• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • About
  • Shop
  • Press
  • Media Kit
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

teach mama logo

teach mama

helps families connect & build bridges between home & school, by amy mascott

  • early literacy
    • alphabet
    • beginning sounds
    • phonics
    • phonological awareness
    • read-aloud learning
    • rhyming
    • sight words
  • reading
    • books
    • comprehension
      • activating schema
      • connecting
      • inferring
      • predicting
      • questioning
      • retelling / summarizing
      • visualizing
    • concepts of print
    • environmental print
    • fluency
    • non-fiction
    • spelling
    • word building
    • word consciousness
    • vocabulary
  • writing
    • creative writing
    • grammar
    • informative writing
    • tripod grip
  • math
    • computation
    • counting
    • numbers
  • science
    • animals
    • plants
    • science experiments for kids
  • Activities
    • birthdays
    • cooking
      • new for us foods
    • crafts
    • foundations
      • colors
      • critical thinking
      • fine arts
      • listening
      • pretend play
      • sorting
      • speaking
    • holidays
      • new year’s
      • valentine’s day
      • president’s day
      • st. patrick’s day
      • april fool’s day
      • easter
      • mother’s day
      • teacher appreciation
      • father’s day
      • july 4th
      • halloween
      • thanksgiving
      • christmas
    • family life
      • family fun
      • giving back
      • lunchbox love notes
      • school
    • indoor activities
    • outdoor activities
  • digital literacy
    • computer time
    • iPad for learning
  • early literacy
    • alphabet
    • beginning sounds
    • phonics
    • phonological awareness
    • read-aloud learning
    • rhyming
    • sight words
  • reading
    • books
    • comprehension
      • activating schema
      • connecting
      • inferring
      • predicting
      • questioning
      • retelling / summarizing
      • visualizing
    • concepts of print
    • environmental print
    • fluency
    • non-fiction
    • spelling
    • word building
    • word consciousness
    • vocabulary
  • writing
    • creative writing
    • grammar
    • informative writing
    • tripod grip
  • math
    • computation
    • counting
    • numbers
  • science
    • animals
    • plants
    • science experiments for kids
  • Activities
    • birthdays
    • cooking
      • new for us foods
    • crafts
    • foundations
      • colors
      • critical thinking
      • fine arts
      • listening
      • pretend play
      • sorting
      • speaking
    • holidays
      • new year’s
      • valentine’s day
      • president’s day
      • st. patrick’s day
      • april fool’s day
      • easter
      • mother’s day
      • teacher appreciation
      • father’s day
      • july 4th
      • halloween
      • thanksgiving
      • christmas
    • family life
      • family fun
      • giving back
      • lunchbox love notes
      • school
    • indoor activities
    • outdoor activities
  • digital literacy
    • computer time
    • iPad for learning
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

birthday butterflies and hide-and-seek game

home / Activities / birthdays / birthday butterflies and hide-and-seek game
3.5K shares
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print

sweet butterfly snacks & birthday fun

We celebrated Cora’s big #3 in springtime style this past weekend, with butterflies, her favorite hide-and-seek game ever, and pink and purple cupcakes.

With a warm, sunny day and lots of friends and family, how much better could a third birthday get?

I found this ‘butterfly bounty’ idea in the April 2010 issue of Family Fun Magazine, and although theirs has a healthy spin, ours absolutely did not.

I thought the idea was too cute, and I knew I could make it work for us.

Here’s the skinny. . .

  • Butterfly Birthday Favors: I wanted something very simple, something that all of the kiddos would enjoy. I wanted something that Cora and Owen could help me assemble and (okay, I’ll be honest) something that wouldn’t break the bank.
Owen’s beading up the butterfly antennas.
sweet butterfly snacks & birthday fun

 

Our springtime butterfly birthday favors required a snack bag, a pipe cleaner (cut in half), beads, a clothes pin, eyes (we had these gem stickers leftover from Valentine’s Day), and Fruit Loops and colored marshmallows.

Our unfinished Springtime Butterfly Birthday Favors

For butterfly antennas, Owen and Cora folded the pipe cleaners into a ‘V’ and strung two beads on the edges (two beads, ideally–Cora made some fancy-schmancy, and that was fine with me). Then they folded the tips down so the beads wouldn’t fall off. I hot-glued the antennas onto the back of a clothes pin, and we let them dry.

sweet butterfly snacks

Then we filled a snack bag with a handful of Fruit Loops and a half-handful of marshmallows, pinched it in the middle, and clipped it with the clothes pin. Owen put two eyes on each butterfly, and I drew their smiles. We wrote ‘love Cora‘ on the back, and they were ready to fly. . .

  • Where’s Cora Hide-and-Seek Hunt: It’s no secret that Cora loves Hide-and-Seek, so when I was sure that we’d have a great day for an outside party, I moved into game-planning mode with Hide-and-Seek on the brain.

Again, with the mixed ages of kids at the party, I didn’t want to interrupt their free play and the adults’ time to catch up with a ton of organized games. I wanted something exciting, engaging, and fun for everyone. Enter: Where’s Cora Hide-and-Seek Hunt.

I copied a dozen square head shots of Cora, a dozen photos of Cora standing, a dozen photos of Cora in her snowsuit, and a dozen ‘CORA’ names. This was super-easy and only took a few minutes of copying and pasting on my photo program. We cut them out, and that’s it!

Then I made a really simple sheet that the kids could use to keep track of how many Cora’s they found. We didn’t end up using it, but (shhhh!) I think it will be a perfect activity for Cora’s playgroup party on Wednesday morning. The Where’s Cora Hide-and-Seek Hunt is here to download if you’d like.

the Where’s Cora Hide-and-Seek Hunt

After we ate, a few of the parents went to work hiding the many tiny Cora pictures all around the yard, while the kiddos hung out front with our friendly toad.

When the kiddos returned, they gathered as many Cora’s as they could, and then everyone counted the number that they found. When it came down to it, we didn’t need to use the sheet; it seemed that everyone had more fun running around, searching for Cora pictures, and then grabbing what they could.

One wintertime Cora hid by the basketball hoop. . .

sweet butterfly snacks

. . . a Cora is by the slide. . .

. . . and here is Cora hiding by a rock.

Cora’s pink and purple cupcakes

After every child had counted (and sometimes re-counted) his or her number of found Cora’s, we celebrated by eating pink and purple cupcakes.

So that’s it. Just like that, my tiny Cora celebrated her big #3. It might be a party, but that doesn’t mean that this teach mama isn’t going to use it as an opportunity for a little bit of learning and fun along the way.
Thanks for subscribing to teachmama! Have a good one!

You May Also Like...

  • Virtual Summit for Educators: Navigating the Online Classroom & Beyond
    Virtual Summit for Educators: Navigating the Online Classroom & Beyond
  • valentine's day class party ideas, 2.0
    valentine's day class party ideas, 2.0
  • how to prepare your child for kindergarten -- summertime prep
    how to prepare your child for kindergarten -- summertime prep

About amy mascott

teacher, mother, dreamer. lover of literacy, fun learning, good food, and three crazy-cool kids. finder of four-leaf clovers | dc metro ยท http://about.me/amymascott
tweet with me: @teachmama

Previous Post:frog or toad: how we researched and figured it out | teachmama.comfrog or toad? how we researched and figured it out
Next Post:alphabet letter lidsalphabet letter lids | use recyclables for ABC learning

Sidebar

amy mascott profile blog

join the coolest club around:

  • About
  • Contact
  • disclaimer
  • terms of use
  • privacy policy
  • Site-Map

Instagram


our books

setting the stage for rock-star readers
raise a reader

Find Us On Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Helpful Links

  • About
  • Contact
  • Press
  • Media Kit
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy

Follow Us On Instagram

View
Open
UMD Womenโ€™s Basketball ROCKS!! โค๏ธ๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ–ค๐Ÿ€

We absolutely love watching you play, @terpswbb !

We love watching you perform, @marylandcheer !

And @mightysoundofmd we love your music and your hilarious signs! ๐Ÿ˜ฌ๐Ÿ˜ณ

See you in Greenville! 

#terpsbasketball #terpswbb #umd #familyfun #marylandcheer #umdfamily
View
Open
Tomorrow is St. Patrickโ€™s Day!

Are you ready? 

https://shop.teachmama.com/

#saintpatricksfun #stpaddysforkids #familyfun #classroomactivities #teachmamashop
View
Open
This is how we use the St. Patrickโ€™s Day Brain Teaser Scavenger Hunt! ๐Ÿ€

Super easyโ€”and makes kids work a little for their golden chocolates! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Grab them here: https://shop.teachmama.com/product/st-patricks-day-scavenger-hunt-4-pack/

<< Tag a pal who needs to know about this and would LOVE to use it with kids or students! >>

#stpatricksdayfun #saintpaddysday #stpaddysforkids #stpatsfun #linkinbio
View
Open
and then there were six
๐Ÿฑ๐Ÿฆ๐ŸฆŠ๐Ÿฆ„๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿฐ

thank you @thewoobles for giving my mind, heart, and hands something fun to do during a really challenging few months. 

#crochet #thewoobles #brainbreak #teachersanitysaver #shescrafty
View
Open
With great sadness, I'm writing to share that my brother-in-law, Jeff Mascott passed away from pancreatic cancer earlier this week--at home, surrounded by family and friends. 

The family is very grateful for the community's immeasurable help, encouragement, and prayers over the past several months since Jeff's diagnosis. 

Jeff's obituary will run this weekend in the Post: 
https://www.collinsfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Jeff-Mascott?obId=27420280&fbclid=IwAR2YTRooCyaLTikfjLeqF4gM-GaB1amZI2OmVl1VtKLUOjWj3Wo4URD8lC8#/obituaryInfo
View
Open
Flowers and a basket of @traderjoes faves are salve for a tired and weepy soul. ๐ŸŒท

Thankful for great, longtime friends ๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›

#itshardtobeahuman #thankfulheart #wlhs4evah #teacherbffs
View
Open
Almost 30 years of friendship!! I love these smart, beautiful, strong and creative women who walked with me through my early days of teaching. 

๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š

Thank you, Wilde Lake High School, for bringing us together way back when. 

๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›

Missed you, jigofjoy ๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š

#weareteachers #andoneprincipal #wildelake #wlhs4evah #teacherbffs #wildelakehs #teachersofinstagram #celebratewewill
View
Open
Today marks the 4th time in 3 weeks that I have had to hang new Kindness Reminders Tear-off Sheets! 

Makes my heart ๐Ÿฅฐ!! 

Some kids come by every day and give one to a new person. Others take a bunch for the week. One 2nd grade girl comes by evey morning to tell me who she gave hers to the day before. 

Every little bit helps, friend. And every interaction matters!

#kindnessrocks #adoormadeforme #teachersofinstagram #makeadifference
View
Open
Best crew for one of the best @terpswbb games weโ€™ve seen all season! 

And of course super job by @marylandcheer and @mightysoundofmd too! 

#terpswbb #terpsbasketball #familyfun #marylandcheer

Copyright © 2023 · teach mama media, llc · All Rights Reserved

  • 5
3.5K shares