Paper Plate Jellyfish

We've been having some crazy stormy weather lately and have been cooped up in the house more than usual. Today we had a tornado warning so we were really stuck inside! By late afternoon, the boys were going pretty stir crazy and I was about to lose it, so I grabbed a bunch of stuff laying around my house and we made some jellyfish! I apologize for the picture quality as it was dark and stormy outside.

The boys weren't too keen on coloring the paper plates so they got a little help from mom, lol! I wanted them to be really colorful, but they were just not interested in coloring. Once we were done coloring, we stuffed and hot glued the plates together. Marcus was so excited to help me with the glue gun and Jamesen was excited too! Normally he puts up a fight, but he was all for stuffing and gluing.



Once we were done with that, I let them use the scissors to cut their ribbons. They love using scissors! I had to coach Marcus on how to use them again and then was surprised when Jamesen was able to do it after watching Marcus. The second kid really is amazing sometimes! They learn so fast from their older sibling!




After cutting the ribbon, I helped them hot glue them onto the plate. It's so funny how excited they get with the glue gun! Marcus was so cute and jumping up and down after every ribbon he stuck on, silly boy. Jamesen was surprisingly willing to glue the ribbon on. Usually he flips when he needs help and there was no way I was going to let him use the glue gun alone! When we were done, I told them it was a jellyfish and they were SO excited once I said fish. They're both pretty into fish at the moment, especially Jamesen.




They then ran around the house chasing each other with their jellyfish and taking turns tickling me with the ribbon. When daddy came home, they were so excited to show him and had a blast stinging him with the ribbon too.

Scissor Skills hearts

It was pointed out to me that Marcus should be able to use scissors. I've never let him use scissors before so I went out and bought some and then looked up some cute crafts to help him out. He did so well! I was actually pretty impressed by how well he cut his heart out for being the first real time he's used scissors! Little champ.



In true Jamesen fashion, he flipped out when I tried to help him use the scissors. He can be such a turd sometimes, lol! Luckily though, daddy was home and was able to entice him to come back and try again. Once he got the hang of cutting, he was over zealous and almost snipped daddy's fingers a few times! Silly kid :)


Then onto the gluing! Both boys just adore gluing so they of course loved this craft! Marcus did this part all by himself again! I had to show him what to do at first but after that!



Jamesen (again) didn't really care about putting the scraps onto the heart, only about gluing, so daddy and I helped by putting the scraps where he put the glue. He had a blast, and that's all that matters!



Marcus was so proud of his end product! The only thing that I did was to cut out the the brown outline! Proud momma right here :)


And silly Jamesen didn't want a picture with his end product. He's such a pain sometimes. I sure do love him :)

Stained Glass Valentines

This one was another one that proved more difficult than it looked. At least with smaller kids! I had planned to do them with both the boys along side each other, but they were having trouble putting the tissue paper onto the glue in the right place.

J decided it was too much for him and that he'd rather play with his trains so I let him run off and play else where while I finished the project with Marcus. He did pretty well and got the hang of it, but it started out a bit rough. He kept pulling up the tissue paper he just put down with the glue stick and was a bit over zealous when putting the tissue paper down and would miss the glue entirely! Eventually he got the hang of it though.




Turned out pretty cute!

I tried a completely different approach with J as he likes the least amount of help possible and doing it the original way was going to mean a lot more help than he wanted. I just put a piece of tissue paper on the back of the black outline and let him go at it. He didn't really want much to do with the tissue paper pieces, so I let him just man the glue and I put the paper down. It got him to do the project so that's a win in my book!




He didn't want to take a picture with it though and this is the only one I got!


I hung them with two strips of tissue paper twisted together and taped to the window. I know it's early for valentine's day, but they sure do look cute!