Keepin' 2 Boys Busy

Left lapbook is Bilal's, Right Lapbook is Hasan's A little while ago, Bilal made a Fireman Lapbook that he really enjoyed.  Hasan was in school at the time and also showed interest in making lapbooks so I told him once summer started we would work on some.  Since it was Ramadan when the summer began I thought it would be a great idea to make a Ramadan Lapbook.  I found all the printables for making the Ramadan Lapbook over at Umm Abdul Basir's Sharing Our Homeschool Adventure .

Fireman Lapbook Cover I find Bilal is very interested in doing school work so I've started to do more activities at home with him since he has a few months before he goes to school.  He loves cutting, writing and doing worksheets.  He is really good at keeping himself busy and loves to do things independently.  I found the template for this Fireman Lapbook over at Homeschool Creations .  Not only did we make the lapbook but we did some of the extra worksheets that can be found at  Homeschool Creations .

We have a ton of clothespin that we never use so I thought they would be good to use in crafts for the boys.  I saw this idea on Somewhere in the Middle .  We made ours into magnets.  We put 2 small pieces of magnets which have adhesive on the back.  We should have used more magnets because they weren't very strong.  We made this craft when my nephew was over visiting.  The Clothespin Caterpillar pictured above was made by Hasan.  Bilal was not feeling well at the time so opted out.  I used this to hang Hasan's Napkin Man on the fridge.

Today Bilal made this Paper Bag Tree.  I found this on  Pikadilly Charm .  It looked very simple to make.  Bilal loved twisting the brown paper bag to make the branches.  When he was done he wanted to add some red leaves to his tree.

Bilal's is on the left, Hasan's on the right. While we were clearing out my parents place in March I came across my mom's tin box full of buttons...I knew they would be great for some crafts for the boys.  

Finally a post for this much neglected blog...I figure I'd better get this one up before winter is over.  I have another snowman craft coming up after this too!

When we started this craft we were supposed to be making these ladybugs  but I didn't exactly remember how they were after we started the project.  So this is what we ended up.  Bilal made the three on the left and Hasan's are on the right.  Bilal loved dipping his brush in different colours and making each one very colourful.  Hasan stuck to one colour for each one.  They both needed some help sticking the pipe cleaner in for the antennas.  After they were all done Bilal loved scratching the googly eyes off and pulling out the pipe cleaners.  Hasan's are still intact and sitting on the TV with his butterfly and octopus .

I saw this craft a long time ago and thought it would be good to do with Hasan.  It's pretty simple and I've seen it on numerous websites .  The hardest thing for Hasan was waiting for the paint to dry.  We completed it in two days because Bilal woke up early from his nap after Hasan was done painting.

With spring here this is a great picture to make with your little one.  I had Hasan make this picture but it was nowhere near spring when we made it.  We used the method from the Cotton Ball Snowman to make the clouds.  To make the petals on the flowers we used the method from the Scrunched Tissue Paper Flowers .  Hasan used a dot marker to colour in the grass but you can use crayons or paint.  I drew the picture with a pencil and had Hasan do the rest!

I saw this craft in Easy Fun Crafts with Everyday Items .  I have a bunch of craft sticks and it looked very simple.  In the book they used bigger sticks...mine were the size of Popsicle stick.  I didn't have enough of one colour so I mixed it up.  I let Hasan pick the colours.  We glued a couple of magnets on the back and Hasan gave it to his Nani (maternal grandmother).

I've always wanted to do some craft with Hasan with Toilet Paper Rolls.  I have a bunch just sitting around thinking of something to do with them.  Recently I received Easy Fun Crafts with Everyday Items as a gift.  They had a picture of a butterfly made using a toilet paper roll.  Looked simple and it also used a pipe cleaner which I have so many of but have no idea what to do with them.

I made this awhile ago with Hasan....again there was no intention on posting it on a blog which explains the not so great picture.  Hasan really enjoyed making this...actually he enjoys most arts and crafts.  With winter coming this would be a good picture to have Hasan make again.

This is a very easy flower I had Hasan make.  You take small squares of tissue paper, scrunch them up into a small ball and then glue them on a pre-cut shape.  I had a bunch of streamers so I just cut small squares out of that.  I found that to be much faster than cutting squares out of a big sheet of tissue paper.  We also stuck some adhesive magnets on the so we could put them on the fridge.

Welcome to my blog!  I am always trying to find things to keep my boys (Hasan, age 4 & Bilal, 20 months) busy.  I have a hard time thinking of things for them to do...well mostly things for Hasan to do.  He loves arts and crafts and I feel bad that I am not very creative.  Sometimes I get lazy and don't give them enough things to do.  I know a lot of other mom's have the same problem so I thought I would share the things we do at home and to give me some more motivation to do more activities with the kids.  This picture wasn't taken with any intention of posting on a blog which explains why it's not very good.