". I kept it simple and plain because I wanted the kids to unleash their creativity. I allowed them to use markers, crayons, and colorful cut-outs to decorate their popsicles. Next time, I'll let them use paint. :)

It was a productive one hour for the both of us. Thesa and I were multi-tasking as we catch up and make paper popsicles at the same time. Thesa got a glimpse of my life as a preschool teacher while I learned so much about her work as a nutritionist in the hospital. Wow, parang kailan lang. We used to play Chinese garter in school and now, we have our own responsibilities. 

After our stay at Starbucks, we had a mini "pictorial" in the parking lot. We took advantage of the almost empty and quiet parking space. For some reason, we enjoyed making funny faces and poses infront of the camera. And the moon was really pretty that night, don't you think? :)

The Third Day of May

And this, my friends, is one of my cray-cray moments. :p