Baby Blanket Service Activity

The mom of a little gal in our group is expecting a new baby.  We decided it was the perfect opportunity to pull out the sewing machine and quilting stands to make some burp rags and blankets.  The girls loved it!  They loved it so much that we repeated it again for our next activity.

We have a large group so we split the girls into two groups.  One group learned how to quilt with my partner and I worked on sewing with the other group.  We made some very basic burp rags out of flannel fabric cut into rectangles.  The girls each had an oppurtinuty to sew a few seams, do some ironing, take stitches out to fix mistakes and learn a few sewing basics.


The quilting part of the quilt was completed on the first week so my partner taught them how to bind the edges at the second activity.

It was impressive to see how quickly the girls caught on.  They had a great time!  This activity also provided an opportunity to serve a less-active family.  You could also make blankets and/or rags to donate to local shelters or hospitals.

Here are a few helpful resources to help with the activity-

Simple burp rag tutorial

If you don't have quit stands or are not familiar with quilting, consider a more simple approach.  I love this easy to follow video:

Here's another:

You could also add bibs to the activity!  Does it get any easier than making them out of place mats?

Mother's Day Wind Chimes

Image and idea from designdazzle.com

This post is from Melissa and includes a couple of ideas:  

They made this wind chime for Mother's Day.  Here is a pic of their projects in progress:

She also included some ideas for Earth Day-these would be great for other topics: gardening, service, spring crafts, etc. 

"Earth Day:  We talked about Recycling, Reusing, and Reducing.  I had 2 hand outs with word puzzles, what earth day is for them to work on after we were done with our 2 activities.  

We made bird feeds out of empty toilet paper rolls.  Yarn through the tube, they slathered on peanut butter, and then rolled it in bird seed.

We also talked about how plants grow.  They were given 5 seeds, and made see through greenhouses, so they could watch the stages of the seed sprouting.  A ziplock plastic baggie, wet paper towels, seeds.  We talked about what plants need to survive and how to take care of their seed until it was ready to be planted in dirt."

Thanks for sharing Melissa!  Keep those ideas coming!

Mother's Day Gift Ideas 2014

Mother's Day is right around the corner, and I think it's great to have the girls make something simple and sweet for their mom.  I tried to pull some ideas from around the net that you might find helpful!

This one is SO cute!  It's from Paging Supermom and can be found HERE.

You need a circle punch, some cute scrapbook paper, a cheap picture frame (or you might choose to leave this unframed and stick a magnet on the back), green card stock and paper baking cups.  I love the simplicity of this and that the girls can do it all themselves.

If you want to do something more in the pampering vein, this is a great spa in a jar!  It's a copy cat of Mary Kay's satin hands scrub.  Two ingredients, some cute jars, and you've got some Mother's Day love.  Go HERE to Raining Hot Coupons for the instructions.

Here's another de"light"ful idea.  :)  I love candles, and I think most women do.  Especially if they smell good.  Here is a super cute tutorial on how to make your own in a tea cup.  The girls might have a cup they want to use or you can go pick some up at the thrift store.  This cute idea is from The Wedding Chicks and can be found HERE.

I am working on one more project that I will have up tomorrow, but I hope these ideas give you some inspiration!