snake puppets

Update: we did make these — it's a good template. Here is our snake exploring the wall of a garage...


Mr. printable has some great templates for snake finger puppets, both coloured and not coloured (so you can design your own pattern). We were excited to try this (my son picked this activity), but due to illness, we didn't finish up, so I don't have photos. Hopefully we will later this week. In the meantime, here is a link to the tutorial as well as printable templates. Image from mr. printable.

Also, we did some vegetable printing for Valentines day. I don't have pictures of our finished valentines, we rushed them to school before I had the chance. We let them be pretty wonky and we had fun ·_·

february calendar

Here are the February calendars formatted for computer desktop, iPhone 5, iPhone 4 and iPad and iPad 2.

If you would like any help downloading the images, or saving them to your device, see the original post for details.

auggie calendars, too

I've made some little desktop calendars for Auggie, too. They're pretty fast to make and fun,  I might make more now that I have the templates.

Auggie desktop calendars are up on the Auggie bloggie. If you are a subscriber to this blog or to the auggiebloggie, I'll let you know directly when the February ones are ready. The calendars are a free download and are formatted for standard home computer, iPad 1 & 2, iPhone and iPhone 5 — you can go to the auggibloggie to find them.

The format for these is the same as the Windy set.

2013 desktop calendar for you

(update: there was an error in the calendar I uploaded yesterday evening — this one is fixed, sorry for the mix up). This year there's a Windy calendar for your desktop or phone and January's is ready! We have these formats (choose largest option available at link):

· computer desktop (1600 x 1000 — be sure to choose "large 1600" rather than "large 1024")
· iPad & iPad 2
· iPhone **
· iPhone 5

Happy New Year! Subscribers at our web site will automatically be notified when a new calendar is ready. Image © Judith & Robin from Snowy & Chinook.

**If, like me, you are not super skilled with your iPhone, you pull the wallpaper onto your phone from the flickr link like this:

1. Click on the iPhone link above. This will take you to flickr.

2. Click on the largest available size for download. This will open up the calendar image in your browser (like safari).

3. Tap the middle of the picture and leave your finger tapped down for a long moment, then release. This should offer you the prompt "save image".

4. After clicking "save image" you will find the photo in your photostream, and you will be able to access it from your settings menu as either your home or lock wallpaper. The calendar is always viewable from the "search" area of your phone.

free printables and more snowflakes

I have a new set of printables — these are mini holiday cards and gift tags from my auggie project — find them here. I think these are good for class holiday cards (for a preschool or daycare class).

And, from goodideasforyou.com via pinterest — turn those snowflakes into ballerinas!

Marine alphabet (& a free printable poster)

Today Foggy & Cloud teach you the International Marine Alphabet (also known as flag semaphore). You can learn more about semaphore from Arthur Ransome's Winter Holiday or read this excellent student project by Susan Laflin.

You may download and print this mini-poster to help you with your messages. This is taken from the inside dust-jacket of Foggy.

(I made an extra colourway for fun, so you can download the blue one here and the yellow poster here). As usual, all rights from the Windy series reserved © Judith and Robin. Happy signaling.

Class Valentines (printable)

For you, some small valentines cards to print for your child's class. If you like to put your valentines in envelopes, these will fit into a standard 2.5 x 4.25 inch coin envelope.

There are two sets here. One is a Windy set and one is an Auggie set (with some drawings from Windy in the mix).

Puzzles

We've made some simple block puzzles for you to print and make, one from each book (high quality PDF link).

Simply print these out and cut along the dotted line with scissors. You can also glue your printout to a piece of card or cardboard and cut them out with a craft knife if you would like the puzzles to be a bit more durable.

Shoelace Sewing

Simple shapes with pre-cut holes that your little one can use by sewing around the edges (this isn't a practical sewing project). This activity was originally inspired by a 5-year old boy we spoke to. His kindergarten class has a wooden sewing set which is very popular with the children. Here are instructions and templates so you can make your own sewing set.

This is great for the 3-5 set and is a surprisingly easy craft project to set up.

Windy's Boat

A paper boat for Windy (PDF), from the book Foggy.

Update: you can see photos of the paper boat here.

Robot Paper Dolls

These are very easy to make, and fun! If you know how to make paper dolls, you can do this freehand, using our instructions below, but we've made up instructions and templates with 2 sizes (PDF).

moustache day (and a printable template)

There are many ways to make a good moustache if you cannot grow your own.

Here is our method (PDF template). If you cut this out of stiff paper, it should clip right to your nose. If that doesn't work (or if you'd like to use felt instead) then just attach it to a string or elastic and tie it around the back of your head. No one will recognize you....

You can also draw one on with face paint, you can buy a wooden one on a stick from collage collage, or a plastic one from a kit from dandelion kids.


If you want to make a very realistic moustache, Martha Stewart has very thorough tuturial, which is probably the best one available online. You can even get a tasty chocolate moustache and eat it when you have finished wearing it!



If you happen to have the actual ability to grow a real moustache, you can grown one for charity with Mustaches for Kids.

(top image from Regional Assembly of Text)