5 Easy Cheerio Activities for Kids!

Cheerios are one of those things I always buy too many of before an activity, and by the end of the night realise that I'm about to leave with quite a few boxes of them.

So here are 5 things to do with the left overs.

1) Bird Feeders

Needed

Pipe Cleaners

Simply thread the cheerios on to the pipe cleaner. Make sure the girls leave a small amount at either side, and then twist them together to create a hoop.

This is quite a good activity if you have time that needs filling as well, because the kids can interlink as many hoops as they like by simply making another, and placing it through the previous one before twisting the ends together. 

I have seen versions of this where the initial feeder has been shaped into a heart. However, it just seemed to over complicate an activity that was simple, easy to focus on and fun to put together. Less was more in this case.

2) Starfish

Needed

Cardboard

PVA

Because of the young age of the kids, I cut out the star shapes before the activity began. However, the older the kids are the more capable they are of drawing around a stencil and cutting it out themselves.

I then told them to squeeze as many cheerios onto the shape using a scary amount of PVA glue.

I explained that it was to replicate the texture of the starfish, and showed the girls various pictures.

As a warning - by putting as many on as possible, with a lot of glue, it does take a while to dry out. If you only have an hour or so, make sure the kids leave carrying the star flat. Also, do not use straight card, because it becomes too loose and wet with a lot of PVA. Cardboard is a necessity. 

3) Owls

Needed

Cardboard

PVA

Eyes

Crayons/Pens

This is another craft based on replicating a 3D texture. In this case the texture on an owl's chest. Cut from cardboard. As with the starfish, these owl shapes can be given to the girls cut and ready to go, or can be prepared by the kids themselves. 

With the starfish the instruction was to get as many on as possible without leaving any space, whereas here the idea was to make any pattern that they wanted. For some it was lines of cheerios, some made circles, wobbly lines, faces. It was a case of 'whatever you want to put on an owls chest'.

The girls could then stick eyes on, or colour the rest of the owl in. Of course you could get the tissue paper out and suggest the kids use that on the rest of the owl. Whatever you have in the cupboard really!

Also, a tip that you can see from this photo. Rather than cleaning glue spreaders every week, you can use lolly sticks to spread the glue. This way the kids can't collect massive amounts of PVA on a glue spreader. There is no arguing over 'this was my spreader', and they can go straight in the bin after.

4) Coloured Cheerios

Needed

Paint

PVA

Card

Cheerios are very thick and so easy to stain. 

For the above Rainbow activity, the colours had to be red, yellow and blue, and so I got them ready before hand. I placed a little bit of the colour paint in a sandwich bag with some cheerios and shook it until everything was covered. I left them to dry in the bags, and ended up with lots of red, yellow and blue cheerios. 

Because there wasn't going to be as many cheerios or as much PVA it was fine to use general card for the background.

5) Stained

Needed

Sharpies/Felt Tip Pens

Kids can paint or stain the cheerios themselves. As a Christmas craft the cheerios were used as baubles. The girls used sharpies to stain them whatever colour they wanted once the glue had dried.

Have fun, and get messy!

Easy Bear Themed Food for Kids!

Within our Rainbow Group we always try to have a night with food based activities.

This particular term it was the Teddy Bear Picnic Challenge, and below are three easy bear themed food activities that all ages are capable of.

The first is perhaps the easiest.

Bear Faced Bread

Needed

1 Slice of Brown Bread

3 Slices of Banana

3 Raisins or Sultanas

Butter

Get the kids to spread butter on to the center of the bread with a blunt knife. In other versions of this  peanut butter or chocolate spreads have been used. However, for the large group there is always the worry of nut allergies, and these spreads are prone for it. Not worth the risk, especially when there is an alternative that is easy to come by and generally cheaper.

If you have the time, the bread can be made darker first through toasting. This is completely dependent on the time you have, and how many kids you are walking through the activity.

Slicing banana is possible with the most blunt knife, and so allowing them to do it themselves can work well for motor skills as well as confidence. For the younger children I would position the knife with their hand and allow them to push it down through the banana.

A piece of banana is placed in each of the top corners, and the third in the center.

The sultanas are then placed as eyes and on the tip of the nose.

Paw Print Cookie

Needed

1 Biscuit

Chocolate Buttons

Icing Sugar

Water

Although this appears very easy and simple, it can become quite a game based on the age of the kids and the thickness of the icing.

Keep one of the buttons whole, and allow the kids to break a few others up. We prepared icing to use for this situation, but of course dependent on the age of the children involved and the time you have, stirring water into icing sugar is something they are more than capable of.

We made the icing sugar fairly thick so as to make it easier for the younger girls. 

Have them place a blob wherever they think the claws should go and then place a shard of chocolate there.

Sometimes these won't immediately stand upright, and the kids will need to hold them in place whilst the icing dries a little. This can become a game, asking the kids to blow lightly on the icing whilst holding the chocolate. 

Sunbathing Teddy Bear

Needed

1 Cupcake

Icing

Butter

Blue Food Colouring

Sweet Rainbow Straws

Gummy Bears

Cocktail Umbrella

This is perhaps the more difficult and most expensive of the three. I wouldn't recommend doing this if you have more than 20 kids in your group.

Once again we prepared the icing beforehand. In order to keep the bear in place we felt that butter icing, being thicker, would be the best idea. However, you can use water and food colouring and have a more silky texture. The kids can spread this all over the top of the cake. Our butter icing was particularly thick, which meant the girls had to use their fingers to push it down. Messy and fun!

The thicker strips that we used as towels or lilos were prepared. The girls selected these and bears, and using a small amount of icing on the back of each, they can stick them onto the top of the cupcakes.

Pick a cocktail umbrella, open it up and push it into the cake. As a warning, be careful with little fingers and these umbrellas. They can be awkward and easy to break.

Have fun and get messy!