#2 of the $10 Toddler Time Series--Counting Birdies

Sunday afternoon was rainy and nasty out, so I took a few hours to come up with a quick little schedule for Emily and I. Each month until the end of the year has a theme and each week, we'll be discussing a little bit about the monthly theme, along with a letter of the week. All this because I have entirely too much time on my hands...according to some people :)  
This month's theme is numbers! And this week, we're learning 1,2 and 3. Now, Emily can count already (and she counts to 15 then switches over to Spanish...lol), but I want her to be able to recognize the numbers and to start practicing writing them as well. 

Anywho, this project is super simple. You could use construction paper for everything but I had a bad experience with some and threw the whole pack out. Yeah, apparently when it gets wet, the colors bleed...and bleed they did, onto the wood floors and stained them in one corner. Nice, huh? That's why I tossed the rest of the sheets I had. Not swearing it off forever, I just haven't remembered to purchase more. 

Here's what you'll need:
Construction Paper or card stock and paint-Already had ($5 to buy 150 sheets, paint is $1)
School Glue or tape, depending on your patience-Already had ($1 to buy)
3 (1 for each number) Craft sticks-Already had ($1 to buy 150)
Pen/Marker-Already had ($1 to buy)
Scissors or sharp craft knife-Already had ($1 to buy)
Paint brush-Already had (0.50 to buy)
Paper Plate-Already had ($1 to buy 20)

Put it together:
I have paint, so that's what I used. I am not claiming to be a painter...I have ZERO painting and drawing skills, really. I painted half of each craft stick blue and the other half brown. Then, I painted some blue blobs on a sheet of card stock and painted brown underneath. See pic.

I folded a paper plate in half. I glued and taped it shut. 

I painted one side of the plate brown. Emily added a touch of orange...you'll see it later on. I let those dry for an hour and cut out my shapes from the blue blobs and brown painted paper. Again, my drawing skills are lacking so I did basic birdie looking shapes. The "sticks" for the nest are just strips of the brown painted paper. I glued on the bird figure to the blue end of the stick. 

Here is Emily adding the "sticks" to the nest. We did a mixture of me putting dots of glue on the plate and letting her dip the back of the "stick" into the glue. I bet you all can guess which one she preferred :)

I added tufts of hair to the birds. Bird 1, received one spike, Bird 2 has two...you get the idea, right? I painted on little orange beaks and using an ink pen (where on Earth are my Sharpies????) added eye balls and wing detail. On the back side of the craft stick, I wrote out the number words and added the number to the bottom. I used a sharp craft knife to cut 3 slits in the top of the nest (along the fold) and inserted the birds on sticks. Emily likes putting them in the nest and taking them out again.

 
Next week's project will again be number related and the book for next week is The Ants Go Marching...I'm trying to figure out a cute craft that includes ants...not real ones, of course :) 

~Kristin