A Rainy Day Snack

We've done a few umbrella crafts today and it got me thinking that we should enjoy a rainy day snack, too. It's not perfect and I thought it looked more like a toadstool than an umbrella. Then, Mia asked me "How are we going to make the rain drops?" I suggested grapes and it suddenly looked more like an umbrella. We make a good team!

Ingredients:

• slice of round cheese
• string cheese
• grapes (or other round/oval fruit)

Directions:

1. Break (or cut if you want to be more precise) a round slice of cheese in half. Lay one half on a plate.
2. Take some string cheese and peel off a section. Arrange it underneath the half cheese slice to look like the umbrella's handle. (It probably won't stay curved, but that's okay.)
3. Arrange a few grapes above the umbrella to look like rain drops. (Other fruit such as blueberries or raisins would also work.)
4. Enjoy your snack on a rainy day (or whenever).

It's Raining Cats and Dogs! Craft

{"It's Raining Cats and Dogs!" by Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• scissors
• glue
• tape
• paper
• paper cupcake liners
• drinking straws
• scalloped scissors (optional)
• crayons/markers/colored pencils (optional)
• cat and dog stickers (or magazine cutouts)

Directions:

1. Fold a cupcake liner in half and cut it apart with scissors OR trim along the straight edge with scalloped scissors. (One cupcake liner makes two umbrellas.)
2. If desired, decorate the umbrellas with crayons, markers, or colored pencils.
3. Cut a flexible drinking straw in half. The bendy part will become the umbrella's handle. Save the other half for another craft.
4. Tape the straw to the back side of the cupcake liner.
5. Glue the cupcake liner and straw to the paper. (Repeat steps 1-5 as many times as desired.)
6. Add dog and cat stickers to the paper.
7. Once the glue is dry, display your project.

Paper Plate Umbrella Craft

Materials:

• paper plate
• crayons or markers
• scissors
• circular punch (optional)
• flexible drinking straw
• tape
• stapler
• newspaper (optional)

Directions:

{Umbrella by Mia, Age 4}

1. Fold a paper plate in half and cut with scissors OR use a circular punch to make a scalloped border along the straight edge, leaving you with two identical pieces.
2. Color the back (non-eating) side of each half using crayons or markers.
3. Cut about 1 inch off of the bendy end of a flexible drinking straw. Save both pieces.
4. Tape the longer part of the straw inside of one half of the plate and then bend bottom part of the straw to form the umbrella's handle.
5. Tape the shorter part of the straw to the top part of the inside of the paper plate half.
6. Staple the two paper plate halves together to make the umbrella. (If you want more fullness, crumple a bit of newspaper and stuff it inside before stapling.)

Extension Ideas:

• Add raindrops cut from blue construction paper. (You can also buy a teardrop shaped hole punch at use that in place of scissors). Next, use a small hole punch to make a hole in each raindrop and attach them to the bottom of the umbrella by tying on various lengths of fishing line (or blue string or yarn).
• "It's raining cats and dogs!" Affix cat and dog stickers to construction paper, cut around them leaving about 1/8" to 1/4" border. Use a hole punch and fishing line to hang the stickers from the umbrella. If you don't have cat and dog stickers, you could cut out pictures from magazines and glue them to the construction paper.
• Use any left over parts of bendy straw as beads and make some jewelry. 

April Showers Bring May Flowers Sun Catchers

I've been on a sun catcher kick lately so these umbrella and flower sun catchers were the perfect craft for this dreary day. Mia enjoyed them too, and she asked if we could make some more. Their bright colors look cheerful in the window even if there isn't any sun, so she may have the right idea! It seems like spring is never going to arrive...

{Sun Catchers by Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• construction paper (any color)
• scissors
• clear contact paper
• tissue paper (any color)
• pencil 
• clear tape
• paper trimmer (optional)
• hole punch (optional)
• yarn, string, ribbon, etc. for hanging (optional)

Directions:

1. Cut tissue paper into small squares. Older kids can do this themselves. We used approximately 1/2 inch squares, but you could make yours bigger. 
2. Fold a piece of construction paper in half like a hamburger (or use two pieces of construction paper if you would like to make a larger sun catcher).
3. Draw a flower or umbrella shape (or trace around a cookie cutter or a picture from the Internet) onto one half (or one piece) of the paper, and cut out the flower or umbrella shape. Do not draw your design too close to the edges of the paper. Cut paper in half along the fold. You should now have two pieces of paper with identical fish cut-outs.  Tip: If you are using two pieces of paper, you will need to make sure they stay together so that you get identical flowers or umbrellas.
4. Cut two pieces of clear contact paper (I used both a paper trimmer and scissors for this.) so that they are 1/4 inch larger than the construction paper all the way around. Tip: Do not remove backing from contact paper until you are ready to use it.
5. Adhere one piece of paper to the clear contact paper so that there is a border of 1/4 inch all around the paper. Tip: Slowly peel the contact paper away from the backing as you smooth the construction paper down onto the contact paper. This way you don't end up with "bubbles."
6. Have your child stick tissue paper squares onto the contact paper flower or umbrella shape until it is filled. (Mia chose pink and purple for the flower petals and green for the leaves and stem, and she decided that the umbrella should have rainbow colors. She came up with her own technique for filling in smaller spaces like the umbrella handle: crumple the tissue paper into balls. This makes it a bit bulkier, but it still works, and it gives it some visual interest.)
7. Layer the second piece of construction paper on top of the first, making sure that the flower or umbrella shapes line up.
8. Add the second piece of contact paper over the top, smoothing it down as you go. Trim away excess if desired, but don't trim too much or the sun catcher will not stay together. 
9. You can display your sun catcher in a window using clear tape. Another option is to use a hole punch to make two holes near the top, thread some ribbon or yarn through the holes, tie it off, and then hang your sun catcher.