Crocheted Black Cats

Cuddly Crocheted

Black Cats

      Halloween is the perfect time to crochet some black  cats.  These little cuties are only about 2 and 1/ to 3 inches tall.  They can be finished and stuffed in an hour or so.   

     To begin I used a crochet hook size 4.0 or mm.   Make an adjustable ring. Round 1: 6 single crochet in ring. 
Round 2: 2 single crochet in each stitch. (12)
Round 3: 1 sc, 2 sc in next stitch, repeat to finish round. (18)
Round 4: 2 sc, 2 sc in next stitch, repeat to finish round.(24)
Round 5: 3 sc, 2 sc in next stitch, repeat to finish round. (30)
Rounds 6 - 10: 1 sc in each stitch. (30)
Add eyes, nose, and mouth.
Stuff the cat and then fold the top in half to form the top of the head and ears.  Stitch to close the top of head. Insert a needle at the middle of the top of head and pull through to the bottom of the cat.  This will pull the head down to form the ears. Tie off yarn securely.

Tail: Crochet  a chain to form tail and sew securely to the back side of cat.  
 

    Each little cat come out differently with their own personality just by changing the color of the eyes, nose , and mouth. 

         These little kitties were given to the preschoolers in my granddaughters class.  They were each in a Halloween bag along with some candy, of course!  My granddaughter passed out a bag to each child.  They all waited patiently until everyone had theirs.  We counted to three, and then they all opened  the bags.  There were squeals of joy when the kiddos saw their kitties. They ran around meowing and chasing after each other.  So much fun, so much joy from little crochet kittens.

         Give these little crocheted friends a try for this Halloween!

Happy Crocheting!

Beti

Black Cat Finger Puppets

     Black cats are so much fun at Halloween!  So I decided to make a set for my granddaughter 's preschool class.

     These little guys are about two inches tall made from scraps of black felt and embroidery floss.   Tiny seed needs were seen in the face for the eyes andnose.  A few simple straight stiches were seen for the mouth and whiskers.

     Each black 🐱 has his or her own personality.  All my finger puppets are cut free hand.  So everyone is a little different.   Now, if you are a pattern person, draw your pattern and work from it.

     I find that preschool children love to play with finger puppets and make them talk, sing, dance, and play.

I hope you find these little friends an enjoyable experience for you and your children.
 Happy Sewing!

Beti

Halloween Finger Puppets

Halloween  

Finger Puppets
Boo!

       

         Everyone enjoys the Fall season and the anticipation of Halloween.
Finger puppets are a good activity for little ones to begin to interact with some Halloween characters. It's never too early the start thinking about Halloween especially if you are making something for your little ones.

     I like to use Altiod tins as a finger puppet to keep my finger puppets safe and sound in their "little houses" after playtime has ended.  The young child can always find their finger puppets when they are placed into their little house.
These have a simple pumpkin on the top to identify the correct container.

        A little orange jack-o-lantern with a big smile is always around during Halloween.  Black bats are a favorite at this time of year, but with a friendly little face.  Ghosts that say "Boo!" can't be left out of this group. Finally a cute little brown owl that says, "Whoo! " rounds out this little group. 

       Finger Puppets are a great activity to take on an airplane, in the car on a long trip or just at home.  They are wonderful for language development and communication skills.  Fine motor skills are developed when each finger puppet is being placed on different fingers of each hand. Color recognition is developed with the variety of bright colors.  Story telling can be incorporated with these Halloween friends in everyday play. 

        Today I linked up with Forever in 5th Grade for Show and Tell Tuesday Fall is Here.

       Stephanie has some great pictures of her cute puppies. Check them out.

 www.foreverinfifthgrade.blogspot.com
      
 Enjoy the fall season with family and friends!

Beti 

Felt Old MacDonald Had a Farm

Old MacDonald Had 
a Farm  
                 A felt Old MacDonald Barn sounded like a good idea when my 18 month old granddaughter wanted to watch a "Old MacDonald" video over and over, and OVER again.  I wanted her to be able to have a more hands on experience with Old Mac Donald Had a Farm than just screen time.

            So,   I found a little candy box, about  4 by 4 inches.  Covering with felt to resemble a small barn was done with Tacky glue  to adhere the felt to the box. I know this is a Very basic barn.

  
       Then I worked on  some small felt animals to fit into the barn. You will have to excuse my hand sewing because it is really not very good, but I think they are kind of cute. 

       This  barn is made from a tin  Altoids box. It has a different shape with a hinged top. All the animals fit quite well.

          
           A duck is always a popular animal on the farm, with a quack, quack here, and a quack, quack there.

        
            A chick, chicken, or hen makes a good sound in the barnyard," Peep, Peep"!

                 This quiet little lamb makes a nice Baa- Baa sound on the farm.

          You can't sing "Old MacDonald had a Farm" without a pig.  The Oink- Oink here is very special to little ones.

      Last but not least is a cute brown cow that says Moo.

         Singing the Old MacDonald song is  a staple in every child's young learning life.  The tactile experience of opening the barn to pick up the next animal is enriching. As we sing the song, and make the animal sounds, each animal moves around the farm.  Then the barn is opened for the next animal in the song. This animal can be the next on the pile or the choice of the child.

         I feel this type of experience is more beneficial to the young child than watching the videos.  Watching videos for our children is so much fun, but screen time should be limited and not over done.

        Please, interact, sing, dance, and read with your young children. These are so very important event in their lives. They are young for such a short time.  They will grow up so very fast and this experience will be gone forever.

        I remember my mother and grandmother singing a song to me.  "When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother what would what would I be? Would I be pretty , would I be rich? Here's what she said to me. Que sera, sera, what ever will be, will be. The future's not ours to see, Que sera, sera."  This song is from 1956 written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. Doris Day sang it so beautifully.

       Please leave a message if you have a minute to spare in your busy day. I'd love to hear from any readers.

Beti  

Michigan State Doll T-shirt

Michigan State

Go Green!

            A child needs their favorite doll to wear clothes to cheer on their favorite school.  So I worked on this T-shirt for our Michigan State fan.  This top will fit her American Girl doll as well as a 12 or 14 inch baby doll.

           I had an old dark green T-shirt, so I figured it would be a good color.  Luckily, that shirt had printing on the front as well as the back.  With a little bit of trimming the word "STATE" was saved for this shirt.  The word "STATE" was ready to be zig zagged on to the front of the T-shirt.

 

      Not bad for an old green  T-shirt  folded up in my closet.   I do hope my little Michigan State fan will dress her doll in this shirt on game day.

Happy Sewing!

Beti

Baby Doll Pajamas

Baby Doll Pajamas

            JoAnn Fabrics is a store that I love. I haven't been to JoAnn's in a long, long, Long, LONG time. So this week I had the chance to go. Of course I was looking for elastic, that they didn't have. I was not surprised because everyone is making face masks these days. 

        While browsing around the store I saw this darling flannel monkey print. It was so cute.  I only wanted a half a yard to make doll clothes. It was the end of the bolt so the store cutting clerk, a very pleasant young woman, said I could have the rest of the yardage for half price.  Well, it was on he clearance rack, so I got more than a yard for 88 cents! Today was my lucky day!

         So this is the soft, flannel material made into a pajama outfit. It fits a Cabbage Patch doll that my granddaughter plays with.  That's what grandmas do, we make doll clothes for our grandchildren.

          What child could resist getting into bed with this doll wearing these cute cozy flannel pajamas? 

          Here in Michigan there is a store Meijer. Meijer is where I primarily go to do my grocery shopping. Along with groceries, Meijer carries, clothing, Health and Beauty, lawn and garden, shoes, toys, etc. You get the picture. They also have an art and crafts section as well and sewing notions. So, I went to see if they carried elastic by any chance.  Yes indeed! See, today was my lucky day!

       In the sewing notions aisle Ialso found a plaid flannel "Fat Quarter" for 1$.  The red, white and blue plaid flannel would be perfect for another set of baby doll pajamas. My other granddaughter got twin baby dolls for her birthday. This would be a great pajama set for the boy doll.  A placket with three buttons was added to the front of the shirt, but it has Velcro underneath for ease of dressing the dolls. I have to say I didn't match the plaid very well. 😕 Oops! I don't think the baby doll will complain.

                   This is a Strawberry Shortcake doll from back in the 80's. She is a good model for the baby doll clothes that I'm making. She is about 14 inches tall. So outfits can be shortened for a 12 inch baby doll.

              I had enough of the flannel monkey print material to make another pajama set! Two pajamas for 88 cents! It can't get any better than that! This top is designed with a kimono front closure.

               And here is Strawberry Shortcake wearing a second set of soft and cozy flannel PJ's.  This outfit is smaller than the other pajamas that for the Cabbage Patch doll.

              Here is another flannel "Fat Quarter" that I found at Meijer. It has this dainty pattern of red and green on a cream background. It would be perfect for a night gown for a baby doll. I know it looks like a shirt in this picture, but you can see how long it is on the doll.

    ***   This is a little tip when making doll clothes. ***

       If you look at the neckline, a white edging was added.  I cut a strip of cloth for an old T-shirt and used it as bias tape because it is stretchy.  It finished off the neckline very well I think. 

          This little red bow adds a sweet touch to this simple night gown.

*****

          Here is the pattern for the pajama pants for the 12 or 14 inch baby doll. I looked at many patterns on Pinterest and came up with these. It is on a 1 inch grid if you wish to use the pattern yourself. You can make the pant legs longer or shorter for the size of the doll you are fitting.

           The pants are laid out on the fold so the are very easy to make. The front and back seams are sewn together first. Then the waist is folded over and elastic is sewn into the waistline. Next, fold the hems and stitch. Finally, sew the leg inseam to finish the pajama pants.

               Here is the pattern I came up with, for the pajama top. As you can see, the front was widened and slanted to make the kimono top.  The back is placed on the fold. After cutting the pattern pieces, see the shoulder seams first. Then finish the neckline with bias tape. The next step is to hem the sleeves. After the sleeves are hemmed, see the sleeves and side seams together. Finally, finish the front and bottom edges. Velcro is great to close the pajama top. Buttons can be added for decoration but not necessary.

If you want the front to be straight instead of the kimono top, just cut the front out as you did the back , but do not lay out on the fold. You might want to add an inch to the center front to have enough material to fold over and finish the front center edges.

                   The same pattern used for the top is used for the night gown. This time the front is placed on the fold and the opening would be in the back.   I cut the neckline about 3/4 of an inch  lower in the front than in the back. 

              As you can see, I used the same pattern and adapt it when necessary to make each outfit a little different.  I am not a pattern designed by any means, but I do enjoy making things for my grandchildren. 

            My grandfather was a tailor so my mother and all my aunts and cousins as well as myself learned to sew at a very early age. I guess sewing is in my blood.

         Please visit my other posts featuring my handmade doll clothes.   I hope you enjoy sewing as much as I do. Feel free to leave a comment.  I would enjoy your thoughts.

Beti

Adding Illustrations and Color in Notetaking

           

 Many students doodle while in class. Flowers, spaceships, airplanes, animals of all kinds, squiggles, stars, hearts, etc. We've seen it all.  Kids like to color.  But teaching your students to add little pictures and color to their notes can be very beneficial for your kiddos.  The pictures can help a person stir a memory of a piece of information during a test or sometime later in life. 
             
    My Social Studies class was making a flip chart about the Lost Colony of Roanoke.  I suggested that they add some pictures to their flip charts by telling them, " A picture is worth a thousand words".  

        This student drew an island on the Roanoke flap and a crown on the Queen Elizabeth.

        The flaps continued with a helmet and sword for Sir Walter Raleigh.

     This student took a different approach with stick figures and speech bubbles.
Sir Walter Raleigh is saying, " Go to Roanoke".  On the Captain John White flap, he wrote, You can't go back!" referring to John White leaving Roanoke to go back to England for supplies. 

    I love teaching these kids. They help me learn something new every day.  I hope I can do the same for each of my students.

   Please leave a comment if you have a spare minute.  I love to hear from my readers.

    This post is featured on Teachjunkie.com     Take a minutes to check out all the great ideas on the blog!  
    www.teachjunkie.com

I have linked up with Forever in 5th Grade for Show and Tell Tuesday.
www.foreverinfifthgrade.blogspot.com 

 

Enjoy your day!

Beti

ABC Caps

A B C 

               We decided to work on another service project for our little friends in the kindergarten class.  My students enjoy seeing the kindergarteners when we go down to Music class. Once a month my students sit with the kindergarten children while at weekly mass. 
         
              The Green Team at St. Michael Catholic School is very hard working. Recycled bottle caps have been collected and were just waiting for a fun and  useful up-cycle project.

         First, my students needed to look through the bottle cap collection.  Groups of three of the same color cap were collected. These colorful gallon milk jug caps were the perfect size.  We needed 26 groups of three caps. Our school Administrative Assistant kindly offered to print out labels with capital and lower case letters of the alphabet for our project.    

        Next, the labels needed to be cut an glued onto the caps. You can see, my 5th graders did the cutting of the letters. That is why they aren't perfect. The next step was to find an appropriate sticker picture for each letter.  This proved to be quite a project. But I think my students did a very good job. The Modpodge was applied over the letters. Three or four layers of Modpodge was added to make sure the stickers adhered to the caps.  Little fingers won't be able to pick the letters off of the caps.

        I teach in a Catholic school, so Jesus in the manger, for the letter "J", was no problem for our students.

              A variety of colors were used so that color matching of 5 year olds would be used in addition to matching the letters and the pictures.  

             Finding the appropriate pictures was a challenge for my fifth graders.  They had a large variety of stickers to choose from.  Sometimes a picture would be chosen but had to be discarded because the younger children might not be able to identify and match it to the letters.   That is why I cut a circle of yellow paper to match with Y and y,  the word "BOXING" to match with X and x, and "VOTED" as a match for V and v.  

            This was a group project in which so many of my students had a hand i the works.   Great Team Work 5th grade!

            I hope this post will inspire you and your class to reach out and help to younger children in your school.

      Please go to Forever in 5th Grade for the Show and Tell Linky to see all the great ideas.
foreverinfifthgrade.blogspot.com 

           Please leave a short comment if you have a spare minute. I'd love to hear from you.


  Beti

Ideas for a busy toddler

          The
Busy Toddler
    Toddlers are wonderful and full of energy.  They need many new manipulatives to keep them busy, stimulated, learning, and interested.  Many every day objects can be new and stimulating to a toddler.

      Plastic or paper cups are in everyone's cupboards. They can be stacked and sorted by size, shape, and color. No one will be upset if one gets broken or lost. The cups are quiet when knocked down and bounce in a delightful way.

         
      These little paper cups are a new surface to be colored on. The inside, outside surfaces and the bottom are available for new colors. 

           Sidewalk chalk is another easy way to keep a toddler busy. The colors are a wonderful addition to a plain driveway or sidewalk.  The best part is that your space is almost limitless in the eyes of a child. They are not constrained by the size of the paper or chalkboard.  Their lines can go on and on and on. 
         Many gardens have smooth stones.  These make a wonderful canvas for sidewalk chalk or water color paint for that matter. Colorful stones are quite eye catching for toddlers.

       Pom poms  are another simple yet delightful manipulative.  They come in assorted sizes and colors, some even have sparkles.  Pom poms can be sorted by using muffin tins, small boxes, egg cartons, ice cube trays, or anything you may have around the house.  A plastic toothbrush holder from the dollar store has good size holes, big enough for a pom pom to fit through. This is great for working on eye hand coordination and fine motor skills. Best of all, they are quiet and will keep your toddler busy for quite a while.

        Bubbles whipped into a foam is an enjoyable tactile experience. Your little one can wash their plastic toys. Cars, boats, animals, people, etc. Always get dirty during outdoor play. So why not let your child was their own toys? Car wash is an experience that is always fun!

       Getting dressed again and again is a favorite activity for children.  You have all you need in your closet or chest of drawers. It doesn't matter what size or color. Kids love to wear or try on clothes.  You don't have to go out and purchase expensive dress up clothing or princess dresses. The young child will experiment with boots, shoes, socks,  leggings, pants, shirts, hats, gloves, not to mention purses, a scarf,  and jewelry.

        Tooth brushing is a wonderful and healthy activity for the young child.  This will not only be a good activity but will help with good dental hygiene habits.

            Felt pieces of different sizes, colors, and shapes are a interesting manipulative for the young child.  They can be arranged in different patterns to make abstract pictures.  A youngster could make a stack starting with the largest, smallest,  or random order. These pieces could be used as blankets for toy people or animals.

         Keep your toddlers busy with manipulatives and off of screen time. A busy toddler is a learning toddler.  It will pay off in the long run.

      Please leave a  comment if you have a minute to spare.

Beti