Quick and Easy Christmas Tree Ornaments For Toddlers

momstown Oakville's monthly Art & Play program at the Oakville Soccer Club combines crafty fun with some free play.  Kids go home with their own craft creation and also get a chance to burn off some energy and be social while they play with other Oakville kids.

This month's craft provide kids lots of materials to get creative and make quick and easy Christmas tree ornaments to add to their tree at home.  We made popsicle stick Christmas trees, gingerbread men and snowflake ornaments! Kids had the option of using bingo dabbers, colourful foam stickers and shiny cut out pieces to really let our trees, gingerbread men and snowflakes sparkle.

As always there was still plenty of Christmas magic to burn off so we headed on to the soccer field for some soccer play, followed by the reindeer hokey pokey and frosty and Santa parachute games!  Join us in the New Year for Art & Play or any of our other monthly events you can find on our jam packed calendar. Your one year momstown Oakville membership includes a 12 month subscription to Today's Parent magazine, member discounts and access to our active 24/7 message board.

Paper Bag Fish Craft for Kids

Our theme for the month of August at momstown Oakville has been 'On the Pond' and we've been reading books and exploring crafts that help our little ones learn more about this topic.  At our Tales for Tots program earlier this week, the kids made a paper bag fish.  It's such a cute craft that I wanted to give some more details on how to make your own paper bag fish.

What you need:

-brown paper bag
-scrap paper, torn into small pieces
-tin foil
-tissue paper
-elastic band
-glue
-marker

Take a brown paper bag with the bottom of the bag facing down.  Fold in each corner to make a triangle, this will be the fishes mouth.  Stuff the pieces of scrap paper into the bag to make the body of the fish expand. Glue a triangular piece of tin foil at the top of the fish to make a fin.  Decorate the fish with pieces of tissue paper and tin foil and then put an elastic band around the end of the bag to make the fishes tail.

This fish has been a big hit at our house and I love that I don't have to feed it or clean out its tank!

In September we'll be exploring the theme of Firetrucks!  To join in on all our great programming, purchase a momstown Oakville membership or sign up for a free 4 week trial.  As a special bonus, if you buy a one year membership in August or September, you will receive a 12 month subscription to Today's Parent magazine.  Click here for all the details!

What are you doing this week?

momstown Oakville has a full week of exciting activities planned!

Our Crafty Kids playgroup will be making paper bag jungle puppets and our little artists will be creating masterpieces with messy finger paints at Picasso's in the Park...

We'll be out at the splash pad and mamas will be brunching with thier bucket babies...

We'll also be picnicing in the park...

Plus our Patio Mamas will be enjoying a much needed girls night out!

All this and more! Check out our July calendar for a full list of this week's events!

Now is the perfect time to sign up for your free two week trial! Simply click here to register and you'll be all set to join in this week's fun!

Crafty Kids Celebrate Dad

Oakville's Crafty Kids Playgroup met at The Little Gym to make their own unique gifts for Father's Day! So what does Daddy need? Another tie, of course! The kids decorated giant cardboard ties that Daddy can wear by tying the ribbon around his neck. Some ties had pink pom poms and sparkles and others had special drawings. No matter the pattern, we know Daddy will love them!

And for those sentimental Dads, we pasted a poem next to some very special (and cute!) footprints! Daddy can frame the entire project for his desk at work and always remember who's thinking of him!

Our next Crafty Kids Playgroup is on July 13th! To join us register at momstown Oakville (there's a free 2 week trial), and sign up for Crafty Kids.

Under the Sea fishies!

On Tuesday our momstown Crafty Kids playgroup pretended we were underwater fish with our Under the Sea theme. Funky fishbowls were made with handprint fish and dried bean "rocks" (yep, we made sure no little people ate those beans!).

Our sensory craft was really well received and all the kids tried it, even the young toddlers! Shaving cream was used as "glue" to decorate our fish with pompoms and sparkly decorations. This pair of 12 month twins had a great new experience poking their little fingers into the shaving cream and testing it out!

The room we use at The Little Gym Oakville was perfect for a parachute circle time and our stuffed Nemo took a flying ride on the rocky waves of the parachute!

See you next month when we explore our "Going Buggy" theme!!

Check out momstown Hamilton and their Under the Sea playgroup! Want to try some Under the Sea Crafts? Try this Clay Sea Star sensory craft - perfect for toddlers - and others on the momstown arts and crafts blog.