Monthly Archives: February 2013

Half Birthday Celebrations

Yesterday was Adaline’s Half Birthday!
She turned 3.5 🙂

I’ve always wanted to celebrate her half birthday but never have before. When she was younger I didn’t really want her to have the extra cake…and without the half-cake it seems kinda pointless to celebrate the half birthday. Last year I was super pregnant so we skipped it again.

This year seemed like the right time to start. Jonathan’s first birthday is a few days away (can you believe he’s already a year old?!) and Adaline was a little jealous and having a hard time understanding that this is not her birthday, or party, or cake. Giving her a little half-birthday celebration was something special for her before all of the focus shifts to Jonathan.

We celebrated with half of a cake, 3 and a half candles, and half plates.

We also sang Adaline “Halfie Birthday”.
It still sounds like “happy”. Oh well.
(Email and feed readers click here to watch the video.)

At the end of the video she’s running away from the candle smoke. She told us to “Get that stinky thing outta here!”

Adaline received half of a birthday card and a small present from the dollar store. We gave her the whole present. Only giving half of a present to a 3.5 year old would be a little cruel since she doesn’t quite understand it yet.

She was happy with her little celebration but she did get upset because there weren’t any balloons and she asked, “Where are all the people?”. All of those big birthday parties are coming back to haunt me.

In addition to measuring height on their birthday each year it has also been our tradition to measure height on each half birthday. Now I know why none of her clothes fit anymore!

Look how grown up she looks after just 6 months!

This half-birthday took me less than a half hour to plan 😉 All it took was a trip to the dollar store and making/buying a small cake.
(The cake looks deceiving big in the photos…it was very small.)

The scary part is that I only have 6 more months to plan her 4th birthday party!

Do you celebrate half birthdays in your family?
Let me know in the comments!

BIRTHDAY TRADITIONS

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Posted in Birthday Traditions, Birthdays, Traditions

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Tags: Birthday Traditions, half-birthdays, tradition

How to Make Shadow Puppets (Links)

Feb 1

Posted by Jenn Rian

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If you’d like to learn to make shadow puppets with your hands, shadow puppets with paper, or a shadow puppet theater…try one of the many links below. Shadow puppets are a great activity for Groundhog Day or Halloween and kids love them!

Click here for more Groundhog Day ideas

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*Shadow-Puppets.com
The most difficult hand puppet subject may be accomplished after only a few minutes.

*Fun with Shadows for Home Entertainers (Jan, 1930) @ Modern Mechanix
This feature explains how anyone can cast the shadows of sixteen different figures, an accomplishment which will provide many full evenings of entertainment for either children or adults.

*How to Make Shadow Puppets @ About.com/familycrafts
Teach your kids to have fun without their toys by bringing shadows to life. See how to make a dog, swan, and bunny rabbit with nothing but your hands, light, and a little imagination.

*Shadowy Days @ Little Page Turners
I stretched a sheet between two chairs, placed a naked lamp on the ground, and voila! We had ourselves a shadow puppet stage.

*Hand Shadows @ Apples 4 the Teacher
What a delightful way to expand on the concept of the Groundhog’s shadow – teach children how to make their own shadow characters! These can be made in front of an overhead projector or behind a hanging sheet with a light source.

*Showy Shadow Puppets @ Disney Family.com
Animal Hand Shadow Tips: Puppy Face, Spider, Goose, Elephant Head

*Kid Craft: Make a Groundhog Shadow Puppet
by Modern Parents Messy Kids @ Momtastic
Here’s a fun kid craft that’s part art project, part puppet show

*Shadow Puppets for Kids @ Drawing Mom
Video

*Winter Shadow Puppets @ Little Wonders Days
They played with making the shadows bigger, smaller, and disappear altogether by moving their flashlight or the puppet.

*Shadow Shapes Craft @ Crayola.com
Regardless of whether the ground hog sees his shadow or not on February 2, kids can create their own Shadow Shapes—and make them all year ’round.

*Shadow Puppets @ Spoonful.com (formerly FamilyFun)
Your kids can cast a shadowy show of their own with just a few of these simplified paper puppets and a tabletop stage.

*Shadow Puppets (Free Printable) @ MarthaStewart.com
This craft is easy and fun plus it’s a great way to entertain young children! (Free printable polar bear or muskox puppet template.)

*How to Make a Shadow Puppet (Free Printable) @ Frolic Blog
The template for an octopus, a shark, a wolf eel and a ship.

*Halloween Shadow Makers (Free Printable) @ Mini Eco
The best thing is that they are very easy to make – all you need is some black paper, a craft knife, sticky tape and some wooden sticks.

*Shocking Silhouettes (Free Printables) @ Martha Stewart
As day turns to night, call on candles to cast an eerie glow throughout your home. When fierce silhouettes are propped above them, spectacular shadows dance across the walls.

*Shadow Puppets @ While Wearing Heels
The possibilities for making your own shadow puppets are endless and the cost involved is next to nothing.

*Shadow Puppets and Their Presentation
@ MagicalMoonshine.org
In shadow puppetry you are limited only by your imagination! Go make some fun puppets!

*Shadow Puppets @ Martha Stewart
More elaborate shapes require some supplementary materials, such as our templates for a shark, sea horse, angelfish, tuna, crab, and mermaid.

*How to Make Shadow Puppet @ The Organic Lemon
They are easy to make, affordable and provide hours of entertainment for little ones!

*Glow-in-the-Dark Star Shadow Puppets
by willowday @ The Crafty Crow
The shadow puppet can be used for: 1) a window shadow puppet 2) a flashlight shadow puppet (Something for summer nights in tents) and 3) a glow-in-the-dark toy or decoration.

*Make a Shadow Puppet Play @ Acorn Pies (also found here)
”For the theater, you could stretch a white sheet across a doorway, glue vellum to a wooden canvas stretcher, or like me, tape one-ply white paper to an old metal frame from the attic.”

*Shadow Puppets (Free Template) @ Education
Make the most of some ordinary household supplies to create this fun puppet craft that hails from Indonesia.

*Shadow Puppet Cutouts @ hvanrossum.com

*Shadow Puppets (free printable) @ National Wildlife Federation
Dolphin, fish, starfish, octopus, squirrel, rabbit, turtle, butterfly

*Easy Shadow Puppet Show @ Rhythm of the Home
”We stretched a sheet over two chairs in our living room. We attached the sheet to the chairs using clothespins, and stretched it all tight by using the weight of the chairs themselves.”

*Make Bedtime (even more) Theatrical with Shadow Puppets
@ Canadian Family
”We just lay down with our puppets close to the wall and shone a flashlight right on them.”

*Make Shadow Puppets @ Squidoo
Illustrated step by step directions how you can make your own shadow puppets, set up your stage, and put on a shadow puppet play.

*Kid Craft: Shadow Puppets @ Gardening without Skills
We got two barstools and stretched out a piece of freezer paper in between the stools and taped it in place. We put a halogen desk lamp behind the stools and turned off the lights in the room.

*Shadow Puppets @ Nuture Store
Puppets are a wonderful way for children to work out real-life relationships and develop their language – and so much fun to make!

Make a Shadow Puppet Theater

*Cereal Box Shadow Theater @ Mini-Eco
This cereal box shadow theater makes a great project for an older child. It’s really simple to make, and can be made from household scraps.

*Shadow Puppet Theater Tutorial @ Givers Log
Supplies: Freezer paper, Elmer’s Glue, Masking tape, permanent fabric paint (like textile paint or acrylic), sponge brayer for applying paint, Fabric that will let a little light through, Tulle (optional)

*DIY Shadow Puppet Theater @ Givers Log
”Tie a piece of string between two chairs and clothespin your theatre to the string. All you need is a flashlight and a puppeteer or two and you’re ready for a performance.”

*Little Light Theatre @ Home Adventurer
”At home we simply transformed our little entrance hall into the theatre; using a floor lamp for illumination, and a small table covered with a large sheet of baking parchment* as a screen.”

*Table Top Shadow Puppet Theater
@ Spoonful.com (formerly FamilyFun)
Your kids can cast a shadowy show of their own with just a few of these simplified paper puppets and a tabletop stage.

*How to Build a Simple Shadow Puppet Theater
@ Inner Child Fun
Shadow puppet theater was made from an empty cardboard box with the bottom cut out, and replaced with two sheets of white tissue paper held in place with packaging tape.

*Shadow Puppet Theater @ Make Monthly

*DIY Shadow Puppet Theatre @ Salsa Pie
Here’s an easy way you can turn a cardboard box and some freezer paper into a shadow puppet theatre!

*Shadow Puppets Cereal Box Theatre @ Red Ted Art

*Shadow Puppet Theatre @ Kirsten Rickert

*Shadow Puppet Theater @ Squidoo
Making a shadow puppet theater is an inexpensive family time activity that will build memories. All you need is a cardboard box (a cereal box works very well), scissors, tape, thin white paper or wax paper, and either straws, craft sticks, or skewers.