Preschool Fun: Frugal Ideas and Tips - Page 3

Make a fairy garden! I love to do this with my daughters. Get an old basket (garage sales are great for this) and fill it with dirt. Plant a little grass seed on top (it germinates quickly), and then add little details -- shells, fences made of twigs, bits of mirror to form a pond, small stones, etc. You can either leave the basket outside or bring it in. Then, wait to see if a fairy visits :)

These are some of the ideas we had for my son and daughter's Winter Wonderland birthday party this year.  Birthdays are special so we like to made a big deal out of the and get the kids involved with the planning and decorating.

This is a picture of the Snowman and Penguin birthday cakes we made, Liam really wanted a snowman cake and I thought a penguin cake would go along nicely for my daughter and fit the theme.  My son loves to help in the kitchen and enjoyed helping make the cakes for his birthday.  The cakes were made using round pyrex bowls, 2 large bowls of cake for the top of the snowman and penguin and then 2 small cakes for the bottom of each. 

These are the cups my son made for the hot chocolate.  They were made by cutting small triangles out of felt and using a pink bingo dabber for the cheeks. Then he dipped the bottom of a paint brush in black paint to make the eyes and mouth.

Their party was in the beginning of January so we were able to take advantage of after Christmas clearance sales for candy, decorations and paper products. 

I love the snowman birthday! Great ideas, everyone.

This was one of my daughter's favorite projects. You use a plastic disposable cup and glue or tape a laundry detergent cap to the top. Decorate with stickers or marker. If you have a clear cap you can add a small LED light found in floral sections of craft store.

my 4 year old granddaughter & I made these beautiful rainbow cupcakes! she loves baking & doing crafts with me....

she loved the bright rainbow colors and declared the cupcakes yummy!

Plastic Bag Ice Cream

1 Pint Size Ziploc bag

1 Gallon Size Ziploc Bag

1 Tbs Sugar

1/2 c. Milk

1/2 tsp Vanilla

4 c. Ice

4 Tbs. Salt

Add milk, sugar and vanilla to smaller plastic bag. Seal well. Put ice and salt in larger bag. Place smaller bag into larger bag of ice and seal well.

Now the fun part! Start shaking! Shake for approx. 5 minutes. Carefully remove smaller bag and rinse salt from it. Scoop out ice cream and enjoy!

Putting the bag in a cup helps hold it while you pour the ingredients.

Homemade Light Table

There are so many fun things you can play with on a light table, but they are very expensive! We use transparent blocks, colored ice cubes, sand (great for tracing letters) and in this picture we used a bin of water beads and light sticks. My daughter will spend hours playing with it.

To make an inexpensive light table you just need two clear plastic bins and two or three strings of lights. Put the lights in one bin with the cover and flip upside down. Put the second bin on top, use tape to secure if you'd like.

this was great fun...sidewalk chalk paint: equal parts cornstarch & water...add food coloring

A great way to get your kids to stop and enjoy nature is a "Rainbow Walk"

Find a nice path and try to find something from every color of the rainbow.

Red:

Blue:

Here is a picture of the travel I-Spy game I made last summer for my boys to use on a road trip.  I used clip art for the pictures and then covered the page in clear contact paper.  I had planned to have my boys use dry erase markers to mark off the items as they saw them.  When I was printing it at the library, the librarian suggested using post-it notes to cover the items.  I cut post-it notes down to fit over the squares.  My boys love it and it is reusable.