Mix & Match Bean Friends
2010
Simple, inexpensive games are my favorite and have proven to be favorites with my boys too. Crafts with beans are both frugal and fun!
These bean faces are so easy to make, are extremely inexpensive and have proved to be oodles of fun over the last several months.
For each person I used 4 beans and drew different features on each one – the top bean was hair, ears or hat. The second bean eyes or glasses. The third bean nose, mouth or facial hair. And the forth bean chin, neck, shirt or chicken legs.
I used Sharpie markers to draw on Great Northern Beans and coated them in clear nail polish. I made these back in the Spring and after hours of play none of them have faded.
I think I get more amusement out of mixing and matching the various features than the boys do, but they get their own sort of amusement out of laying six eyes out side by side and then putting a hat bean on top of it.
I keep the decorated beans in a glass jar over the kitchen sink and we pull it down when I need a quiet, non-thinking type game to play with the boys.
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I love toys like that. I filled a large peanut butter jar with bird seed and put a bunch of random small items in it (like a colored marble, a Barbie type comb, a quarter, a small plastic bird, a golf tee, etc). Helen and Patrick LOVE to shake it up and find things. They will do that for hours. For Patrick it is about the shaking, I think. But Helen gets a lot of pleasure out of finding and naming the items. I have a list of the things in there and it is kind of like an I Spy game for her.
Oh, if you try the bird seed thing you MUST tape (or super glue?) the lid VERY securely. If you don't, you will be sorry. I speak from experience.
I did something similar when Gabrielle was very young (3 maybe) to teach adding. I used two colors, say blue and red. I colored one side of each bean with one of the colors. Then I would give her a certain amount of beans to shake and let fall. She would have to say and eventually write how many blues plus how many reds equalled a certain sum. She LOVED it!! You can teach graphing that way, sorting, measuring…… Beans are so great!! I may use your idea for Mikki. She loves to create and I don't think would be bored coming up with various bean parts for the bean people!
I LOVE your idea Kristin!! I am going to try that soon
LOVE this!!
such a cute idea. my kids would love this!