Put me in the Zoo - Fireflies and Jellybeans

Hello Brassy Apple! I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am to be here today with all of you lovelies! I adore Megan and all her crafty-ness! To say that is it a complete honor is not even touching the surface!

Let me introduce myself!

I am Fawnda and you can find me at Fireflies and Jellybeans!  I am a thirty-something mom of two{ 3 year old son and 1 year old daughter}!  My Husband is my best friend and biggest supporter {I am every lucky}!

We have all sorts of fun over at Fireflies and Jellybeans! I share crafty tutorials with you, we have the Iron Crafter Competition and a fun Show Off Your Stuff linky party on Thursdays.

I am also so excited to be part of the Save Our Summer series! I need as much help as I can get with my two Little ones... I am also happy to share one idea with all of you too!

Put Me in the Zoo Activity day!

Lets face it... most days I feel like I live at a zoo with all the wild craziness that is my life! I decided to embrace it and make a whole day of fun activities for us all! 

And as any good theme day we need t-shirts!

Here is a quick run down of  how I made the shirts... I used my Silhouette SD (who I loving call, Skyla) to help make these... however you do not need one to make your own. 

Sealed with a Kiss Shirt:

1. Cut out a seal applique, and sew it on

2. Add your "Sealed with a Kiss" lettering (I used Iron on vinyl from Silhouette but you could freezer paper stencil the words on too! )

3. Add your "XOXO" rhinestones (also from Silhouette)

1. Cut out felt shapes-

1 circle for face

several bigger strips (about 3/4 inch wide)

several smaller strips (about 1/8 inch wide) some long some short.

2. Pin your wider strips to your circle and sew in place.

3. Pin your smaller strips in place (random with the short and long) and sew.

4. Hand sew the face.  I used 2 buttons for eyes and a triangle piece of fleece for the nose.

5. Pin in place on your t-shirt.  I sewed around the face and then also out side the circle a couple inches to keep the mane attached to the shirt.

6. Add your lettering (I used iron one vinyl from Silhouette but you could a freezer paper stencil)

Put Me in the Zoo Activities:

Here are some fun books to read that we love and have to do with zoos and animals!

Polar Bear, Polar Bear What do you Hear?

Put me in the zoo

Goodnight Gorilla

I wish that I had Duck Feet

Animal Follow the Leader:

The leader picks and animal to mimic and everyone follows along.

Take several turns being the leader.

What do you hear?

This is a great activity to go along with Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you hear?

You start out saying "Mommy, Mommy what do you hear?  I hear a {pick your animal here) in my ear"  then all make the animal noses... then move on to your kids "Johnny, Johnny- what do you hear?"  then have them pick an animal and say the rest of the rhyme.  You can do several rounds until you make LOTS and LOTS of animal noses!

Make your Own Zoo:

We had a rainy day so instead of going to a zoo, we made our own!

I was quite surprised at how many stuffed animals we had... we had a FULL Zoo!

I had the kids help me set it all up.  It was a great sorting activity!  Once I had some groups established,  I would pull out an animal and ask "Where do you think this should go?"  The kids LOVED making the zoo... almost more then playing with it!  If you have older kids have them make signs for the zoo. 

Here is a tour of our zoo:

Tigers Exhibit

Elephant Habitat  Our Elephant has a baby!

Giraffe and Zebra exhibit

Wolf/Dog Exhibit - we had some rare species of wolf- pink, purple and green... not what you see an just any zoo!

Penguins (with a baby!)

Petting Farm zoo

Aquatic animals

Monkey playground

Our zoo also has a very special exhibit! 

The Monsters exhibit! 

Of course here are the WILDEST animals of ALL! 

I made them pay $$ to enter the zoo... and they had to wait in line for the zoo to open.  We had a friend over what I watch once a week... she added the phone as a prop.  My son HAD to have a wallet to keep his money in!  My youngest is trying to sneak in early!

I also had them bring a camera to take pictures of the animals!

In the second picture my son is looking at the picture he just took and saying "Ohhhhhh, Cuuuuuute!"

Snack/lunch:

Here is our zoo themed lunch.  I used turkey lunch meat for the face, cheese stick for the mane, blueberries for the eys and a strawberry for the nose.  Easy and very kid friendly!

We love Put Me in the Zoo Day!!

Thanks for letting me share today!  We had so much FUN! 

Stop by for more fun ideas!!