Caterpillars and such

As a mom I have found there are certain go to items you have in your bag of tricks... this became very apparent when my daughter was wanting to make the same craft AGAIN today. This particular craft is caterpillars made with craft sticks, colorful pompoms, googly eyes and pipe cleaners. Basically a dollar tree one stop shop craft. Some how we always have these things on hand and when she was about 2 I came up with this idea and well... I guess we have made it dozens of times. Guilty! I even took it to pre school once as the small group activity. They loved it.

But it got me thinking what else am I doing that we ALWAYS do??? I think we all have some dinners we know our kids will eat (in our house cheese fondue is a winner), books we know will calm them down songs or movies. When we were in Seattle we went to the Zoomazium (or pandemazium as I like to call it) now it is the Atlantis Aquarium, but I know it is a winner every time. So I am wondering about other moms and their "go to" lists. Things that will make you and your kids happy. Is it a special park, the beach, library? Kids are hard but they like routine and repetition which is so funny because they get bored so easily. Why is it they will do something over and over again and still want to do it some more? Hello...how many moms know every word in the Aristocats or Finding Nemo? I honestly don't know how we stay sane, I really did not want to make caterpillars today. lol.

For this craft you will need a bag of colorful pompoms, some craft sticks(colored ones are better), pipe cleaners, googly eyes and craft glue. Stick the pompoms to the stick add eyes. Cut a pipe cleaner in half and then fold it in half and spiral the 2 ends with your thumb and middle finger till you get a curly Q. Glue this on last and do not move it for at least an hour if you have a clothes peg laying around clip it on to the antennae to hold them while the glue dries but not essential. Think about doing a whole learning pod with this... caterpillar, cocoon with cotton wool or paper mache, then butterflies(I will cover this one later) read The Very Hungry Caterpillar and then get yourself one of those kits where you can watch a butterfly emerge from a cocoon... so cool
You can buy all of this at your local Dollar Tree or a Michaels. Good luck.