Being a parent, you may notice that your children often are not simply watching videos of their favorite songs and rhymes. They love to sing along, sometimes even dance to the words and the music. Today’s crafting idea builds creativity, enhances future singalongs, and may even help develop hand eye coordination. To top it all off, you will be recycling items that were likely headed.

Materials:

Most of the materials can be found around your home. You can substitute the beans and glitter with any similar items as long as they make noise while looking pretty.

● Empty 8 oz. water bottle, with cap (make sure it’s dry)
● Toilet paper tube, or paper towel tube cut in half
● Scissors
● Electrical tape (best with multiple colors)
● Funnel (if you can’t find one, you can make a funnel by rolling up a piece of paper)
● Dry beans
● Glitter

Step 1 – Fill bottle

Place the funnel over the empty bottle, then fill it about ⅓ of the way with beans and glitter (or your fillings of choice).

Step 2 – Put on lid

Place the cap on the filled bottle, making sure that it is on securely.

Step 3 – Cut the tube

Use the scissors to cut in a straight line down the side of the tube.

Step 4 – Wrap tube

Take the tube that was cut and wrap it around the mouth of the water bottle. Hold the tube tightly and use the electrical tape to secure the tube along the length of the cut.

Step 5 – Tape tube to bottle

Use the tape to fasten the bottom of the tube to the plastic of the bottle. Make sure to go completely around the tube. Use two or three layers of tape and make sure that the tube is not loose afterwards.

Step 6 – Decorate

Use different colors of tape to really make your shaker stand out. Combine your favorite colors, and try using the scissors to cut out small shapes from the tape that you can place on the handle or bottle.

Share With Us!
Try this craft with your kids at home! Show us pictures or short video clips of your family shaking along with your favorite Mother Goose Club songs by posting on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #mothergooseclub.

Each year, right around this time (maybe I get a little stir crazy in winter), I usually find myself looking for a creative outlet. Crafts are a great solution and there’s never a bad time to infuse your time and space with creativity and color.

If you’re feeling the creative itch, but aren’t sure exactly what you’ll make yet, consider my five favorite (family friendly) craft materials and see what inspires you! With just these items, you can make almost anything and get a ton of use out of them year round. A lot of Mother Goose Club’s crafts use similar materials, so you can get some inspiration from their blog posts as well!

1. Non-toxic acrylic paints and brushes

I got this (now, beautifully messy) set of paints at Michael’s along with these brushes on Christmas Eve on sale. I splurged for an extra bottle of white paint, which I highly recommend, so you can use it as a base, or lighten all the other colors as desired without worrying about running out.

I love incorporating painting into almost every gathering where we’ve got kids coming over (ornaments for the holidays, making Valentine’s etc.) – it often sends shyness right out the window since kids are naturally confident painters (and mess makers!) and it keeps them engaged for hours. The grown-ups are usually down too, and who can blame them – the colors, the textures (who needs those brushes when you have fingers?). What’s not to love?!

2. Glue gun

This one, I got from Michael’s for three bucks is doing the trick for me for now. Requires a grown-up when crafting with kiddos, but hot glue is my go-to for how fast and strong it is. If I’m hosting a crafternoon, we can’t be waiting long for things to dry, and it even comes in handy around the house.

3. Butcher paper

Newspaper or wrapping paper works too – I’m pretty sure this is just some postal paper from Target I used as Christmas wrapping paper last year (you know, brown paper packages tied up with strings…). I love that it’s a craft within a craft – honestly, you can have the most exciting thing to paint set out, and kids might just prefer the table. The result can be art in and of itself, so embrace it! Try changing up the surfaces you cover. Putting paper on walls offers great pre-handwriting practice (I recommend the bathroom, since the surfaces are easiest to clean).

4. Undefined materials

Get kids started manipulating, building and creating with undefined materials like craft sticks, clay (I like Model Magic) or fruit! Kids get comfortable and imaginative fast (some can get too comfortable – keep an eye out for kids trying to eat the painted fruit)! These materials engage kids in conversation, imaginative play, problem solving and good old fashioned fun.

5. Glitter

If you’re like me and couldn’t find a reasonable glitter set on your last craft run, go for a no-fail clear/white glitter to highlight the color of whatever it is you’re making. You can’t go wrong. This here’s a non-toxic sparkling glitter from Target.

I know celebrities like James Vanderbeek and even Ellen have spoken out against glitter, but listen. It may have magical flying properties. But, seriously, it’s the cherry on top of so many of my most favorite crafts because of the joy and wonder it brings. Consider getting a hand vacuum. You’ll be fine.

Huzefa’s work as an educator and his podcast topics extend beyond math tutoring and into broader educational philosophies. In their discussion, Harry and Huzefa discuss the educational philosophy behind Mother Goose Club, and what might be in store for its future. You can listen to the full conversation here.

Harry highlights Mother Goose Club’s emphasis on teaching vocabulary through the use of nursery rhymes that are catchy, easy-to-learn and repetitive. He and his wife Sona, Sockeye Media’s CCO, share experiences teaching ESL in Korea that helped inspire their passion and approach for producing children’s educational content. Harry also touched on some plans for the future, including live shows on Mother Goose Club’s family of YouTube channels and the development of more curriculum-based resources.

Is your child a fan of Little Bo Peep? Bring Bo Peep to life with this simple and affordable costume craft! Costumes can elevate your child’s pretend-play and involving them in the crafting process has tons of benefits. Projects like this help develop problem-solving and fine motor skills, creativity, imagination and artistic expression in children of all ages.

While making costumes, you can talk to your child about following directions (including what steps come first, next and last), help them count materials and talk about shapes. If your child is an early reader, you can also practice reading and comprehension skills by having them help read the instructions below.

Crafting time is bonding time – encourage discussion, questions and artistic liberties along the way. Remember – your finished product will only last so long, but the memories you create crafting will last a lifetime. Making a DIY Mother Goose Club costume is a great activity for super-fan birthdays, Halloween or dress-up!

Materials:

All the materials you need are below. Most everything can be found around the house or at your local store. Get creative, improvise and let us know what works for you!

• Yellow t-shirt
• Pink leggings
• Yellow socks
• Felt: orange, gold, dark pink
• Dark pink yarn
• Wide Headband
• Orange ribbon
• Orange duct tape
• Cardboard tube
• Scissors
• Glue

Step 1: Bo Peep’s Socks

Wrap the orange tape in stripes around the socks. Make sure to leave a decent gap at the back so that the socks can still stretch and aren’t uncomfortable to wear.

Step 2: Bo Peep’s Leggings

For Bo Peep’s leggings, start by cutting the bottoms off. Then fold them up to create a cuff. You want the leggings to end a couple inches below the knee, so cut and cuff accordingly! Cut some polka dots form the dark pink felt and glue them on. If you want, get creative with the number, size and arrangement of the polka dots!

Step 3: Bo Peep’s Skirt

Cut a long ribbon of orange felt to fit the waist of your special costume-wearer. Then, cut out some large orange petals and dark pink felt pockets. Glue your pockets onto the petals, and then the petals onto the ribbon!

Step 4: Bo Peep’s Shirt

Cut out Bo Peep’s collar from dark pink felt and three gold felt buttons. Glue these onto the shirt.

Steps 5-8: Bo Peep’s Crown & Headband

Cut your cardboard tube into three pieces. Now, cut out a crown-shaped strip of orange felt that’s long enough to wrap around the cardboard ring, and tall enough to fully conceal it. Glue the felt around the ring as pictured.

Glue and wrap the yarn around one of the remaining cardboard rings. Squish down the yarn-wrapped tube slightly, and place it inside the crown like a bun.

Wrap your headband in the yarn, as well! This is easiest and cleanest if you glue the yarn to one end of the headband, wrap it around, and glue it again on the other end.

Glue your finished crown to the top of the headband. Leave it slightly off-centered to give it the classic Bo Peep look.

Wear It and Share It!

Once everything is dry and set, it’s time to get dressed up!

Share your finished product on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter using #mothergooseclub! We love getting crafty and celebrating with Mother Goose Club families around the world!

For a simpler, everyday look, you can also try Mother Goose Club t-shirts. Designed based on feedback from you, the fans, MGC t-shirts are stylish, soft, durable and parent-approved!

Try Them All!

• Make Your Own Jack B. Nimble Costume
• Make Your Own Baa Baa Sheep Costume
• Make Your Own Teddy Costume
• Make Your Own Eep the Mouse Costume
• Make Your Own Mary Quite Contrary Costume

Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub,
And who do you think were there?
The butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker,
And all of them gone to the fair.

Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub,
And who do you think were there?
The butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker,
And all of them gone to the fair.

View on YouTube!