Grass Sock Heads {Kids Craft!}

Do you remember making sock heads in school when you were a kid?

A few weeks ago my sister Sammy and I were reminiscing about making them and thought it would be the perfect summer craft for the kids to do!

 So we headed to Walmart and got some supplies:

Potting Mix

Grass Seed

Old Socks (had on hand)

Scissors (had on hand)

Googly Eyes (Had on hand)

Marker & Glue Gun (had on hand)

 

Each kid got a sock!

Zander, Brucey, Kiah, Sammy's Son Jake and her Daughter Deanna-Grace!

The kids picked out their favorite googly eyes!

Lay the sock flat as shown below:

Draw a mouth and then mess around with the googly eyes until you like what you see!

We let the kids get creative and draw their own faces!

We had the kids arrange their eyes then draw dots where they need to go, so I would know where to glue the eyes!

This one is Zander's.

They took their time figuring out the face they wanted

 They even made some MONSTER faces!

When gluing on the eyes be sure to stick your hand in the sock to prevent gluing both sides of the sock together! 

After I used the hot glue gun to glue on the eyes here is what we had:

I tried to get a group shot... so hard to keep all the kids still! LOL

And get them all to look!

Cute lil stinkers!

We are missing two... but finally got some smiles! haha

Ok so next step.. split up the seeds!

Stick the seeds in the sock.

Then fill with dirt!

Cut the length of the sock a bit to tie.

Stick in a cup of water and wait for the grass to grow!

It doesn't take long for the seed to sprout! Here they are only 4 days later!

Some sprouts take a little longer than others...

But eventually the grass grows very tall! Here are the sock heads only 2 weeks later. At this point if desired you can let the kids cut their sock head's "hair". :)

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This was a very fun, easy, kid friendly craft! 

Each day the kids checked their sock head and were so excited by the new growth each day!

Do you remember making these in school as a kid?

What fun kids crafts have you been doing this summer??

Zander Likes SHOES {Eleven Months Ago Today}

 I was checking out some old post from one of my other blogs (The 4 Way Stop) and came across this post. It made me smile and laugh remembering some of Zander's little quirks and the way he acted just about a year ago (11 months ago today to be exact)! Since this Mommy blog of mine was made JUST for remembering fun little things about the kids.. I had to re-post it, here. Enjoy!

Originally written on July 23 2010

My 16 month old son Zander has a thing for shoes. He is always very good and patient  for me when I need to put on his shoes, and will stick out one foot then the next for his socks then shoes. Its so cute! He just really likes shoes. If there are shoes around, and he doesnt have any on, he will try to put them on an walk around in them. :) Usually its his brothers shoes or sister's flip flops, and when daddy has his shoes laying around he will walk around in his giant shoes!

The funny thing about it, is that when Zander is trying to concentrate on something he starts humming. Usually its when he is doing something he shouldn't; like pulling all the baby wipes out of the container, or ripping up my magazines... So when I hear humming I know to go check on him! He also does it when he is trying to get shoes on. He usually gets one foot in fine, but then trying to get the other foot in just right is a lot harder with a shoe on that's a lit bigger than his foot! So if he doesn't get it after a few tries he gets so frustrated he will start crying and kind of throw a little fit. Kicking the shoes off and throwing himself to the floor. Only to calm himself down and get back up and try again. Hehe its so cute and funny to watch.

Anywho.. the reason I bring all this up is because last night I heard a loud clicking in the doorway. We have a sunken living room. So our doorway is a few steps higher than our living room. So I get up to see what it was.. and there he is walking around in my heels! haha He was cracking me up.. he didn't even seem to have any problems with them ( no wonder I didnt hear any humming!). He was a complete natural in them. Something I thought was so cute, but daddy wasn't too thrilled about. It must have been the little strap that helped him. haha Anywho.. I just had to snap a few shots.

Kiah Learns To Sew (Kids Sewing Project)

 

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Kiah loves watching me create. She will sit with me as I make new jewelry and hair clips. She always asks if she can help or make some of her own. Recently she had been asking me over and over to teach her how to sew.
*MOMMY CONFESSION HERE*
Now even though I am a fast learner, I can look at something and just understand how to make it or do it myself without explanation and can make up new creative things, I am a TERRIBLE teacher! I can be impatient, flustered and frustrated at the person im trying to teach. And sometimes if things arent done right or perfect by the "student" I get irritated and just want to do it myself! :(
 This is a BIG flaw... Yes I am a perfectionist... sort of.. I like to call myself a lazy perfectionist. haha
But I am working on this! I need to just enjoy things and not worry so much if they are done correctly.. as it does take time to learn something new and get it right, for most people.

So with that being said.. you can see why I was hesitant to teach Kiah how to sew! So I kept putting it off. As much as I wanted to bond with Kiah in that way.. I was just nervous. Then I heard about Elle Sophia Design through Ask Anna! Elle Sophia Designs provides sewing kits for kids!
As soon as I heard about her shop I was so excited! I knew this was JUST what I  needed to be able to teach Kiah to sew and have some Mommy Daughter time!

I bought the Kids Learn to Sew Starter Kit and the Kids Sew A Pillow DIY kit
I didnt tell Kiah about it at first.. it was a total surprise and she was SO excited when they came!

The kit comes with simple instructions and some pictures to help. I let Kiah read them and do as they said, just giving her a few tips as she went. And she did so well!

Cutting the string:

Threading the needle (this starter kit comes with a needle that has a very large eye, making it super easy for a beginner!)

Starting to sew!

Working like she has been sewing for years! :)

Really Concentrating on getting the lines straight and keeping the sides matched up!

She did so well, we were both so proud.

Now onto the stuffing!

 

Next up was the heart.

My beautiful girl!

I am so grateful for this project and this special time I got with Kiah.

I just love moments like these.

All finished! I am beyond proud of her! She was so excited about them, she HAD to take them to church the next day and show them off to EVERYONE! 

Funny thing was, that one of the little kids in the church liked her heart and took off with it!
She was so upset she thought she lost it!
Then Pastor Dan made a special IMPORTANT announcement ;) and it was found!

She is pretending its beating... haha Silly Kiah Girl!

The finished Products! :) Didnt she do great? We are going to work on the second project soon!

If you have been looking for a fun sewing starter project or even just a more kid friendly project to do with your daughters, I encourage you to check out Elle Sophia Designs!
And if you are on Facebook {this} is her page! Go like it!! :)