Day 7: Ham-BUG-ers with Helping Little Hands

Hi, I'm Polly from Helping Little Hands where I share all sorts of crafts and sewing projects as well as fun activities for kids and many of our favorite children's books.  I'm excited to be part of the Summer Soiree!  When Aimee asked me about it, I knew just what I wanted to do...something with BUGS!  My kids love looking for bugs in the big field behind our house during the summer. 
And what better way to explore them, than eating some of your own Ham-BUG-ers.

We also love reading a lot of picture books, so this activity was inspired by a book.  Beetle McGrady Eats Bugs by Megan McDonald.  I wasn't quite brave enough to try some of the dishes in the book, but Ham-BUG-ers was an easy sell with the kids.

We started making our own hamburger buns several months ago, and once you try it, you'll never want to go back!  Making them into bugs while we're at it, is super simple and fun for the kids.  I just use regular whole wheat bread dough.  I make mine at home, but you could easily use regular white bread dough or buy the dough from the store.

Shape the dough into a large ball and a small ball for each bug.  (And remember it rises...I should have made mine a bit smaller.)

After it's risen just a bit, use a knife to slice bug markings into the large ball.  Let it rise a bit more.

Bake according to recipe directions.  Slice in half and fill with plenty of bug guts.

Add some raisins or chocolate chips for the eyes.

And serve.

This one goes straight for her favorite parts...

And to top things off, you might consider serving bug larvae pudding topped with ants and the momma bug for dessert.  I used some extra dough to make the mama bugs and topped them off with cinnamon-sugar.  The pudding is arroz con leche (rice pudding) with a few raisins.  Delicious!

If you're interested in other activities to go along with books too keep reading extra fun this summer, be sure to check out my browsable archive of children's books activities.

Day 6: Ladybug Basket with Almost Unschoolers

Hi, from Almost Unschoolers! We're a homeschool family, with six children, living in northern Montana, where we're just starting to thaw out enough to begin thinking about summer crafts.

As the weather warms, and we venture back outside, it's only natural for the children to find lots of treasures to collect - sticks, bugs, dandelions, and the like. This week C, my youngest, helped put together a ladybug basket, perfect for summer treasure collecting.

I liked the look of the Ladybug Purse offered in kit form from Craft Express, but the kit they sell makes 12, and Amazon is all out of stock, so I decided we'd see what we could do on our own.

I prepped the craft by tracing out all the shapes we'd need, using the middle of a paper plate, and a couple of lids, as patterns for the ladybug bodies, spots, and heads.

I also cut one long rectangular piece, about the length of half the circumference the larger circles, for the bottom of the basket.

Then, I free-handed the antenae on the heads...

...using one head, as a pattern for the other, so they would be the same.

And, once I had everything cut out, C colored the parts black, and red.

Then, I punched holes, with a hole punch, around the bottoms of the circle, figuring where to stop, and start, by bending the rectangle around the edge.

I used the first circle to mark the spots for holes in the second circle...

...and then to mark the spots for holes on the rectangle...

...which needed a set of holes up each long side, with one hole, just in from the edge, in the middle of the short sides. Never mind, that the hole pictured is not in the middle of the short side - it should have been, but at the time I was thinking two holes on each end, for clutch-type handles.

C, glued the circular pieces together to make two ladybugs, finishing them off with a couple of plastic google eyes, while I helped to make sure the heads were at the tops of the circles, and roughly in the same spots on each bug.

Then, I threaded a plastic needle with a piece of red yarn about 4 times as long as the rectangular piece. I tied a knot in the end, threaded it through one of the top holes in one of the ladybugs, and taped it off, leaving a long enough piece to tie off later.

While I held the cardboard pieces, and directed C which holes to go in and out of, she whip stitched one of the ladybugs to the rectangular bottom.

I had her go through the top holes twice, to keep them tightly together.

Then, she laced the yarn across, to the other side, so she could whip stitch on the second ladybug.

When she was all done, I had her lace the yarn across again, back to the beginning, where I pulled off the tape, and tied it to the loose end.

Finally, she threaded the yarn through the hole in the middle of the short end of the rectangle, and back through the middle hole on the opposite end of the rectangle, where I tied it off, to make a handle...

...just long enough, to go over her shoulder...

...or around her neck, keeping her basket out of the way, while she played, but always ready, should she find something interesting to collect.

It's great to be a homeschooler.